Galleons and Galleys [Hardcover]

John Francis Guilmartin (Author)

Book Description

Series: History Of Warfare | Publication Date: March 28, 2002

The turn of the 16th century saw the start of a revolution in sea warfare--one long in the making but, once begun, remarkably swift. The driving force: gunpowder. The principal agents: galleys (long, low boats propelled principally by oars) and galleons (heavy, square rigged sailing ships). Suddenly, Europe, formerly on a technological par with India and China, dominated the waters. They crossed the Atlantic, reached America, and became world powers. A beautifully written account of the age conveys exactly how a country like Portugal could establish outposts from South America to the Pacific, how Christian fleets wrested control of the Mediterranean from the Ottoman Empire, and why the "invincible" Spanish armada met with disaster in its attempt to invade England. A vivid page-turner.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Professor Guilmartin is an authority on military history, maritime history, and the history of technology. He is an early modern europeanist whose research focuses primarily on the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. He also is interested in aerospace history and has written about the Vietnam War and the Gulf War.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Cassell (March 28, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0304352632
• ISBN-13: 978-0304352630
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,294,008 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scholarly content with coffee table production value, June 20, 2003

By 

Jeff Brown (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Galleons and Galleys (Hardcover)

This is a beautiful book, richly illustrated, so much that it seems at first glance like it belongs in the category of "coffee table" books, with nice pictures but shallow detail. Not so. The illustrations are magnificently assembled and well presented, but they accompany masterful information content. The social, political, and technological backgrounds in which the galley and galleon (and their contemporaries, the carrack, caravel, nau, etc., and successor, the ship of the line) arose and drove their evolution are set out. Examination of naval gun technology, a driving force in this progression, is here. History outside of the famous Mediterranean and English Channel scenes are here: the incursion of the Portuguese into the Indian Ocean, and the campaigns of Korea's great Yi Sun-shin. The brief episode of the Chinese navigations is mentioned, but only briefly, probably because the Chinese fought no serious naval battles and established no lasting maritime empire before their politics stifled and suppressed their fleet. For a view of naval power up to the coming of age of the northern European nation-states, this is a choice work.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An important tale of naval history, January 8, 2002

By 

John G. Sims (Centreville, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Galleons and Galleys (Hardcover)

The turn of the sixteenth century witnessed the beginning of a revolution in warfare at sea, a revolution caused by the marriage of artillery to ships capable of true oceanic navigation. As a result, the countries of Europe spread their influence across the globe and made the world we live in today. But the galleons which carried black powder and European hegemony across the seas did not spring like Athena, full blown from the brow of Zeus. They evolved from oar-driven galleys as a result of a combination of technical and historical factors which historian John F. Guilmartin examines in his latest work, Galleons and Galleys. In concise analytical chapters interspersed with case studies, he traces the history of ships and gunpowder across 350 years from the mid-Atlantic to the South China Sea. I enjoyed the way Professor Guilmartin (Ohio State University) developed his thesis, and I learned a lot about obscure actions like the War of Chioggia and Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Grand Treatment of a Fascinating Subject, January 5, 2002

By 

John G. Sims (Centreville, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Galleons and Galleys (Hardcover)

The turn of the sixteenth century witnessed the beginning of a revolution in warfare at sea, a revolution caused by the marriage of artillery to ships capable of true oceanic navigation. As a result, the countries of Europe spread their influence across the globe and made the world we live in today. But the galleons which carried black powder and European hegemony across the seas did not spring "full blown from the brow of Athena." They were the result of a combination of technical and historical factors which historian John F. Guilmartin examines in his latest work, Galleons and Galleys. In concise analytical chapters interspersed with case studies, Guilmartin traces the history of ships and gunpowder across 350 years from the mid-Atlantic to the South China Sea.

Readers familiar with Dr. Guilmartin's earlier masterpiece, Gunpowder and Galleys, will recognize the format of alternating topical chapters and battle descriptions. As with the earlier work, many of the battles may be unfamiliar to lay readers like myself, but Guilmartin does an impressive job of putting the whole picture together.