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Books > History > History of specific subjects > Maritime history
A new framework contextualizes crucial international security
issues at sea in the Indo-Pacific Competition at sea is once again
a central issue of international security. Nowhere is the urgency
to address state-on-state competition at sea more strongly felt
than in the Indo-Pacific region, where freedom of navigation is
challenged by regional states’ continuous investments in naval
power, and the renewed political will to use it to undermine its
principles. The New Age of Naval Power in the Indo-Pacific provides
an original framework in which five “factors of influence”
explain how and why naval power matters in this pivotal part of the
world. An international group of contributors make the case that
these five factors draw upon a longstanding influence of naval
power on regional dynamics and impact the extent to which different
states in the region use naval power: the capacity to exert control
over sea-lanes, the capacity to deploy a nuclear deterrent at sea,
the capacity to implement the law of the sea in an advantageous
way, the ability to control marine resources, and the capacity for
technological innovation. The New Age of Naval Power in the
Indo-Pacific offers a fresh approach for academics and policy
makers seeking to navigate the complexity of maritime security and
regional affairs.
The Sunday Times bestseller 'One of the most dramatic forgotten
chapters of the war, as told in a new book by the incomparable Max
Hastings' DAILY MAIL In August 1942, beleaguered Malta was within
weeks of surrender to the Axis, because its 300,000 people could no
longer be fed. Churchill made a personal decision that at all
costs, the 'island fortress' must be saved. This was not merely a
matter of strategy, but of national prestige, when Britain's
fortunes and morale had fallen to their lowest ebb. The largest
fleet the Royal Navy committed to any operation of the western war
was assembled to escort fourteen fast merchantmen across a thousand
of miles of sea defended by six hundred German and Italian
aircraft, together with packs of U-boats and torpedo craft. The
Mediterranean battles that ensued between 11 and 15 August were the
most brutal of Britain's war at sea, embracing four
aircraft-carriers, two battleships, seven cruisers, scores of
destroyers and smaller craft. The losses were appalling: defeat
seemed to beckon. This is the saga Max Hastings unfolds in his
first full length narrative of the Royal Navy, which he believes
was the most successful of Britain's wartime services. As always,
he blends the 'big picture' of statesmen and admirals with human
stories of German U-boat men, Italian torpedo-plane crews,
Hurricane pilots, destroyer and merchant-ship captains, ordinary
but extraordinary seamen. Operation Pedestal describes catastrophic
ship sinkings, including that of the aircraft-carrier Eagle,
together with struggles to rescue survivors and salvage stricken
ships. Most moving of all is the story of the tanker Ohio,
indispensable to Malta's survival, victim of countless Axis
attacks. In the last days of the battle, the ravaged hulk was kept
under way only by two destroyers, lashed to her sides. Max Hastings
describes this as one of the most extraordinary tales he has ever
recounted. Until the very last hours, no participant on either side
could tell what would be the outcome of an epic of wartime suspense
and courage.
This book explores contemporary maritime piracy in Southeast Asia,
demonstrating the utility of using historical context in developing
policy approaches that will address the roots of this resurgent
phenomenon. The depth and breadth of historical piracy help
highlight causative factors of contemporary piracy, which are
immersed in the socio-cultural matrix of maritime-oriented peoples
to whom piracy is still a "thinkable" option. The threats to life
and property posed by piracy are relatively low, but significant
given the strategic nature of these waterways that link the Pacific
and Indian Oceans, and because piracy is emblematic of broader
issues of weak state control in the littoral states of the region.
Maritime piracy will never be completely eliminated, but with a
progressive economic and political agenda aimed at changing the
environment from which piracy is emerging, it could once again
become the exception rather than the rule.
In 1775, it seemed inconceivable that the American colonists could
overcome the overwhelming military superiority of Great Britain.
Yet the belligerent colonists were certain they could defeat the
British army they so despised. On the other hand, their one great
fear was that they would not be able to overcome the presence of
the Royal Navy. Somehow though, the colonists were able to resist
the British at sea, attract capable allies, and successfully
conclude their quest for independence. The primary focus of this
work is the period prior to 1779 before the French had come to the
aid of the fledgling American nation-when the Blue Water Patriots
confronted the Royal Navy alone, relying on little more than
ingenuity and courage. In 1775, it was inconceivable that the
American colonists could have overcome the overwhelming military
superiority of Great Britain. Yet the belligerent colonists seemed
certain that they could defeat the British army they so despised.
On the other hand, the one great fear shared by all colonists was
that they would not be able to overcome the presence of the Royal
Navy. Yet, somehow, the colonists were able to resist the British
at sea, attract capable allies to aid them, and successfully
conclude their quest for independence. The American Revolution can
safely be viewed as part of a prolonged worldwide naval conflict
between France and Britain beginning with the Glorious Revolution
in 1688 and ending with the British victory at Trafalgar in 1805
during the Napoleonic Wars. This was a period in which the armed
merchantmen of the age of trade were replaced by genuine warships
whose task was to control the sea lanes. The American Revolution
was a watershed in this regard with improved warship designs, new
technologies, improved gunpowder and communications, and innovative
tactics. Although French participation in the war for independence
was crucial, the primary focus of this work is the period before
1779, when the colonists confronted the Royal Navy alone with only
their ingenuity and courage to defend them. Every school child
knows that the American Revolution began on Lexington Green in
April, 1775, but how many are aware that in 1764 a Royal Navy
cutter, St. John, engaged in the suppression of smuggling, was
fired upon by Rhode Islanders; that in 1769, the revenue sloop
Liberty was seized and burned by the people of Newport; or that in
1772, the navy cutter Gaspee was burned in the night by armed
patriots attacking from small boats. These Blue Water Patriots
fought the first battles on the road to American independence. This
is their story.
From a brilliant Brookings Institution expert, an "important" (The
Wall Street Journal) and "penetrating historical and political
study" (Nature) of the critical role that oceans play in the daily
struggle for global power, in the bestselling tradition of Robert
Kaplan's The Revenge of Geography. For centuries, oceans were the
chessboard on which empires battled for supremacy. But in the
nuclear age, air power and missile systems dominated our worries
about security, and for the United States, the economy was largely
driven by domestic production, with trucking and railways that
crisscrossed the continent serving as the primary modes of
commercial transit. All that has changed, as nine-tenths of global
commerce and the bulk of energy trade is today linked to sea-based
flows. A brightly painted forty-foot steel shipping container
loaded in Asia with twenty tons of goods may arrive literally
anywhere else in the world; how that really happens and who
actually profits from it show that the struggle for power on the
seas is a critical issue today. Now, in vivid, closely observed
prose, Bruce Jones conducts us on a fascinating voyage through the
great modern ports and naval bases-from the vast container ports of
Hong Kong and Shanghai to the vital naval base of the American
Seventh Fleet in Hawaii to the sophisticated security arrangements
in the Port of New York. Along the way, the book illustrates how
global commerce works, that we are amidst a global naval arms race,
and why the oceans are so crucial to America's standing going
forward. As Jones reveals, the three great geopolitical struggles
of our time-for military power, for economic dominance, and over
our changing climate-are playing out atop, within, and below the
world's oceans. The essential question, he shows, is this: who will
rule the waves and set the terms of the world to come?
No further information has been provided for this title.
This edited collection re-examines the relationship between art and
the sea, reflecting growing interest in the intersections between
art and maritime history. Artists have always been fascinated by
and drawn to the sea and this book considers some of the themes and
approaches in art that have evolved as a result of this
captivation. The chapters consider how an examination of art can
provide new insights into existing knowledge of port and maritime
history, and are representative of a 'cultural turn' in port and
maritime studies, which is becoming increasingly visible. In Art
and the Sea, multiple perspectives are offered as a result of the
contributors' individual positions and methodologies: some
museological, others art historical or maritime-historical. Each
chapter proposes a new way of building upon available
interpretations of port and maritime history: whether this be to
reject, support or reconsider existing knowledge. The book as a
whole is a timely addition, therefore, to the developing body of
revisionist texts in port and maritime history. The
interdisciplinary nature of the volume relates to a current trend
for interdisciplinarity in art history and will appeal to those
with an interest in art history, geography, sociology, history and
transport / maritime studies.
The Golden Age of Piracy in China, 1520-1810 exposes readers to the
little-known history of Chinese piracy in the sixteenth to
nineteenth centuries through a short narrative and selection of
documentary evidence. In this three-hundred-year period, Chinese
piracy was unsurpassed in size and scope anywhere else in the
world. The book includes a carefully selected and wide range of
Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch, English, and Japanese sources-some
translated for the first time-to illustrate the complexity and
variety of piratical activities in Asian waters. These documents
include archival criminal cases and depositions of pirates and
victims, government reports and proclamations, memoirs of coastal
residents and pirate captives, and written and oral folklore handed
down for generations. The book also illuminates the important role
that pirates played in the political, economic, social, and
cultural transformations of early modern China and the world. An
historical perspective provides an important vantage point to
understand piracy as a recurring cyclical phenomenon inseparably
connected with the past.
This very accessible narrative...tells the story of 'the first two
important battles of 1066', Fulford Gate and Stamford Bridge, and
of the leaders of the opposing English and Norwegian factions.
CHOICE The evidence of later 12th- and 13th-century Norse sagas,
Snorri Sturlusson's Heimskringla, and the less well known Norwegian
Kings Sagas...present far more detail about the invasion and its
battles than the more widely accepted sources could possibly
allow... He places the invasion in a broad context. He outlines the
Anglo-Scandinavian nature of the English kingdom in the eleventh
century, traces the careers of the major leaders, and devotes a
chapter each to the English and Norwegian military systems. JOURNAL
OF MILITARY HISTORY (US) William the Conqueror's invasion in 1066
was not the only attack on England that year. On September 25,
1066, less than three weeks before William defeated King Harold II
Godwinson at the battle of Hastings, that same Harold had been
victorious over his other opponent of 1066, King Haraldr Hardradi
of Norway at the battle of Stamford Bridge. It was an impressive
victory, driving an invading army of Norwegians from the earldom of
Northumbria; but it was to cost Harold dear. In telling the story
of this neglected battle, Kelly DeVries traces the rise and fall of
a family of English warlords, the Godwins, as well as that of the
equally impressive Norwegian warlord Hardradi.KELLY DEVRIES is
Associate Professor, Department of History, Loyola College in
Maryland.
Ranging from cartography to poetry and decorative design to naval
warfare across several hundred years of history, students can
access the full scope of maritime history and explore new ways of
thinking about the marine past. This book explores maritime
expertise across a wide geographical scope including Asia, the Arab
world, and the Americas, ensuring that students can understand the
global impact of sea travel in the early modern period.
This volume discusses the development of governmental
proto-bureaucracy, which led to and was influenced by the inclusion
of professional agents and spies in the early modern English
government. In the government's attempts to control religious
practices, wage war, and expand their mercantile reach both east
and west, spies and agents became essential figures of empire, but
their presence also fundamentally altered the old hierarchies of
class and power. The job of the spy or agent required fluidity of
role, the adoption of disguise and alias, and education, all
elements that contributed to the ideological breakdown of social
and class barriers. The volume argues that the inclusion of the
lower classes (commoners, merchants, messengers, and couriers) in
the machinery of government ultimately contributed to the creation
of governmental proto-bureaucracy. The importance and significance
of these spies is demonstrated through the use of statistical
social network analysis, analyzing social network maps and
statistics to discuss the prominence of particular figures within
the network and the overall shape and dynamics of the evolving
Elizabethan secret service. The Eye of the Crown is a useful
resource for students and scholars interested in government,
espionage, social hierarchy, and imperial power in Elizabethan
England.
A revelatory narrative of the 538 Pennsylvania and New Jersey
privateers, privately owned ships of war some called pirates.
Manned by over 18,000 men, these privateers influenced the fight
for American independence. From the halls of Congress to the rough
waterfronts of Delaware River and Bay to the remote privateering
ports of the New Jersey coast and into the Atlantic, a stirring
portrait emerges of seaborne raiders, battles, and derring-do, as
well as incredible escapes from the great British prison ships
"vulgarly called Hell," where more than 11,000 men perished. A work
40 years in the making extracted from archives in both Europe and
America, it is a tale unrivaled by any Hollywood fiction.
This book explores perceptions of toleration and self-identity
through an analysis of otherness' real experience of Italian
travellers, Catholic missionaries and Maltese proto-journalists
within Mediterranean border-spaces. Employing a multidisciplinary
approach, which integrates the analysis of original and unpublished
archival documentation with early modern European travel
literature, the book shows how fluid subjects and border groups
adapted to new environments, often generating information that made
the Ottomans and their system of values real and dignified to an
Italian audience. The interdisciplinary combining of historical
methodology with the tools of comparative literature, anthropology
and folklore studies provides a fresh perspective on concepts of
tolerance as experienced in the early modern Mediterranean.
On the night of 14/15 April 1912, a brandnew, supposedly unsinkable
ship, the largest and most luxurious vessel in the world at the
time, collided with an iceberg and sank on her maiden voyage. Of
the 2,208 people on board, only 712 were saved. The rest either
drowned or froze to death in the icy-cold waters of the North
Atlantic. How could this 'unsinkable' vessel sink and why did so
few of those aboard survive? The authors bring the tragedy to life,
telling the story of the ship's design, construction and maiden
voyage. The stories of individuals who sailed on her, many
previously known only as names on yellowing passenger and crew
lists, are brought to light using rarely-seen accounts of the
sinking. The stories of passengers of all classes and crewmembers
alike, are explored. They tell the dramatic stories of lives lost
and people saved, of the rescue ship Carpathia, and of the
aftermath of the sinking. Never again would a large passenger liner
sail without lifeboats for all. Despite the tragedy, the sinking of
the Titanic indirectly led to untold numbers of lives being saved
due to new regulations that came into force after the tragedy.
Profusely illustrated, including many rare and unique views of the
ship and those who sailed on her, this is as accurate and
engrossing a telling of the life of the White Star Line's Titanic
and her sinking as you will read anywhere. Made special by the use
of so many rare survivor accounts from the eye witnesses to that
night to remember, the narrative places the reader in the middle of
the maiden voyage, and brings the tragic sinking to life as never
before.
Based on refractions of earlier beliefs, modern angels - at once
terrible and comforting, frighteningly other and reassuringly
beneficent - have acquired a powerful symbolic value. This
interdisciplinary study looks at how humans conversed with angels
in medieval and early modern Europe, and how they explained and
represented these conversations.
In an era when ease of travel is greater than ever, it is also easy
to overlook the degree to which voyages of the body - and mind -
have generated an outpouring of artistry and creativity throughout
the ages. Exploration of new lands and sensations is a fundamental
human experience. This volume in turn provides a stimulating and
adventurous exploration of the theme of travel from an
art-historical perspective. Topical regions are covered ranging
from the Grand Tour and colonialism to the travels of Hadrian in
ancient times and Georgia O'Keeffe's journey to the Andes; from
Vasari's Neoplatonic voyages to photographing nineteenth-century
Japan. The scholars assembled consider both imaginary travel, as
well as factual or embellished documentation of voyages. The essays
are far-reaching spatially and temporally, but all relate to how
art has documented the theme of travel in varying media across time
and as illustrated and described by writers, artists, and
illustrators. The scope of this volume is far-reaching both
chronologically and conceptually, thereby appropriately documenting
the universality of the theme to human experience.
Jack Tar to Union Jack examines the intersection between empire,
navy, and manhood in British society from 1870 to 1918. Through
analysis of sources that include courts-martial cases, sailors' own
writings, and the HMS Pinafore, Conley charts new depictions of
naval manhood during the Age of Empire, a period which witnessed
the radical transformation of the navy, the intensification of
imperial competition, the democratisation of British society, and
the advent of mass culture. Jack Tar to Union Jack argues that
popular representations of naval men increasingly reflected and
informed imperial masculine ideals in Victorian and Edwardian
Britain. Conley shows how the British Bluejacket as both patriotic
defender and dutiful husband and father stood in sharp contrast to
the stereotypic image of the brave but bawdy tar of the Georgian
navy. This book will be essential reading for students of British
imperial history, naval and military history, and gender studies.
-- .
Worldwide maritime trade has been the driver of wealth-creation,
knowledge-collection, social, political and economic progress and
although some historians have shown that from the 15th century,
Nick Collins shows it predates the end of the Ice Age when the
Indian Ocean was the centre of long-haul voyages from east Africa
to the Americas. It demonstrates the centrality of the Indian
subcontinent. Meaningful trade gradually penetrated the
Mediterranean, resulting in more famous civilisations including
Phoenicians, Egyptians, Minoans and Greeks. How they and Hittite,
Mittani etc are related is explained. How it collapsed in Europe in
the 5th-7th centuries but continued in Asia concludes the story. It
is based on huge reading with an attractive wring style, full of
fascinating insights from an author with life-long experience in
international shipping.
A comprehensive picture of the life and responsibilities of an
English medieval shipmaster. Despite a background of war, piracy,
depopulation, bullion shortages, adverse political decisions, legal
uncertainties and deteriorating weather conditions, between the
mid-fourteenth and the mid-fifteenth centuries the English merchant
shipping industry thrived. New markets were developed, voyages
became longer, ships and cargoes increased in size and value, and
an interest in ship ownership as an investment spread throughout
the community. Using a rich range of examples drawn from court and
parliamentary records, contemporary literature and the
codifications of maritime law, this book illuminates the evolving
management and commercial practices which developed to regulate the
relationships between shipowners, shipmasters, crews and shipping
merchants. It also brings to life ship performance, navigation,
seamanship, and the frequently harsh conditions on board.
In Titanic Tragedy maritime historian John Maxtone-Graham documents
the vessel's design, construction, and departure from Southampton,
her passengers' lifeboat ordeal, their Carpathia rescue, the role
of new technologies, and memorials to her crew. He describes
poignantly the performance of her eight gallant bandsmen who played
on deck to the very end; none survived. Added historical bonuses
include seven letters, ostensibly from a Titanic passenger. In
fact, they were written by one of America's most eminent
historians, Walter Lord, author of the seminal A Night to Remember
of 1955. His devastating parodies about life aboard the doomed ship
appear here in print for the first time.
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