Sumptuous storytelling recreates the first worldwide war.Known as
"The Great War" until World War I, the Napoleonic Wars embroiled
Britain and other nations in conflict with France for a decade
(1804 - 15), as Napoleon Bonaparte sought to create an empire in
Europe. In this vivid history, husband-and-wife historians Roy
(Nelson's Trafalgar, 2005) and Lesley (Empires of the Plain, 2004)
take us from the audacious, supposedly invincible Napoleon's
disastrous effort to conquer Egypt to his complete military defeat
at Waterloo and England's rise as supreme naval power. Besides
recounting major sea battles (involving Spain, Denmark, Russia,
Turkey and other nations), the authors illuminate aspects of life
at war and on the home fronts, quoting from diaries, letters and
journals. We see Britain wild over Horatio Nelson after his defeat
of the French at Trafalgar ("Joy, joy, joy to you, brave, gallant,
immortalized Nelson!" wrote Countess Spencer in London); sailors
suffering from lack of food and water and the scourges of smallpox
and yellow fever; the brutal recruiting (impressments) of seamen to
build the British navy; and the imprisonment of more than 100,000
captured Frenchmen in cramped British hulks that became tourist
attractions. In that low-tech era, information about the enemy was
hard to come by, communication difficult (even within one's own
fleet) and hysteria rampant: Many British wondered whether the
relentless Napoleon (seen only in drawings) was a creature from
hell. American inventor Robert Fulton figures in the story, working
for the British under the code name "Mr. Francis" to devise torpedo
bombs used against anchored French ships. While charting the bitter
rivalry between Britain and France, the Adkins also show how
British trade restrictions plunged the young United States into the
War of 1812, which destroyed Washington, D.C., but ranked as a mere
sideshow for England.This real-life action will delight fans of
fictional heroes from the same war - Horatio Hornblower (C.S.
Forester) and Richard Sharpe (Bernard Cornwell). (Kirkus Reviews)
As France emerged from revolution, a young general named Napoleon
Bonaparte invaded Egypt, hoping next to march overland to India. It
would not happen. Britain swung her forces into action to battle
for control of the world's sea-lanes and thus all international
trade. The Battle of the Nile and then at Acre were the first
sallies in what would be fifteen years of bitter fighting. It was a
war won at sea, and by the time of Waterloo Britain had gained
control and possessed the foundations of her vast empire. Brought
vividly to life through the words and stories of the ordinary
people caught up in the conflict, this is a sweeping history of the
years of naval warfare that set the balance of power in Europe for
the following century. Taking in gallant duels, bloody battles
between huge fleets, amphibious assaults, daring coastal raids, and
the subtleties of espionage and naval intelligence, this global
conflict truly was THE WAR FOR ALL THE OCEANS.
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