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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 1 of 9

Naval Chronology
  • Or, an Historical Summary of Naval and Maritime Events from the Time of the Romans, to the Treaty of Peace 1802
  • Volume 1
  • Isaac Schomberg
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    29 January 2015
  • Isaac Schomberg (1753–1813) had a controversial career in the Royal Navy. Although he distinguished himself at the relief of Gibraltar and the battles of St Kitts and the Saintes, his aggressive temperament and scholarly interests meant he was a poor choice to serve as first lieutenant under the petulant, pleasure-seeking future William IV. Schomberg's career never recovered after they clashed. Retiring to Wiltshire in 1796, he began this long-planned chronology of the Royal Navy. Published in 1802, with detailed descriptions of engagements, events on board, and politics at home, as well as an appendix of facts and figures stretching back to the origins of the Senior Service, this five-volume work remains a classic source of naval history. Volume 1 begins with an overview of naval forces under the Romans and early English monarchs, before presenting a year-by-year chronology up to 1779.

Naval Chronology
  • Or, an Historical Summary of Naval and Maritime Events from the Time of the Romans, to the Treaty of Peace 1802
  • Volume 2
  • Isaac Schomberg
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    29 January 2015
  • Isaac Schomberg (1753–1813) had a controversial career in the Royal Navy. Although he distinguished himself at the relief of Gibraltar and the battles of St Kitts and the Saintes, his aggressive temperament and scholarly interests meant he was a poor choice to serve as first lieutenant under the petulant, pleasure-seeking future William IV. Schomberg's career never recovered after they clashed. Retiring to Wiltshire in 1796, he began this long-planned chronology of the Royal Navy. Published in 1802, with detailed descriptions of engagements, events on board, and politics at home, as well as an appendix of facts and figures stretching back to the origins of the Senior Service, this five-volume work remains a classic source of naval history. Volume 2 covers the period 1780–96, and includes the 1795 list of county quotas for supplying naval personnel, as well as details of the American Revolutionary War and the Bounty mutiny.

Naval Chronology
  • Or, an Historical Summary of Naval and Maritime Events from the Time of the Romans, to the Treaty of Peace 1802
  • Volume 5
  • Isaac Schomberg
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    29 January 2015
  • Isaac Schomberg (1753–1813) had a controversial career in the Royal Navy. Although he distinguished himself at the relief of Gibraltar and the battles of St Kitts and the Saintes, his aggressive temperament and scholarly interests meant he was a poor choice to serve as first lieutenant under the petulant, pleasure-seeking future William IV. Schomberg's career never recovered after they clashed. Retiring to Wiltshire in 1796, he began this long-planned chronology of the Royal Navy. Published in 1802, with detailed descriptions of engagements, events on board, and politics at home, as well as an appendix of facts and figures stretching back to the origins of the Senior Service, this five-volume work remains a classic source of naval history. Concluding the appendix, Volume 5 lists naval losses from 1688, the holders of high naval office since the time of King Alfred, and admirals and captains since the middle of the seventeenth century.

Naval Chronology
  • Or, an Historical Summary of Naval and Maritime Events from the Time of the Romans, to the Treaty of Peace 1802
  • Volume 3
  • Isaac Schomberg
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    29 January 2015
  • Isaac Schomberg (1753–1813) had a controversial career in the Royal Navy. Although he distinguished himself at the relief of Gibraltar and the battles of St Kitts and the Saintes, his aggressive temperament and scholarly interests meant he was a poor choice to serve as first lieutenant under the petulant, pleasure-seeking future William IV. Schomberg's career never recovered after they clashed. Retiring to Wiltshire in 1796, he began this long-planned chronology of the Royal Navy. Published in 1802, with detailed descriptions of engagements, events on board, and politics at home, as well as an appendix of facts and figures stretching back to the origins of the Senior Service, this five-volume work remains a classic source of naval history. Volume 3 covers a golden era for the Royal Navy, 1797–1802. Horatio Nelson came to the fore, but the period also saw the infamous mutinies at the Nore and on the Hermione.

Naval Chronology
  • Or, an Historical Summary of Naval and Maritime Events from the Time of the Romans, to the Treaty of Peace 1802
  • Volume 4
  • Isaac Schomberg
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    29 January 2015
  • Isaac Schomberg (1753–1813) had a controversial career in the Royal Navy. Although he distinguished himself at the relief of Gibraltar and the battles of St Kitts and the Saintes, his aggressive temperament and scholarly interests meant he was a poor choice to serve as first lieutenant under the petulant, pleasure-seeking future William IV. Schomberg's career never recovered after they clashed. Retiring to Wiltshire in 1796, he began this long-planned chronology of the Royal Navy. Published in 1802, with detailed descriptions of engagements, events on board, and politics at home, as well as an appendix of facts and figures stretching back to the origins of the Senior Service, this five-volume work remains a classic source of naval history. Forming a thorough appendix, Volume 4 presents numerous lists, including information on the number of vessels in the Royal Navy and how many guns and men were aboard each ship.

Notes on the Late Expedition against the Russian Settlements in Eastern Siberia
  • And of a Visit to Japan and to the Shores of Tartary, and of the Sea of Okhostk
  • Bernard Whittingham
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    21 November 2013
  • In April 1855, Bernard Whittingham (fl.1850), a captain of the Royal Engineers, set off from Hong Kong aboard H.M.S. Sibylle. He had volunteered to join an Allied squadron attempting 'to discover the progress of Russian aggrandisement in North-eastern Asia, and to ascertain how far the reports of her successful encroachment on the sea frontiers of China and Japan were true'. In the context of the Crimean War's Pacific theatre, he was also keen to see avenged the Royal Navy's defeat by the Russians at Petropavlovsk the previous year. Whittingham's notes, published in 1856, give a personal and uniquely British account of an understudied time and place with far-reaching influence on later events. The book is also a rich source of anecdotes, not least that relating to the capture of crew members of the ill-fated Russian frigate Diana.

Caucasian Battlefields
  • A History of the Wars on the Turco-Caucasian Border 1828–1921
  • William Edward David Allen, Paul Muratoff
  • Published online:
    05 November 2011
    Print publication:
    17 February 2011
    First published in:
    1953
  • The Caucasus region, which forms a natural boundary between Asia and Europe, has always been of great strategic importance. Russia's expansion into the region in the late eighteenth century brought conflict with the Ottoman Empire, creating a new area of contention between these two states, and the borderlands remained in a state of intermittent conflict until the end of the First World War. This volume, first published in 1953, discusses the four major conflicts which took place in the region during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Focusing on military strategy, the book describes in great detail battles, skirmishes and logistical problems of warfare in a mountainous and remote region. Illustrated with thirty-nine maps, it provides a wealth of information for military historians and remains an authoritative account.

Founded Upon the Seas
  • A Narrative of Some English Maritime and Overseas Enterprises During the Period 1550 to 1616
  • Walter Oakeshott
  • Published online:
    05 November 2011
    Print publication:
    02 September 2010
    First published in:
    1942
  • Sir Walter Oakeshott was a British scholar who is best known as the discoverer of the Winchester Manuscript of Malory's Morte d'Arthur while he was an assistant master at Winchester College. He later became Rector of Lincoln College, and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1962 to 1964. Oakeshott had a scholarly interest in Elizabethan exploration, which he examines in this volume, first published in 1942. He describes the military and exploratory achievements of the Elizabethan and Stuart navy, including attempts to find the Northwest Passage, the settlement of Virginia and the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Oakeshott also discusses the role of Renaissance thought and contemporary politics in these achievements, through changes in naval tactics and advances in cartography. The personalities of leading explorers including Sir Francis Drake, Sir John Hawkins and Sir Walter Raleigh are also vividly described in this clear and concise historical account.

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.

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.

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.

The Direction of War
  • A Study and Illustration of Strategy
  • Wilkinson Dent Bird
  • Published online:
    05 April 2013
    Print publication:
    31 October 2010
    First published in:
    1925
  • Major General Sir Wilkinson Dent Bird (1869–1943) saw active service in campaigns from the Niger Campaign in 1897 to the opening of the First World War, when he served in France. In 1923 he was appointed head of a committee to analyse wartime experiences and propose changes intended to modernise the British army. First published in 1920 and issued in an enlarged second edition in 1925, this book provides a comprehensive study of military strategy current at the time of publication, using historical examples to illustrate key concepts. Bird focuses primarily on land battles, with a chapter for naval battles and a small section for aerial combat. Originally intended as a guide to current strategic thinking, his book provides valuable analyses of historical battles with insights into the development of British military strategy after the First World War. This reissue is of the 1925 edition.

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.

The Navy of the Restoration from the Death of Cromwell to the Treaty of Breda
  • Its Work, Growth and Influence
  • Arthur William Tedder
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    31 October 2010
    First published in:
    1916
  • Arthur Tedder's 1916 study of the Royal Navy during the seventeenth century describes the Navy's cautious support for the restoration of the monarchy, its position as protector of commerce in the Mediterranean and its role in the Anglo-Dutch wars. It chronicles the constant struggle to staff, feed and equip the Navy and the challenges of plague, poor discipline and frequent skirmishes with the Dutch. It explores in detail the tactics of individual battles in the Anglo-Dutch wars as well as the practical difficulties that often hampered the English war effort. The author served in the RAF in WWI and became a member of the British high command during WWII; his tactical flair informs his analysis of the Royal Navy's progress during a turbulent period. His account also includes fascinating details of wage disputes, embezzlement of funds and the work of the infamous press gangs.

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.

Airships in Peace and War
  • Being the Second Edition of Aerial Warfare
  • R. P. Hearne
  • Introduction by Hiram Stevens Maxim
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    27 June 2013
    First published in:
    1910
  • In 1908, the motoring journalist R. P. Hearne published Aerial Warfare, the first book on the subject to reach an audience beyond military strategists. Enormous advances in aviation resulted in the publication of this substantially revised edition in 1910. At a time of intense European military rivalry, the book highlighted differences in the way countries were adopting new aerial technology. Hearne makes the assumption that conflict with Germany at some point is inevitable, and identifies the airship as 'practically an invisible enemy'. At this point Germany had ten airships compared to Britain's one, and while the British regarded them as useful only for reconnaissance, the Germans had identified potential offensive uses. Reviews commended the book for its depth and numerous illustrations, but also suggested it was alarmist and anti-German. However, it brought the subject to wider attention, and was a factor behind the government's decision to invest properly in aviation research.

Sea-Power
  • And Other Studies
  • Cyprian Bridge
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    22 August 2013
    First published in:
    1910
  • A naval officer from a generation that could spend an average of between 250 and 300 days a year at sea, Sir Cyprian Bridge (1839–1924) used this extensive experience and the knowledge he gained from wide reading to become a highly respected commander, firm in his beliefs and unafraid to voice them. In retirement he became a vocal critic of the drive to build bigger ships, believing that hardware should be subordinate to tactics. A regular contributor to newspapers, he wrote articles on naval history, tactics and strategy. This collection of articles was published in 1910, and includes his well-known paper, first delivered in 1902, setting out the difficulties in maintaining supplies and communications with a fleet based far from home. This work remains relevant to naval historians, and to those interested in how Britain maintained her maritime supremacy into the twentieth century.

Privateers and Privateering
  • Edward Phillips Statham
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    27 January 2011
    First published in:
    1910
  • In this book, first published in 1910 at the height of Britain's naval arms race with Germany, E. P. Statham (b. 1848) presented the lives and exploits of, in his words, 'licensed plunderers'. Insisting his tales were 'without embroidery' but were intended 'to amuse and entertain', Statham clearly had a fondness for adventure and an almost grudging admiration for his subjects. A retired Royal Navy officer at the time of publication, Statham was also the author of a number of medieval histories, and at one point was the superintendent of a School Ship, which when moored in the River Mersey (Statham was born in Liverpool) was twice burnt down by its pupils. In his conclusion, Statham questions the possible role of privateering in the wars yet to come. Engaging and colourful, the stories perhaps reveal as much about the buccaneering spirit of the author as they do about their subjects.

England in the Seven Years' War
  • A Study in Combined Strategy
  • Volume 1
  • Julian Stafford Corbett
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    25 November 2010
    First published in:
    1907
  • Sir Julian Corbett (1854–1922) was an eminent British naval historian who focused on the analysis of historic naval strategy. After graduating from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1876 Corbett practised as a barrister until 1882, when he turned to historical writing. He was appointed Lecturer in History to the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, in 1903, and was consulted on naval reforms during the First World War. These volumes, first published in 1907, contain Corbett's detailed analysis of naval warfare during the Seven Years' War (1756–1763). Focusing on the strategy of the British navy, Corbett recounts chronologically the major actions of the war, analysing in detail fleet movements and naval tactics in their political and diplomatic context. These volumes were the first scholarly work on this subject, and provide valuable information concerning the development of English naval strategy during this formative period. Volume 1 covers 1754–1759.

England in the Seven Years' War
  • A Study in Combined Strategy
  • Volume 2
  • Julian Stafford Corbett
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    25 November 2010
    First published in:
    1907
  • Sir Julian Corbett (1854–1922) was an eminent British naval historian who focused on the analysis of historic naval strategy. After graduating from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1876 Corbett practised as a barrister until 1882, when he turned to historical writing. He was appointed Lecturer in History to the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, in 1903, and was consulted on naval reforms during the First World War. These volumes, first published in 1907, contain Corbett's detailed analysis of naval warfare during the Seven Years' War (1756–1763). Focusing on the strategy of the British navy, Corbett recounts chronologically the major actions of the war, analysing in detail fleet movements and naval tactics in their political and diplomatic context. These volumes were the first scholarly work on this subject, and provide valuable information concerning the development of English naval strategy during this formative period. Volume 2 covers 1759–1763.

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