The Great Naval Race: Anglo-German naval rivalry 1900-1914

by Peter Padfield

This is the dramatic story of the deadly competition in dreadnought battleship construction between Great Britain and Imperial Germany in the years before the First World War. It is a story of two great Empires set on a collision course, climaxing in the Armageddon of 1914.

But was 1914 the inevitable result of the armaments race? Historians have long argued the point, and now Peter Padfield – with the aid of documents from both British and German archives – argues forcibly that the major causes of the First World War were not the armaments themselves, but rather the personalities involved, especially Kaiser Wilhelm II, with his obsessive dreams of imperial destiny

The Great Naval Race is a clear and compelling narrative of those fateful years and vividly portrays the leading protagonists in the drama.

On the German side, Kaiser Wilhelm and Admiral Tirpitz, who launched the challenge to British naval supremacy; and on the British side, the statesmen who responded to that challenge – Admiral Fisher, who dragged the British Navy into the twentieth century, Edward Grey and Winston Churchill.



’A favourite on this topic, it is concise but brilliantly written, capturing the passion and urgency of these events with a Kiplingesque energy’ - Goodreads review

‘Indispensable for those who want to understand the roots of the Great War’ - Amazon review

Peter Padfield lives in Woodbridge, Suffolk. He worked with P&O and sailed with Alan Villiers in Mayflower II in commemoration of the journey of the Pilgrim Fathers. The Titanic and The Californian won him international recognition as a writer. He is also the author of classic biographies of Hess, Donitz and Himmler and has written widely on the sea, including a work on naval gunnery.

Genres: Naval History, World War I

401 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Bob Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

inevitable autocracy failure

This valuable book dwells less on technical aspects of battleship design (or of any warship design) while it analyses and compares two socio-political systems. Messy British democracy and “organised” German military autocracy. The British had to allow for discussion, in Parliament and the media of Britain’s defence needs, trade, finance and public support. The German media - newspapers-could publish views for discussion, but these were ignored by the Kaiser, nobility, Ministers. German policy was doomed from the start because of sycophancy, avarice and rank stupidity .And 25 years later they tried again! President Ji of the CCP should read this before he makes the Kaiser’s mistakes, strong enough to desire hegemony. Not strong enough to achieve it
Bob Jones, Swansea

[L G Cuthbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read

Good insight into what went on at the time. Will past events be reflected in today's thinking on European way forward during times of conflict.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very detailed book and interesting what was going on between Germany and England at that time between politicians well worth the read

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a narrow focused monograph well developped using an abundance of primary sources. The research is very impressive, the arguments quite solid. For anyone with an interest in the subject it is a most welcome addition, showing that although the causes leading to the First World war are numerous, the naval arms race was always in the minds of the political and military hierarchies in Great Britain and Germany between 1898 and 1914. This book exposes how this played out. My own personal bias remains that a continental power like Germany was blind to the fact that the fleet was a luxury to Germany and a necessity for Britain as Churchill wrote in his memoirs.

[Shaun Appleby · Rating 4 out of 5]

A favourite on this topic it is concise but brilliantly written, capturing the passion and urgency of these events with a Kiplingesque energy. While clearly lionising Fisher and Edward VII at the expense of Tirpitz and the Kaiser it is hard not to argue that the court of history has dealt the 'villians' of this piece an equally ignoble verdict.