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Home / Historical Periods / Napoleonic Era / Royal Navy in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

Phase

Royal Navy in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

1793–1815 CE

The Royal Navy expanded rapidly after Britain entered the war against Revolutionary France in 1793. It blockaded enemy ports, protected merchant shipping, transported armies and fought across the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Indian Ocean and Pacific.

Long service and severe manpower demands made impressment, promotion, discipline and prize money central to naval life. Sailors could move between battle fleets, small cruisers, dockyards, colonial stations and amphibious expeditions, while officers depended on patronage as well as professional skill.

Julian Stockwin’s Thomas Kydd series follows this maritime war from the viewpoint of a pressed man who rises through every level of the service. The sequence connects shipboard labour and command with the campaigns of Nelson, global imperial competition and the politics of Britain at war.

Related people for Royal Navy in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

Alexander I of Russia1777–1825 Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington1769–1852 Bernard Dubourdieu1773–1811 Bernardo O’Higgins1778–1842 Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois1761–1848 Charles Arbuthnot1767–1850 Charles James Fox1749–1806 Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth1757–1833 Frederick VI of Denmark1768–1839 George III1738–1820 George IV of the United Kingdom1762–1830 Henry Sheehy Keating1775–1847 Home Riggs Popham1762–1820 Horatio Nelson1758–1805 Lachlan Macquarie1762–1824 Louis XVI of France1754–1793 Marie Antoinette1755–1793 Maximilien Robespierre1758–1794 Napoleon1769–1821 Pedro I of Brazil1798–1834 Robert Corbetc. 18th century–1810 Robert Fulton1765–1815 Robert Townsend Farquhar1776–1830 Sir Albemarle Bertie, 1st Baronet1755–1824 Sir Sidney Smith1764–1840 Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald1775–1860 Thomas Stamford Raffles1781–1826 William Bligh1754–1817 William Pitt the Younger1759–1806

Series

Series about Royal Navy in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (3 series)

Aubrey–Maturin Novels in Order

by Patrick O’Brian 21 books 4.5

The Aubrey–Maturin novels follow Royal Navy officer Jack Aubrey and surgeon, naturalist and intelligence agent Stephen Maturin from the wars against Revolutionary and Napoleonic France through the War of 1812 and the first years after Waterloo. Across twenty completed novels, their friendship links shipboard command, espionage, science, domestic…

Hornblower Saga in Order

by C. S. Forester 12 books 4.3

The Horatio Hornblower novels follow a Royal Navy officer from his first service as a midshipman during the French Revolutionary Wars to senior command after the defeat of Napoleon. The books combine shipboard life, naval combat, intelligence work, diplomacy and the practical burdens of command with Hornblower’s private…

Thomas Kydd in Order

by Julian Stockwin 27 books 4.2

The Thomas Kydd series follows a Guildford wig-maker pressed into the Royal Navy in 1793 and traces his rise from inexperienced landsman to admiral. Across twenty-seven novels, Kydd learns the work of the lower deck, crosses to the quarterdeck and commands increasingly important ships during the French Revolutionary…

Books

30 Best Novels About the Royal Navy in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

Bestselling authors first, then star rating.

Non Fiction

3 Non-Fiction Books About the Royal Navy in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

Histories, biographies and reference works are listed separately from the historical novels above.