Two Underrated Peoples

American Thinker ^ | May 2, 2015 | Mike Konrad

[2ndDivisionVet]

In looking over the history of the past 500 years, four nations stand out for having completely and massively altered world civilization in a way that no others have, before or after: England, Spain, France, and Portugal.

No other empires even come close. The Muslim conquests were landbound except for island hopping. Chinese and Mongolian conquests were landbound. Even in ancient times, Greek, Roman, and Persian conquests were essentially land operations, except for river fording. Yes, they all had navies, but were not defined by them.

What separates the English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish was that these nations had vast transoceanic empires. They defined themselves by their navies, especially the English.

Portugal sent off its explorers to discover the Eastern oceanic routs to Asia -- the land routes having been closed by the Muslims. The Spanish circumnavigated the globe. The British empire was completely a naval operation; and the French, contrary to our American prejudices, were no slouches and actually a major player: Remember it was Rochambeau's fleet that prevented British reinforcement of Cornwallis at Yorktown.

Only the Japanese came close, and only for a very brief time during World War II. It remains to be seen if the Chinese will measure up. Their early maritime efforts, which reached as far as Africa, were curtailed by internal imperial demands....

[Nifster]

that’s fair enough

[colorado tanker]

I second the Dutch. For a time they were the greatest trading nation in the world. They thrashed the Brits in a war whose name I forget. At the end of the day the death struggle with the French Bourbons was quite a distraction.

Hey, the Dutch even gave us William and Mary and helped chase off James Stuart.