The waves that wrecked Britannia

The Struggle for Sea Power: A Naval History of the American War of Independence Sam Willis

Atlantic, pp.608, £30, ISBN: 9781848878464

Military history is more popular than respected. It is not hard to see why. It is masculine history, a trifecta of logistical planning, technical detail and violent death. It shows the value of hierarchy and duty, sacrifice and patriotism — disgraceful notions which the young and impressionable might be inspired to emulate.

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TaggedBook review — naval history, Comte de Grasse, Comte de Rochambeau, France, George Washington, Quebec, Rodney, Spain, the American War of Independence, the Battle of Chesapeake, the Battle of the Saintes, the Caribbean, the Georgian navy

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The British won many sea battles in the American War of Independence but were defeated by America’s countless rivers, lakes and creeks, according to Sam Willis’s ‘liquid history’

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