Bøker av Quintin Barry

An investigation of the effect of the Industrial Revolution on naval warfare before the battle of Lissa and a comprehensive study of the campaign.

Suffren versus Hughes describes the fascinating but relatively little-known naval campaign between Britain and France for mastery of the Indian Ocean in the closing years of the War of American Independence. It is effectively the third volume of a trilogy recording the history of the Royal Navy during this period, the earlier volumes being Crisis at the Chesapeake (2021) and From Ushant to Gibraltar (2022).The contest for control of the sea was crucial to the maintenance of Britain's position in India. It was played out against the political, economic and military background created by the impact of the British East India Company upon the complex system of the various dynasties that ruled India, and which themselves competed with each other for advantage.Britain and France sent out squadrons of ships of the line which were at various times nearly equal in strength. In the course of their hard-fought campaign, these fought five battles, none of which produced the decisive victory which each sought. This campaign was remarkable not just for the strategic and tactical questions which it raised, but also for the light it shed on the characters and abilities of the respective commanders. Sir Edward Hughes and Pierre-André de Suffren were very different men, who brought to their commands contrasting approaches to the particular problems of naval warfare of the eighteenth century. Hughes was a very typical product of the traditions of the Royal Navy, a patient and careful exponent of all that he had learned from his training and experience. Suffren, on the other hand, was untypical of French admirals of the period; he was bold, aggressive and innovative, and impatient of the stately conventions of sea battles of the period.Each of them had extremely difficult problems to overcome, in addition to the fact that they were operating many thousands of miles from home, which meant that orders reached them months after they were first issued. Hughes faced considerable difficulties in his relationship with the various presidencies of the East India Company which ruled British India at this time. Suffren, on the other hand, who conducted the campaign for the most part without any effective base, was frequently badly let down by some of his captains, while the performance of his squadron demonstrated that the French navy was far less efficient than the British. For both men, a central problem was obtaining supplies, as well as that of effecting repairs to their ships some of which were extremely badly damaged during the battles which they fought.The two men had a very considerable respect for each other. However, while the life and career of Suffren has generated a huge literature, principally among French historians, that of Hughes has passed relatively unnoticed. Both men, though, deserved well of their countrymen for what they were able to achieve.

In December 1899 the British Army suffered a series of defeats in the course of a few days which became known as Black Week. Although heavily outnumbering the burgher armies of the Boer Republics, the British were unable to adapt to the local conditions or to the requirements of modern warfare.

For most of the war, until the fall of Lord North's ministry in 1782, Lord Sandwich managed the navy as First Lord of the Admiralty. The demands on the resources of the Royal Navy, at home and abroad, meant that he faced an unending struggle to balance its priorities.

An account of the crucial battle of Chesapeake Bay in 1781, and the events leading up to it.

In the second part of this comprehensive all-new two-volume military history of the Franco-Prussian War, the author continues his narrative from the fall of the Second Empire until the ending of the war, and the founding of a unified Germany. The war against the Government of National Defense presented quite different problems to von Moltke and his staff. Although the Siege of Paris loomed large during the second phase of the war, the author fully explores events in other parts of France, including the siege of Strasbourg, the activities of the Francs Tireurs, the investment of Metz, and the battle against the French armies of the Loire, the North, and the East. The author has made full use of an extensive number of German and French language sources. His detailed text is accompanied by a number of black and white illustrations and battle maps. Orders of battle are also provided.

When Helmuth von Moltke took over as Chief of the Prussian General Staff, the Prussian army had not fought for more than forty years. Yet within a decade and a half he had brought it to the point where it was the strongest in Europe.

This is a study of the Russo- Japanese of 1904-1905 as reported by Captain William Pakenham.

This book is a study of the Anglo Dutch war of 1672 to 1674, describing the naval battles which were fought, and the men and ships which fought them.

An account of the naval campaign of Santiago de Cuba during the Spanish-American War of 1898 and the subsequent public controversy and Court of Inquiry.

After the battle of Sedan on September 1, 1870 and the collapse of the Second Empire, followed by the investment of Paris, the Government of National Defence set about raising fresh armies. These had as their first objective the relief of the capital.