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This series includes accounts of sea and land campaigns by eye-witnesses and contemporaries, as well as landmark studies of their social, political and economic impacts. The series focuses mainly on the period from the Renaissance to the end of the Victorian era. It includes major concentrations of material on the American and French revolutions, the British campaigns in South Asia and nineteenth-century conflicts in Europe, such as the Peninsular and Crimean Wars. Although many of the accounts are semi-official narratives by senior officers and their relatives, the series also includes alternative viewpoints from dissenting leaders, servicemen in the lower ranks and military wives and civilians caught up in the theatre of war.

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172 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Naval and Military History

Page 9 of 9

The Life and Services of Horatio Viscount Nelson
  • From His Lordship’s Manuscripts
  • Volume 1
  • James Stanier Clarke, John McArthur
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    25 November 2010
    First published in:
    1840
  • Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (1758–1805) is considered one of the greatest naval commanders in British history, having establishing Britain's naval dominance with victories during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. His death at the height of the Battle of Trafalgar ensured that his memory became revered. These volumes, first published in 1809 (and reissued here from the 1840 edition), contain Nelson's official biography, published with the blessing of his family. The authors Clarke and McArthur trace Nelson's life from his childhood until his dramatic death at Trafalgar, using Nelson's own reminiscences, his letters to his wife, and interviews and statements from close friends and colleagues. This biography remains a valuable source for Nelson's early career and character, and provides insights into how the cult of Nelson was created and sustained. Volume 1 covers Nelson's life up to 1797.

The Naval History of Great Britain
  • A New Edition, with Additions and Notes, and an Account of the Burmese War and the Battle of Navarino
  • Volume 4
  • William James
  • Edited by Frederick Chamier
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    17 February 2011
    First published in:
    1859
  • William James (1780–1827) was a lawyer and naval historian best known for this magisterial history of the Royal Navy between 1793 and 1827. James began to research the role of the Royal Navy in the Revolutionary Wars, publishing five volumes between 1822 and 1824. This was expanded up to 1827 in later editions. In one of the most comprehensive histories of the Navy in the Napoleonic Wars ever published, James' rigorous research methodology using various contemporary sources provides detailed descriptions of the operations of the Royal Navy in the period. Fleet campaigns and minor engagements are discussed, with technical and tactical details of ships and battles also provided. These volumes (here reissued from the 1859 edition) remain an invaluable source of information for the history of the Royal Navy during this fascinating period. Volume 4 covers 1805–1808 and includes the Battle of Trafalgar.

History of the Pirates Who Infested the China Sea from 1807 to 1810
  • Yung-Lun Yüan
  • Edited and translated by Karl Friedrich Neumann
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    07 July 2011
    First published in:
    1831
  • Piracy on the coast of China in the nineteenth century inflicted chaos and serious economic damage, with large mobs of bandits attacking coastal villages as well as wreaking havoc at sea. Yung-lun Yüan's account of this period, published in Chinese in 1830 and in English in 1831, is a colourful depiction of the pirate scourge. Interwoven with the narratives of the pirates themselves as well as those of the courageous civilians who resisted them, the text describes the organisation and rules of the pirates as well as the authorities' attempts to broker peace. Also included is Sir John Dalrymple Hay's account of battling pirates in the 1840s, first published in 1849. Hay (1821–1912) describes his tenure as a British naval commander struggling to suppress piracy. As well as providing a naval perspective on the pirate problem, Hay recounts numerous anecdotes of daring and heroism on the seas.

The Life of Nelson
  • The Embodiment of the Sea Power of Great Britain
  • Volume 1
  • Alfred Thayer Mahan
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    17 February 2011
    First published in:
    1897
  • Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840–1914) was an American naval officer, considered one of the most important naval strategists of the nineteenth century. In 1885 he was appointed Lecturer in Naval History and Tactics at the US Naval War College, and served as President of the institution between 1886 and 1889. In this highly influential two-volume biography, first published in 1897, Mahan focuses on Nelson's professional life and provides a detailed historical and tactical analysis of his naval career based on Nelson's personal correspondence. Through this analysis Mahan also explains and explores his concept of 'sea power', a strategic concept which was closely studied and subsequently adopted by early twentieth-century military powers. His book provides both a fascinating discussion of Nelson's achievements and an invaluable analysis of the most influential developments in naval strategy almost a century after Nelson's death. Volume 1 covers Nelson's career up to 1799.

Hand-book to the Naval and Military Resources of the Principal European Nations
  • Lascelles Wraxall
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    10 March 2011
    First published in:
    1856
  • Sir Frederick Charles Lascelles Wraxall (1828–1865) was a historian, novelist and translator (from French and German) who spent most of his short adult life in mainland Europe. Amongst his many publications was the 1862 authorised translation of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. He served as assistant commissary at Kerch in the Crimea in 1856 and afterwards maintained a strong interest in military matters, on which he published several books. This volume, first published in 1856, outlines the military capability of thirteen European nations at the end of the Crimean War. Wraxall uses German military intelligence documents to describe the organisation and strength of the armies and navies of countries including Britain, France, Russia, Turkey, Prussia, Austria and Belgium. Containing detailed descriptions of the numbers of infantry, cavalry, engineers, artillery, ships and crew for each country, the book remains a valuable resource for military historians interested in mid-nineteenth-century Europe.

The Influence of Sea Power upon the French Revolution and Empire, 1793–1812
  • Volume 1
  • A. T. Mahan
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    02 December 2010
    First published in:
    1893
  • Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840–1914) was an American naval officer, considered one of the most important naval strategists of the nineteenth century. In 1885 he was appointed Lecturer in Naval History and Tactics at the US Naval War College, and became President of the institution between 1886–1889. These volumes, first published in 1893, contain Mahan's detailed analysis of British and French naval strategy during the French Revolution, defined as lasting between 1793–1812. Mahan recounts chronologically the major naval battles and campaigns between Britain and France and their allies, analysing the different naval strategies used and discussing Britain's successful naval tactics. Mahan was the first naval strategist to explore the importance of controlling and protecting commercial shipping and preventing blockades of ports during warfare, tactics which he fully explores using historical examples from the French Revolution in these volumes. Volume 1 covers the period 1793–1801.

The Influence of Sea Power upon the French Revolution and Empire, 1793–1812
  • Volume 2
  • A. T. Mahan
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    02 December 2010
    First published in:
    1893
  • Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840–1914) was an American naval officer, considered one of the most important naval strategists of the nineteenth century. In 1885 he was appointed Lecturer in Naval History and Tactics at the US Naval War College, and became President of the institution between 1886–1889. These volumes, first published in 1893, contain Mahan's detailed analysis of British and French naval strategy during the French Revolution, defined as lasting between 1793–1812. Mahan recounts chronologically the major naval battles and campaigns between Britain and France and their allies, analysing the different naval strategies used and discussing Britain's successful naval tactics. Mahan was the first naval strategist to explore the importance of controlling and protecting commercial shipping and preventing blockades of ports during warfare, tactics which he fully explores using historical examples from the French Revolution in these volumes. Volume 2 covers the period 1801–1812.

War at Sea Under Queen Anne 1702–1708
  • John Hely Owen
  • Published online:
    05 July 2011
    Print publication:
    19 August 2010
    First published in:
    1938
  • Under Queen Anne, who reigned from 1702 to 1714, the expansion of the British Fleet begun by William III continued, with her husband Prince George as Lord High Admiral. The major naval battles of her reign were decisive in maintaining Britain's supremacy over France in the War of Spanish Succession. This book, first published in 1938, is an account of the Navy's role in Queen Anne's wars against France by Winston Churchill's naval historical adviser John Owen (1890–1970) whose own experience in the Navy equipped him to write from an insider's perspective about daily life and strategic decisions. He provides lively descriptions of the important figures of the age, drawn from extensive research in the original records. The book is illustrated with maps and portraits. It includes appendices explaining the Navy's organisation and listing facts and figures about the ships then active.

The English Navy in the Revolution of 1688
  • Edward Barzillai Powley
  • Published online:
    10 November 2010
    Print publication:
    19 August 2010
    First published in:
    1928
  • First published in 1928, this was one of the first in-depth studies to investigate why the English navy was unable to prevent William of Orange's invasion in 1688. Edward B. Powley argues that a combination of bad strategic choices as well as adverse weather, William's so-called 'Protestant wind', resulted in the Navy failing to stop the Dutch Fleet landing, and ultimately enabled William to take possession of the country and crown. In a detailed chronological narrative of naval events between the spring of 1687 and February 1689, Powley charts the key decisions as documented in the archival record, focusing particularly on the Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Dartmouth's surviving papers and what they reveal about the input of King James II to naval affairs.

Naval and Military Essays
  • Being Papers read in the Naval and Military Section at the International Congress of Historical Studies, 1913
  • Julian Stafford Corbett
  • Published online:
    07 September 2010
    Print publication:
    20 July 2009
    First published in:
    1914
  • As Europe was poised on the cusp of the Great War (1914–1918), issues of national defence were of paramount concern. Despite the importance to German security of concentrating its resources on continental defence within Europe, the preceding years had been steeped in the cult of the navy. Germany's daunting pursuit of Weltpolitik had raised a serious challenge to traditional British naval hegemony. At issue were the future course of international relations, economic development and, crucially, the balance of power on both regional and global scales. Published in early 1914, some papers in this volume reviewed historic contributions of the British navy, offering a timely opportunity to formulate a better understanding of how the navy might be expected to perform in the future. The contents are evenly divided between essays on naval and military history, with the value of such historical analyses to contemporary officers being an explicit theme throughout.

Select Naval Documents
  • Edited by Harold Winter Hodges, Edward Arthur Hughes
  • Published online:
    07 September 2010
    Print publication:
    20 July 2009
    First published in:
    1922
  • This illustrated book, first published in 1936, is an edited compilation of source material drawn from some 145 diverse naval documents covering a period of more than three centuries from 1497 to 1805. The editors' intention was to smooth the approach to a highly technical subject, and to use original documents to give concrete illustrations of the limiting conditions of sea warfare, thus removing some common misconceptions such as that the big Spanish ships of the Armada were defeated by cockleshells manned by volunteers. Subjects include the seaworthiness of ships in Elizabethan times; Drake's views on strategy; sea punishments; Kempenfelt's 1782 design for a signal book; victuals; the battle of Kentish Knock (1562); the 1803 defences against invasion; Nelson's watch off Toulon; the coppering of ships; and many other topics giving insights into the history and development of the British navy.

Parliament and the Army 1642–1904
  • John Stuart Omond
  • Published online:
    07 September 2010
    Print publication:
    20 July 2009
    First published in:
    1933
  • J. S. Omond's study of 1933 documents the historically problematic relationship between Parliament and the Army. Providing an overview of the 260 years which elapsed from the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642 until the establishment of the Army Council in 1904, the book describes the phases through which the problem of political control of the army has passed. Omond draws upon a wide variety of historical material including biographies, memoirs, letters, parliamentary debates and newspaper articles in addressing how and why this relationship has remained of principal concern since the reign of Charles I. An Epilogue takes account of events from 1904 to the book's publication in 1933, and a chronological table summarises the key historical and political events.

Page 9 of 9