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Amphibious Warfare, 1000-1700: Commerce, State Formation, and European Expansion. Edited by D. J. B. Trim and Mark Charles Fissel. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2006. ISBN: 90-04-13244-9. Maps. Illustrations. Notes. Sources and bibliography. Indexes. Pp. xxxv, 498. #182.00.
As a generic combat term, amphibious warfare possesses popular resonance: it is typically viewed as a combined army-navy deployment embodying military action upon the land and sea. Popular comprehension, however, is often superficial and based upon an appreciation of only the most recent historical events; this contention and a desire to demonstrate the historical nuance of amphibious warfare, including its wider contribution to European state development and commerce during the medieval and early modern periods underlies this important collection of twelve essays.
The editors' introductory essay is a model of clarity on the historiography, definition, and form of amphibious warfare. Rightly, it notes that this type of warfare, particularly within Britain and America, has attracted the attention of historians and contemporary commentators but that chronologically their published work has been focused on the nineteenth century forwards. Save for examinations of celebrated earlier events such as the capture of Quebec in 1759, the historiography of amphibious combat in medieval and early modern Europe is limited; this is a "black of hole" (p. 10) of concern to the editors given the previously recognized-(vide the "Military Revolution" debate)-significance of warfare during these periods for European state and economic development. Before addressing those...