Shipping and Military Power in the Seven Years War

The Seven Years War (1756–63) was the most successful military affair in British History, as the Royal Navy triumphantly asserted its supremacy over France and Spain en route to its conquering of a vast overseas empire. This key volume describes the amphibious British war machine in its first major display of strength, chronicling it from the organization of its shipping to its major operations at sea, and the 1762 Havana expedition in particular. Demonstrating that the tide of British victories would have been impossible without a sophisticated logistics operation headquartered in and off the coasts of Europe and North America, author David Syrett then places this analysis in a comparative framework—evaluating the operations in relation to the British Navy’s next major test, the triumph and failures of the American Revolutionary War.