the allied fleet did for a
moment in 1779, can it be doubted that he would have conquered
Gibraltar on the shores of England?

To impress more strongly the truth that history both suggests
strategic study and illustrates the principles of war by the facts
which it transmits, two more instances will be taken, which are more
remote in time than the period specially considered in this work. How
did it happen that, in two great contests between the powers of the
East and of the West in the Mediterranean, in one of which the empire
of the known world was at stake, the opposing fleets met on spots so
near each other as Actium and Lepanto? Was this a mere coincidence, or
was it due to conditions that recurred, and may recur again?[5] If the
latter, it is worth while to study out the reason; for if there should
again arise a great eastern power of the sea like that of Antony or of
Turkey, the strategic questions would be similar. At present, indeed,
it seems that the centre of sea power, resting mainly with England and
France, is overwhelmingly in the West; but should any chance add to
the control of the Black Sea basin, which Russia now has, the
possession of the entrance to the Mediterranean, the existing
strategic conditions affecting sea power would all be modified. Now,
were the West arrayed against the East, England and France would go at
once unopposed to the Levant, as they did in 1854, and as England
alone went in 1878; in case of the change suggested, the East, as
twice before, would meet the West half-way.

At a very conspicuous and momentous period of the world's history, Sea
Power had a strategic bearing and weight which has received scant
recognition. There cannot now be had the full knowledge necessary for
tracing in detail its influence upon the issue of the second Punic
War; but the indications which remain are sufficient to warrant the
assertion that it was a determining factor. An accurate judgment upon
this point cannot be formed by mastering only such facts of the
particular contest as have been clearly transmitted, for as usual the
naval transactions have been slightingly passed over; there is needed
also familiarity with the details of general naval history in order to
draw, from slight indications, correct inferences based upon a
knowledge of what has been possible at periods whose history is well
known. The control of the sea, however real, does not imply that an
enemy's single ships or small squadron