The Rise of the German Navy: Toward Maritime Supremacy

This book provides an important new interpretation of Germany's rise as a world power. Since the First World War, historical accounts of the German Imperial Navy have mainly focused on the period from 1898 to 1918 when it pursued a world power policy, especially focusing on the naval development led by Admiral Tirpitz under the slogan of Wilhelm II's "world policy". There is almost no introduction to the navy's personnel, policy, and related industrial efforts before the 1890s. Ironically, historians even tend to accept Tirpitz's personal account when commenting on Tirpitz's achievements since he led the Imperial Navy Office in 1897: before he came to power, few big things happened. However, before Germany passed several naval bills in succession, the narrative of this period must be traced back to the Frankfurt Parliament in 1848-49. At that time, the attempt to form a German navy ended in failure, but it epitomized the desire of early German nationalists to have a powerful fleet. This book introduces the entire history before the Tirpitz era as the basis for "world policy". This book believes that the development and growth of German maritime power cannot be separated from its broader background, that is, the historical evolution of Germany in the 19th century. This is a comprehensive business history, institutional history and political history. This book chronicles the ups and downs of the German navy: it participated in the war between Germany and Denmark from 1848 to 1849, and participated in the German unification war launched by Otto von Bismarck in 1864, 1866 and 1870 respectively. After the establishment of German colonies in Africa and the Pacific in 1884, it was constantly involved in various naval and gun disputes due to war diplomacy.