Elizabeth's Wars: War, Government and Society in Tudor England, 1544-1604

ISBN-13: 9780333919439 / Angielski / Miękka / 2004 / 324 str.

Paul E J Hammer

Opis

The human and financial cost of war between 1544 and 1604 strained English government and society to their limits. Paul E. J. Hammer offers a new narrative of these wars which weaves together developments on land and sea. Combining original work and a synthesis of existing research, Hammer explores how the government of Elizabeth I overhauled English strategy and weapons to create forces capable of confronting the might of Habsburg Spain.

Spis treści

Acknowledgements.- List of Maps.- List of Tables.- Technical Terms and Conventions.- Introduction.- The Glory of War: Operations and Developments, 1544-58.- The Burden of War: Operations and Developments, 1559-72.- The Spectre of War: Operations and Developments, c.1572-85.- The Perils of War: Operations and Developments, 1585-88.- The Depths of War: Operations and Developments, 1589-95.- The Limits of War: Operations and Developments, 1596-1604.- The Reformation of War.- Abbreviations.- References.- Select Bibliography.- Index.

O autorze

PAUL E. J. HAMMER has taught in Australia at the Universities of New England and Adelaide, and currently lectures in the Department of Modern History at the University of St Andrew's.

Blurb

Between 1544 and 1604, Tudor England was involved in a series of wars which strained government and society to their limits. By the time Elizabeth became queen in 1558, England and Wales were likened to 'a bone thrown between two dogs' - the great European powers of France and Spain.
Elizabeth's Wars tells the story of how Elizabeth I and her government overcame early obstacles and gradually rebuilt England's military power on both land and sea, absorbing vital lessons about modern warfare from 'secret wars' fought on the Continent and in the waters of the New World. Elizabeth herself was a reluctant participant in foreign wars and feared the political and material costs of overseas combat - misgivings which proved fully justified during England's great war with Spain in the 1580s and '90s. Nevertheless, Elizabeth's armies and navy succeeded in fighting Spain to a standstill in campaigns which spanned the Low Countries, northern France, Spain and the Atlantic, as well as the famous Armada campaign of 1588; whilst in Ireland the last Irish resistance to total English domination of the country was finally crushed towards the end of Elizabeth's reign.
Combining original work and a synthesis of existing research, Paul E.J. Hammer offers a lively new examination of these long and costly, but ultimately successful, wars - military exploits which were to prove impossible acts to follow for Elizabeth's immediate successors.