Maritime Supremacy and the Opening of..., Peter Padfield
Maritime Supremacy and the Opening of..., Peter Padfield
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Maritime Supremacy and the Opening of the Western Mind
Naval campaigns that shaped the modern world, 1588-1782

Author: Peter Padfield

Narrator: James Cameron Stewart

Unabridged: 14 hr 42 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 09/14/2021


Synopsis

In the great wars of modern history, maritime powers have always prevailed over land-based empires, whether Habsburg, Napoleonic, Nazi or Soviet.

In contrast to the rigid hierarchies and centralization of land-based empires, those nations attaining mastery at sea have been distinguished by liberty, flexibility, and enterprise. The seventeenth-century Dutch were the first to achieve naval and trading dominance and, exploring the effects on daily life, industry, art and thought, finance and power politics, Peter Padfield reveals the Dutch in their golden age as the heralds of modern Western society.

The British took over the Dutch system of naval, trading, and world supremacy in the eighteenth century and were, in their turn, displaced by the United States in the twentieth. This book carries the story from the defeat of the Armada in 1588 to the American Revolutionary War and Rodney's victory.

Maritime Supremacy and the Opening of the Western Mind charts the growth of linked strengths—sea-fighting, trading, financial and constitutional—which made empires so formidable, and reveals how supremacy at sea freed thought and society itself.

About Peter Padfield

Peter Padfield is a leading naval historian and biographer. He trained for the sea as a cadet in H.M.S. Worcester, subsequently serving in the P & O Line. In 1957 he sailed under Cdr. Alan Villiers in the replica pilgrim bark, Mayflower II, from Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, where Mayflower is now preserved. Working his passage to the south Pacific he sailed among the Solomon Islands before leaving the sea and settling with his wife in Suffolk, England. His first major book, The Titanic and the Californian, defended the captain of the Californian from the charge of not going to Titanic's rescue. He subsequently turned to naval subjects, particularly great gunnery, strategy, and tactics. His biography of the U-boat admiral, Karl Donitz, led him to a portrayal of submarine warfare in War Beneath the Sea, and to biographies of other leading Nazis, Heinrich Himmler and Rudolf Hess, subsequently translated into many European languages. Latterly he has returned to naval history, attempting to bring it out of the specialist closet and present it as a major determinant of the modern world in a trilogy whose second volume, Maritime Power and the Struggle for Freedom, won the 2003 Mountbatten Maritime Prize.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Bill on June 05, 2017

Outstanding review of the political events leading to conflict, and perhaps more interesting, the strategic and tactical decisions affecting naval engagements. Each of us has our own specific areas of interest, but I found the background on the logistical supply of the Armada fascinating. Quiberon B......more

Goodreads review by Ayden on August 03, 2024

Padfield explores the influence of maritime power and trade on the liberalization of Western civilization through both detailed accounts of pivotal naval battles as well as fascinating explanations of the societal changes that occurred in between.......more

Goodreads review by Grant on October 24, 2021

Padfield draws the connections between maritime and naval power and the rise of limited government through analysis of the most important battles of the Age of Sail and their political, cultural, and economic impacts.......more

Goodreads review by Shaun on February 15, 2023

Such a well written, knowledgeable book. Lots of details that I was unaware of, and lots of parallels to modern times. I'm looking forward to reading the next two books in this series.......more

Goodreads review by Michael DiCianna on October 20, 2024

Great information, but a lackluster thesis.......more