Colonization, Conquest, and the Supply of Food and Transport: The Reorganization of Logistics Management, 1780—1795

Abstract

Although in 1776—83 Britain failed to suppress its American colonists, the necessity to maintain an army across the Atlantic developed both the infrastructure and the experience needed to manage an empire. For it began a rationalization in the management of the supply of military food and transport that was completed in 1793—94 when the naval Victualling and Transport Boards undertook those responsibilities, and it built upon knowledge acquired in the supply of the Falklands garrison (1767—72) to permit the shipment after the war of colonists and supplies to Australia, Nova Scotia, and Sierra Leone. This infrastructure and experience provided the foundation for the great expeditions of the French Revolutionary War and the development of a global network of colonial garrisons during the Napoleonic War.