Book Reviews
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Book Reviews Robert J. Antony and Angela Schotten- the maritime histories of Japan, Taiwan, hammer (eds.) Beyond the Silk Roads: Vietnam, Spain, Portugal, France, the New Discourses on China’s Role in East Philippines, and many other localities Asian Maritime History. Wiesbaden, both past and present. The theme of Germany: Harrassowitz Verlag, www. interconnected histories is consistently harrassowitz-verlag.de, 2017. ix+222 strong and well-argued throughout this pp., illustrations, maps, tables, notes, volume. index. Euro 68,00€, hardback; ISBN Robert Antony’s opening chapter 978-3-447-10944-4. establishes a consistent thematic blue- print for the rest of the volume by exam- Beyond the Silk Roads: New Discourses ining recent historiographical shifts in on China’s Role in East Asian Maritime maritime and global history in the con- History is one of the latest entries in the text of East Asia. The thematic heart of rapidly-expanding field of Asian-Pacif- the volume is Sanjay Subrahmanyam’s ic maritime history. Derived from the seminal 1997 article “Connected His- 2015 “Beyond the Silk Road” confer- tories: Notes Towards a Reconfigura- ence in Shanghai, this volume is a cu- tion of Early Modern Eurasia,” which rated collection of eleven revised es- argues forcefully for “connected,” “en- says, including an introductory chapter tangled,” or “shared” history, instead of and conclusion, representing a broad the more traditional comparative histo- cross-section of times, places, and ry (3). Antony also centres the Chinese themes related to East Asia’s maritime maritime world on the South China Sea history. The book is very well-orga- in particular, and provides a general nized, thoroughly researched, and pro- history of its importance to China and vides a strong, comprehensive over- the world while avoiding an over-focus view of some of the most important on Sino-Western encounters common research taking place in this emerging to many global historians. Reading field. While its primary focus is on Chi- this volume, the reader gets the distinct nese maritime history, it also provides impression that the entrance of early detailed and fascinating glimpses into modern Europeans into Asian maritime The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord, XVIII, No. 3 (Summer 2018), 209-324 210 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord space was simply another addition to an network. The essays by Adam Clulow, already-crowded seascape rather than John W. Chaffee, and Susan E. Schopp the momentous, earth-shaking event are also especially strong, no mean feat perceived by previous historiography in a collection without any poorly-con- and popular culture. As a rule, the sub- ceived or mediocre articles. sequent ten chapters do an exemplary The only real discordant note is the job of relating back to and expanding gaps in the chronology presented in this upon Antony’s blueprint. volume. The essays are generally in Aside from the excellent introduc- chronological order after the introduc- tory chapter, three essays in particular tion, beginning with a pair of prehistor- stand out. Ubaldo Iaccarino’s “Con- ic/ancient chapters by Judith Cameron quistadors of the Celestial Empire: The and Hugh R. Clark respectively, and Spanish Policy toward China at the ending with two essays on the modern End of the 16th Century” illuminates a maritime world by Adam Clulow and little-understood aspect of Sino-West- Robert Antony before proceeding to ern relations that has only recently Angela Schottenhammer’s masterful begun to garner serious attention from longue durée overview of China’s mari- Anglophone historians. He focuses time history. The remaining five essays his arguments on the ignorance and all focus on some aspect of the medieval near-hubris of the Spanish, whose ig- or early modern worlds. The thematic norance of Chinese norms, trade, and and analytical strengths of the volume language doomed their efforts to trade are at their best in these five chapters, with and expand militarily into China. undoubtedly owing in part to authors’ “Leizhou Pirates and the Making of the ability to draw from an extensive and Mekong Delta” by Xing Hang is anoth- well-established historiography for er high point of the volume. It places both early modern maritime and glob- the Mekong Delta at the centre of the al history. While all of the essays are seventeenth-century battles between strong, well-researched, and of signifi- the Ming loyalists and the advancing cant interest to the historian of China, Manchu forces, skillfully examining the case for a connected, sustained Chi- the long-term significance of this of- nese maritime world stretching from ten-neglected frontier region. Finally, prehistory to the present is undermined Robert Antony’s second essay, “Pirates, by the two significant, extended gaps in Dragon Ladies, and Steamships: On the the chronology presented here. Changing Forms of Modern China’s Pi- Regardless of this relatively minor racy,” brings the maritime world of late concern, Beyond the Silk Roads rep- Qing and Republican China into focus. resents a truly significant milestone in This article addresses the “underside of the development of a formidable his- Chinese maritime history” (165), rath- toriography of the Chinese maritime er than the official, institutional aspects world. It should be required reading for that make up much of the historiogra- any scholar of China or the global mar- phy. His investigation of the impact of itime world. Indeed, it would make an piracy on China’s maritime world rep- excellent addition to any upper-level or resents an important contribution to our graduate course on Chinese, global, or understanding of China’s nineteenth- maritime history. and twentieth-century lowpoints by il- luminating the economic and diplomat- Ashleigh Dean ic costs of this extensive underground Atlanta, Georgia Book Reviews 211 Christopher M. Bell. Churchill and the Navy over his entire political career. Dardanelles. Oxford: Oxford Universi- His extensive command of archival and ty Press, www.oup.com, 2017. xiv+439 published material, his fluid writing pp., illustrations, notes, bibliography, style and convincingly argued judge- maps, index. US $34.95, cloth; ISBN ments are all on display in Churchill 987-0-19087-0254-2. and the Dardanelles. While this is not an operational his- tory, the author offers enough detail to “Isn’t the whole of Gallipoli one mighty provide context for the political arena might have been?” so wrote one Royal that is his focus. The impact of new Navy officer to a fellow veteran of the technologies on naval operations had a Dardanelles campaign in 1936, 21 years significant role in the attempt to force after coming under heavy fire. (quoted the Dardanelles. Wireless enabled in Gallipoli by Eric Bush (1975). The Churchill and his naval staff in Lon- ill-fated campaign, which cost Britain don to become closely involved. Na- and her Allies almost 190,000 casu- val staffs in Whitehall and on the scene, alties, became one of the great Allied however, failed to appreciate how se- failures of the First World War. (Cana- riously Turkish mines would stymie dian angle: It is not widely remembered the advance of Allied fleet units. The that the Royal Newfoundland Regiment British were slow to improvise more ef- served in the campaign before being sent fective minesweepers. Both sides used to France.) Winston Churchill, who, as and feared submarines, which although First Lord of the Admiralty, had pushed small and with limited submerged en- for a naval attempt to force the strategic durance, managed to penetrate the waterway between the Mediterranean straits in the face of mines and strong and Black Seas, came to be associated currents that varied at different depths. with the failed campaign. Indeed, the The Royal Navy was overly optimistic poorly managed naval attempt to pene- about the power of naval guns against trate the Dardanelles before any troops fortifications. The British exploited were landed triggered a political crisis intercepted radio traffic. Finally, both that cost Churchill his Cabinet position. sides used aircraft for reconnaissance It eventually led to a Coalition govern- and strikes; but Royal Navy efforts to ment while a disastrous land campaign use aircraft for spotting ships’ gunfire dragged on. Throughout his life, Chur- were unsuccessful on the critical 18 chill would steadfastly maintain that March 1915 when British and French the Dardanelles campaign had been “a warships made their major attack on mighty might have been”. In this thor- Turkish fortifications. ough study, Christopher Bell examines As the Cabinet Minister responsi- Churchill’s actual involvement and his ble for the Admiralty, Churchill’s style subsequent efforts to erase the public was forceful and dynamic. But Bell opprobrium that linked his name to the shows that, while overly confident in failed campaign. his operational judgements and tending Bell has written extensively about to disregard professional advice that did maritime aspects of the Second World not mesh with his views, Churchill did War, the Royal Navy between the wars, receive support from his Admirals in and other twentieth-century naval is- planning the Dardanelles attacks. Al- sues. In 2012, he published Churchill ways keen on offensive action, Chur- and Sea Power, which examined Chur- chill became interested in the possibil- chill’s involvement with the Royal 212 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord ity of forcing the Dardanelles as early While the ground forces already as the first weeks of the war. On the in-theatre and reinforcements were la- outbreak of war, two German warships boriously concentrated in Egypt and in the Mediterranean evaded superior prepared for an amphibious attack, Royal Navy units and reached safety in Churchill’s role came under increasing Constantinople where they were nom- attack in the press and from his polit- inally incorporated into the Turkish ical enemies.