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Maritime Supremacy #3
Maritime Dominion and the Triumph of the Free World: Naval campaigns that shaped the modern world 1852-2001
Freedom of expression and individual enterprise have distinguished the societies of powers dominant at sea; and since supreme maritime nations have prevailed over their territorial rivals in the great wars of the modern era, it is they who have created today's world. In this final volume of his masterful trilogy, Peter Padfield carries the theme through the terrible wars of the last century to the present.
390 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 25, 2025
The final installment of Peter Padfield’s trilogy of maritime histories tracing the development of the modern world through the lens of naval conflict and maritime trade — Maritime Dominion was a satisfying conclusion bringing the reader to the nearly present day with a fresh perspective on our history and origins.
This third book begins in the early 1800s, fresh off the defeat of Napoleon’s French empire and with the ascendancy of Britain as sole superpower. It tracks its century-long rule over the world, its passing of the baton to America, the world wars, and, briefly, the Cold War and a coda exploring the European Union and climate change/environmental destruction through the unique lens Padfield developed over the trilogy’s ~thousand pages.
The book’s ultimate conclusions run along the lines that maritime societies are structurally better-equipped to compete against territorial ones, by generating more wealth, greater freedoms, and greater legitimacy, collectively leading to stability, innovation, and power. After 1000 pages of steeping in the author’s analysis and worldview, it makes perfect sense and provides key vision and historical perspective to the decision makers of the future.
For a fairly typical British academic — understated, occasionally stilted, always dry — Padfield’s final chapter flares off the page, a savage indictment of humanity’s, and capitalism’s, role in the destruction of the planet and of Britain’s needless sacrifice (so he argues) of freedoms to an undemocratic European project. While unsure of my opinion on the latter argument, I appreciated its candor, intellectual consistency, and persuasive effect—as it seems to have prevailed with Brexit coming less than a decade after publishing. As for the former, there can be no doubt of its pinpoint accuracy and moral force.
This third book begins in the early 1800s, fresh off the defeat of Napoleon’s French empire and with the ascendancy of Britain as sole superpower. It tracks its century-long rule over the world, its passing of the baton to America, the world wars, and, briefly, the Cold War and a coda exploring the European Union and climate change/environmental destruction through the unique lens Padfield developed over the trilogy’s ~thousand pages.
The book’s ultimate conclusions run along the lines that maritime societies are structurally better-equipped to compete against territorial ones, by generating more wealth, greater freedoms, and greater legitimacy, collectively leading to stability, innovation, and power. After 1000 pages of steeping in the author’s analysis and worldview, it makes perfect sense and provides key vision and historical perspective to the decision makers of the future.
For a fairly typical British academic — understated, occasionally stilted, always dry — Padfield’s final chapter flares off the page, a savage indictment of humanity’s, and capitalism’s, role in the destruction of the planet and of Britain’s needless sacrifice (so he argues) of freedoms to an undemocratic European project. While unsure of my opinion on the latter argument, I appreciated its candor, intellectual consistency, and persuasive effect—as it seems to have prevailed with Brexit coming less than a decade after publishing. As for the former, there can be no doubt of its pinpoint accuracy and moral force.
June 13, 2012
The descriptions of battles are very good, and the analyses of how changing technology affected strategy and tactics is excellent, easily the best I've read so far.
However, Padfield utterly fails at proving or even arguing his central message that seapower is essential to the rise of the free world. Besides a few poor arguments in the introduction and conclusion, his "thesis" goes completely untouched throughout the whole book.
However, Padfield utterly fails at proving or even arguing his central message that seapower is essential to the rise of the free world. Besides a few poor arguments in the introduction and conclusion, his "thesis" goes completely untouched throughout the whole book.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews