3 ms·
not to take away from the book or the people who served in the Navy at the time but one of the largest strategic benefits the United States has/had are oceans o
by Shivetya 6y ago
not to take away from the book or the people who served in the Navy at the time but one of the largest strategic benefits the United States has/had are oceans on both sides separating it from hostile powers.
this advantage of course dropped away in the age of missiles and jets but it still has many benefits to this day.
- HDMI_Cable 6y agoI’m not sure the pacific mattered all that much during the war of 1812. Even with jets and missiles, the two oceans still prevent anyone from landing troops on American shores.
- throwanem 6y agoNot that you're exactly wrong, but I would argue that advantage meant more, not less, as time went on. In both World Wars it granted the US mainland the insuperable strategic advantage of being effectively impossible to attack in any meaningful way - not so much, though, in the days when the Royal Navy still bestrode the world.
- Dirlewanger 6y agoThat, and the Monroe Doctrine, which was basically a massive bluff saying "don't fuck with us over here", really helped the early US. I'd argue that for much of the antebellum period, if a European foe was dedicated enough, they could have seriously fucked with the early US enough to alter the course of history.
- davidw 6y agoTrade was pretty important to the US, and the British instituted a naval blockade: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_1812#Blockade https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_1812#Blockade