Atlantic Wars: From the Fifteenth Century to the Age of Revolution

345 Pages·2020·40.723 MB·English

by  Geoffrey Plank

Atlantic Wars

Atlantic Wars
From the Fifteenth Century to the Age of Revolution
GEOFFREY PLANK
1
1
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Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Plank, Geoffrey Gilbert, 1960– author.
Title: Atlantic wars : from the fifteenth century to the Age of Revolution /
Geoffrey Plank.
Description: New York : Oxford University Press, 2020. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019054870 (print) | LCCN 2019054871 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780190860455 (hardback) | ISBN 9780190860479 (epub) |
ISBN 9780190860486 (electronic)
Subjects: LCSH: Military history, Modern. | Atlantic Ocean Region— History, Naval. |
Atlantic Ocean Region— History, Military. | War— History.
Classification: LCC D214 .P55 2020 (print) | LCC D214 (ebook) |
DDC 355.009182/ 10903— dc23
LC record available at https:// lccn.loc.gov/ 2019054870
LC ebook record available at https:// lccn.loc.gov/ 2019054871
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America
For Ina

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
PART ONE WARFARE AT SEA
1. Ships 15
2. Sailors 36
3. Combat at Sea 59
4. Ships and Military Power on Land 81
PART TWO WARFARE ON LAND
5. The Technology of Warfare on Land 105
6. Warriors 125
7. Horror 152
8. Slavery and Warfare on Land 177
PART THREE TRANSATLANTIC WARFARE
9. The First Phase of Atlantic Warfare, from the Fifteenth Century
to 1688 203
vii
viii Contents
10. Ocean- Spanning Wars, 1688– 1776 227
11. Revolution 252
Conclusion 274
Notes 279
Index 315
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The evening I first met my wife Ina Zweiniger- Bargielowska we arranged to take
a walk the next morning along the Niagara River downstream from the falls. The
river was spectacular, churning dramatically, but I was excited by the nineteenth-
century British fortifications on the north bank. I started talking almost inces-
santly, and certainly memorably, about the War of 1812. That was over twenty
years ago, and in the intervening years I have continued to fret about the War of
1812, early modern warfare generally, and issues of war and peace. I am obliged
not just to Ina, but to everyone who else who has humored, encouraged, and
supported me through my career.
I feel particularly indebted to Susan Ferber at Oxford University Press. After
I had been thinking about writing this book for a very long time, she made a deci-
sive intervention and convinced me to get to work in earnest in 2014. Since then,
every time I have sent her proposals, outlines, plans of action, or drafts she has
given them close attention and provided me detailed, cogent advice. I consulted
Wayne Lee as I worked out my plan for the book and his advice was invaluable.
Christian Koot and the anonymous readers of my manuscript offered impor-
tant corrections and recommendations. I presented an overview of my project
at a conference in 2015 on “The Specter of Peace in Histories of Violence” or-
ganized by Michael Goode and John Smolenski and another at the 2017 annual
gathering of the British Group of Early American Historians. I received good
advice at both sessions, and I am grateful to everyone who took part. During my
research and more recently for the final production of this book I have drawn
on the resources and staff of art collections, museums, and libraries including
the Bayeux Museum, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale
University, the Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas
at Austin, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Bodleian Libraries at the
University of Oxford, the British Library, the Cambridge University Library, the
Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, the John Carter Brown Library,
ix