Medieval and modern times; an introduction to the history of western Europe form the dissolution of the Roman empire to the present time . nts of its sailorsand soldiers, fighting rival nations or alien peoples thousandsof miles from London, Paris, or Vienna. The great manu-facturing towns of England — Leeds, Manchester, and Bir-mingham— owe their prosperity to India, China, and , Amsterdam, and Hamburg, with their long lines ofdocks and warehouses and their fleets of merchant vessels, woulddwindle away if their trade were confined to the demands oftheir European neighbors.
Medieval and modern times; an introduction to the history of western Europe form the dissolution of the Roman empire to the present time . nts of its sailorsand soldiers, fighting rival nations or alien peoples thousandsof miles from London, Paris, or Vienna. The great manu-facturing towns of England — Leeds, Manchester, and Bir-mingham— owe their prosperity to India, China, and , Amsterdam, and Hamburg, with their long lines ofdocks and warehouses and their fleets of merchant vessels, woulddwindle away if their trade were confined to the demands oftheir European neighbors. Europe includes scarcely a twelfth of the land upon the globeand yet over three fifths of the world is to-day either occupiedby peoples of European origin or ruled by European possessions of France in Asia and Africa exceed the entire How England became Qtieen of the Ocean 429 area of Europe; even the little kingdom of the Netherlandsadministers a colonial dominion three times the size of the Ger^man Empire. The British Empire, of which the island of GreatBritain constitutes but a hundredth part, includes one fifth of. Fig. 116. A Naval Battle between Sailing Ships This is the way the rival navies of Holland, France, and Englandfought in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Note how theships sail right up to the foe and fire broadsides at close range. Thelarge ship in front has rammed an enemy ship; this was often done,not with the idea of sinking it, since the heavily timbered wooden shipsdid not sink so easily as ironclads will, but in order that a boardingparty could clamber over onto its decks. Thus naval warfare still re-sembled somewhat the method of fighting of the Greeks and Romans the worlds dry land. Moreover, European peoples have popu-lated the United States (which is nearly as large as all ofEurope), Mexico, and South America. The widening of the field of European history is one of the Nmowfiritsmost striking features of modern times. Though the
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