To Rule the Waves : How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World

Rating:
Summary: Engages the reader most closely
Review: A bracing and inspiring history of the Royal Navy, from Renaissance times through the Falklands war to the present.

Herman could have started his tale even earlier. The Anglo-Saxon chronicle has an account of a navy assembled by Ethelred the Unready to fight the Vikings. But several of the ships were commandeered by rogue captains and used to plunder the east English coast, and later the fleet was abandoned altogether, much to the chronicler's disgust. But this was before there was properly a Britain at all, so maybe that's why he didn't include it.

Though he of necessity hits only the highlights of the Royal Navy's glorious history, each section is satisfyingly thrilling and illuminating. The recreated battles scenes, such as Trafalgar and Jutland are especially well done. Little surprises abound. At Trafalgar, Nelson's famous signal, "England expects every man will do his duty" was met with puzzlement and exasperation. "I wish Nelson would stop signaling," groused one captain. "We know well enough what to do."

By the beginning of the 20th century, the Navy's reputation was legend. Here's a fair-use excerpt, showing the Germans' reaction at Jutland as the British fleet turned into a battle line formation:

"But as Scheer gazed out at the flashing fire along the horizon, he saw something else. he saw before him the entire history of the British navy, a fighting force with an unequaled reputation for invicibility in battle and bravery under fire. "The English fleet," he wrote later, "had the advantage of looking back on a hundred years of proud tradition which must have given every man a sense of superiority based on the great deeds of the past." His own navy's fighting tradition was less than two years old. At that fateful moment, Scheer was confronting not John Jellicoe but the ghosts of Nelson, Howe, Rodney, Drake, and the rest; and he backed down."

The Royal Navy's performance in the Falklands war earns respect, especially for the Navy official that insisted the fleet be deployed in the first place. But the action was not glorious, as the British ships, victims of decades of corner-cutting construction, were battered by the quickly-infamous Exocet anti-ship missiles. Indeed, had the Argentinian junta waited a few years longer, the British aircraft carriers would have been scrapped, and the Navy would have been unable to attempt the mission at all.

The years from WWII to the Falklands are passed over as a dark age of neglect, retreat, and decay. Yet even in these years the Navy introduced innovations, such as the steam catapult for aircraft carriers, which were adopted by other navies.

The most educational parts of the book are the bits describing the Navy's influence on world affairs. Its role in creating and uniting Britain's empire, and creating the anglophone world is obvious enough. And its suppression of the slave trade is arguably the single greatest use of military force for good in peacetime in the 19th century. But I had never considered the idea that Herman advances, that fall of the Argentinian junta after the Falklands war gave hope to democrats elsewhere in Latin America, and hastened its democratization in the following decades.

Of course the Royal Navy was not invincible. Its defeat in 1781 by the French helped secure American independence. But in Britain's times of direst danger, it has always been equal to the moment. _To Rule The Waves_ is a great telling of its story.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting history of the Royal Navy
Review: According to Arthur Herman, the British were able to defeat the Spanish and the French by cutting off their exports and imports. Sir Francis Drake and others severly damaged the Spanish economy by interrupting the flow of silver and gold from South America. The English stopped the French in the Seven Years War by using the Navy to takeover France's colonial possessions in the Americas.The Royal Navy also was able to defeat Napolean by breaking down his Continental System through blockading the whole of Europe. Herman also stated that the Royal Navy was able to promote nineteenth century values by stopping the slave trade and piracy while helping Greece and the newly independent South American countries achieve their goals of self determination. Finally, Herman believes that the main reason the Royal Navy decayed in the twentieth century was due to a lack of funding. Although this book is very readable, Herman makes significant errors in his book. In his analysis of the Napoleonic wars, Herman asserts that naval power was cheaper than land power and thereby England could retain its system of a low taxed and decentralized state. But the British historian Nial Ferguson points out that the British government during the Napoleonic era raised taxes significantly and became more centralized. Also Herman seems to believe that seapower alone could win wars, but in the Seven Years and Napoleonic Wars, Britain was allied with major European land powers, and in the War for Independence, which it lost, and in the near defeat of the Boer War, Britain was allied with no continental nations. Plus Herman's contention that the British Navy suffered in the Second World War due to a lack of funding ignores the fact that the British were preparing for another Jutland, and didn't pay enough attention to the advances in submarine and air warfare. Despite these major weaknesses, Herman has written an informative book that is very readable.

Rating:
Summary: Splendid One Volume History of the British Navy
Review: Arthur Herman's superb one volume history of Great Britain's Royal Navy, "To Rule the Waves" describes how Great Britain created the modern world order via its navy. Herman covers the navy's history from its hazy beginnings in the Elizabethan Age through the sixty-plus year long epic struggle between Britain and France in the 18th and early 19th centuries, both 20th Century world wars, and finally, the brief Falklands war back in 1982. He describes how the navy evolved into the world's policeman in the 19th Century, suppressing slavery (an ironic task since it owed its origins to the slave trade), promoting free trade via freedom of the seas, and unite Britain's far flung empire through fleets of battleships, cruisers, and especially, gunboats, henc the term "gunboat diplomacy". Although he covers familiar ground such as the careers of Hawkins, Drake, Cook, and especially, Nelson, Herman also reveals the important work of Samuel Pepys and Admiral George Anson in transforming the Royal Navy from a motley assemblage of privateer warships to a very effective, efficient and professional fighting force (He also offers fascinating glimpses of other important, but largely forgotten, civilians and officers responsible for the navy's successes as well as failures.). He also sheds light on the British Navy's 19th Century post-Napoleonic evolution from a purely military force designed for great sea battles to one used brilliantly for cartographic and other scientific purposes (He shows why it wasn't an accident that Charles Darwin sailed aboard a Royal Navy research vessel; however, I wish the author would have devoted as much attention to the early 1870's mission of HMS Challenger, perhaps the world's first military oceanographic research vessel, as he has to Darwin and HMS Beagle.). Although this volume isn't quite perfect, with occasional errors of omission and fact, it is nonetheless the finest one volume history I've read on one of the world's greatest military forces, well told by the author in a brisk, entertaining style.

Rating:
Summary: The rise and fall of the Royal Navy
Review: Overall this is an interesting historical account covering the British Royal Navy from the 16th century to its last gasp in the Falklands. It ties things together historically, and intersperses accounts of naval action with discussion of the governments and politics of the different time periods. The author notes that many battles were decided by weather, disease, and/or inept leadership.

It is difficult to sympathize with the men who were with Hawkins. They had attacked a village in African, killing most of the inhabitants, and carrying off the survivors to sell into slavery. When the Spanish attacked Hawkins, killing many of his men and condemning captives to serve as galley slaves, it was a form of justice. Drake comes across as somewhat inept, attacking Spanish ports or treasure caravans without providing means to carry off the silver bars (he seemed to ignore the weight of silver when he planned his misadventures). The beginnings of the Royal Navy seem to be rooted in officially sanctioned slave trading and piracy. There was a prevailing attitude in Europe that native populations were inferior and available for exploitation, with the church parceling out territories like they owned the world.

The book covers main events involving the Royal Navy, but skims by some actions while digressing into discussions of such things as Bligh and the Bounty. It perhaps uses rose colored glasses in looking at life before the mast, and ignores some notorious mutinies and also tyrants like George Vancouver. There is a sprinkling of factual errors, e.g., it has the British capturing Baltimore in the War of 1812 (they were driven off), gives John Barrow the credit for documenting the Mutiny on the Bounty (William Bligh published a full account upon his return to England), and puts Bligh's second voyage 10 years after the first (it was immediately after the first).

Some discussions in the book seem to reflect the author's opinions, but overall it is well documented.

Rating:
Summary: The Passage to this Point in Time
Review: The "Grand Sweep of History" packaged very nicely in a Royal Navy line-of-battle ship - that's what this book is all about. I can't remember when I've read a book that held my attention so thoroughly, entertained so well, and taught so much. In much the same way as tide and currents flowing though the world's far-flung oceans can be known and purposely used, Professor Herman very skillfully uses the continuity of the Royal Navy though the ages to allow the reader to flow through the course of Western Civilization. This enables the reader to "connect the dots" of 500 years of what might otherwise be only a progression of unrelated events, and, thus, come away with a sense of the whole. From this, we can then begin to draw conclusions as to where we might be going.

This is an outstanding book.


Rating:
Summary: Magnificent, easy-to-read, fascinating
Review: The subtitle of this book sets out the author's thesis and he amply demonstrates that contention by this good account of the British Navy from the 1500s till into the 20th century. This book tells well the story of exciting things, from well-known ones like the Armada in 1588 to lesser known but equally fascinating things such as the work that Samuel Pepys did to make the British Navy the dominant force it was in his day and in the days thereafter. Reading this book one understands William Cowper's lines in "The Castaway" when he says "No braver chief could Albion boast than he with whom he went, Nor ever ship left Albion's coast with warmer wishes sent," referring to Anson's trip around the world in 1740-1744. The Nelson story is well covered, as is the role of the British Navy in the 19th century. The book's footnoting leaves something to be desired, since only by referring to the endnotes themselves can you determine if a reference for a statement is given, and there is no bibliography as such. When will publishers learn that endnotes and footnotes in themselves do not take the place of a real bibliography? There are conclusions which some will quarrel with, and there are small mistakes, such on page 511 where it is stated that Wilson asked Congress to declare war on April 6, 1917, whereas the correct day is April 2, 1917, and on page 532 where the author says Mussolini invaded Yugoslavia in 1940, whereas it was Greece he invaded. But these are minor flaws which do not detract enough to give the book less than five stars.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding history of the Royal Navy and much more
Review: This book is everything that a good survey history should be: well-written, engaging, wide-reaching. It is also various things at various times, and succeeds at each one of them. Battle descriptions are thorough and exciting, but not overwhelming; biographical portions, particularly of Nelson, truly illuminate key figures; big-picture strategic and historical discussions are done well; fresh information abounds on every page. And the book truly gives a sense that it is not just a history of the Royal Navy or the British Empire, but truly a history of the world from the 1500s to present. The passages that showed how the navy shaped British domestic politics were interesting, but the occasional comments and footnotes that showed the Royal Navy at the root of this or that famous event in international history were my favorite parts. Arthur Herman without a doubt succeeded in his desire to show the Royal Navy as a major player in the shaping of the world system over the past several centuries. This book is both an excellent stand-alone or a thrilling introduction before moving on to larger works like N.A.M. Rodger's books.

If I have one minor complaint, it's that the 20th century is jammed into a relatively tiny space, essentially two chapters. There may be good reasons for this; maybe Herman figures that most people know more about the twentieth century and World Wars than anything else, or maybe the book's subject ("How The British Navy Shaped The Modern World") just isn't as well suited to recent events. But mostly, it seems that Herman is crushed by the recent decline of the Royal Navy and wants to dash through the painful parts quickly. And this is actually one of the great strengths of the book: Herman is clearly writing as a proud Briton looking back on his nation's history as something worth recounting. It gives the book an agenda of sorts, and many will not appreciate his (usually) unwaveringly positive assessments of British power and its use. But, his clear pride and interest both keep the book moving briskly and give it an enthusiastic tone that more detached authors couldn't manage.

In the end, I can't say enough good things about this book. It's my favorite of the year, and highly recommended to anyone with interest in history.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing Effort
Review: This book promises a great deal but unfortunately, fails to deliver. The subject, Britain's Royal Navy and its impact upon history and the world we know today, offers an extraordinary range of possibilities for any writer. In this case, beginning with a strong intriguing premise, the book fails to deliver on a number of levels. Most significantly, the number of historic errors totally erodes the reader's confidence in the writer's general proposition. There are just too many mistakes and for me at least, the scholarship of the entire book is called into question. Despite the Royal Navies full, rich history and the exciting possibilities of the writers premise, sadly, I found this book to be very disappointing and I would not recommend it to others.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Tale of Seagoing Technology and Human Enterprise
Review: This is a thoroughgoing and insightful survey of the growth (and the importance of that growth) of British seapower, from its earliest stirrings in the reign of Henry VIII, through its birth on the high seas as an annoying competitor to the Spanish and Portugese for the African slave trade (with not a little piracy thrown in) during Elizabeth I's reign right up to the present. It covers tremendous ground while offering a sometimes microscopic look into the technologies and lifestyles of Britain's seafarers over the centuries.

What jumps right out at you from the beginning is how deeply the Royal Navy which, in the nineteenth century, could justly claim to "rule the waves," is itself rooted in lawlessness, brutality and the greed of the pirate. Yet Herman keeps it all in perspective and shows us how a better way of thinking, a philosophy of fairness enforced, grew out of this, alongside the gradual increase in British seapower.

After a number of false starts and lucky breaks, including successfully (but just barely) avoiding an invasion by a clumsy Spanish admiral and his inattentive monarch, the Elizabethan English were granted a reprieve during which to grow their seafaring prowess. They did this by partly living off the powerful but sluggish annual seagoing tribute caravan called "La Flota" which kept the Spaniards afloat in gold and silver. But the Spanish King Philip, a micromanager of the worst sort, also seemed to lack a head for finances. He mortgaged his nation ever more deeply into debt as English piracy grew and, eventually, began to take the gold and silver from his galleons before he and his successors could. The result: Spain's fleet stagnated and declined and her ever more ossified civil system fell into decay. Not so the up and coming English.

As Spain declined, other seafaring nations waded in to take her place, including the former Spanish dependency, Holland which briefly gave England a run for its money. But the Dutch lacked the resources to keep pace with the English who began to transition from piracy to more staid pursuits. As trade and commerce replaced brigandage, England struggled to protect its ever growing position in a series of wars. When the Dutch faded, France was ready to step in. And France was a more substantial threat to England, the sort that would force the English to finally develop a real navy.

But the autocratic French system did not transfer well to the sea, while the initiative and out-of-the-box thinking of piracy and smuggling had bred into England's sea captains a certain savoir faire out on the waves. Along with growing seafaring technology (better gunnery, better ship designs and better logistics for building and supporting their fleets), this enabled the English seamen to consistently best their French challengers despite a number of tricky moments and some real setbacks. The English also managed to eventually develop a savvy officer corps and a system for organizing and moving their ships about on the high seas. Herman introduces us to the line ahead attack mode that the English pioneered and the many other innovations they added including systematic navigational charting, ship to ship signaling, better food and food supply systems, uniforms, etc. While other countries eventually picked up these innovations the English, unlike the Spanish they had long since replaced, kept right on innovating, staying a step ahead of their enemies including the brilliant and ruthless Napoleon who nearly conquered all of Europe and, at one point, seemed primed to move into India, had it not been for his English antagonists and their relentless blockade of Europe's ports as he rushed into Russia with winter descending, imprudently extending his land based supply lines for thousands of miles.

Chief among Napoleon's antagonists was the famed English admiral, Lord Horatio Nelson. But just as Herman gives us an unvarnished picture of a brutally dictatorial Bonaparte, so he lets us see Nelson, the greatest British seafaring hero, for what he really was: a skilled, insightful, courageous and innovative commander of ships, who was also reckless and vain and who probably would have ended his life with a much less exalted reputation had he not died in the heat of the battle of Trafalgar (having once again taken more risks than were prudent). Indeed, Herman's Nelson comes across as something of a spoiled adolescent, insatiable for glory and attention and heedless of the risks to others or himself.

But Trafalgar was a victory even if, according to Herman, it accomplished nothing since Napoleon had already decided to turn east, and the English, who adored their self-aggrandizing champion who had lost an arm in an early battle and an eye in another, virtually deified him. His recklessness, along with a bit of luck, had stood him in good stead many times in sea battles before this as he had out-brazened enemy commanders while retaining control over his own ships. (One of the ways he did this was through a newly devised ship to ship signaling system.)

But Herman also dispassionately lets us see the futility of all the high seas destruction that ship to ship warfare entailed, even as it forged the British navy and helped build an empire. Indeed, it is Herman's contention that Britain' navy made her though what also comes clearly into focus is the fact that external events and the special combination of features that conjoined in the English nation also made the navy. In the end, we get a navy that thrived on its sense of honor and a belief in the value of law, two characteristics which also came to infuse the larger British society as well.

Herman doesn't stint on the unpleasant stuff but he shows both sides, the exploratory travels that took Darwin to Galapagos and others to the Arctic, as well as the wars and the slaughter out on the open waves. And it was the British navy, Herman reminds us, that shut down the African slave trade despite its own birth in the pursuit of that abominable business. He also lets us see how the United States grew up in the shadow of the Royal Navy (some day to replace it with even greater global power) as the British became the world's policemen and guardians of its sea lanes.

A very worthwhile book, indeed, though I had a few concerns. Chief among these is the humongous number of proofing errors that abound here. Granted it's a substantial read but the editors ought to have done a better job. At some points I found myself noticing ommitted words or wrong words or misspelled words on almost every other page. After about half way through I just stopped trying to keep track. But there was one that really stuck, a reference to American Secretary of State James Quincy Adams under the presidency of James Monroe during the establishment of the Monroe Doctrine. As Herman notes, this doctrine was more British than American since the U.S. did not have the fleet to enforce it. Only the British did and had they chosen not to, the American president would have been unable to do it himself. Still there's this reference to the Secretary of State. I recall a John Quincy Adams who served in such a capacity, not a James. He was the son of President John Adams and went on, himself, to serve as an American president. I'm quite certain there was not also a "James Quincy Adams" in the family.

SWM

Rating:
Summary: History With Swashbuckling Included
Review: To Rule The Waves is an excellent history of the Royal Navy and its effect on the world. It begins with the first English efforts to sail beyond their small island's home waters and traces the story through the Navy's most glorious years in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries into its decline in the twentieth, finishing up with a brief survey of the Navy's activities during the 1982 Falklands War.

This is not your average military history or a patriotic review of a nation's pride. There is plenty of detail about events and details which ordinarily wouldn't be considered germane to the subject, but Herman deftly ties things together and shows how the Navy played a role. Herman also doesn't hesitate to burst a few balloons, like denying that the Armada was a splendid victory (the English were lucky that the Spanish really weren't all that eager to conquer them) or that Trafalgar was a turning point (Napoleon had already abandoned his plan to conquer England).

To me the most interesting parts of this book were the little biographies of famous English/British seamen like Francis Drake, John Hawkins, and Horatio Nelson. I also enjoyed reading about the technological advances and developments that enabled the Royal Navy to dominate the world for decades. I would have enjoyed having some pictures/drawings of the various ships and captains, and there really weren't enough maps to do the story justice, but these are mere technicalities in what was a very satisfying read.