Empire Of The Seas

Product Description

The year 1588 marked a turning point in our national story. Victory over the Armada transformed us into a seafaring nation & it sparked a myth that one day would become a reality
- that the nation's new destiny, the source of her future wealth & power lay out on the oceans. This book tells the story of how the navy expanded from a tiny force to become the most complex industrial enterprise on earth; how the need to organise it laid the foundations of our civil service & our economy; & how it transformed our culture, our sense of national identity & our democracy. Exploring deeper into the themes raised by the television series, Brian Lavery documents the progress of the Royal Navy from late Tudor times to the First World War. He discusses its relationship with the state & the British people, analyses the tactics & initiative that created dramatic victories, & the failures and incompetence that lead to disaster. Rising through the administrative brilliance of Pepys, Anson & Lord Sandwich & the inspirational leadership of Blake, Hawke & Nelson, the Royal Navy became the most powerful force in the world. But the conviction of Britain's navy as undisputed ruler of the waves encouraged a sterility in strategic thinking & complacency during the 'long peace' of the nineteenth century leading to the bruising experience of the Battle of Jutl&.