Introduction to JavaScript Object Notation

A beautifully illustrated history of the iconic ocean-going gunboats of British “gunboat diplomacy,” the hundreds of little warships that for 50 years demonstrated the power of Royal Navy.In recent years the phrase “gunboat diplomacy” has been used to describe the crude use of naval power to bully or coerce a weaker nation. During the reign of Queen Victoria, “gunboat diplomacy” was viewed very differently. It the use of a very limited naval force to encourage global stability, and to protect British overseas trade. This very subtle use of naval power was a vital cornerstone of the Pax Britannica. Between the Crimean War (1854-56) and 1904, when the gunboat era came to an abrupt end, the Royal Navy’s ocean-going gunboats underpinned Britain’s position as a global power and fulfilled the country’s role as a “global policeman.”First created during the Crimean War, these gunboats first saw action in China. However, these small ships were also used to hunt down pirates in the coasts and ri

At the outbreak of World War II the German Kriegsmarine still had a relatively small U-boat arm. To reach Britain's convoy routes in the North Atlantic, these boats had to pass around the top of the B

From the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, from the Balkans to Mesopotamia, gunboats played an influential part in the story of World War I. This detailed technical guide to the gunboats of all the majo

A fascinating look at the British naval intervention in the Baltic in 1918–20, and at the British, Soviet and Baltic nationalist fleets that fought it.Following the Russian Revolution of October 1917, the Baltic states became a battleground between Russian Reds and Whites, German troops, and emerging Baltic independence forces. In November 1918 the British government decided to intervene, to protect British interests and to support the emerging Baltic states.This initial small force of cruisers and destroyers was eventually augmented by other British warships, including aircraft carriers, a monitor, as well as a handful of submarines and torpedo boats. Opposing them was the far more powerful Russian Baltic Fleet, now controlled by the Bolsheviks. The campaign that followed involved naval clashes between the two sides, the most spectacular of which was an attack on the Soviet naval base of Kronstadt in June 1919 by a force of small British torpedo boats. They torpedoed and sunk the Russ

The term 'pre-dreadnought' was applied in retrospect, to describe the capital ships built during the decade and a half before the launch of HMS Dreadnought in 1906. At that moment these once great war

The Royal Navy's Grand Fleet dominance at Jutland in World War I centered around big-gun battleships designed to overpower Germany's High Seas Fleet. In 1906, the Germans began building a dreadnought

Following the pirate scourge of the early 18th century, many sea captains took to privateering as a means of making money. A form of nationally sponsored piracy, it reached its peak during the America

Specially commissioned photographs of more than 700 key artifacts and military equipment bring to life the experiences of Union and Confederate soldiers of all ranks, by exploring the uniforms, weapon