Tirpitz Plan
Admiral
Tirpitz developed a "Risk Theory" whereby, if the
This theory was based on the assumption that Great Britain would have to send its fleet into the
Additionally the plan had domestic political concerns, mainly the preservation of the political status quo and combatting the rise of the Social Democrats. Tirpitz believed that the development of maritime power would advance Germany's economic interests and so serve as a "palliative against educated and uneducated Social Democrats".[2] While Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow, wrote that the plan would "mobilize the best patriotic forces" and "appeal to the highest national emotions" which would in turn "keep the non-Socialist workers away from Social Democracy" and pull the worker away from "the ensnarements of the socialists and accustom him to the monarchical order".[3]
Politically and strategically, Tirpitz's Risk Theory ensured its own failure. By its very nature it forced Britain into measures that would have been previously unacceptable to the British establishment. The necessity to concentrate the fleet against the German threat involved Britain making arrangements with other powers that enabled her to return the bulk of her naval forces to Home Waters. The first evidence of this is seen in the Anglo-Japanese treaty of 1902 that enabled the battleships of the China squadron to be re-allocated back to Europe. The Japanese fleet, largely constructed in British shipyards, then proceeded to utterly destroy the Russian navy in the war of 1904–06, removing Russia as a credible maritime opponent. The necessity to reduce the Mediterranean Fleet in order to reinforce the navy in home waters was also a powerful influence in its détente and Entente Cordiale with the French. By forcing the British to come to terms with its most traditional opponent, Tirpitz scuttled his own policy. Britain was no longer at 'risk' from France, and the Japanese destruction of the Russian fleet removed that nation as a naval threat. In the space of a few years, Germany was faced with virtually the whole strength of the Royal Navy deployed against its own fleet, and Britain committed to her list of potential enemies. The Tirpitz 'risk theory' made it more probable that, in any future conflict between the European powers, Britain would be on the side of Germany's foes, and that the full force of the most powerful navy in the world would be concentrated against her fleet.
See also
References
Further reading
- Berghahn, Volker R. (1971). Der Tirpitz-Plan: Genesis und Verfall einer innenpolitischen Krisenstrategie unter Wilhelm II (in German). Düsseldorf: Droste Verlag. ISBN 3-7700-0258-X.
- Brezet, Francois Emmanuel (1998). Le plan Tirpitz 1897-1914 : une flotte de combat allemande contre l'Angleterre (in French). Librairie de l'Inde. ISBN 978-2905455215.
- Epkenhans, Michael. Tirpitz: Architect of the German High Seas Fleet (2008)
- Hobson, Rolf (2002). Imperialism at Sea: Naval Strategic Thought, the Ideology of Sea Power, and the Tirpitz Plan, 1875-1914. Studies in Central European Histories. Brill Academic Pub. ISBN 978-0391041059.
- Kelly, Patrick J. Tirpitz and the Imperial German Navy (2011)
- Kennedy, Paul. The Rise and Fall of British Naval Mastery (1983). pp 205–38.
- Olivier, David H. (2004). German Naval Strategy, 1856-1888: Forerunners of Tirpitz. Cass Series: Naval Policy and History. Vol. 25. Routledge. ISBN 978-0714655536.
- Seligmann, Matthew S. (2012). The Royal Navy and the German Threat 1901-1914: Admiralty Plans to Protect British Trade in a War Against Germany. Studies in Central European Histories. USA: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199574032.