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Maritime Power and the Struggle for Freedom : Naval Campaigns that Shaped the Modern World, 1788-1851

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Peter Padfield has made his reputation as a naval warfare historian. His biography of Admiral Donitz is particularly worthwhile. In this study, he attempts to combine the social, political, financial, and cultural events of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, with a discussion of naval warfare. He provides an interesting evaluation of the effects of maritime supremacy on general world events along with a discussion of the effects of general world events on maritime warfare. Readers with limited background in the general history of this period may find the book somewhat choppy, as Padfield jumps back and forth from military to non-military history. However, his descrtiptions of naval events and battles remain excellent. He has a particuarly good section on the naval aspects of the War of 1812, an area often overlooked by both general and military historians. This is not for the beginner but an experienced reader will find some interesting insights.

Contents
Illustrations
Maps and Diagrams Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 The French Revolution, 1789
2 The Terror, 1793
3 The Glorious First of June, 1794
4 St Vincent, 1797
5 Camperdown, 1797
6 The Nile, 1798
7 Copenhagen, 1801
8 Warriors and Merchants
9 Bonaparte's Army of England, 1803
10 Trafalgar, 1805
11 The Empire of the Oceans
12 The Continental Blockade
13 The American War, 1812
14 Lake Erie and Plattsburg Bay, 1813-1814
15 Napoleon's Nemesis
16 The Sceptre of the World
Glossary of Nautical Terms References and Notes
Select Bibliography
Index