Sea Power Basics & Early Seafarers
This is the ability to use the sea to meet a nation’s needs, including defending its sea lanes and shielding them in time of war.
What is sea power?
This Persian king invaded Greece in 480 B.C. with 1,300 galleys and an army of 180,000 men.
Who was King Xerxes?
The series of three wars between Rome and Carthage are known by this name.
What are the Punic Wars?
The period of Western European history from 476–1050 A.D., marked by invasions and lack of education, is known by this name.
What are the Dark Ages?
This term means “robbery or illegal violence at sea.”
What is piracy?
This early island civilization (2500–1200 B.C.) was the first country to use sea power, dominating neighbors and controlling major sea routes.
What is Crete?
This Greek commander broke the Persian sea line of communications and built a fleet of about 380 triremes.
Who was Themistocles?
As a result of the Third Punic War, this city was burned and destroyed forever.
What is Carthage?
This emperor, deposed in 476 A.D., is considered the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
Who was Romulus Augustulus?
This hook fastens one ship to another for boarding and combat.
What is a grapple?
These traders (2000–300 B.C.) carried tin from Britain, amber from the Baltic, and slaves and ivory from Africa, and developed an alphabet that became the basis for ours.
Who were the Phoenicians?
In this famous naval battle near an island, the Greeks used narrow straits and hit-and-run tactics to defeat Xerxes’ larger fleet.
What is the Battle of Salamis?
This Latin phrase meaning “Our Sea” described the Mediterranean when Rome controlled all its coasts, ports, and naval bases.
What is Mare Nostrum?
Centered in modern-day Turkey, this empire preserved much of Roman tradition and defeated the Muslims at Constantinople in 717 A.D.
What was the Byzantine Empire?
This term means entering another country by force.
What is an invasion?
Because travel by sea was fast, cheap, and relatively safe, countries bordering this inland sea became the richest and most powerful.
What is the Mediterranean Sea?
The Greek strategy was first to hold the Persian army at this mountain pass, where they were eventually defeated.
What is Thermopylae?
In the First Punic War, Rome won this large island, located just off the “toe” of Italy, as a province.
What is Sicily?
Initiated by Pope Urban II in 1095 A.D., this first major expedition recaptured Jerusalem and nearly swept the Arabs from the Mediterranean.
What was the First Crusade?
This type of seagoing ship with oars (and sometimes sails) was crewed by trained fighting men and dominated naval warfare for centuries.
What is a galley?
This greatest Phoenician colony in North Africa later became the main opponent of Rome.
What is Carthage?
After Thermopylae, the Greeks fell back to this narrow land connection, where the straits took away the Persian numerical advantage.
What is the Isthmus of Corinth?
This long period of “Roman Peace,” on land and sea, lasted for over five centuries after Rome secured the Mediterranean.
What is the Pax Romana?
Formed by north German port cities, this league dominated north and west European trade and turned the Baltic and North seas into the “Mediterranean of the north.”
What was the Hanseatic League?
In 1571, at this decisive battle, a combined Christian fleet led by Don John of Austria defeated the Ottoman Turks, ending Muslim control of the Mediterranean and the age of the galley.
What is the Battle of Lepanto?