1. Naval Race and Rearmament

2. Kaiser Wilhelm II’s aims- Weltpolitik
The Kaiser wanted an aggressive foreign policy and to add new colonies to the German Empire- ‘a place in the sun’. This is often referred to as ‘Weltpolitik’, in this the Kaiser wanted Germany to compete with the likes of Britain which already had a large empire.
To achieve this he needed a powerful navy.
Some historians have describe Kaiser Wilhelm II as unstable and blame him for the First World War.
What evidence can you find in the profile on P200 to support these ideas?

3. Splendid Isolation
Britain had for a long time tried to remain outside any alliances, which other European powers were joining.
Britain’s leaders believed Britain was the most powerful nation on earth and that an alliance would drag Britain into unnecessary wars.
Britain was ‘isolated’ as it was not in an alliance, but this was ‘splendid’ as Britain was strong enough to stand alone and any ally would most likely drag Britain into a war so being isolated was splendid. Explain why being isolated was splendid in your own words
Following the Fashoda incident in 1898 when Britain and France almost went to War some in Britain started to question this policy. Why?

4. Two Power Standard
Naval Power was always very important to Britain, much more so than to Germany or other European countries that tended to focus on their armies. Why do you think this was the case?

5. Two Power Standard
The fact that Britain had a large and spread out Empire also made the navy massively important to the British.
Explain why this would be the case
Why would this mean that Britain needed a really big navy?

6. Two Power Standard
British policy was to always have a navy that was at least as powerful as the combined power of the next two most powerful navies in the world (Made law in Britain in 1889, when the next two most powerful nations were France and Russia).
Germany had massive industrial strength and the Kaiser announced his intention to build a powerful navy for Germany.
Britain responded negatively and felt threated. Why do you think this was the case?

7. Dreadnoughts
In 1906 Britain launched the HMS Dreadnought leading to an increased naval race with Germany.
The HMS Dreadnought set new standards and lent its name to a new type of ship.
The Dreadnought was propelled by an oil powered stem turbine- much quicker than earlier battleships
The Dreadnought had much bigger and more powerful main guns than older battleships
Essentially made old battleship obsolete as a Dreadnought would easily defeat a pre-dreadnought battleship

8. Naval race
Britain and Germany increasingly spent more and more on building these new Dreadnoughts.
This put a huge strain on both countries economies
The British press and people demanded ‘We want eight and we won’t wait!’
The glorification of militarism and jingoism made war seen more and more likely.
Find sources on P 206 that support this point and any that suggest that it isn’t true.

9. Source Practice Source 8 Figure 10 Study Sources 8 and 10
How useful are Sources 8 and 10 to a historian studying the Anglo- German naval rivalry

10. European rearmament
Using the information on p207 including Figure 13 produce a diagram summarising how the different countries had prepared for war by
‘All the talk of war and arms race made war inevitable in 1914’
How far do you agree with this statement?
Explain your answer.