Seafarers, Men of War - Hardcover

Howarth, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1844471195 ISBN 13: 9781844471195

Publisher: Time Life Value, 2006

Synopsis

"Whosoever commands the sea commands trade; whosoever commands the trade of the world commands the riches of the world, and consequently the world itself." Thus did Sir Walter Raleigh in the early 1600s set down a doctrine that would alter the course of Western civilization - and for centuries serve as a virtual declaration of war on the high seas. For almost a hundred years after the heroic burst of exploration at the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th Centuries, Spain and Portugal ruled the world's oceans, harvesting without challenge the riches of their newly discovered lands. In 1580 Spain conquered Portugal and became sole lord of the seas. But by the turn of the 17th Century, two new maritime powers had emerged to drive the old order into decline. In England there was an upsurge in trade and exploration in the 1500s as the fetters of the Dark Ages fell away. Inevitably there were clashes with Spain, and out of them grew ever more heavily armed English warships designed to contest Spain's. About the same time, the industrious and ambitious Dutch were sending forth fleets of armed merchantmen to wrest African and Far Eastern markets from the Spanish Crown.

Gradually, the Dutch too developed their own sailing warships to attack the Spanish and protect their own convoys. Soon these two aggressive imperial powers would be at each others throats. Their weapons would be the new warships - the men-of-war - that they were now forming into great national Navies.

Edition details

• Publisher: Time Life Value
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1844471195
• ISBN 13: 9781844471195
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 176