James Cable's book...has deservedly remained the classic work' - Geoffrey Till, International Relations ...a classic work in the modern literature on naval power...This third edition is to be welcomed, not only because it increases the book's availability but because Cable's revisions highlight the increased relevance of the topic.' - Michael Pugh, Journal of Strategic Studies When Gunboat Diplomacy was first published in 1971, it broke new ground with its study of how, in peacetime and in the twentieth century, governments used their naval forces in international disputes. Now fully revised...

In 1951, Britain's major overseas asset was Iranian oil, discovered, produced and exported by a British company. This book relates how Britain planned to use force in order to retain control of the world's largest oil refinery at Abadan.

The Geneva Agreements of 1954 were widely welcomed. They ended a seven-year war in Indochina; gave France a dignified exit; averted wider conflict. In later years first Americans and Vietnamese, then Russians, Chinese, Cambodians and even Laotians tried to force Indochina into different patterns of their own devising. These new wars triggered by rejection of the Geneva compromise lasted longer, killed more people, did greater damage and achieved less - for everybody. Perhaps Churchill was right: jaw-jaw is better than war-war. Certainly this lively, first-hand, up-dated account of the Geneva...

A study of the political utility of navies not only in past wars and possible future wars but also in the "violent peace" of the modern era. It looks at their use in gunboat diplomacy, showing the flag, policing coastlines and tackling pirates and terrorists. Naval arms control is also discussed.