The Greatest Naval Battle in History

General naval discussions that don't fit within any specific time period or cover several issues.

Which was the greatest naval battle in history?

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marcelo_malara
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Post by marcelo_malara »

After watching 300 and investigating a little Salamis.
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Karl Heidenreich
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Post by Karl Heidenreich »

300 was a very "cool" movie. I read a book about Thermopylae called "Gates of Fire" in which the second in command of Leonidas is the main character.
And salamis was quite a battle, yes...
But, as a dreadnought buff, my position still goes with Jutland.
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marcelo_malara
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Post by marcelo_malara »

I said Salamis because it was the one on which, not a country, but the entire western civilization depended. If the Persians had won, may be the entire Greek civilization (and most important its ideas) would be lost forever.
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Karl Heidenreich
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Post by Karl Heidenreich »

Marcelo:
I said Salamis because it was the one on which, not a country, but the entire western civilization depended. If the Persians had won, may be the entire Greek civilization (and most important its ideas) would be lost forever.
Agreed. There was, also, a very similar situation a many years after Salamis, in which the western civilization was also threatened: Lepanto. Again the westeners won the day and our way of life preserved.

Maybe we are at the doors of a new decisive moment...
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RF
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Post by RF »

Lepanto I think had the greatest effect on world history.

Jutland was a big battle that had no influence on the course of history, but if Scheer had won a decisive victory then it would have had a major impact....
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RF
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Post by RF »

Karl Heidenreich wrote:I believe this is going very "off-limits" of the original thread. How the greatest naval battle come to Stalin, the A-Bomb and Fuchs?


Best regards
Good question!!!

I suppose these digressions follow from the consequences of the impacts of these battles.....
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Karl Heidenreich
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Post by Karl Heidenreich »

Jutland had no impact because at the end the allies won the war. If Scheer had a victory then the HSF could blocked England and now France would have been Germany´s biggest province and no World War II, no Cold War, and maybe a Japanese Empire thru the Pacific and Indian Ocean.
But it wasn´t that way...

Lepanto was very, but very decisive. If the Europeans had lost that particular battle then modern Europe would have been what Oriana Fallaci called: Eurabia....
Let´s hope that socialist politicians and "humanitarian" leaders don´t turn Europe´s ancestor most important victory in a defeat from the hordes of islamic fanatics that are living in Europe´s cities suburbs...
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Ulrich Rudofsky
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Post by Ulrich Rudofsky »

An interesting recent book is: The Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter That Saved Greece -and the Western World. Barry Strauss, Simon Schuster 2004. My present understanding the historic significance of this battle has now become far less certain than 19th Century historians have proclaimed during their rehabilitation of Herodotus. The Greeks saved themselves from self-destruction more than from the Persians who were already overextended. The co-commander Themosticles somehow survived all of these civil wars and Persian attacks, and he even moved to Persia when all was said and done. We see most of this historic set of events through the eyes of Herodotus and his interpretors and translators. Herodotus was not an eye witness and he wrote his books in the manner of Greek story telling. Our belief that the Battle of Salamis changed the history of the western (entire?) world is perhaps a bit overstated.
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marcelo_malara
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Post by marcelo_malara »

Herodotus was not an eye witness and he wrote his books in the manner of Greek story telling. Our belief that the Battle of Salamis changed the history of the western (entire?) world is perhaps a bit overstated.
The Bible is written in a far less credible mode and millions believe in it...
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Ulrich Rudofsky
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Post by Ulrich Rudofsky »

That does not make it correct :negative: Herodotos described the continuous fighting among the people on the Greek Islands as a way of life. The so-called "civilization" would not have survived without the colonization by some of them of Sicily and Italy. Herododtos himself was apparently asked to go there, since his citizenship was questionable. It reminds me of the colonization of the Americas which also helped to saved the "western world" more than once :lol:
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marcelo_malara
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Post by marcelo_malara »

Yes Ulrich, you are right. The Greeks themselves were far from being peaceful people, and the Persians were far from being barbarians. But in those years, so far ago, the whole idea of the democracy and the maths were worth saving. And yes again, the colonization of America was presented as salvation for the savages tribes, inspite of the fact that for that salvation the indians had to be reduced to slavery and murdered by the millions.
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Ulrich Rudofsky
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Post by Ulrich Rudofsky »

I am thinking more about the late 19th and 20th century, when Europe needed "saving" several times. History is always much better when it viewed and edited by "perfect" hindsight.
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RF
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Post by RF »

The problem with history is that it is always interpreted by the winners.

This is particulary so when ''political correctness'' is involved....
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Karl Heidenreich
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Post by Karl Heidenreich »

Political correct apreciation stinks!
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Ulrich Rudofsky
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Post by Ulrich Rudofsky »

But when it comes to the history of the Battle of Salamis, Herodotos had to be extremely "politically correct" in his writings, since he had no citizenship rights, I think. Having now lived 72 years on this planet, I have come to the pessimistc conclusion that all historical interpretations and many records are whatever suits politically correctness status quo. Happily, I am getting to the point where I don't really give a damn.
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