Maritime Supremacy and the Opening of the Western Mind Naval Campaigns That Shaped the Modern World

by Padfield, Peter

• ISBN13: 9781585671519
• ISBN10: 1585671517
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-04-01
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams

Summary

In the great wars of modern history, maritime powers have always prevailed over land-based empires. This extraordinary book charts the growth of these powers in various western countries while revealing the way in which supremacy at sea freed thought and society itself. As noted historian Peter Padfield demonstrates, those nations attaining mastery at sea have been distinguished by liberty, flexibility, and enterprise, a historical lesson of burning relevance today. Maritime Supremacydetails the struggles of the first supreme maritime powers of the modern age, the Dutch and the British, and ends with the emergence of the ultimate successor, the United States world power was won. Immersing the reader in the drama of events, including riveting great sea battles, Padfield challenges our view of the evolution of today's world. "Outstanding . . . offers up naval campaigns and sea battles as vivid as any you will find in Patrick O'Brian." (John Lehman, former secretary of the US Navy, The Wall Street Journal) "[Padfield's] comprehension of the context and his natural, understandable absorption in the details are expressed in fine writing." (Stephen Howarth, Naval History)

Author Biography

Peter Padfield, leading naval and military historian, is the author of many works of naval and military history including, most recently, War Beneath the Sea, and Himmler: Reichsf++hrer SS, Hess.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	vii
Maps and Diagrams	ix
Acknowledgements	xi
Introduction	1	(6)
The Prehistory of Modern Maritime Power	7	(13)
The Spanish Armada, 1588	20	(37)
The Downs, 1639	57	(11)
The Dutch Golden Age	68	(19)
Sole Bay, 1672	87	(32)
The `Glorious Revolution', and Beachy Head, 1690	119	(22)
Barfleur/La Hougue, 1692	141	(16)
Malaga, 1704	157	(13)
Rule, Britannia	170	(18)
Finisterre, 1747	188	(9)
Quiberon Bay, 1759	197	(19)
The American Revolution	216	(22)
The War of American Independence and Chesapeake Bay, 1781	238	(33)
The Saints, 1782, and the Founding of the United States of America	271	(18)
Glossary of Nautical Terms	289	(9)
References and Notes	298	(23)
Select Bibliography	321	(9)
Index	330