The Great War at Sea

Abstract

This is a major new naval history of the First World War which reveals the decisive contribution of the war at sea to Allied victory. In a truly global account, Lawrence Sondhaus traces the course of the campaigns in the North Sea, Atlantic, Adriatic, Baltic and Mediterranean and examines the role of critical innovations in the design and performance of ships, wireless communication and firepower. He charts how Allied supremacy led the Central Powers to attempt to revolutionize naval warfare by pursuing unrestricted submarine warfare, ultimately prompting the United States to enter the war. Victory against the submarine challenge, following their earlier success in sweeping the seas of German cruisers and other surface raiders, left the Allies free to use the world's sea lanes to transport supplies and troops to Europe from overseas territories, and eventually from the United States, which proved a decisive factor in their ultimate victory.

Imperial Nationalism of Minority Soldiers. Italian-Speaking Tyroleans and Irishmen in the First World War

“…Lawrence Sondhaus has proven this numerically: neither did the number of desertions increase significantly after Italy entered the war, nor was there any resistance to further recruitment. 88 In this context, a comparison with the loyalty of the Irish to their regiments suggests itself. The reputation of the regionally recruited and rooted Kaiserjäger was similarly one of a particular boldness and courage, 89 which could have, in turn, contributed to creating a special identification and loyalty that strengthened against foreign national claims.…”

“…Their concentration in the same regiments was quickly broken up after the spring of 1915 -in 1918, the four Tyrolean light infantry regiments had only less than 6% Italian-speaking soldiers 142 -, and thus the units disappeared as a means of identification with the Habsburg monarchy.…”

Britain, Europe, and the War at Sea, 1900–1918

“…In his epilogue, Sondhaus reflects upon how 'in the postwar years, the centrality of the blockade in the Allied naval victory became obscured by international political considerations'. 21 That the degrading affect Allied economic pressure had upon living conditions in Germany jarred with post-war efforts to depict the Allied effort as necessary and just after 1919 is undeniable. Yet issues of morality and the regulation of conflict did not emerge from the ashes of the War; they were implicit in its origins, too.…”