The Price of Victory: A Naval History of Britain: 1815-1945 by N.A.M. Rodger

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


We have been waiting some time for Rodger to complete his survey of British naval history since The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649 ­- 1815 was published in 2004. It was worth the wait, which he explains in the foreword.
As with previous volumes the author develops his argument by considering policy & operations, government & administration, ships & weapons, and social history as parallel threads. The book thus addresses navy, nation and their global context as an integrated whole.
The much-overworked phrase 'panoramic scope' is wholly appropriate here and it would be unreasonable to expect deep analysis of individual events from primary sources. We don't find it. Instead we meet well-written, impressive scholarship based on a lifetime's research (the bibliography is 70 pages long) looking at events from a refreshingly different angle.
Which is not to say that Rodger avoids controversy. Some famous British admirals receive an entertainingly caustic assessment of their ability, while his view of US skills and behaviour in WW2 is positively biting.
The book's title refers to the challenge new enemies and weapons posed to Britain's nineteenth century dominance. Their defeat came at a heavy and permanent cost to the country's economy. This is a theme the author returns to in the Epilogue where he asserts, 'British people were already well disposed towards the United States, and largely unaware of the extent to which dislike of Great Britain was a core element of American patriotism. While the war lasted, the Englishman in the street had little sense of the degree to which American assistance had sustained the common war-effort on terms that deliberately undermined the British economy.' He goes on to quote data in support of this thesis.
The book is illustrated with 10 useful and well-drawn maps, 64 generally well-chosen illustrations, and amplified by five appendices. There will be disagreements but it deserves a place in any library.



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