[Growltiger]

Strat, they were not really wars as such, but minor fleet actions, akin to the scraps we had with the Danes, the Russians and pretty much every other minor European power other than the Prussians (who didn't have much of a navy) and the French (who did). The only "official" Anglo-Dutch war(at least accordingly to my History of Britain) was the one that resulted in Camperdown (and we all know what happened there).

On the general comment about how society will progress, I cannot really comment, but as a new father, I do really worry about the world my children will grow up in - declining fuel resources, climate change, globalisation leading to a more fragile economy, increasing urban crime and violence, escalating costs etc etc etc Make's me kind of glad that I will probably have shuffled off this mortal coil by 2050.

Re the remark about leaving best weapons behind, taking the Zulu campaign as an example, there were 10,000 brits (and local allies) and about 30000 zulus. A major imbalance on nummbers I agree, but not when you add in cavalry, cannon, guns etc - fully take the point about not leaving the weaponry at home, but I do wander what these Victoria and Edwardian "men of honour" really had going through their heads when they decided to whup native peoples with modern weaponry..... not nice really