The Dutch Navy of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Download or read book The Dutch Navy of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries written by Jaap R. Bruijn and published by Liverpool University Press. This book was released on 2017-10-18 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a reprint of Jaap R. Bruijn’s 1993 book, The Dutch Navy, which offers an English-language overview of the history of the Dutch Navy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It is divided into three chronological periods: the ‘old’, ‘new’, and ‘second-rate’ navy. Rather than presenting a history of naval conflict, this volume approaches Dutch naval history from the following four angles: operations, administration, officer duties, and sailor duties. It consists of a series foreword, a new introduction detailing recent developments in naval historiography, the original introduction providing a history of Dutch maritime history from the middle ages to the beginning of the seventeenth century, a conclusion, and a bibliography and index. It explores the astounding amount of naval power belonging to such a sparsely populated nation, plus the rapid rates of success and decline. It confirms that the Dutch navy - with its logic, innovation, and missteps alike - provides an excellent case study of both the development of European bureaucracy and armed forces in the Early Modern period.