The ship was so powerful that all previous battleships were immediately out of date and became known as ‘funf minuten’ (five minute ships). Britain launched the first of a new type of battleship, HMS Dreadnought. Talks were held to try to limit the size of the British and German navies, but they broke down. The ‘race’ is driven by fear that the other country will establish military superiority, and therefore become dominant.ġ0 HMS Dreadnought Britain saw Germany’s shipbuilding programme as a threat. ‘The Kaiser built a great navy only to challenge Britain.’ Do you agree? Give reasons for your answer, showing you have thought about more than one point of view.Īrms Race = when two nations compete to develop the best military technology or the largest armed forces. After all, Germany was in central Europe and needed a large army to protect its borders, why did it need a navy? ‘There is no comparison between the importance of the German navy to Germany and the importance of our navy to us…it is not a matter of life and death to them as it is to us.’ (British Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, 1909)Ĩ Importance of the Navy Was Wilhelm deliberately trying to challenge British naval supremacy? Or was he genuinely building a large navy to protect Germany’s trade and small empire? Another reason for the Kaiser’s actions was to frighten the British into reaching an agreement with Germany instead of France. Importance of the Navy Britain saw the German naval building programme as part of a deliberate policy to challenge British naval supremacy. “In my view, Germany will, in the coming century, rapidly drop from her position as a great power unless we begin to develop our maritime interests energetically, systematically and without delay.” Admiral Tirpitz, 1895ħ (British Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, 1909) This was part of a plan to make sure that Germany could defend itself and protect its growing overseas trade. In 1898, Kaiser Wilhelm announced that Germany was going to build 41 battleships and 61 cruisers. But what if another country wanted to challenge Britain’s naval superiority?
As long as Britain had the world’s strongest navy, it could make sure that none of the other Great Powers would try to seize parts of its empire or invade Britain itself. L/O – To consider how militarism led to increasing tensions between the two alliancesīritain had defeated the French at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and since then had controlled the seas with the most powerful navy in the world. 1 How did Military Rivalry contribute to the outbreak of war?
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