Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840–1914) was an American naval officer, considered one of the most important naval strategists of the nineteenth century. In 1885 he was appointed Lecturer in Naval History and Tactics at the {US} Naval War College, and became President of the institution between 1886–1889. These volumes, first published in 1893, contain Mahan's detailed analysis of British and French naval strategy during the French Revolution, defined as lasting between 1793–1812. Mahan recounts chronologically the major naval battles and campaigns between Britain and France and their allies, analysing the different naval strategies used and discussing Britain's successful naval tactics. Mahan was the first naval strategist to explore the importance of controlling and protecting commercial shipping and preventing blockades of ports during warfare, tactics which he fully explores using historical examples from the French Revolution in these volumes.