Mediterranean Naval Battles That Changed the World

The Mediterranean to modern day man is a sea of wonderful holiday destinations in the sun, but it has also always been a maritime highway for trade, colonialism, conquest and war. The sea, until the opening of the Suez Canal in the 19th century, had just one small opening at the Straits of Gibraltar, which have been hotly contested for millennia by countless factions and tribes. With the acquisition of power, land and commerce routes comes the prospect of war, and this excellent new book by Quentin Russell sets out to highlight six of the most important naval battles played out upon the waters of the Mediterranean. The six battles cross the centuries with the defeat of the Persians and the dawning of the Golden Age of Athens at the Battle of Salamis in 480BC, and the victory of Augustus Caesar over Mark Antony at Actium in 31 that led to the fall of the Republic and the foundation of Imperial Rome. Leaping forward to the year 1571, the author analyses in minute detail the events that led to the battle of Lepanto and the defeat of the Ottoman fleet by an alliance of Catholic forces that directly led to the end of Turkish domination of the Mediterranean Sea. Clearly, at least one of Admiral Horatio Nelson’s famed victories in the Mediterranean warrants analysis and the author has chosen to consider the strategic impact of the Battle of Aboukir Bay in 1798. The final gasp of Turkish dominance in the eastern Mediterranean was blunted at the Battle of Navarino in 1827 when a European coalition of forces united behind the cause of Greek liberty and set in motion the creation of the modern day state of Greece. The final battle Quentin Russell looks at in depth is the struggle for naval supremacy in 1940-42 with the Battle of Matapan and the Battle for Malta that saved the British 8th Army during the North African campaign. The author’s in depth research is astonishing, at times it’s like reading a PhD research paper, but if you want to know every aspect of a battle or campaign and not just the edited highlights, then this excellent book is well worth your time and investment.