War of Jenkins' Ear

Filled with unforgettable characters and maritime adventure, the incredible story of a forgotten war that shaped the fate of the United States-and the entire Western Hemisphere. In the early 18th century, the British and Spanish Empires were fighting for economic supremacy in the Americas. Tensions between the two powers were high, andwars blossomed like violent flowers for nearly a hundred years, from the War of Spanish Succession (sometimes known as Queen Anne's War in the Americas), culminating in the War of Jenkins' Ear. This war would lay the groundwork for the French and Indian War and, eventually, the War of the American Revolution. The War of Jenkins' Ear was aworld warin the truest sense, engaging the major European powers on battlefields ranging from Europe to the Americas to the Asian subcontinent. Yet the conflict that would eventually become known as the War of Jenkins' Ear-a moniker coined by the 19th century historian ThomasCarlyle more than a century later-is barely known to us today. Yetit resulted in the invasion of Georgia and even involved members of George Washington's own family. It would cost fifty-thousand lives, millions in treasure, and over six hundred ships. With vivid prose, Robert Gaudi takes the readerfrom the brackish waters of the Chesapeake Bayto the rocky shores of Tierra del Fuego. We travelaround the Cape of Good Hopeand across the Pacific to the Philippines and the Cantonese coast, with stops in Cartagena, Panama, and beyond. Yet even thoughit happened decades before American independence,TheWar of Jenkins' Earreveals that this wastrulyan American war; a hard-fought, costly struggle that determined the fate of the Americas, and in which, for the first time, American armies participated. In this definitive work of history-the only single comprehensive volume on the subject-The War of Jenkins' Earexplores the war that established thefutureof two entire continents.