Although the government of Britain was ever changing and
the throne was often filled with new faces, the rulers never
ceased to be
focused on the Royal Navy. Charles I asked for “ship money” so that he could
repair the Navy and even Oliver Cromwell, his usurper, and the Commonwealth
recognized the importance of enlarging the Navy. William of Orange and his wife
Mary had the good judgment to unify the English and Dutch navies to defeat the
French, who had amassed quite a large fleet by the late 17th
century. Britain had already defeated the Dutch and shown them who was more
powerful, so it was a profitable more to become allies so that the other threat
to Britain could be destroyed. After defeating the Spanish and the Dutch, a
defeat of the French (and Spanish) in the War of Spanish Succession left Britain
as the
dominant sea power. As long as Britain could keep the other great powers
from teaming up, they were superior. Finally, after all of these European wars,
Britain ended up with Parliament, a democracy, and a capitalist economy – this
political structure allowed for the funds and their appropriate appropriation
for a dominant Royal Navy.
In the
early 18th century, just after the War of Spanish Succession,
Britain was still in control of its most lucrative colonies. It held the
colonies in North America, the West Indies, and India. It profited from the
triangular trade, from taxes on imported/exported goods, and on discounted raw
materials. Britain can not necessarily be proved to be the greatest imperial
success, but it cannot be proved otherwise. It had control of lumber, fish,
furs, tea, spices, rum, molasses, sugar, slaves, tobacco, and many other
coveted luxuries. Basically, the imperial success is evidence of the next
argument: the Britain had superior employment of maritime
resources.
Since
Britain did not need to sustain as large of a standing army to protect its
borders (it’s an island!), it was able to put most of its defense budget into
the Navy – something that its adversaries could not afford to do. Mercantilism
is more evidence of superior use of resources – even when there was no war
going on, the Navy was used to protect trade in the colonies from non-British
sources. This meant that the ships weren’t wasted in peacetime and that the
Brits got the most out of their colonies. Privateering was another example; the
British had found a way to weaken the enemies’ supplies without spending a
shilling. What better way to allocate resources than to not use them while
still achieving your goal?
In
summary, the major defeats of the Dutch, the Spanish, and the French allowed
the British to divide and conquer their enemies. The defeat of the Spanish
Armada in 1588 was the first in this progression towards dominance. The First
Anglo-Dutch War was great for England, but even greater was the loss of the Third
Anglo-Dutch War, because it ended in the marriage of William of Orange and
Mary. This allowed for the beginning of the seven wars against France,
especially the War of Spanish Succession when Britain beat the French and
divided them from the Spanish. One can see after all of these wars that England
was dominant: its admirals were able to profit both from the Permanent Fighting
Instructions and from the Melee School of thought, it was effective in
blockading its enemies in wartime to prevent trade (such as the Dutch and
French), and the dominance culminated in the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle
of Trafalgar.