Note 1 — Chapter II · CAVALRY BEFORE THE GREAT WAR.

It may be noted that Hannibal’s invasion of Italy led, two thousand years later, to the recognition of the influence of sea power on history. Admiral Mahan himself described to the writer how it one day occurred to him that Hannibal’s long march from Spain to Italy had been necessitated by the Roman strength at sea, and that this was the underlying cause of his eventual ruin. Following up the train of thought, Mahan gradually worked out his great conception. Hannibal’s march was the germ from which it sprang.