Balancing Strategy

Anna Brinkman is a Lecturer in the Defence Studies Department at King's College London and co-director of the Corbett Centre for Maritime Policy Studies. She is a historian of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century maritime strategy and international law.

'Anna Brinkman's first book offers a compelling history of the Seven Years' War, focussed on the competing interests of neutral and belligerent powers. An exciting and important contribution to the history of maritime strategy and the modern law of war, prize taking and neutral-belligerent relations. Worth reading by anyone interested in understanding how economic and imperial imperatives impact the course and conduct of international conflict.' Maartje Abbenhuis, Waipapa Taumata Ray University of Auckland

• Introduction; Part I. Seapower and its Relationship to Strategy and Law: Framework; 1. Seapower and strategy; 2. Law and seapower; Part II. The Dutch Case Studies: 3. Personalities and policies: the Anglo-Dutch context; 4. Whose goods are these? The Maria Theresa and the America in the High Court of Admiralty; 5. Quelling the crisis: the Court of Prize; Appeal and the fate of the Maria Theresa and the America; Part III. The Spanish Case Studies: 6. Kings and merchants: the legal, political, and domestic contexts of Spanish foreign policy; 7. Forging arguments: Spanish ships in the High Court of Admiralty; 8. Death comes for the ambassador: Anglo-Spanish diplomacy and the San Juan Baptista in the Court of Prize Appeal; 9. Reactive foreign policy and the end of Spanish neutrality: the Jesús, Maria, y José in the Court of Prize Appeal; Conclusion.