Overview
Overturns existing thinking to show that the Royal Navy engaged professionally in war planning in the years before the First World War. It has been widely accepted that British naval war planning from the late nineteenth century to the First World War was amateur and driven by personal political agenda. But Shawn T. Grimes argues that this was far from the case. His extensive original research shows that, in fact, the Royal Navy had a definitive war strategy, which was well thought-through and formulated in a professional manner. Faced by a perceived Franco-Russian naval threat, the Admiralty adopted an offensive strategy from 1888 to 1905 based on observational blockade and combined operations. This strategy was modified after 1905 for war with Wilhelmine Germany. The book shows how specific war plans aimed at Germany's naval and economic assets in the Baltic were drawn up between 1906 and 1908 and that the strategy of primary distant blockade, formulated between 1897 and 1907, became a reality in late 1912 and not July 1914 as previously thought. The book argues that the Naval Intelligence Department, which took a lead in devising these plans, was the Navy's de facto staff. Overall, it is clear that there was a continuity underpinning British thinking about how to wage a naval war. SHAWN GRIMES received his PhD in history from the University of London and has been a Lecturer in European History at the University of Saskatchewan.
Full Product Details
Author: Shawn T. Grimes (Royalty Account)
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Imprint: The Boydell Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.60cm
, Height: 2.10cm
, Length: 23.40cm
Weight: 0.500kg
ISBN: 9781843836988
ISBN 10: 184383698
Pages: 278
Publication Date: 16 February 2012
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Awaiting stock
The supplier is currently out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out for you.
Reviews
By far the most cohesive, well researched and thorough treatment of British naval war planning of the period. . This is an excellent book and a must read for all historians of the period. It is without doubt now one of the key works on the Royal Navy in the Fisher era. CANADIAN JOURNAL OF HISTORY The author's case is well argued and back with solid evidence. WARSHIPS As a corrective to the still commonplace view that pre-World War I British naval administration.was the preserve of incompetent amateurs, Grimes's study is of great value. He also drives another nail in the coffin of the myth.that the Royal Navy had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into the twentieth century. JOURNAL OF BRITISH STUDIES
