Maritime Power: Naval Campaigns That Shaped the Modern World, 1788-1851

Peter Padfield has made his reputation as a naval warfare historian. His biography of Admiral Donitz is particularly worthwhile. In this study, he attempts to combine the social, political, financial, and cultural events of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, with a discussion of naval warfare. He provides an interesting evaluation of the effects of maritime supremacy on general world events along with a discussion of the effects of general world events on maritime warfare. Readers with limited background in the general history of this period may find the book somewhat choppy, as Padfield jumps back and forth from military to non-military history. However, his descrtiptions of naval events and battles remain excellent. He has a particuarly good section on the naval aspects of the War of 1812, an area often overlooked by both general and military historians. This is not for the beginner but an experienced reader will find some interesting insights.