The Foundations of British Maritime Ascendancy
Resources, Logistics and the State, 1755–1815

Explores the fundamental role of the British state in facilitating the nation's global expansion and ascendancy in the eighteenth century.

Roger Morriss (Author)

9781107670136, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 30 January 2014

460 pages, 36 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.4 cm, 0.61 kg

British power and global expansion between 1755 and 1815 have mainly been attributed to the fiscal-military state and the achievements of the Royal navy at sea. Roger Morriss here sheds new light on the broader range of developments in the infrastructure of the state needed to extend British power at sea and overseas. He demonstrates how developments in culture, experience and control in central government affected the supply of ships, manpower, food, transport and ordnance as well as the support of the army, permitting the maintenance of armed forces of unprecedented size and their projection to distant stations. He reveals how the British state, although dependent on the private sector, built a partnership with it based on trust, ethics and the law. This book argues that Britain's military bureaucracy, traditionally regarded as inferior to the fighting services, was in fact the keystone of the nation's maritime ascendancy.

Introduction
1. The British state in evolution
2. Defence and expansion
3. Economy and finance
4. Naval growth and infrastructure
5. Ordnance and technology
6. Manpower and motivation
7. Foodstuffs and victualling
8. Shipping and transportation
9. The supply of land forces overseas
10. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Military history [HBW], Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], British & Irish history [HBJD1]