Naval Blockades and Seapower: Strategies and Counter-Strategies, 1805-2005

by Bruce A. Elleman (Editor)

This new collection of scholarly, readable, and up-to-date essays covers the most significant naval blockades of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Here the reader can find Napoleon’s Continental Blockade of England, the Anglo-American War of 1812, the Crimean War, the American Civil War, the first Sino-Japanese War 1894-95, the Spanish-American War, the First World War, the second Sino-Japanese War 1937-45, the Second World War in Europe and Asia, the Nationalist attempt to blockade the PRC, the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, the British blockade of Rhodesia, the Falklands War, the Persian Gulf interdiction program, the PRC "missile" blockade of Taiwan in 1996, and finally Australia's recent "reverse" blockade to keep illegal aliens out of the country. The authors of each chapter address the causes of the blockade in question, its long and short-term repercussions, and the course of the blockade itself. More generally, they address the state of the literature, taking advantage of new research and new methodologies to provide something of value to both the specialist and non-specialist reader. Taken as a whole, this volume presents fresh insights into issues such as what a blockade is, why countries might choose them, which navies can and cannot make use of them, what responses lead to satisfactory or unsatisfactory conclusions, and how far-reaching their consequences tend to be. This book will be of great interest to all students and scholars of strategic studies, military history and maritime studies in particular.

Genres: History

344 pages, Hardcover

First published December 16, 2005

About the author

Bruce Allen Elleman is William V. Pratt Professor of International History at the Naval War College. He received his B.A. in 1982 at UC Berkeley, completed his M.A. and received the Harriman Institute Certificate in 1984, his Master of Philosophy in 1987, the East Asian Certificate in 1988, and his Ph.D. at Columbia University in 1993. In addition, he completed the Master of Sciences at the London School of Economics in 1985, and the Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies (with Distinction) at the U.S. Naval War College in 2004.

Reviews

[Netanella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came to this because I've been fan girling on S.C.M. Paine's lecture series, and I have had an abiding interest in naval power, especially ancient navies, since my grad school days. This set of case studies of blockades, from Napoleon to the present day, is not necessarily a fun read, but it certainly is very interesting. The case studies themselves are detailed but concise, with lots of charts, maps, and footnotes. I felt one of the best parts is the final, concluding chapter, where Elleman and Paine take all of the case studies under a comparative lens using different criteria. It's a fascinating set of studies.

[Truls Ljungström · Rating 3 out of 5]

En serie essäer om blockaders eventuella effektivitet. Knappast revolutionerande, itne dåligt.