Commerce Raiding: Historical Case Studies, 1755-2009

by Bruce A. Elleman (Editor), S.C.M. Paine, U.S. Naval War College Press

This book of sixteen case studies examining commerce raiding or guerre de course shows that this strategy has time after time proven itself a most efficient way for sea powers to exert pressure on an opponent, especially a lesser sea power or land power, but that land powers have had little success using this strategy against sea powers.

From the Seven Years’ War in the eighteenth century to today’s Somali pirates, factors over time show that both strong and weak powers have used the tactic, campaigns are often prolonged, and technological changes have influenced conduct of attacks on maritime trade. 

The Newport Papers are extended research projects that the NWC Press director, dean of Naval Warfare Studies, and NWC president consider of particular interest to policy makers, scholars, and analysts

352 pages, Paperback

First published October 31, 2013

About the author

Bruce Allen Elleman is William V. Pratt Professor of International History at the Naval War College. He received his B.A. in 1982 at UC Berkeley, completed his M.A. and received the Harriman Institute Certificate in 1984, his Master of Philosophy in 1987, the East Asian Certificate in 1988, and his Ph.D. at Columbia University in 1993. In addition, he completed the Master of Sciences at the London School of Economics in 1985, and the Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies (with Distinction) at the U.S. Naval War College in 2004.

Reviews

[ADD · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting discussion about the history of piracy. If the concluding chapter had more meat to it, I would have rated it 5 stars. As it is, the academics writing the conclusion refused to take a clear position on the future utility of government sanctioned commerce warfare and buried their thoughts in a series of tables that did nothing but summarize the earlier chapters. As a reader, I could aggregate the earlier readings well, yet it was nice they did it, too. However, I still wanted more at the very end.