Jonathan R. Dull Knihy

Focusing on the interplay between military strategy and diplomacy, the author examines how the French navy was crucial in aiding American independence. He highlights the significance of long-range naval requirements in France's decision to support the colonists and explores how naval rivalry escalated from limited assistance to full-scale war. The narrative emphasizes the influence of military considerations on French diplomacy, particularly in a context where military officers were not directly involved in decision-making, yet their needs shaped diplomatic actions.

This accessible and highly readable account navigates the intricacies of the British and French wars and both navies, their shipbuilding programs, naval campaigns and battles and their strategies and diplomacy.

For nearly two hundred years huge wooden warships called “ships of the line” dominated war at sea and were thus instrumental in the European struggle for power and the spread of imperialism. Foremost among the great naval powers were Great Britain and France, whose advanced economies could support large numbers of these expensive ships. This book, the first joint history of these great navies, offers a uniquely impartial and comprehensive picture of the two forces—their shipbuilding programs, naval campaigns, and battles, and their wartime strategies and diplomacy. Jonathan R. Dull is the author of two award-winning histories of the French navy. Bringing to bear years of study of war and diplomacy, his book conveys the fine details and the high drama of the age of grand and decisive naval conflict. Dull delves into the seven wars that Great Britain and France, often in alliance with lesser naval powers such as Spain and the Netherlands, fought between 1688 and 1815. Viewing war as most statesmen of the time saw it—as a contest of endurance—he also treats the tragic side of the Franco-British wars, which shattered the greater security and prosperity the two powers enjoyed during their brief period as allies.

an exploration of key turning points leading up to, during, and following the Revolutionary War that altered the trajectory of history