Preparing for our first visit to England AND Portsmouth in June 2023. Reading Dreadnought again too. Outstanding documentary; Tks from an old history professor.
"Jutland would be the last battle decided by big gun warships alone." There are a couple of issues with that statement. First, the opposing fleets at Jutland contained far more than "big gun warships." The smaller ships had a role, too. Second, if dueling big guns is the standard, then the last battle was at Surigao Strait in October of 1944.
What a fantastic series. You Brits have a fantastic love and affection for national & world history. Americans used to be interested in history as well (the history channel was originally launched and used to air showed like this). Now the history channel Aires episodes of reality Tv (knife and fire, Big Easy Motor, ice road truckers and Road Hauks) and discussion on ancient and present Day aliens (ancient aliens, unexplained, swamp people, Unidentified). I like both types of shows but when I tune in to watch the history channel, I like to watch shows like this. Unfortunately American culture has turned into trash, just like Ancient Rome before the fall, and now all we are interested in is the garbage listed above.
The reason that Brits have such an affection for history as it's all they have they don't have a future and they'd rather not think about their present
So good to hear from a cultured, inquiring American. Problem is, the USA being a relatively young nation doesn't have the depth of history that Europe, the East (middle and far-), India and so on, do. On top of that, most Americans seem to have been brainwashed since birth into the cult of American exceptionalism and superiority which makes any 'American history' hopelessly spun, falsified, biased - and not worth listening to unless you want a masterclass in boasting and bragging. The only worthwhile study period is the Civil War - over which Americans can't feel superior to foreigners. Except, of course, you'd be left thinking that no other developed nation had ever had a terrible destructive civil war. Good on you for commenting honestly though.
Mark Duxberry Your comment made me smile. I saw a program on TV today about the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. When it was new, I was a young boy and my Father took me to see it. They let the public go on-board and have a look around. I've since visited HMS Victory and you're right - it is Amazing
Absolutely brilliant! I watched all four of these documentaries non stop.I was fascinated with this kind of history when I was a kid. So many times I could anticipate what the narrator was about to say because I remembered the facts from library books I read 20 years ago.I'll definitely watch these again with my sons when they're a bit older and able to appreciate it.Huge shout out to the person who posted these!
I've never seen this fourth episode. This series is amazing and gives a broad explanation about what made England so influent a nation to these days, culturally, socially and economically.
James2Johnson 'England' has been used as an all encompassing term for the British Empire and was so used far later than 1707. The last volume of the 'Oxford History of England' was published in 1965; that series of books dealt with the history of the British Empire, not the country of England. I daresay that a Historian writing today would certainly make the distinction between Britain and England; it is however a relatively recent practice to not conflate 'England' with 'Britain'. Addressing this issue of conflating 'England' with Great Britain as a whole in the ' Oxford History of England ' series, the historian A.J.P. Taylor had this to say : "......"England" was still an all embracing word. It meant indiscriminately England and Wales; Great Britain; the United Kingdom; and even the British Empire." ( A.J.P. Taylor, Volume XV, ' Oxford History of England ', page v )
Top marks to the makers of this extraordinary series, a wealth of interesting facts and what it took to make Britannia rule the waves. It’s makes you proud of our past and sad to think what we’ve become since our hay days. This is without doubt the best program I’ve watched on the royal navy and I’d love even more to watch the same on the royal airforce.
A really enjoyable series, I follow history a lot especially colonial/imperial British history, but this 4 part series really highlighted a lot of information and history that I had missed. Thanks for the upload.
Great documentary! The idea that building and maintaining the Royal Navy put Britain in a position to launch the industrial revolution is food for thought.
william paz The British empire ultimately grew larger and richer than their will and ability to defend it. To the jackals, it presented a tempting target of opportunity. The world still needs British common sense and its commitment to the rule of law. But Britain is unlikely to ever regain the primacy it held up until the 20th century. Hong Kong was given in perpetuity to Great Britain. But when it was time to return Kowloon, the British just gave back everything to the Chinese. They could not and would not be able to defend the island of Hong Kong. Its progeny..the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, together with a humbled Britain, carry the torch of civilization forward. May they succeed!
Very interesting and sad.. Human cargo and opium smuggling.. i might overlook it all but slavery is a dark page of human kind history.. and some countries still accept it.
Thank you so much for this excellent series. He describes things well and speaks decent English. The research must have been a lot of work for him and he produced a champion effort.
This was fantastic. There is so much more that can be done to follow the Royal Navy. The exploits of concurred lands to the wars that changed the world. I hope they revive this and expand it. Much Muck more to tell...Thank you for the post
I really enjoyed this series, for many reasons - many thanks. The Royal Navy, as a fighting force, and an institution.... tied to the creation of the Bank of England. I did not know that. Thanks for the post!
A magnificent documentary (1-4) by BBC, showing British navy's role in making that nation a world power & Empire builder.The slow evolvement, modernisation of a disciplined Navy aided largely by industrial revolution which became a lethal weapon for others to copy or improve upon.The biggest development was to finance these ventures through borrowing from public through Bank of England-the work of a genius.The mainstay of their prosperity was through trade & commerce,aided by it's powerful navy.Though other countries later caught on technological front with Britain,especially other European countries-the credit for originality in technological innovation,administration & discipline must go to GREAT BRITAIN!
The new way of financing the fleet was introduced only after the Dutch 'took over shop' in 1688. Up till then, Britain's warfleet was run by amateurs and its tradefleet was half the size of the Dutch tradefleet. The English kings liked to see themselves as absolutist rulers, meaning they would borrow money but never pay it back. Do some research and you'll see that the British copied everything from the Dutch. That's because king William III was a Dutchman who was 'invited' to invade England when the English wanted to get rid of their catholic king.
AudieHolland I fully agree with you that Dutch was the first to conceive the idea of some sort of a bank before England did to expand their naval fleet.
ramachandran tg "Some sort of a bank?" Holland had the first national bank and stock exchange, together with their shopkeeper's mentality of cutting cost and increasing profit, these were the important factors that gave Holland its Golden Age, well before the British Empire. Following the Dutch take-over of Britain in 1688 (with almost full collaboration of the English, who were predominantly protestant like the Dutch), many Dutch bankers and entrepeneurs left Holland and emigrated to England. Take in account the Dutch Year of Disaster, when almost the entire western world tried to conquer the Dutch Republic (1672). In the years following, William of Orange's actions were dictated by the need to keep England protestant, out of the clutches of catholic enemies so that it could never pose a threat to Holland again. Ironically, the Dutch take-over of Britain also spelled the doom of the Dutch Republic since its financial and ruling elite chose to emigrate to England, which was an island, so they could stop worrying about another Year of Disaster.
ramachandran tg Are you being sarcastic? Anyway, both countries decided to keep quiet about it. Holland because they needed the British and Great Britain because, well, that's obvious. I dare say it was the start of the global Anglo-Dutch cooperation, exemplified today by (evil, evil) megacorporation Shell.
Agreed,She should have been quietly mothballed,tied up in some out of the way place and kept for better times.I truly believe it would have been not that difficult to do.
I just finished watching all four parts. I was hoping for a part covering WW2 and the Falkland Island war. What a wonderful documentary. Being a Naval man myself, and a history buff, I appreciated the quality, good sound, and fascinating stories. I would love to see this same group do a documentary on the US Naval history.
With My British family background And American Navy background as well as family that fought on both sides and together throughout history I am so very proud of this history. As family I hope we meet all new dangers as such, family.
@@VoluspaAstrid 🌎 ASTRID I AM WATCHING ALL THE VIDEOS AS I GET A CHANCE. I LOVE YOUR CHANNEL... FOR IT REPRESENTS A GREAT DEAL KNOWLEDGE AND TRUTH...PEACE AND PROSPERITY BE ON TO YOU ... LOVE YOU ASTRID ...
Very British in its estimation of its past greatness, though never as important as Rome was. But, much like the Greeks who mapped the human psyche in a manner that's never been surpassed, the enduring contribution of Britain is not their empire, but their literature.
The time of the British empire and British dominance was the time of the largest increase in economic, social and political progress ever made in human history.
thank you soo much to post this ...I really love and enjoy it and got much of the knowledge about the UK navy and I trust the British is one of the best navy's in the world and modern weapon such like air craft careers and nuclear submarines are capable of ..We love british Navy and UK ..God bless you and thanks a lot again to give me the opportunity to see those
my great pleasure my dear actually We are from ssri lanka and it is a south asian country and island as We all known before 1948 the british colony and still We have the ancient buildings the british era they used ...We got the influence from the british and thanks for the british government We could able to learn and speak write and read english ...thanks a lot
An excellent series which, unfortunately, is almost exclusively about the military use of Britain's navy. The growth of Britain's economic power derived as much from its merchant navy. This reached its climax during the second world war, when Britain's survival depended on her merchant navy, protected by the Royal Navy.
Congratulations on the best RUclips documentary posting I have ever seen. Great quality, great sound, no interruptions and an overall package good enough to use in any school. Some of the narrators claims are kinda goofy, like the French ironclad, but that's just good comment fodder. Or maybe I learned something new?
It is entertainment, nothing else. A nice guy telling stories, payed by the BBC. And the historical aspect is partly ok. In the 20th century Britain declared 2 times war against Germany, which devastated and weakened Europe so much, only in favour of the US. Those bad British mistakes cost the empire, done by the gretatest loser in 1.000 years, Winston Churchill. Now we have Small-Britain, all including the Royal Navy is gone, only memories remain.
@@hajoos.8360 I won't claim WWI was worth it, but do you seriously think declaring war on the Nazis was a mistake, given what they were found out to be doing?
@@hajoos.8360 I'm sorry who started two world wars?Who is stupid enough to start a world war,Lose it? and then start an even bigger world war? Then lose that one too?!
...I remember the first time I read about the Opium War...I had to read the Encyclopedia article 3 times before I could accept Britain 🇬🇧 fought a war⚔️ for the right to deal drugs💉...
The Opium Wars and the causes leading up to it and its impacts, is a primary reason why most Asian countries today have the death penalty in the books for drug trafficking.
still stupid though, seeming that drugs can affect all societies by the roots if allowed to. Also the fact that time and time again fighting people who are addicted to drugs is pointless, wrong and a failure.
@@eastcoastsailingcenter7768 lol yes: the British navy was the first major drug cartel - with more firepower to back up their deadly and cynical trade, than any other cartel since then. Definitely one of the UK's darkest hours.
A very interesting programme and well done. But it was surely worth mentioning Churchill who was Fisher's boss as First Lord of the Admiralty. He made sure the British navy was equipped for WW 1.
As a Frenchman, I am both amazed and appalled by the content of this series. Anyway, we are better off as friends, even if you did f*cked us in the a*se ;) (But I'm from Normandy, so I'm consoling myself with the fact that all that originated with William and ... a naval invasion ! :p )
Of course obedience is valued higher than thinking for yourself in the military. And yes, that includes when there is a dangerous situation. Superiors are trusted with the lives of their people. When they fail, they are held accountable. And frankly it's the job of the military to go into harm's way. For people to run away or flinch because they think someone may get hurt? Well... then you have a mob at sea and not a navy. The commentator contradicts himself when earlier in the series he shows an example of people thinking for themselves and the results of discipline breaking down.
I love that this series is nothing but proud of England's naval history. Too often colonial powers are made to apologize without end whenever talking about their own history, as if their ships brought nothing but negatives to the lands they subjugated.
Britain should never have given Hong Kong to the Communist Chinese ! So Glad Britain preserved many of their old ships. Would love to see them one day in person! And so funny, it is ALWAYS those who have been defeated who are MORE open to different technologies over the old. Just like the Germans after losing WWI were MORE open to employing armored warfare than the French and British. Even though the British had the greatest writers on future armored warfare. And, So funny to see same thing with the British Navy moving past the Age of Sails :) The visionaries like Fischer are always attacked by the old establishment. Same thing happened with Billy Mitchell who showed Battleships were vulnerable to Naval Air power. And for it, he was ruined. And Peace time military ALWAYS reward political YES men, NOT those with brave new ideas and who have daring and courage! Unfortunately that is the way it has always been and still is today with peace time military. Generals and Admirals now are politicians, few are real leaders. But, Outstanding documentary ! Thanks for posting it !
Hong Kong was indeed an in perpetuity arrangement. However the port and airport were in the new territories and they were ceded for 99 years . It was in the 1970s believe it or not that We approached the government for a decision on expansion of the port (which is owned and operated by the private sector) as it would not be a viable or bankable project unless agreement could be reached with the Chinese on an extension of that lease beyond 1997 when it was due to expire. That’s why there was little choice but to give up both the Island and NT at the same time in exchange for a 50 year extension beyond 1997. The Island could not survive alone without the leased areas. Thatcher tried to consider that but it was a it was a non starter when it was explained to her.
A more disturbing idea is that between 1689 and 1815 Great Britain was intermittently at war with France and sometimes Spain as well. The Royal Navy became an effective fighting machine as a result. In the peaceful (by comparison) XIX century the Royal Navy seemed to have lost it’s edge and, despite not suffering a catastrophic defeat, had to forgo being second to none by 1922.
An excellent 4 part history of the British Navy.. Well filmed, excellently narrated, beautifully framed, but not even a single word, not even a single word about Thomas Cochrane, so disappointing. He was underestimated during his life-time depside marvelous victories and numbers battles won. Despite enormous devotion towards monarchy and country he was dismembered just because being Scottish. Legend throughout whole Latin America rejected from his homeland... and even today, in the 21st century narrator doesn't even mentions him. why ?:(
You might know already, it used to be a single file but now 4 parts Thomas Cochrane: Rise of Britain's Greatest Sea Captain ruclips.net/video/_F6MD11X_bU/видео.html I think this is Astrid kind of man. Thanks for sharing.
for being scottish? what crap are you talking about? feild marshall hague and the royal family was scottish ffs, Wellington was irish. Dont think you understand the concept of 'Britain'
Let's not forget that until 1939, the Royal Navy was the largest in the world. Or that the US Navy proved pretty feeble in the Atlantic/European part of WW2. After all, 4/5ths of all U-boat sinkings were through British (and Commonwealth) action - not American, and that the Royal Navy, not the US Navy, sank ALL Nazi Germany's capital and big Kriegsmarine surface vessels destroyed. Or that, without the Royal (and Royal Canadian) navies keeping the Atlantic clear, US troops and materiel would never have left American shores and made it to, first, N. Africa and then mainland Europe. In fact, America would have been stuck in America - and would never have 'won' WW2. BTW, since the Soviet Union was responsible for 9/10 of ALL German military casualties, Russian history doesn't even recognise American (or British) involvement in WW2 - except for sending them some Spam.
Alastair Barkley , All true, and without Lend Lease you wouldn’t have the Destroyers to accomplish the said Victories you mention. Twice America was dragged into a European War. Our people wanted no part of it. Today America bears the cost of a huge Navy. You want to rule the Sea’s? We’ll give you the ships.....good luck. Gunners mate Vietnam Vet US Navy.
Steaming off of the coast of Tripoli in Southern Lebanon? Last I knew, Tripoli was a few hundred miles to the west of Southern Lebanon.. At least It was when I was there in 1976.
evansquilt - There are several (still extant) Tripoleis (plural of Tripoli(s)/Τρίπολις = Grk. for “Three-Cities” - in antiquity, there were many more): one in Lebanon, one in Libya, and a few more in Greece.
The series also left out the attack on Copenhagen in 1807, when the city was bombarded, and the RN, took 18 ships of the line, 16 frigattes, 6 briggs and 24 smaller ships from the Danish-Norwgian navy. I guess many other incidents were left out, too, but including all, would have made this a very large production.
lassisvulgaris Royal Navy history has many victories making it too extensive to show every detail, even what can be considered mildly o moderately important.
Ok. Obviously. Did you know the British privates during this time period wore red in the army? Captain Obvious can fly away now. In Britain they had the ships being produced on massive scales with entire guilds and contracts and cooperation with black smiths for nails and such, wood workers all kinds of stuff described in Empire of The Seas, a long 4 part naval documentary of England then Britain.
lol she just rented it - and it was considered a waste of money to do even that in the beginning. When the lease was up, there was nothing they could do about their original strategic error 99 years earlier.
(19 min in.) It is interesting how the Admiralty in 1880 still kept on to principles of the 18th century. We see this happening today with Brexit, too, where moneyed elites want to hold on to their power status of the 20th century. I rejoice already in Brexit for it will make all of England, perhaps not all of Britain, a museum of how people used to like their cup of tea, hailing back to wonderful times we all yearn for so deeply. The world has moved on, Little England has not.
They should have included a WWII episode. Just because the UK lost its naval dominance, to Japan and later the US, by WWII doesn't mean that it was a period any less important in British naval history.
Good Docu but nothing about the Battle of the Nile and the 1812 US/GB War, in the 1812 war the Navy performed not very well vs the new US frigattes while the Army performed very well especially in the first time under Sir Isaac Brooks.
Baloney. Beatty failed to meet for Evan Thomas Hughes for two months to explain his battle doctrine. Beatty before and at Jutland was a textbook example of leadership failures. It would be funny if Beatty, Flag Captain Chatfield, and Flag Lieutenant Seymour hadn't gotten so many officers and men killed by disabling flash protection and abysmal signalling. Nelson had his famous dinner, no captain can do very wrong etc. Beatty was too busy with his wife to bother.
Highly doubtful as by itself it doesn't have the money. If it stays in the EU then in the future a new navy with the traditions of the royal navy could come into existence .
After the second ship blew up in the battle of May 1916, is famously rumoured to have said something like "Captain, it seems to me that there's something wrong with our ships today."
I agree 100% with the friend of "pacificrules". I have a question, ¿Admiral Nelson had lost his right hand in battle, or the statue had it originally and fell at some time, probably during the bomb attacks during World War II?
Preparing for our first visit to England AND Portsmouth in June 2023. Reading Dreadnought again too. Outstanding documentary; Tks from an old history professor.
God this was a great series... Thank-you for the upload...
Leave GOD out of it. Blasphemy
Absolutely best documentary ever-this proves the validity of British pride-theyve contributed soo much to the world
"Jutland would be the last battle decided by big gun warships alone."
There are a couple of issues with that statement. First, the opposing fleets at Jutland contained far more than "big gun warships." The smaller ships had a role, too. Second, if dueling big guns is the standard, then the last battle was at Surigao Strait in October of 1944.
What a fantastic series. You Brits have a fantastic love and affection for national & world history. Americans used to be interested in history as well (the history channel was originally launched and used to air showed like this). Now the history channel Aires episodes of reality Tv (knife and fire, Big Easy Motor, ice road truckers and Road Hauks) and discussion on ancient and present Day aliens (ancient aliens, unexplained, swamp people, Unidentified). I like both types of shows but when I tune in to watch the history channel, I like to watch shows like this. Unfortunately American culture has turned into trash, just like Ancient Rome before the fall, and now all we are interested in is the garbage listed above.
As an Englishman in the US at the moment I totally agree with you.
The reason that Brits have such an affection for history as it's all they have they don't have a future and they'd rather not think about their present
So good to hear from a cultured, inquiring American. Problem is, the USA being a relatively young nation doesn't have the depth of history that Europe, the East (middle and far-), India and so on, do. On top of that, most Americans seem to have been brainwashed since birth into the cult of American exceptionalism and superiority which makes any 'American history' hopelessly spun, falsified, biased - and not worth listening to unless you want a masterclass in boasting and bragging. The only worthwhile study period is the Civil War - over which Americans can't feel superior to foreigners. Except, of course, you'd be left thinking that no other developed nation had ever had a terrible destructive civil war. Good on you for commenting honestly though.
An excellent 4 part history of the British Navy...
I have thoroughly enjoyed this series. Thank you for posting.
You are welcome. Glad that you liked it.
Just watched all 4 parts Amazing ..i,m going down too see HMS Victory in October for my birthday
HMS VICTORY , was Amazing well worth a look
Mark Duxberry
Your comment made me smile. I saw a program on TV today about the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. When it was new, I was a young boy and my Father took me to see it. They let the public go on-board and have a look around. I've since visited HMS Victory and you're right - it is Amazing
I'm a little disappointed they skipped over the War of 1812, but in British history it really is a footnote. Napoleon was the more immediate threat.
Amazing documentary .thank you for sharing these .
Absolutely brilliant! I watched all four of these documentaries non stop.I was fascinated with this kind of history when I was a kid. So many times I could anticipate what the narrator was about to say because I remembered the facts from library books I read 20 years ago.I'll definitely watch these again with my sons when they're a bit older and able to appreciate it.Huge shout out to the person who posted these!
A marvelous series of documentaries, thank you so much for listing them.
Thank you and you are welcome.
Absolutely fantastic, best RUclips series yet
I've never seen this fourth episode. This series is amazing and gives a broad explanation about what made England so influent a nation to these days, culturally, socially and economically.
* Britain, my linguistically challenged friend.
you're quite right. Britain; not England.
"England" in the early years, later on "Britain".
Andy Irvine Indeed Britain only came about in 1707 as I remember. Before that both Wales and England were generally referred to as England, sadly.
James2Johnson 'England' has been used as an all encompassing term for the British Empire and was so used far later than 1707. The last volume of the 'Oxford History of England' was published in 1965; that series of books dealt with the history of the British Empire, not the country of England. I daresay that a Historian writing today would certainly make the distinction between Britain and England; it is however a relatively recent practice to not conflate 'England' with 'Britain'.
Addressing this issue of conflating 'England' with Great Britain as a whole in the ' Oxford History of England ' series, the historian A.J.P. Taylor had this to say : "......"England" was still an all embracing word. It meant indiscriminately England and Wales; Great Britain; the United Kingdom; and even the British Empire." ( A.J.P. Taylor, Volume XV, ' Oxford History of England ', page v )
A really good series. Raises my opinion of Snow and his documentaries.
Thank you for posting these! Very high quality.
Top marks to the makers of this extraordinary series, a wealth of interesting facts and what it took to make Britannia rule the waves. It’s makes you proud of our past and sad to think what we’ve become since our hay days. This is without doubt the best program I’ve watched on the royal navy and I’d love even more to watch the same on the royal airforce.
brilliant series.Well done Dan,
Just fabulous. I cannot thank you enough for your channel.
Thank you. And on my part I appreciate your support.
Astrid
.
A really enjoyable series, I follow history a lot especially colonial/imperial British history, but this 4 part series really highlighted a lot of information and history that I had missed. Thanks for the upload.
What absolutely wonderful program.
Great documentary! The idea that building and maintaining the Royal Navy put Britain in a position to launch the industrial revolution is food for thought.
Good and quality documentary.
Oh Britain! What happened to you? Have you forgotten your history? Europe needs you, the world needs you. Remember your history, return to your glory.
william paz The British empire ultimately grew larger and richer than their will and ability to defend it. To the jackals, it presented a tempting target of opportunity. The world still needs British common sense and its commitment to the rule of law. But Britain is unlikely to ever regain the primacy it held up until the 20th century. Hong Kong was given in perpetuity to Great Britain. But when it was time to return Kowloon, the British just gave back everything to the Chinese. They could not and would not be able to defend the island of Hong Kong. Its progeny..the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, together with a humbled Britain, carry the torch of civilization forward. May they succeed!
Very interesting and sad.. Human cargo and opium smuggling.. i might overlook it all but slavery is a dark page of human kind history.. and some countries still accept it.
Thank you so much for this excellent series. He describes things well and speaks decent English. The research must have been a lot of work for him and he produced a champion effort.
Excellent series and very informative! Thanks for posting a quality upload.
There is a Nelson's Column in Montreal, which was erected by a group of business men several years before the column in London
This was fantastic. There is so much more that can be done to follow the Royal Navy. The exploits of concurred lands to the wars that changed the world. I hope they revive this and expand it. Much Muck more to tell...Thank you for the post
+Steve Ibbert You are welcome. Astrid
Great Series, Thanks for uploading.
You are welcome. Astrid
I am English,British and proud but also SCOUSE and that makes me even prouder
Very good history lesson . Thank you.
I really enjoyed this series, for many reasons - many thanks. The Royal Navy, as a fighting force, and an institution.... tied to the creation of the Bank of England. I did not know that. Thanks for the post!
A magnificent documentary (1-4) by BBC, showing British navy's role in making that nation a world power & Empire builder.The slow evolvement, modernisation of a disciplined Navy aided largely by industrial revolution which became a lethal weapon for others to copy or improve upon.The biggest development was to finance these ventures through borrowing from public through Bank of England-the work of a genius.The mainstay of their prosperity was through trade & commerce,aided by it's powerful navy.Though other countries later caught on technological front with Britain,especially other European countries-the credit for originality in technological innovation,administration & discipline must go to GREAT BRITAIN!
The new way of financing the fleet was introduced only after the Dutch 'took over shop' in 1688. Up till then, Britain's warfleet was run by amateurs and its tradefleet was half the size of the Dutch tradefleet. The English kings liked to see themselves as absolutist rulers, meaning they would borrow money but never pay it back. Do some research and you'll see that the British copied everything from the Dutch. That's because king William III was a Dutchman who was 'invited' to invade England when the English wanted to get rid of their catholic king.
AudieHolland I fully agree with you that Dutch was the first to conceive the idea of some sort of a bank before England did to expand their naval fleet.
ramachandran tg "Some sort of a bank?" Holland had the first national bank and stock exchange, together with their shopkeeper's mentality of cutting cost and increasing profit, these were the important factors that gave Holland its Golden Age, well before the British Empire. Following the Dutch take-over of Britain in 1688 (with almost full collaboration of the English, who were predominantly protestant like the Dutch), many Dutch bankers and entrepeneurs left Holland and emigrated to England. Take in account the Dutch Year of Disaster, when almost the entire western world tried to conquer the Dutch Republic (1672). In the years following, William of Orange's actions were dictated by the need to keep England protestant, out of the clutches of catholic enemies so that it could never pose a threat to Holland again.
Ironically, the Dutch take-over of Britain also spelled the doom of the Dutch Republic since its financial and ruling elite chose to emigrate to England, which was an island, so they could stop worrying about another Year of Disaster.
Thanks Audie Holland for giving me the 'true stories' of Dutch & English history.
ramachandran tg Are you being sarcastic? Anyway, both countries decided to keep quiet about it. Holland because they needed the British and Great Britain because, well, that's obvious. I dare say it was the start of the global Anglo-Dutch cooperation, exemplified today by (evil, evil) megacorporation Shell.
Great Documentary!!!! thanks for uploading this!!
You are welcome.
Brilliant documentary Mr Snow But ships have Drawings, buildings have "plans". Also Shipyards build ships and "Dockyards" service/repair them.
Im shocked he didn't mention HMS Warspite, The grand old lady has the most illustrious service record of all the royal ships.
Agreed,She should have been quietly mothballed,tied up in some out of the way place and kept for better times.I truly believe it would have been not that difficult to do.
Just Brilliant 4 shows i would say watch all 4 in order Thank you
You are welcome and thank you for watching. Astrid.
That was really enjoyable. Thank you for uploading all 4 series.
Excellent.
Thank you for the upload.
An excellent account, Sir, of a huge and complex history!
Keep up the great stuff
a great series - thanks for posting this
You are welcome and thank you for watching.
Astrid
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I just finished watching all four parts. I was hoping for a part covering WW2 and the Falkland Island war. What a wonderful documentary. Being a Naval man myself, and a history buff, I appreciated the quality, good sound, and fascinating stories. I would love to see this same group do a documentary on the US Naval history.
@Golf Hound. Glad that you liked it and hope you will find more video of interest on my channel. Astrid.
With My British family background And American Navy background as well as family that fought on both sides and together throughout history I am so very proud of this history. As family I hope we meet all new dangers as such, family.
Extremely great series!
ASTRID GREAT VIDEO AND THANK YOU FOR KNOWLEDGE...
Glad you enjoyed it.
Astrid
.
@@VoluspaAstrid 🌎 ASTRID I AM WATCHING ALL THE VIDEOS AS I GET A CHANCE. I LOVE YOUR CHANNEL... FOR IT REPRESENTS A GREAT DEAL KNOWLEDGE AND TRUTH...PEACE AND PROSPERITY BE ON TO YOU ...
LOVE YOU ASTRID ...
@@latindemigod3752 Thank you
Astrid
.
Great stuff. I totally would have shown up for class if they were showing this
Very British in its estimation of its past greatness, though never as important as Rome was. But, much like the Greeks who mapped the human psyche in a manner that's never been surpassed, the enduring contribution of Britain is not their empire, but their literature.
The time of the British empire and British dominance was the time of the largest increase in economic, social and political progress ever made in human history.
thank you soo much to post this ...I really love and enjoy it and got much of the knowledge about the UK navy and I trust the British is one of the best navy's in the world and modern weapon such like air craft careers and nuclear submarines are capable of ..We love british Navy and UK ..God bless you and thanks a lot again to give me the opportunity to see those
willi farrow You are welcome and glad that you liked it
my great pleasure my dear actually We are from ssri lanka and it is a south asian country and island as We all known before 1948 the british colony and still We have the ancient buildings the british era they used ...We got the influence from the british and thanks for the british government We could able to learn and speak write and read english ...thanks a lot
Sweet! Thnx for the uploads , BBC docs are always a good watch, ;)
+tarwagon You are welcome
An excellent series which, unfortunately, is almost exclusively about the military use of Britain's navy.
The growth of Britain's economic power derived as much from its merchant navy. This reached its climax during the second world war, when Britain's survival depended on her merchant navy, protected by the Royal Navy.
Markham’s court martial is the moment the spirt of Nelson finally died. An utter disgrace.
The Warrior was an amazing piece of engineering it's no wonder Britain ruled the waves.
Congratulations on the best RUclips documentary posting I have ever seen. Great quality, great sound, no interruptions and an overall package good enough to use in any school. Some of the narrators claims are kinda goofy, like the French ironclad, but that's just good comment fodder. Or maybe I learned something new?
marked wayne You are welcome and thank you for watching.
La Gloire was quite real, and it scared the crap out of the Brits and caused the building of HMS Warrior.
It is entertainment, nothing else. A nice guy telling stories, payed by the BBC. And the historical aspect is partly ok. In the 20th century Britain declared 2 times war against Germany, which devastated and weakened Europe so much, only in favour of the US. Those bad British mistakes cost the empire, done by the gretatest loser in 1.000 years, Winston Churchill. Now we have Small-Britain, all including the Royal Navy is gone, only memories remain.
@@hajoos.8360 I won't claim WWI was worth it, but do you seriously think declaring war on the Nazis was a mistake, given what they were found out to be doing?
@@hajoos.8360 I'm sorry who started two world wars?Who is stupid enough to start a world war,Lose it? and then start an even bigger world war? Then lose that one too?!
Amazing legacy! Thank you for the share!
loved every minute
...I remember the first time I read about the Opium War...I had to read the Encyclopedia article 3 times before I could accept Britain 🇬🇧 fought a war⚔️ for the right to deal drugs💉...
Truly fantastic documentary, very interesting historically wise, even for a French ex Navy boy like me.
Thanks. Great documentary.
Great presentation it takes personal integrity to admit the flaws in your own government congratulations to you
amazing series, thank you
+Cold War You are welcome.
The Opium Wars and the causes leading up to it and its impacts, is a primary reason why most Asian countries today have the death penalty in the books for drug trafficking.
still stupid though, seeming that drugs can affect all societies by the roots if allowed to. Also the fact that time and time again fighting people who are addicted to drugs is pointless, wrong and a failure.
mr Shaw please go educate yourself on the opuim tea trade, about the world's first international drug cartel.
@@eastcoastsailingcenter7768 lol yes: the British navy was the first major drug cartel - with more firepower to back up their deadly and cynical trade, than any other cartel since then. Definitely one of the UK's darkest hours.
This was a brilliant series. Also when he was in Hong Kong and about 3 foot taller than everyone else that made me laugh.
Thank you : )
A very interesting programme and well done. But it was surely worth mentioning Churchill who was Fisher's boss as First Lord of the Admiralty. He made sure the British navy was equipped for WW 1.
Thank-you for the upload
You are welcome
As a Frenchman, I am both amazed and appalled by the content of this series. Anyway, we are better off as friends, even if you did f*cked us in the a*se ;) (But I'm from Normandy, so I'm consoling myself with the fact that all that originated with William and ... a naval invasion ! :p )
Empire of the Sea's is a very well thought out documentary but I wonder why the British East India Company was left out.
Jeffrey LaPlante It might be because the East India Co. fought their battles on land . The Co. regarded navy ships as taxi services .
The Nemesis was an East India Company ship, not Royal Navy.
Of course obedience is valued higher than thinking for yourself in the military. And yes, that includes when there is a dangerous situation. Superiors are trusted with the lives of their people. When they fail, they are held accountable. And frankly it's the job of the military to go into harm's way. For people to run away or flinch because they think someone may get hurt? Well... then you have a mob at sea and not a navy. The commentator contradicts himself when earlier in the series he shows an example of people thinking for themselves and the results of discipline breaking down.
I love that this series is nothing but proud of England's naval history. Too often colonial powers are made to apologize without end whenever talking about their own history, as if their ships brought nothing but negatives to the lands they subjugated.
Fun series!
yes brilliant tv making .
Britain should never have given Hong Kong to the Communist Chinese ! So Glad Britain preserved many of their old ships. Would love to see them one day in person! And so funny, it is ALWAYS those who have been defeated who are MORE open to different technologies over the old. Just like the Germans after losing WWI were MORE open to employing armored warfare than the French and British. Even though the British had the greatest writers on future armored warfare. And, So funny to see same thing with the British Navy moving past the Age of Sails :) The visionaries like Fischer are always attacked by the old establishment. Same thing happened with Billy Mitchell who showed Battleships were vulnerable to Naval Air power. And for it, he was ruined. And Peace time military ALWAYS reward political YES men, NOT those with brave new ideas and who have daring and courage! Unfortunately that is the way it has always been and still is today with peace time military. Generals and Admirals now are politicians, few are real leaders. But, Outstanding documentary ! Thanks for posting it !
Hong Kong was indeed an in perpetuity arrangement. However the port and airport were in the new territories and they were ceded for 99 years . It was in the 1970s believe it or not that We approached the government for a decision on expansion of the port (which is owned and operated by the private sector) as it would not be a viable or bankable project unless agreement could be reached with the Chinese on an extension of that lease beyond 1997 when it was due to expire. That’s why there was little choice but to give up both the Island and NT at the same time in exchange for a 50 year extension beyond 1997. The Island could not survive alone without the leased areas. Thatcher tried to consider that but it was a it was a non starter when it was explained to her.
A more disturbing idea is that between 1689 and 1815 Great Britain was intermittently at war with France and sometimes Spain as well. The Royal Navy became an effective fighting machine as a result. In the peaceful (by comparison) XIX century the Royal Navy seemed to have lost it’s edge and, despite not suffering a catastrophic defeat, had to forgo being second to none by 1922.
An excellent 4 part history of the British Navy.. Well filmed, excellently narrated, beautifully framed, but not even a single word, not even a single word about Thomas Cochrane, so disappointing. He was underestimated during his life-time depside marvelous victories and numbers battles won. Despite enormous devotion towards monarchy and country he was dismembered just because being Scottish. Legend throughout whole Latin America rejected from his homeland... and even today, in the 21st century narrator doesn't even mentions him. why ?:(
You might know already, it used to be a single file but now 4 parts
Thomas Cochrane: Rise of Britain's Greatest Sea Captain
ruclips.net/video/_F6MD11X_bU/видео.html
I think this is Astrid kind of man. Thanks for sharing.
@@garyfoster4716 Yes, he is definitely my kind of a man.
Astrid
.
for being scottish? what crap are you talking about? feild marshall hague and the royal family was scottish ffs, Wellington was irish. Dont think you understand the concept of 'Britain'
Very recommendable
Great series good to know the history of the thing i am going into (sort of the Royal Marines I'm joining) rule brittania!
I enjoyed that!! Well done!! Den
Outstanding
Let's not forget that until 1939, the Royal Navy was the largest in the world. Or that the US Navy proved pretty feeble in the Atlantic/European part of WW2. After all, 4/5ths of all U-boat sinkings were through British (and Commonwealth) action - not American, and that the Royal Navy, not the US Navy, sank ALL Nazi Germany's capital and big Kriegsmarine surface vessels destroyed. Or that, without the Royal (and Royal Canadian) navies keeping the Atlantic clear, US troops and materiel would never have left American shores and made it to, first, N. Africa and then mainland Europe. In fact, America would have been stuck in America - and would never have 'won' WW2.
BTW, since the Soviet Union was responsible for 9/10 of ALL German military casualties, Russian history doesn't even recognise American (or British) involvement in WW2 - except for sending them some Spam.
Alastair Barkley , All true, and without Lend Lease you wouldn’t have the Destroyers to accomplish the said Victories you mention. Twice America was dragged into a European War. Our people wanted no part of it. Today America bears the cost of a huge Navy. You want to rule the Sea’s? We’ll give you the ships.....good luck. Gunners mate Vietnam Vet US Navy.
Steaming off of the coast of Tripoli in Southern Lebanon? Last I knew, Tripoli was a few hundred miles to the west of Southern Lebanon.. At least It was when I was there in 1976.
Libya, obviously Snow said it right
There are two Tripolies. One is in Libya, one in Lebanon.
evansquilt - There are several (still extant) Tripoleis (plural of Tripoli(s)/Τρίπολις = Grk. for “Three-Cities” - in antiquity, there were many more): one in Lebanon, one in Libya, and a few more in Greece.
I like this series.
The left out the war of 1812. The British navy on the great lakes.
The series also left out the attack on Copenhagen in 1807, when the city was bombarded, and the RN, took 18 ships of the line, 16 frigattes, 6 briggs and 24 smaller ships from the Danish-Norwgian navy. I guess many other incidents were left out, too, but including all, would have made this a very large production.
lassisvulgaris Royal Navy history has many victories making it too extensive to show every detail, even what can be considered mildly o moderately important.
Cool, I am not reading that though because I am busy but you sound smart.
You are saying The Royal Navy was of inferior quality?
Ok. Obviously. Did you know the British privates during this time period wore red in the army? Captain Obvious can fly away now. In Britain they had the ships being produced on massive scales with entire guilds and contracts and cooperation with black smiths for nails and such, wood workers all kinds of stuff described in Empire of The Seas, a long 4 part naval documentary of England then Britain.
7:45 damn I wish the British kept HK as her "permanent colony"
lol she just rented it - and it was considered a waste of money to do even that in the beginning. When the lease was up, there was nothing they could do about their original strategic error 99 years earlier.
(19 min in.) It is interesting how the Admiralty in 1880 still kept on to principles of the 18th century. We see this happening today with Brexit, too, where moneyed elites want to hold on to their power status of the 20th century. I rejoice already in Brexit for it will make all of England, perhaps not all of Britain, a museum of how people used to like their cup of tea, hailing back to wonderful times we all yearn for so deeply. The world has moved on, Little England has not.
I’m afraid you are talking absolute bollocks sir ...pseud
I feel like I've missed something. What about the Napoleonic wars?
that was part 3
Previous episode
Covered in Episode 2 and 3
That was all the mentioning of France, the French Navy. Hens, The history of the Royal Navy during the Napoleon war.
It's strange that Churchill hasn't been mentioned in this episode. As far as I know he did something for the British fleet before the Great War.
They should have included a WWII episode. Just because the UK lost its naval dominance, to Japan and later the US, by WWII doesn't mean that it was a period any less important in British naval history.
Great History.
awesome
Doing what you’re told as opposed to doing what is right. That about sums up the whole of the British people now doesn’t it....
Very good indeed..
Good Docu but nothing about the Battle of the Nile and the 1812 US/GB War, in the 1812 war the Navy performed not very well vs the new US frigattes while the Army performed very well especially in the first time under Sir Isaac Brooks.
Excellent look back at Naval history,
What? No coverage of the Royal Navy in WW2?
Baloney. Beatty failed to meet for Evan Thomas Hughes for two months to explain his battle doctrine. Beatty before and at Jutland was a textbook example of leadership failures. It would be funny if Beatty, Flag Captain Chatfield, and Flag Lieutenant Seymour hadn't gotten so many officers and men killed by disabling flash protection and abysmal signalling. Nelson had his famous dinner, no captain can do very wrong etc. Beatty was too busy with his wife to bother.
No rank for commoners? Silent Jack had something to say about that
Rule Britannia! One day the Royal Navy will rise again. Britannia rule the waves!
Highly doubtful as by itself it doesn't have the money. If it stays in the EU then in the future a new navy with the traditions of the royal navy could come into existence .
After the second ship blew up in the battle of May 1916, is famously rumoured to have said something like "Captain, it seems to me that there's something wrong with our ships today."
Vice admiral Beatty " there seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today"
I agree 100% with the friend of "pacificrules". I have a question, ¿Admiral Nelson had lost his right hand in battle, or the statue had it originally and fell at some time, probably during the bomb attacks during World War II?
It was erected that way. Nelson really did lose an arm in 1797.
he lost his arm at the battle of santa cruz and become blind in one eye, the statue was built after Trafalgar he lost his arm in 1797.
Yes, he lost his arm at Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and his sight in one eye at Corsica. He always refered to his stump as a fin.
Up to chapter 3 included it was interesting.