Britain S Naval Route To Greatness 1688 1815

Jeremy Black charts the story of Britain's rise to naval supremacy across the long eighteenth century.

“A majestic study of the British Army’s evolution” from the acclaimed historian, commentator, and author of Britain’s Naval Route to Greatness (Stanley D.M. Carpenter, Emeritus Professor of Strategy, U.S. Naval War College). Between 1760 and 1815, British troops campaigned from Manila to Montreal, Cape Town to Copenhagen, Washington to Waterloo. The naval dimension of Britain’s expansion has been superbly covered by a number of excellent studies, but there has not been a single volume that does the same for the army and, in particular, looks at how and why it became a world-operating force, one capable of beating the Marathas as well as the French. This book will both offer a new perspective, one that concentrates on the global role of the army and its central part in imperial expansion and preservation, and as such will be a major book for military history and world history. There will be a focus on what the army brought to power equations and how this made it a world-level force. “Black was one of the first military historians to recognize the requirement for truly global analysis . . . [His] central argument is of great importance to serving soldiers today; senior officers should take note.” —Wavell Room “Challenges hoary impressions of the British military while encouraging readers to dig more deeply into the origins, meanings, and consequences of Britain’s increasingly hybrid army.” —Michigan War Studies Review “A brief but insightful survey of the broad historical processes that, by transforming the British Army into a versatile instrument of global reach and global power, allowed it to shape the world.” —The NYMAS Review

Nelson, Navy & Nation explores the Royal Navy's relationship with Britain from the Glorious Revolution to the Napoleonic Wars. The book encompasses the realities of naval life in this period; the navy's connection to society; culture and national identity; and the story of Nelson's life and career. It brings together a distinguished panel of leading historians including Roger Knight, Andrew Lambert, Brian Lavery, N.A.M. Rodger and Dan Snow. Together, they give a fascinating contextual overview, from the terrifying realities of battle in the age of sail to the lives of ordinary people ashore who celebrated the navy's achievements. It places the extraordinary achievements of Horatio Nelson within a wider context that makes sense of his dazzling celebrity. In so doing, it reveals that the story of the Royal Navy and Nelson is also the story of the fears and ambitions of the British people. Beautifully illustrated throughout from the world-leading collections of the National Maritime Museum, the book combines accessible narrative history for the general reader with superb visual appeal. It is an ideal companion to the Museum's new permanent 'Nelson, Navy, Nation' gallery, which opened in October 2013.

The Command of the Ocean describes with unprecedented authority and scholarship the rise of Britain to naval greatness, and the central place of the Navy and naval activity in the life of the nation and government. Based on the author's own research in half a dozen languages over nearly a decade, and synthesising a vast quantity of secondary material, it describes not just battles and cruises but how the Navy was manned, how it was supplied with timber, hemp and iron, how its men (and sometimes women) were fed, and above all how it was financed and directed. It was during the century and a half covered by this book that the successful organising of these last three victualling, money and management took the Navy to the heart of the British state. It is the great achievement of the book to show how completely integrated and mutually dependent Britain and the Navy then became.

For nearly two hundred years huge wooden warships called ships of the line dominated war at sea and were thus instrumental in the European struggle for power and the spread of imperialism. Foremost among the great naval powers were Great Britain and France, whose advanced economies could support large numbers of these expensive ships. This book, the first joint history of these great navies, offers a uniquely impartial and comprehensive picture of the two forces their shipbuilding programs, naval campaigns, and battles, and their wartime strategies and diplomacy. Jonathan R. Dull is the author of two award-winning histories of the French navy. Bringing to bear years of study of war and diplomacy, his book conveys the fine details and the high drama of the age of grand and decisive naval conflict. Dull delves into the seven wars that Great Britain and France, often in alliance with lesser naval powers such as Spain and the Netherlands, fought between 1688 and 1815. Viewing war as most statesmen of the time saw it as a contest of endurance he also treats the tragic side of the Franco-British wars, which shattered the greater security and prosperity the two powers enjoyed during their brief period as allies.

In 1688, Britain was successfully invaded, its army and navy unable to prevent the overthrow of the government. 1815, Britain was the strongest power in the world with the most succesful navy and the largest empire. Britain had not only played a prominent role in the defeat of Napoleonic France, but had also established itself as a significant power in South Asia and was unsurpassed in her global reach. Her military strength was related to, and based on, one of the best systems of public finance in the world and held a strong trade position. This illustrated text assesses the military aspects of this shift, concentrating on the multi-faceted nature of the British military effort.; Topics covered include: the rise of Britain; an analysis of military infrastructure; warfare in the British Isles; conventional warfare in Europe; trans- oceanic warfare with European powers; the challenge of America; and the challenge of Revolutionary and Napoleonic France.

First published in 1990, this title examines British defence policy from 1688 onwards; the year in which Britain was successfully invaded for the final time, and which marked a generation of warfare that lasted until 1714, during which Britain came to be known as a major European power. David French considers the strategic alliances that formed and changed throughout the period, and tests his hypotheses in light of the varying paradigms of war, and British wartime and peacetime practices. The ways in which the needs of both the army and the navy have been balanced over time are analysed, with particular attention paid to how parliament allotted money and resources to each. Wars under discussion include the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. A detailed and critical title, this reissue will be of great value to history students studying Early Modern diplomacy, with a particular emphasis on the strategic development of British warfare and policy, and the place of Britain within the European power structure.

Battles, blockades, convoys, raids: An “impressive” account of how the indefatigable British Royal Navy ensured Napoleon’s ultimate defeat (International Journal of Military History). Horatio Nelson’s celebrated victory over the French at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 presented Britain with an unprecedented command of the seas. Yet the Royal Navy’s role in the struggle against Napoleonic France was far from over. This groundbreaking book asserts that, contrary to the accepted notion that the Battle of Trafalgar essentially completed the Navy’s task, the war at sea actually intensified over the next decade, ceasing only with Napoleon’s final surrender. In this dramatic account of naval contributions between 1803 and 1815, James Davey offers original and exciting insights into the Napoleonic wars and Britain’s maritime history. Encompassing Trafalgar, the Peninsular War, the War of 1812, the final campaign against Napoleon, and many lesser known but likewise crucial moments, the book sheds light on the experiences of individuals high and low, from admiral and captain to sailor and cabin boy. The cast of characters also includes others from across Britain—dockyard workers, politicians, civilians—who made fundamental contributions to the war effort, and in so doing, both saved the nation and shaped Britain’s history.