Maritime Supremacy and the Opening of the Western Mind
Maritime Trilogy Series, Book 1
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Narrated by:
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James Cameron Stewart
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By:
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Peter Padfield
About this listen
In the great wars of modern history, maritime powers have always prevailed over land-based empires, whether Habsburg, Napoleonic, Nazi, or Soviet.
In contrast to the rigid hierarchies and centralization of land-based empires, those nations attaining mastery at sea have been distinguished by liberty, flexibility, and enterprise. The 17th-century Dutch were the first to achieve naval and trading dominance and, exploring the effects on daily life, industry, art and thought, finance and power politics, Peter Padfield reveals the Dutch in their golden age as the heralds of modern Western society.
The British took over the Dutch system of naval, trading, and world supremacy in the 18th century and were, in their turn, displaced by the United States in the 20th. This book carries the story from the defeat of the Armada in 1588 to the American Revolutionary War and Rodney's victory.
Maritime Supremacy and the Opening of the Western Mind charts the growth of linked strengths - sea-fighting, trading, financial, and constitutional - that made empires so formidable and reveals how supremacy at sea freed thought and society itself.
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Before the ink was dry on the U.S. Constitution, the establishment of a permanent military had become the most divisive issue facing the new government. Would a standing army be the thin end of dictatorship? Would a navy protect American commerce against the Mediterranean pirates, or drain the treasury and provoke hostilities with the great powers? The founders, particularly Jefferson, Madison, and Adams, debated these questions fiercely and switched sides more than once.
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BE ADVISED THIS BOOK IS ABRIDGED
- By George Carpenter III on 09-11-08
By: Ian W. Toll
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The Age of Revolution
- A History of the English Speaking Peoples, Volume III
- By: Sir Winston Churchill
- Narrated by: Christian Rodska
- Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the third volume in Churchill's famous account. During the long period of 1688 to 1815, three revolutions took place, and all led to war between the British and the French.
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Historical Overview of Britain
- By Lois on 01-30-12
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The Opium Wars: A History from Beginning to End
- By: Hourly History
- Narrated by: Stephen Paul Aulridge Jr
- Length: 1 hr and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Violent confrontation between armed groups over the supply of illegal narcotics is something we commonly associate with criminal gangs in modern cities, but in the mid-19th century Great Britain went to war with Imperial China in order to continue to supply Chinese addicts with opium. The two wars that followed have become known as the Opium Wars, and they led to the utter defeat of China, the establishment of a British colony in Hong Kong, and the continuation of a narcotics trade that was worth millions of pounds each year to the British.
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short comprehensive overview, well narrated
- By R K on 01-02-22
By: Hourly History
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The Real Hornblower
- The Life and Times of Admiral Sir James Gordon
- By: Bryan Perrett
- Narrated by: Ron Bottitta
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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In this thoroughly researched book the author argues convincingly that Forester's model was Adm. James Gordon, a flesh-and-blood hero of Nelson's navy. Gordon entered the Royal Navy as a semi-literate eleven-year-old and rose to become Admiral of the Fleet. He took part in major sea battles, frigate actions, single-ship duels, and operations far behind enemy lines. It was the fire of Gordon's ships against Fort McHenry that inspired the American national anthem.
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Missing final chapter
- By Byron on 03-27-19
By: Bryan Perrett
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The British Empire
- By: Stephen W. Sears
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 30 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Here is the story of how the English acquired their vast domain; how they ruled, maintained, and exploited it; and how, within decades, they presided over its dissolution. Here are Britain's triumphs and also her stinging defeats, her heroes and her scoundrels. It is a full and fascinating chronicle of the growth of the British Empire and its people and of the impact that empire had on the rest of the world.
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Great presentation of a broad historical narrative
- By MiamiMe on 03-27-18
By: Stephen W. Sears
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Blackbeard
- America's Most Notorious Pirate
- By: Angus Konstam
- Narrated by: Eric G. Dove
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Of all the colorful cutthroats who scoured the seas in search of plunder during the Golden Age of Piracy in the early 18th century, none was more ferocious or notorious than Blackbeard. As unforgettable as his savage career was, much of Blackbeard's life has been shrouded in mystery - until now. Drawing on vivid descriptions of Blackbeard's attacks from his rare surviving victims, pirate expert Angus Konstam traces Blackbeard's career from its beginnings to his final defeat in a tremendous sea battle near his base at Ocracoke Island
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It’s alright
- By B. Williams on 02-26-21
By: Angus Konstam
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The Great Commanders
- Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Horatio Nelson, Napoleon Bonaparte, Ulysses S. Grant, Georgi Zhukov
- By: Phil Grabsky
- Narrated by: Phil Grabsky
- Length: 5 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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The Great Commanders is a masterly portrait of six men - Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Horatio Nelson, Napoleon Bonaparte, Ulysses S. Grant and Georgi Zhukov - whose military genius changed the course of world history.
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Broad, and High Level History
- By Mark on 11-20-14
By: Phil Grabsky
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1775
- A Good Year for Revolution
- By: Kevin Phillips
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 25 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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What if the year we have long commemorated as America’s defining moment was in fact misleading? What if the real events that signaled the historic shift from colony to country took place earlier, and that the true story of our nation’s emergence reveals a more complicated - and divisive - birth process? In this major new work, iconoclastic historian and political chronicler Kevin Phillips upends the conventional reading of the American Revolution by puncturing the myth that 1776 was the struggle’s watershed year. Mythology and omission have elevated 1776, but the most important year, rarely recognized, was 1775.
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Boring--couldn't finish it
- By Sean on 04-01-13
By: Kevin Phillips
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The World Crisis, Vol. 1
- 1911-1914
- By: Winston Churchill
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 21 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Churchill's epic series begins in 1911, when Churchill was First Lord of the Admiralty, and opens with a chilling description of the Agadir Crisis and an in-depth account of naval clashes in the Dardanelles - one of Churchill's major military failures. It takes listeners from the fierce bloodshed of the Gallipoli campaign to the tragic sinking of the Lusitania and the tide-turning battles of Jutland and Verdun - as well as the USA's entry into the combat theater. The World Crisis provides a perspective you won't find anywhere else.
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....
- By Anonymous User on 06-11-19
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The Napoleonic Wars
- By: Alexander Mikaberidze
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 35 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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The Napoleonic Wars saw fighting on an unprecedented scale in Europe and the Americas. It took the wealth of the British Empire, combined with the might of the continental armies, almost two decades to bring down one of the world's greatest military leaders and the empire that he had created. Napoleon's ultimate defeat was to determine the history of Europe for almost 100 years. From the frozen wastelands of Russia, through the brutal fighting in the Peninsula to the blood-soaked battlefield of Waterloo, this book tells the story of the dramatic rise and fall of the Napoleonic Empire.
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No description of battles
- By John Gaston on 01-15-21
What listeners say about Maritime Supremacy and the Opening of the Western Mind
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Gary
- 09-23-23
Superb naval history!
A superb history of the great naval campaigns of the Age of Sail, coupled with an engrossing discussion of Western development & the associated personalities, theories & technologies
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