Britain And France Competed For Maritime Hegemony(1688-1815)

Since the 16th century, with the Great Geographical Discovery and the Opening of New Routes, European powers, such as Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Britain and France, have successively embarked on the path of colonial expansion and world trade. In order to control maritime trade and fight for dominance over new colonies, these European powers developed the Navy competitively to contend for maritime hegemony. They recognized that competing for the sea power and then dominating the maritime trade were crucial to national security and development. In the subsequent 200 years, a series of naval warfare broke out among Spain, Britain, France and the Netherlands, to fight for maritime hegemony. Finally, Britain, a country at the rising stage of capitalism, defeated Spain, the Netherlands and France, and crushingly trounced the Spanish and French fleets in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, establishing the British maritime hegemony with a continuation of century.War was the main line of Anglo-French relations since the"Norman Conquest", and the root cause of this is to compete for territory and sovereignty. King of Britain owned series of hereditary territory in France, which seriously hindered the political unity of France. The emerging French nation could not tolerate this while the British abhorred France's involvement in Scotland-England relations and strained to retain the British territory in Continental Europe. In October 1337, the disaster-ridden and long-running"Hundred Years War"began. The British had big advantage in the beginning of the war, but with the growth of the French national consciousness, a commitment to oust the British out of the continent was quietly on the rise in France. In 1450, the British were driven out of Normandy and in 1453 British troops withdrew from Gascony. At this point, England lost all the territory in the European continent and the Hundred Years War ended. England was driven out of the European continent in the Hundred Years War, with the result that the British and the French grew more deeply aware of the differences between the two peoples. The Hundred Years War withdrew the British back to the British Isles. Since then, Britain stressed superiority of its navy with conscious design. Henry VII began the construction of the Navy since the beginning of his rule, and built royal docks in Plymouth and Greenwich to construct the best warships of the time. Henry VIII also attached great importance to the Navy building during his rule, and a significant advance was achieved in the British navy. When Queen Elizabeth I was in rule, the British had the most advanced battleships with sails and adopted the"long-range operation"tactics. It can be safely said that Britain was walking in front of all the other countries along the Atlantic coasts in the development of modern navy. Along with the emphasis on the development of British Navy, Britain implemented in the continental Europe"the diplomacy of balance of power"to maintain and influence the check and balance of two well-matched blocs and avoid the dominance or control of Europe under one big country or bloc.In the latter half of the 17th century, Britain defeated the Netherland and became a real sea power. Since the"Glorious Revolution"in which the British set up the capitalist system, no more significant strife has appeared in the history of Britain. The favorable political and social environment fueled the rapid development of British economy and Britain began a larger-scale maritime expansion and colonial aggression. At this time, France became the most powerful country on the continent of Europe, and began its colonial aggression with the development of capitalism. In the late 17th century and throughout the 18th century, Britain and France engaged in a long series of wars in contention for the hegemony in sea power, Europe and colonies.Britain and France fought in the first place for hegemony in Europe. Britain financed its European allies to contend with France in order to weaken France's hegemony. The contention between Britain and France was mainly for marine hegemony and colonies. From the 17th century to 1815, five large-scale wars broke out between the two: Augsburg War, War of Spanish Succession, War of Austrian Succession, the Seven Years War and the Napoleonic War. After a century of contention, Britain finally defeated France and became the overlord on the sea, and established"the-sun-never-sets"Empire with a vast territory, while France lost large areas in India and the North American colonies, and rendered its hegemony in European continent. In the last 500 years, the development of marine concepts, thinking of sea power, marine economic strategy and military forces has significant influence on the rise and fall of many powers. With the Opening of New Routes, the Discovery of the New World, the sea has become an increasingly important site of human activities, and thinking of sea power is on the rise around the globe. Different perspectives to maritime development lead to the different fate of different countries. A thorough study of the history when Britain and France competed for maritime hegemony shall help us understand how Britain reached the summit of world power step by step and how sea power has influenced the rise and fall of great powers in modern history.