Alfred von Tirpitz served as a German Admiral during World War I, and was Secretary of State of the German Imperial Naval Office from 1897 to 1916. Tirpitz played a major role in shaping the aggressive political course taken by Germany. Expressing the interests of the German imperialists, he was a strong proponent of the naval arms race. Tirpitz worked to develop a strong navy that would be capable of challenging the British Navy and of serving as a tool for German imperialists to find "their place under the sun." Tirpitz regarded Great Britain as Germany’s biggest enemy and called for an alliance with Japan and the neutralization of Russia. During World War I, Tirpitz was a supporter of the air bombings of industrial centers of Britain and of unrestricted submarine warfare. The latter was an issue that caused the United States to get involved in the war. Tirpitz was significant for influencing Germany's aggressive policies of the early twentieth century as well as getting America into the war.
Tirpitz was forced to resign in 1916 due to his aggressive policies that many German leaders, even Wilhelm II, found to radical.
In 1919, Tirpitz published his Memoirs, in which he blamed Germany’s defeat on the failure of the political leadership to make sufficient use of the German Navy. He said:
"It was, and is, an illusion, however, to think that the English would have treated us any better, and have allowed our economic growth to have proceeded unchecked if we had had no fleet. They would have certainly told us to stop much sooner."
The following link provides an audio clip in which Tirpitz outlines arguments in favor of U-boat warfare. The entire thing is in German, and unfortunately, I could not find a translation.
No comments:
Post a Comment