Towards a global history of riverine warfare

According to the great German geographers Carl Ritter and Enrst Kapp, the first stage of civilization was the potamic stage, an idea then taken up by the British geopolitician Halford J. Mackinder. If it is so, riverine warfare must be as old as civilization itself. In fact, such a warfare is already attested in ancient Egypt and China. But to tell the truth, it is attested in all eras : for example, the control of the Seine was a major issue during the Hundred Years' War, as well as the control of the Danube during the Ottoman Wars or the control of the Mississippi during the American Civil War. My lecture will outline the contours and methodology of a global history of riverine warfare.