Economic Warfare and the Sea: Grand Strategies for Maritime Powers, 1650-1945

Description

Economic Warfare and the Sea examines the relationship between trade, maritime warfare, and strategic thought between the early modern period and the late-twentieth century. Featuring contributions from renown historians and rising scholars, this volume forwards an international perspective upon the intersection of maritime history, strategy, and diplomacy. Core themes include the role of ‘economic warfare’ in maritime strategic thought, prevalence of economic competition below the threshold of open conflict, and the role non-state actors have played in the prosecution of economic warfare. Using unique material from 18 different archives across six countries, this volume explores critical moments in the development of economic warfare, naval technology, and international law, including the Anglo-Dutch Wars, the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the First World War, and the Second World War. Distinct chapters also analyse the role of economic warfare in theories of maritime strategy, and what the future holds for the changing role of navies in the floating global economy of the twenty-first century. Contents Figures Tables Acknowledgements Introduction: Strategy, Economics, and the Sea 1 Economics, Warfare, and the Sea, c.1650–1945 2 Neither a Silver Bullet Nor a Distraction: Economic Warfare in Sea-power Theory 3 Convoys and Companies: Privatising Economic Warfare at Sea in the Dutch Republic, 1580–1800 4 Merchants of Fortune: Negotiating Spanish Neutrality in the American War of Independence 5 Sea Power and Neutrality: The American Experience in Europe during the French Wars, 1793–1812 6 The Achievement and Cost of the British Convoy System, 1803–1815 7 The Royal Navy and Economic Warfare against the United States during the War of 1812 8 Protecting Neutrality at Sea in a Global Age, 1815–1914 9 Postal Censorship and the Alchemy of Victory at Sea during the First World War 10 Britain and Economic Warfare in German Naval Thinking in the Era of the Great War 11 Maritime Power and Economic Warfare in the Far East, 1937–1941 Epilogue: Retrospect and Prospect Contributors Select Bibliography Index