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The historiography of command of amphibious operations during the early modern era is typically addressed in one of two ways. One explanation discounts the treatment of command, suggesting that army—navy discord was inevitable and, in the absence of systemic amelioration of this friction, command as an operational variable always had a negative impact upon operational progress. The other approach more subtly reduces the emphasis placed upon the impact of command in joint operations and argues that its operational exercise through an executive council of war meant that it was largely a settled issue for contemporaries. By drawing upon the evidence of an amphibious campaign undertaken first in the Caribbean and then off the north-eastern American seaboard during the Nine Years War, 1688—97, this article rejuvenates another understanding of combined operational command, which harks back to the views of the principal eighteenth-century author on amphibious warfare, Thomas More Molyneaux. In this analysis, combined operational command is shown to be a negotiated operational construct between the service commanders and the government, as a result of which disagreements related to the command structure and the subsequent dilution of authority through an executive council of war significantly impacted upon operational success.

The military historiography of early modern colonial America currently offers two contrary interpretations. One emphasises the exceptional nature of American warfare as a product of a process of military acculturation between the colonists and the native Americans; the other denies this acculturation in favour of the successful importation of orthodox European forms of warfare. By assessing the military history of the early years of King William's War, 1688–97, including in particular an early attempt to conquer French Canada in 1690 by Sir William Phips, this article contributes to this historiographical debate. King William's War (known on the European continent as the Nine Years' War) has been little studied in this context and the article argues that not only was military acculturation less relevant in the later seventeenth century, but also that the colonists' deployment of amphibious actions against the French demonstrated an increasing recognition that, strategically and militarily, they were requi...

This is the author's PDF version of an article published in Historical research© 2005. The definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.com.

Oliver Hazard Perry was born into a naval family on August 23, 1785 at South Kingston, Rhode Island. His father was Captain Christopher Perry, a militiaman and latterly a privateer during the American War of Independence (1775–1783), who, in 1799, was appointed captain and commander of the USS General Greene, a vessel which he had helped build and in which he served until retirement in 1801. Following a childhood education at Newport, it was perhaps unsurprising therefore that Oliver Perry would, like his four brothers, seek service in the United States navy and, although cut tragically short by an early death at the age of 34, his career in many ways set a benchmark for resoluteness and resourcefulness among the officer corps of the young US navy. Keywords: nineteenth century; biography; maritime history; Northern America

It is surely appropriate for a conflict which was simultaneously provincial and global in its origin and scope that the War of the League of Augsburg is variously called the War of the Grand Alliance, the Palatinate extend French control throughout the duke's lands in the duchy of Savoy, a point underlined by the capture of Susa in early November. Keywords: seventeeth century; diplomacy and international relations; europe; military history; war

The second of seven children, and the only surviving son of Charles XI and Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark, Charles was born on June 17, 1682, in Stockholm. Although possessing a rather unremarkable physique and having developed aesthetic interests, a military education proved the mainstay of Charles's upbringing. At his father's side, Charles imbibed both the theory and practice of early modern warfare as pursued by the Swedish military. This training proved both first rate and essential: the former because in the late seventeenth century, Sweden, the principal European power in the Baltic and northern Europe, was an expert exponent of warfare founded upon the reforms of the Military Revolution, and the latter because Charles's entire reign was consumed by participation in the Great Northern War (1699–1721). Keywords: eighteenth century; biography; Eastern Europe; military history; monarchy; Northern Europe

The Wars of the Polish Succession represent a typical example of an eighteenth-century European dynastic conflict. Although the trend can be overblown, religious and confessional origins of war had declined since the conclusion of the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), during which Cardinal Richelieu persuaded Louis XIII to fight with the Protestant Swedes against the Catholic League of the Holy Roman Empire for the raison d'etat. Thereafter, territorial and familial—in other words, dynastic—interests increasingly became the key diplomatic currency. The promotion of such ambitions frequently led to disputes and wars within the European states system, especially where the succession was uncertain or where it might be readily contested. Elective monarchies such as existed in Poland were particularly vulnerable to the latter circumstance. Ever since its adoption at the creation of the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania in 1569, and then subsequent revision upon the death of Sigismund II in 1572, the elective foundation of the Polish monarchy had proved generally unstable. The upper and lower nobility possessing the franchise clearly had no political or personal interests in conferring favor and longevity upon one dynasty. At the same time, the neighboring European powers might gain obvious geo-strategic influence in placing their preferred candidate upon the throne of a country which was one of the largest monarchical domains in early modern Europe. During the eighteenth century, therefore, Poland was often the plaything of the European states system. Keywords: eighteenth century; Europe; military history; monarchy; war