England in the Seven Years' War: 1756-59

England in the Seven Years' War #1

by Julian Stafford Corbett

The Seven Years' War threw the major nations of Europe into turmoil and threatened British imperialism. England, in alliance with Prussia and Hanover, became embroiled in a duel with her old enemy France, who was envious of her empire, a duel that was fought no only on the Continent but in India, Canada, the United States and on the high seas. It was a bitter war, fought on a vast scale, and at the end of it the British Empire was greatly expanded, the prestige of her navy established and Britain ruled the waves.

Sir Julian Corbett’s seminal study of this crucial war for the future of Great Britain has long been held in high regard, a classic source for all those interested not only in the conflict itself, but in the development of the English strategy of war. Sir Julian, a civilian, exercised great influence on the Navy’s thinking for many years before the First World War. His views were often controversial in naval circles, since he defined maritime strategy as the part the fleet must play in relation to the action of the land, thus apparently subordinating naval strategy to land warfare. This did not, however, rule out the fact that the Navy could still play the decisive role, as exemplified in this superb reconstruction of the causes, waging and effect of the war that influenced the future of a large part of the world.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Military History

476 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1907

About the author

Sir Julian Stafford Corbett was a prominent British naval historian and geostrategist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, whose works helped shape the Royal Navy's reforms of that era. One of his most famous works is Some Principles of Maritime Strategy, which remains a classic among students of naval warfare.

Reviews

[Don · Rating 3 out of 5]

Corbett is primarily a historian of naval strategy and this volume is mainly interested in the actions in the Channel, the Caribbean and the St Lawrence as against Frederick's actions on the continent. The hero is Pitt, who is seen as a supreme strategist with a fully worked out 'system' for achieving victory over France, and securing English supremacy in the Americas. The exploitation of the mobility the navy gave to British military forces allowed for combined operations which moved from defensive actions, to ecentric attack, the disruption of commerce and the seizure of colonies. The character of the British empire was established during this period, from American, the West Indies, and the beginnings of colonial activity in West Africa and India.
The book is loaded with technical detail and it would have been better to have a few more maps and perhaps some diagrams of the ships involved.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

is there a volume 2?

[Lashonda Slaughter Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can tell this book is dated, but interesting.