Military and Naval

James Butler (1610-88), the Earl of Ormonde

Biography British Military and Naval 5 Min Read

James Butler (1610-88), the Earl of Ormonde, was among the most prominent royalist leaders who survived to enjoy the Restoration of the Stuarts to the throne. An Anglo-Irish nobleman of Catholic ancestry but Protestant persuasion, he had joined the hard-fisted administration of the Duke of Strafford in 1633, and was deeply involved in the confiscation of Catholic lands and their…

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Military and Naval 22 Min Read

CHIOS 201 BC: A COALITION COMMAND

The legend has it that the dying Alexander was asked who was his heir, and answered, ‘The strongest’. The wars among his generals, later called the Successors (Diadochot), resulted in three powerful military states clustered around Greece and other fragments of the empire on and within the Mediterranean. None of…

Military and Naval 19 Min Read

The Great Northern War (1700-21)

Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth The Great Northern War (1700-21), which marked Russia’s decisive bid for power against Sweden, was launched for reasons quite incidental to Polish-Lithuanian affairs. Augustus’s treaty with Russia, negotiated exclusively in his capacity as Elector of Saxony, did not involve the Republic (Commonwealth). His attack on Swedish Livonia in…

Military and Naval 33 Min Read

Siege Warfare 1500-1830

The Surrender of Breda by Diego Velázquez. Oil on canvas, 1635. Map of the siege of Breda by Spinola. J.Blaeu. If gunpowder revolutionized combat, its effect upon siege operations was equally well recognized by contemporaries. Beginning in the sixteenth century, much ink had already been spilled to analyze the competition…

Medieval Military and Naval Sail 10 Min Read

AN EXEMPLARY MARITIME REPUBLIC: VENICE AT THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES Part I

Bernard Doumerc In Venice, ‘the sea was all that mattered’. Truly, this was the founding principle that marked the history of this celebrated city.1 For a very long time historians made the Serenissima a model of success, wealth, and opulence, sometimes asserting that the Venetians ‘had a monopoly of the…

Medieval Military and Naval Ottoman Piracy Sail 17 Min Read

AN EXEMPLARY MARITIME REPUBLIC: VENICE AT THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES Part II

Venetian Galley Bernard Doumerc In 1302, the Venetian government implemented a revision of ‘the corrections and additions’ to the Arsenal regulations.8 This action was necessary to encourage the full development of the technological revolution that would maximise the Republic’s naval potential. A short time later, between 1304 and 1307, the…

Military and Naval Piracy 21 Min Read

AN EXEMPLARY MARITIME REPUBLIC: VENICE AT THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES Part III

Bernard Doumerc Henceforth, the state owned the merchant fleet, chartering galleys to merchants who operated them. The operator was the highest bidder in the auction for charters. Only nobles were allowed to participate in this auction, an exclusive privilege that gave them control of the financial and commercial operations of…

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The History of the Galley

The history of medieval naval warfare is the history of the galley. Since ancient times,…

Lost and Forgotten United States Navy Heroes

About sixteen miles to the east, Wilkes had seen a beautiful islet that he judged…

The Great Northern War (1700-21)

Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth The Great Northern War (1700-21), which marked Russia’s decisive bid for power against…

Early Warfare in Mesopotamia

By 4000 BCE most researchers believe Sumerian polities had fully formed warfare replete with military…