Event: European Navies and the Conduct of War

Date of recording: 20 Mar 2019 Description: 'European Navies and the Conduct of War' considered the different contexts within which European navies operated over a period of 500 years culminating in World War Two, the greatest war ever fought at sea. Taking predominately continental point of view, the book moves away from the typically British-centric approach taken in naval history as it considers the role of European navies in the development of modern warfare, from its medieval origins to the large-scale, industrial, total war of the twentieth century. Along with the growth in navies as instruments of war, the book also explores the long rise of the political and popular appeal of navies, from the princes of late medieval Europe, to the enthusiastic crowds that greeted the modern fleets of the great powers, followed by their reassessment through the great trial by combat, firmly placing the development of modern navies into the broader history of the period. Speakers: Alan James is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of War Studies and a member of the Laughton Naval History Unit. He has written widely on France, and its navy, including The Navy and Government in Early Modern France, 1572-1661. Carlos Alfaro Zaforteza is a Teaching Fellow in the Department of War Studies. He is the author of a number of essays and articles on naval warfare and a member of the Strategic Leadership Project, a joint venture of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (Madrid) and Instituto Espanol de Estudios Estategicos (Madrid). Malcolm Murfett is a Visiting Professor in the Department of War Studies and an Associate Editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. He has written a number of books on British foreign and defence policy in Asia and is the author of Naval Warfare 1919-1945.