This book is sure to be enjoyed by fans of Ian Toll, James D. Hornfischer, and Craig L. Symonds.

Despite being the largest body of water on the globe, the Pacific was often overlooked by historians until the conflict between Japan and the USA after Pearl Harbor. Donald Macintyre, renowned naval authority and wartime U-boat hunter, sets this right.

Drawing upon a wealth of research, Macintyre charts how naval forces were developed and clashed across the Pacific Ocean over the course of five centuries. He begins with the years prior to European intervention in the region, then explores how Portuguese, Dutch, and British naval forces reshaped the balance of power in these vast waters. Particularly compelling is the history of Japanese influence in the Pacific, as it transformed from an isolated medieval state into a modern naval power, asserting itself in the early twentieth century through conflicts with China and Russia.

The origins of the Pacific War, as well as all its major battles — from the Coral Sea to Leyte Gulf — are recorded in fascinating detail, before Macintyre concludes with an overview of the Pacific’s last major naval conflict: the Korean War.

Sea Power in the Pacific: A History from the Sixteenth Century to the Korean War is essential reading for anyone interested in the rise of early modern European empires, their maritime conflicts, and how the Pacific became a crucible of war in the twentieth century.

‘A clear, concise, and very readable history of events.’ — The RUSI Journal

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But why was the battle so important? How did Napoleon’s navy come to threaten English shores? And what truly unfolded during those brutal hours on 21 October 1805?

In this authoritative and engrossing narrative, Donald Macintyre charts the dramatic prelude to Trafalgar — from Horatio Nelson’s rise to fame at the battles of the Nile and Copenhagen, to Pierre-Charles Villeneuve’s bold attempt to unite French naval forces in the Caribbean before slipping past the British blockade to challenge their command of the seas.

The mounting tension is brilliantly captured as Nelson pursues Villeneuve across the Atlantic, leading to a fateful clash off the coast of Spain. Though the outcome is known to history, the battle’s gripping details — the daring manoeuvres, the desperate fighting, and the heroism of individual ships and captains — are vividly brought to life, revealing both the triumph and the tragedy of Britain’s most celebrated naval victory.

Trafalgar is essential reading for anyone fascinated by this legendary conflict of the Age of Sail.

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