The Naval Race That Started WWI

🎥 Watch 250+ exclusive videos on ✔ youtube ►    / @kingsandgenerals   and ✔ Patreon ►   / kingsandgenerals   Kings and Generals animated historical documentary series on modern warfare and naval warfare continues with a video on the Anglo-German naval race prior to the Great War. From Trafalgar’s legacy to the launch of HMS Dreadnought, this video breaks down how sea power shaped the modern world—and why Germany’s attempt to challenge Britain at sea helped push Europe toward catastrophe. We begin with the 19th-century revolution in warship technology: ironclads, steam propulsion, heavier guns, and the rise of the “pre-dreadnought” battleship. Then we meet the ideas that fueled the rivalry, especially Alfred Thayer Mahan’s argument that national greatness depended on decisive fleet battles and maritime supremacy. With Kaiser Wilhelm II determined to make Germany a world power, Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz arrives with his “risk theory”: build a fleet strong enough that Britain can’t win without crippling losses. The result is a sequence of Naval Laws that steadily expands Germany’s battleships and cruisers—until Britain responds with the Two-Power Standard, diplomatic realignment, and Admiral “Jacky” Fisher’s sweeping reforms. When Dreadnought launches, the race escalates into panic, propaganda, and political crisis, before attempted diplomacy fails and both powers march toward World War. How Dreadnought Made Fleets Obsolete:    • How Dreadnought Made Fleets Obsolete   Battle of Tsingtao:    • How Japan Won World War I   Battle of Jutland    • World War I’s Greatest Naval Battle Explained   Battle of Coronel    • Battle of Coronel 1914 - British Navy Unde...   Battle of Falklands    • British Empire Strikes Back - Falklands 1914   Eastern Front of WW2 Week-by-Week:    • Eastern Front of World War II - Week by Week   Eastern Front Podcast: https://theeasternfront.podbean.com/e... Pacific War:    • How Europe Colonized Asia - Pacific War #0...   Modern Warfare:    • Modern Warfare   Video: Leif Sick Script: Craig Watson VO: Devin http://bit.ly/3XzSCgV & http://bit.ly/3GUO9iT ✔ Merch store ► https://teespring.com/stores/kingsand... ✔ Podcast ► http://www.kingsandgenerals.net/podcast/ ✔ Twitter ►   / kingsgenerals   ✔ Instagram ►  / kings_generals   Production Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound: http://www.epidemicsound.com 00:00:00 - Europe Rules the Seas 00:02:21 - From Wood & Sail to Ironclads 00:04:16 - Germany Enters the Naval Race 00:07:24 - Naval Laws: Tirpitz’s “Risk Theory” 00:09:00 - Fisher Strikes Back: Reform & Concentration 00:11:06 - HMS Dreadnought Changes Everything 00:13:57 - The 1909 “Navy Scare” and Budget War 00:18:15 - Haldane Mission, Collapse, and the Road to War Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1l... #Documentary #Navalwarfare #greatwar