Navies and Nations: Warships, Navies and State Building in Europe and America, 1500-1860

This study concentrates on the interplay between technology, navies and state building in a long-term perspective. For the first time a broad survey has been made of the size of the navies and the production of warships from the Renaissance to the mid-19th century. The aim of the study is to explain the role of the navies in the process of monopolization of violence to the states, their position as growing organizations within the states and the interplay between dynamics and inertia within established institutions with a long life-span. The method is mainly comparative and as far as possible all European and American navies have been taken into consideration, including oared flotillas. There are extensive appendices and tables on the size and structure of the navies.