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Seapower in the Mediterranean during the XVIIIth and the XIXth century played an important role in European affairs even if the decisive theatre was now in Atlantic. The period saw the triumph of Great Britain which eventually obtained sea supremacy as part – but also as one of the causes – of global hegemony. This success was permitted by an exceptional conjunction of economic power, diplomacy and strategy. Naval power was but a component whose efficiency was maximal only when it was fully integrated in a coherent policy. Our Mediterranean case is but an illustration of Raymond Aron’s maxim : » With the military, you can’t do everything, but without it you can do nothing « .
