HIST 1100 · Naval Blockades with Mahan

Led by Alfred Thayer Mahan Simulacrum

A thirty-minute working session with the Alfred Thayer Mahan Simulacrum applying his framework — sea power, command of the sea, chokepoints, the commerce triangle — to a chosen blockade scenario. The 2026 dual blockade in and around the Strait of Hormuz serves as the worked case if no other is brought.

1. Module 1

   Naval Blockades

   Led by Alfred Thayer Mahan Simulacrum

   The question

   A working session built around a blockade you bring to the simulacrum — historical (the Royal Navy's 1914–1918 North Sea blockade of Germany, Winfield Scott's Anaconda Plan, the 1962 Cuban quarantine), current (the 2026 dual blockade in and around the Strait of Hormuz), or hypothetical. The first sub-unit refuses to start case work until you have named what specifically the blockade is designed to deny — fleet movement, commerce, or both — and whether your side has command of the sea or faces a fleet-in-being problem from a residual or asymmetric force. The second decides between close and distant blockade against three trade-offs: proximity-of-effect, sustainability, and vulnerability to mines, missiles, drones, and swarm boats. The third applies the Mahanian framework to your case in a written paragraph that the simulacrum critiques.

   Outcome

   You leave with a Mahanian diagnostic of one specific blockade — historical, current, or hypothetical — naming the form, the commerce-triangle relationship on both sides, the command-of-the-sea situation, and what would constitute structural success versus mere harassment. (Naval strategic diagnostic)

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 1.1 Why Blockade? Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   2. ○ 1.2 Close or Distant? Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   3. ○ 1.3 A Worked Case Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   Begin the course → Print certificate of completion