Overview

In February 1793 France declared war on Britain, and for the next twenty-two years the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars raged. This was to be the longest, cruelest war ever fought at sea, comparable in scale only to the Second World War. New naval tactics were brought to bear, along with such unheard-of weapons as rockets, torpedoes, and submarines. The war on land saw the rise of the greatest soldier the world had ever known—Napoleon Bonaparte—whose vast ambition was thwarted by a genius he never met in person or in battle: Admiral Horatio Nelson. Noel Mostert's narrative ranges from the Mediterranean to the West Indies, Egypt to Scandinavia, showing how land versus sea was the key to the outcome of these wars. He provides details of ship construction, tactics, and life on board. Above all he shows us the extraordinary characters that were the raw material of Patrick O'Brian's and C. S. Forester's magnificent novels.

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9780393066531

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Reviews

This spirited work contributes significantly to a developing interpretation of the years 1794-1815 as an era of worldwide, total war. -- Publishers Weekly Ambitious, sweeping, and painstakingly delineated. -- Kirkus Reviews

""Ambitious, sweeping, and painstakingly delineated."" -- Kirkus Reviews ""This spirited work contributes significantly to a developing interpretation of the years 1794–1815 as an era of worldwide, total war."" -- Publishers Weekly

An exhaustive look at the epic sea battles that constituted the first truly world war. Mostert (Frontiers: The Epic of South Africa's Creation and the Tragedy of the Xhosa Peo, 1992, etc.) provides a staggeringly thorough examination of the centuries-long buildup to the formidable navies created by Britain and France, which ultimately clashed in devastating battles led by Admiral Horatio Nelson and Napoleon. Given the aggressive maneuvers of the Russian Empire in the Baltic and the French Republic in practically every other body of water, the Royal Navy in 1793 had to speed up its readiness for war. It did this by chopping down England's glorious oak forests to make ships and impressing unwilling men to sail them. Mostert follows the ensuing naval battles in this spiraling Great War (as it was then named) during the next 22 years. It opened with the British-French collision at Toulon, which brought Nelson and Napoleon into unwitting close proximity. The decisive Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 saved England from invasion but felled the legendary Nelson. The finale came with the naval clashes between American and British forces on Lake Champlain and outside New Orleans during the War of 1812. Mostert's account is no bludgeoning litany of military maneuvers, but a vast, impressive canvas of the era's dynastic squabbles, economic imperatives and political goals, all pursued by epic personalities. He dwells with special admiration on Nelson's complex character and Napoleon's military genius. Routine life onboard ship, mutiny, disease, homosexuality and flogging are among the relevant topics also addressed. In the end, Mostert demonstrates skillfully that the Great War was a global conflict deployed across all oceans and most seas, notable for such innovations as the torpedo and submarine, that ultimately proclaimed the ascendance of both the Royal Navy and the United States. Ambitious, sweeping and painstakingly delineated. (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Information

Noel Mostert was the Montreal Star correspondent in New York and Europe during the 1950s and has since reported for different American magazines from Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. He lives in Tangiers.

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