Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I love mysteries, whodunits, and I was gripped by this book in the same way but by the "how" rather than the "who." How did the apparently doomed French Navy survive the Seven Years' War to be a force in the American Revolution, and how did the author combine the monumental mass of information into such a coherent and compelling book? It at first looks a bit intimidating and difficult, but I was swept along by the stunning scholarship and spellbinding story. It's economically written, with not a word wasted, but all even an untutored reader needs to know is there, helpful and fascinating tidbits tucked into parentheses just when you need them. You think the world is complicated now? It truly seems simple and straightforward compared with the middle of the 18th century, but maybe if this author were to apply his military/diplomatic/political historian's tools to produce a whydunit on today's maneuvers and intrigues we'd find it far more labyrinthine than it appears.
Click Here to see more reviews about: The French Navy and the Seven Years' War (France Overseas: Studies in Empire and D)
The Seven Years' War was the world's first global conflict, spanning five continents and the critical sea lanes that connected them. This book is the fullest account ever written of the French navy's role in the hostilities. It is also the most complete survey of both phases of the war: the French and Indian War in North America (1754–60) and the Seven Years' War in Europe (1756–63), which are almost always treated independently. By considering both phases of the war from every angle, award-winning historian Jonathan R. Dull shows not only that the two conflicts are so interconnected that neither can be fully understood in isolation but also that traditional interpretations of the war are largely inaccurate. His work also reveals how the French navy, supposedly utterly crushed, could have figured so prominently in the War of American Independence only fifteen years later.
