Naval Blockades in Peace and War: An Economic History since 1750

Description

A number of major blockades, including the Continental System in the Napoleonic Wars, the War of 1812, the American Civil War, and World Wars I and II, in addition to the increased use of peacetime blockades and sanctions with the hope of avoiding war, are examined in this book. The impact of technology and organizational changes on the nature of blockades and their effectiveness as military measures are discussed. Legal, economic, and political questions are explored to understand the various constraints upon belligerent behavior. The analysis draw upon the extensive amount of quantitative material available from military publications.

Lance E. Davis is Mary Stillman Harkness Professor of Social Science at the California Institute of Technology. He is author or editor of many books, including Institutional Change and American Economic Growth (1971, with Douglass North), Mammon and the Pursuit of Empire: The Political Economy of British Imperialism (1986, with Robert Huttenback, revised and abridged edition, 1988), International Capital Markets and American Economic Growth, 1820-1914 (1994, with Robert Cull), and Evolving Financial Markets and International Capital Flows: Britain, the Americas, and Australia, 1870-1914 (200, with Robert Gallman), all published by Cambridge University Press. Professor Davis has also contributed chapters to the Cambridge Economic History of the United States. Stanley L. Engerman is Professor of Economics and of History at the University of Rochester. He is the co-editor of The Cambridge Economic History of the United States and of Finance, Intermediaries, and Economic Development (Cambridge University Press, 1993).

"The topic of blockades has a rich historiography of varying viewpoints. Davis and Engerman have produced a work that contributes to our understanding of one of the most complex endeavors in both war and peace." -Eric W. Osborne, Virgina Military Institute "...those in search of detailed information about the economic consequences of modern naval blockades may regard this as their one-stop shop." -John Beeler, H-War "It is a pleasure...to read an analysis by two very distinguished economic historians,...Their economic history of a prominent type of naval warfare is of great value, not only for what it achieves in itself, but for the example it offers of how to integrate forms of history that are still too often studied in isolation from one another." -N.A.M. Rodger The International Review of Books "Naval Blockades in Peace and War addresses an area if naval warfare which has had few specific studies. Its broad scope includes useful discussions of the legal aspects of blackades and embargoes and of how these principles have been applied - or more often ignored. The book is, therefore, stimulating and its extensive statistical tables are "value added"...Recommended as a reference for those interested in pursuing further study of this neglected area." -Jan Drent, Victoria, British Columbia, The Northern Mariner