Archival research and the higher direction of war

Corbett’s next step was detailed archival research into how policy and strategy were made. Nelson had to be studied alongside statesmen such as William III, Marlborough, and the Pitts because they shaped the higher direction of war. Their expansive statecraft is contrasted with Elizabeth I’s caution about extending the state. Corbett’s support for a progressive empire was informed by what he had seen in Sudan, experience that also shaped his discussion of land operations. Independent wealth, legal training, and a focus on contemporary problems set his path apart from university historians shaped by newer academic practice. His lectures and monographs taught naval professionals to see strategy and policy in context and gave them a more systematic understanding of Britain’s way of war for debate with statesmen and soldiers.