ABSTRACT
In 1991 David Reynolds Britannia Overruled: British Policy and World Power in the Twentieth Century quipped that Thatchers 1980s was a case study in the possibilities and limitations of the diplomacy of bluff. The British Prime Minister talked tough, especially during the Falklands War, but any surge in Cold War era prestige was unavoidably subdued again by the long term, big picture of economic decline in the face of the European Community and then re-unified Germany. Britain depended on sea power to a far greater extent than her rivals it should come as no surprise to find that the Royal Navy took the lead in pioneering new systems, from steam and the paddle wheel fighting ship to the turbine engine. Brown ignored the Cherbourg Strategy and avoided any discussion of British coastal assault because little evidence existed to support this theory, certainly as reflected in the actual types of warships Britain launched from the end of the Crimean War.
