The War For All The Oceans
From Nelson at the Nile to Napoleon at Waterloo
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- £4.99
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Husband and wife Roy Adkins (Nelson's Trafalgar) and Lesley Adkins (Empires of the Plain) team up for this vivid account of the naval campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars (1798 1815). Contending that the wars were won at sea, the authors trace the nautical action from the Battle of the Nile (1798), where a British fleet "destroyed the French fleet" and stranded Napoleon's army in Egypt, to the decisive Battle of Trafalgar (1805), where the British overwhelmed a combined French and Spanish fleet supporting an invasion of Britain. The narrative concludes with an account of the protracted "war of attrition" that followed Trafalgar and ended with Bonaparte's final defeat at Waterloo in 1815. This low-grade conflict coastal blockades and shipping raids caught neutral nations like the United States "in the middle" and ultimately led the Americans to declare war on England in 1812 a conflict that was "never more than a sideshow" for the British. This rollicking saga ranges from the Mediterranean to the Indies, East and West, and ends with Britain in control of "the world's sea lanes" the foundation for her future empire. Meticulously researched drawing on extensive and intimate eyewitness accounts from contemporary journals, letters and memoirs this lively narrative will delight students and fans of nautical history.
