Seapower States: Maritime Culture, Continental Empires and the Conflict That Made the Modern World
One of the most eminent historians of our age investigates the extraordinary success of five small maritime states
 
“A superb survey of the perennial opportunities and risks in what Herman Melville called ‘the watery part of the world.’”—William Anthony Hay, Wall Street Journal

 
Andrew Lambert, author of The Challenge: Britain Against America in the Naval War of 1812—winner of the prestigious Anderson Medal—turns his attention to Athens, Carthage, Venice, the Dutch Republic, and Britain, examining how their identities as “seapowers” informed their actions and enabled them to achieve success disproportionate to their size.
 
Lambert demonstrates how creating maritime identities made these states more dynamic, open, and inclusive than their lumbering continental rivals. Only when they forgot this aspect of their identity did these nations begin to decline. Recognizing that the United States and China are modern naval powers—rather than seapowers—is essential to understanding current affairs, as well as the long-term trends in world history. This volume is a highly original “big think” analysis of five states whose success—and eventual failure—is a subject of enduring interest, by a scholar at the top of his game.
1128148253
Seapower States: Maritime Culture, Continental Empires and the Conflict That Made the Modern World
One of the most eminent historians of our age investigates the extraordinary success of five small maritime states
 
“A superb survey of the perennial opportunities and risks in what Herman Melville called ‘the watery part of the world.’”—William Anthony Hay, Wall Street Journal

 
Andrew Lambert, author of The Challenge: Britain Against America in the Naval War of 1812—winner of the prestigious Anderson Medal—turns his attention to Athens, Carthage, Venice, the Dutch Republic, and Britain, examining how their identities as “seapowers” informed their actions and enabled them to achieve success disproportionate to their size.
 
Lambert demonstrates how creating maritime identities made these states more dynamic, open, and inclusive than their lumbering continental rivals. Only when they forgot this aspect of their identity did these nations begin to decline. Recognizing that the United States and China are modern naval powers—rather than seapowers—is essential to understanding current affairs, as well as the long-term trends in world history. This volume is a highly original “big think” analysis of five states whose success—and eventual failure—is a subject of enduring interest, by a scholar at the top of his game.
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Seapower States: Maritime Culture, Continental Empires and the Conflict That Made the Modern World

Seapower States: Maritime Culture, Continental Empires and the Conflict That Made the Modern World

by Andrew Lambert
Seapower States: Maritime Culture, Continental Empires and the Conflict That Made the Modern World

Seapower States: Maritime Culture, Continental Empires and the Conflict That Made the Modern World

by Andrew Lambert

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Overview

One of the most eminent historians of our age investigates the extraordinary success of five small maritime states
 
“A superb survey of the perennial opportunities and risks in what Herman Melville called ‘the watery part of the world.’”—William Anthony Hay, Wall Street Journal

 
Andrew Lambert, author of The Challenge: Britain Against America in the Naval War of 1812—winner of the prestigious Anderson Medal—turns his attention to Athens, Carthage, Venice, the Dutch Republic, and Britain, examining how their identities as “seapowers” informed their actions and enabled them to achieve success disproportionate to their size.
 
Lambert demonstrates how creating maritime identities made these states more dynamic, open, and inclusive than their lumbering continental rivals. Only when they forgot this aspect of their identity did these nations begin to decline. Recognizing that the United States and China are modern naval powers—rather than seapowers—is essential to understanding current affairs, as well as the long-term trends in world history. This volume is a highly original “big think” analysis of five states whose success—and eventual failure—is a subject of enduring interest, by a scholar at the top of his game.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780300251487
Publisher: Yale University Press
Publication date: 03/17/2020
Pages: 424
Product dimensions: 5.10(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Andrew Lambert is Laughton Professor of Naval History at King’s College London, and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations and Maps viii

Acknowledgements xi

Preface xiv

Introduction: Seapower as Culture 1

1 Creating Seapower Identity 17

2 Constructing a Seapower: Athens, Democracy and Empire 45

3 Burning the Carthaginian Fleet 80

4 Trade, War and Ceremony: The Venetian Seapower State 110

5 'To What Great Profit Are We Opening the Sea': The Dutch Seapower State 157

6 Sea States and Overseas Empires: A Problem of Perspective 204

7 The Limits of Continental Naval Power: Absolutism, Command Economies and One-Party States 227

8 England: The Last Seapower 266

9 Seapower Today 311

Conclusion 323

Appendix: Cultural Seapowers: A Conceptual Aide-Memoire 330

Glossary 332

Notes 334

Bibliography 362

Index 373

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