The Great War at Sea: A naval history of the First World War

摘要

Two decades have passed since Paul Halpern’s A Naval History of World War One was published and became a corrective to the North Sea-centric studies fostered by Arthur Marder’s seminal work on the Royal Navy and the First World War. Now, with the conflict’s centenary, Lawrence Sondhaus has written an admirable successor with his The Great War at Sea: A naval history of the First World War. Like Halpern, Sondhaus’s account is a comprehensive and farreaching survey of all aspects and theatres of the 1914–18 naval war, yet, unlike Halpern, it does not bog down in the minutiae of detailing every minor naval operation conducted in the peripheries such as Africa and the Middle East. This approach allows for an exploration of the larger thematic issues attached to the great naval powers’ preconceptions before 1914 and their conduct and adaptation to the war at sea as it evolved in each major theatre: the North Sea, Atlantic, Black Sea, Adriatic, Baltic and Mediterranean. Sondhaus effectively argues that although the percentage of naval casualties was minuscule compared to the great slaughter on land, the war at sea was decisive in determining the conflict’s outcome. Each chapter in the narrative is ‘framed’ (p. 2) to explain why the naval war was significant. Chapter 3, for example, examines the early Entente (including Japan) victories outside European waters against German commerce raiders, which facilitated the free movement of troops and supplies from the British dominions, French colonies, and eventually the United States which would lead to the Allied victories in Africa, the Middle East and, ultimately, Europe. Likewise each chapter highlights the development of the naval war and the role played by technology – a prominent theme throughout. Comprising ‘a synthesis of the best (and most recent) scholarship on the subject’ (p. 3), Sondhaus places greater emphasis on his area of expertise, the operations and strategies of the Central Power navies. As on land, he believes that the First World War was a series of reactions by the Entente/Allies to Germany and Austria- Hungary – understanding their activities is key to understanding the entire conflict. This methodology is established in the opening chapters, which examine the prewar naval races (especially Britain and Germany) and the efforts of all navies to adjust to technological improvements in speed and gunnery in capital ships. The second chapter, in particular, establishes a thematic framework by charting the evolution of wireless communication and foreshadows its prominent role in all theatres of the naval war from the opening global campaign in 1914–15 (chapter 3), to the stalemate between the Grand Fleet and High Seas Fleet in the North Sea (chapters 4 and 7), and the Central Power’s submarine campaigns and Allied counter measures (chapters 5 and 8). Along with technology, Sondhaus also examines the various prewar strategies and war plans and how these contingencies evolved or were transformed during the conflict. Structurally, the book is a chronological narrative, each chapter divided into subheadings relevant to the period or topic under discussion, which allows for an expansive analysis of aspects the author sees as crucial to the conduct of the war at sea.