Lecture 15: The First World War (aka The Seven Year War/The French and Indian War) and the Struggle for New France, 1690-1760

by the 12th century bc, the eastern world was becoming

unstable and egypt was attacked by the “sea peoples”

rameses III had to defend egypt against these invaders

battle in the delta c 1174bc

pharaoh tricked sea people into

the delta and ambushed them

we know that minoans/myceneans were over seas traders and

we have a small number of illustrations but no accounts of naval actions

at the end of the “greek dark ages'“ , greece reappreaed as a number of

city states, prominent among them Athens and Sparta

the athenian become a major sea power

their battle ship the trireme (3 rows of oras)

for fighting (Athenian) :

a. boarding

b. but main weapon: bronze ram

grees vs persians in the early 5th century (400)

major naval battle at salams

who was defeated at the battle of salams

perisians by greek tactics

punic wars was between

rome and carthage

what happened in the first war duing the punich wars

a. romans had a new invention - the corvus (turns naval battle into land battle)

b. major naval battle at ecnomus

corvus (“crow”)

tool used by the romans, a spiked boarding bridge

major naval battle at ecnomus

off the coast of sicily - in 256 bc - perhaps the biggest naval battle of the ancient world and major carthaginian defeat

byzantines mantained a fleet using

smaller, faster craft 0 the dromon (“runner”)

byzantines also has a terror weapon

“greek fire”

in the middle ages in the west, war at sea

a. initial by merchants ships

b. as land battles - boarding tactics

with the coming of gunpowder, boarding still used but a new major tactic was firepower

standing off an enemy ship and attacking w cannon broadside

by the early 19th c,

steam would become a potential replacement for sails

nemesis

1st steam ship (w a iron vs wooden haul)

1859 - naval arms race began

a. french “la glorie”

b. vs english HMS warrior

both french “la glorie” and english HMS warrior

both steam + iron hulls (much stronger than wood)

in the US in the civil war we see

a. USS monitor vs

b. CSS virginia

both USS monitor and CSS virginia

both had w iron hulls

*the monitor has a revolving turret

but invention progression will bring one a new arms race in the

early 20th c