Review: The War for all the Oceans

The War for all the Oceans – Roy Adkins and Lesley Adkins

A comprehensive review of the naval aspect of the Napoleonic Wars which, as the authors convincingly argue, was the decisive aspect in Napoleon's ultimate failure. The Adkins' instruct the reader by explaining the meaning of the day's naval terms in footnotes each time they are used or quoted and cite often from the participants diaries, letters, and other reminiscences to depict what life was like fighting on the high seas.

There were several weaknesses with the book. While the extensive quoting was a strength they do often go to excess, depriving the reader of the broader contextualization and analysis that hindsight permits the historian to engage in. I would have liked to have seen more in this way from the authors. Topics and focuses are also dropped and taken up rather clumsily at points and the narrative was not as exciting as it could have been.

Nevertheless, any reader of Forrester and O'Brien should take this book up to gain the historical basis and inspiration for Hornblower and Aubrey.