SEA DRAGON ASCENDANT

The Foundation of the Chinese Quest for Naval Supremacy in the Pacific and Indian Oceans

By Jim Bloom

The Frantic 20-year-old building and acquisition program of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN)—the modern naval force of the People’s Republic of China—is striking in that the Chinese lack a strong maritime tradition. That is not exactly the case. One must look back to the Ming Dynasty for a precedent.

There was one period of history, six centuries ago, when China deployed the most powerful naval force in the known world. Their huge fleet of ocean-going junks dominated the maritime enterprises of the Indian Ocean periphery, a vast endeavor spanning from the South China Sea on the western fringe of the Pacific, to the coasts of East Africa. In Portugal, Prince Henry the Navigator was years away from kicking off his navigation think tank—the occasion that marks the commencement of the European voyages of discovery.

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Vicksburg

Joint Operations in the American Civil War

Strategy & Tactics, Issue #328 Magazine available!

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Articles:

  • Vicksburg: Joint Operations in the American Civil War: In July of 1863 two battles were fought which became recognized as decisive in the American Civil War. The first was fought at Gettysburg. The second was along the Mississippi, where General Ulysses S. Grant at the Gibraltar of the Confederacy—Vicksburg.
  • Sea Dragon Ascendant: In the first half of the 15th century, China deployed the most powerful naval force in the known world. Their huge fleet of ocean-going junks dominated the maritime enterprise of the Indian Ocean periphery from the South China Sea to the coasts of East Africa.
  • The Armies Of The Ptolomies, 305–30 BC: The organization of the Ptolemaic army, like that of other Hellenistic armies, at first resembled that of the Macedonian army, but over time developed its own peculiarities.
  • Destination Cambrai: At a time when France was facing disaster from the German blitzkrieg, the French launched an attack at Cambrai intended to join pincers in the rear of the German “panzer corridor.” Command hesitation and the scattering of French motorized forces turned it into a story of what might have been.

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