Maritime Power and the struggle for freedom: naval campaigns that shaped the world, 1788-1857

From the Publisher: “An exploration of the significance of maritime power in shaping the western ideal of political freedom.
 
In the great wars of modern history maritime powers have always prevailed over land-based empires, whether Habsburg, Napoleonic, Nazi or Soviet. This book charts the growth of these powers in various western countries, while also revealing the way in which supremacy at sea freed thought and society itself. As Peter Padfield demonstrates, those nations attaining mastery at sea have been distinguished by liberty, flexibility and enterprise.
 
Maritime Supremacy details the struggles of the first supreme maritime powers of the modern age, the Dutch and the British, and ends with the emergence of the ultimate successor, the United States of America. Changes in society, politics, trade–including the slave trade–and in naval capability are interwoven with descriptions of the great sea battles by which world power was won.”
 
Peter Padfield is a military and naval historian