Navies and Revolutions in the Seventeenth Century

The mid-seventeenth century witnessed political and social upheaval across many countries in Western Europe, with profound consequences for the emergence of European states and both international and imperial developments. Historical scholarship on these revolutions has focused very much on the emergence of ‘modern’ military forces and their role in driving the rapid and dramatic changes of the time, but has paid much less attention to the maritime dimension, despite recent studies that have highlighted naval institutions as integral elements of early modern state-formation.

In this seminar experts on two European countries (Dr Alan James on France, Dr Elaine Murphy on Britain and Ireland), will discuss the maritime aspect of revolution in the seventeenth century, the impact of these turbulent times on the emergence of state-organised navies, and the significance of those navies in the emergence and long-term consequences of globally powerful European states during the early modern period.