Category: Anglo-German Naval Competition
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Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War (1991) by Robert K. Massie
Robert K. Massie’s “Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War” (1991) is a monumental achievement in narrative history, weaving together biography, diplomacy, military innovation, and geopolitical rivalry into a compelling and deeply human account of the path to World War I. It stands as one of my all-time favorite books. At its…
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The Rules of the Game: Jutland and British Naval Command (1996) by G. A. H. Gordon
On the eve of the decisive showdown with Napoleonic France, Admiral Horatio Nelson was offered the opportunity to select any officer from the Navy List to serve in his fleet. Nelson’s confident, if not arrogant response was “Choose yourself, the same spirit actuates the whole profession.” The end result was Trafalgar, one of the most…
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Luxury Fleet: The Imperial German Navy, 1888-1918 (1987) by Holger H. Herwig
In 483 BC, the statesmen Themistocles led the construction of the Athenian fleet, stating, “I cannot tune a harp or play a lyre, but I know how to make a small city great.” Some 2,500 years later, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz attempted a similar path for the upstart German nation, like…
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Sir John Fisher’s Naval Revolution (2002) by Nicholas A. Lambert
Naval policy before the First World War and the so-called Dreadnought revolution is a fascinating case study in strategic defense policy and there are many notable pieces of historiography on the subject (Marder, Sumida, Massie, etc.). Nicholas Lambert’s contribution to the debate, “Sir John Fisher’s Naval Revolution,” is a daring revision of just about everything…
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Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea (2003) by Robert K. Massie
Robert Massie is a genius. He writes long, but beautifully, crafting narratives that are compulsively readable while creating characters with the skill of a novelist. His scholarship is intensely detailed – the Battle of Jutland alone takes up 130 pages of text – but fluid and engaging. “Castles of Steel” is the sequel to his…
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The Great Edwardian Naval Feud: Beresford’s Vendetta against ‘Jackie’ Fisher (2009) by Richard Freeman
The early twentieth-century naval reforms of Sir Jackie Fisher are a favorite topic of contemporary political scientists and defense policy wonks, alike. Fisher’s personal story and the drama around his relationship with his great rival, Lord Charles Beresford, are less well known or understood. At first glance, I was doubtful that a century-old bureaucratic political…
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From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow: The Road to War 1904-1914 (Volume 1) (1961) by Arthur J. Marder
First published in 1961, Arthur Marder’s “From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow” set the standard on scholarship of the Royal Navy in the First World War era for over a generation. To this day, no commentary on the period can be presented without noting its relationship to Marder and his classic multi-volume work. Part one…
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In Defence of Naval Supremacy: Finance, Technology, and British Naval Policy, 1889-1914 (1989) by Jon Tetsuro Sumida
At the turn of the century, the cost of naval warship production was spiraling out of control. New technologies and sophistication had doubled the cost of battleships and first class cruisers. Moreover, the ships were growing in size, requiring more crew and substantial upgrades to port facilities. Navy estimates of 22 million pounds in 1898…
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