"Naval tradition? Naval tradition? Monstrous. Nothing but rum, sodomy, prayers and the lash." This quotation, from Winston Churchill, is frequently dismissed as apocryphal or a jest, but, interestingly, all four of the areas of naval life singled out in it were ones that were subject to major reform initiatives while Churchill was in charge of the Royal Navy between October 1911 and May 1915. During this period, not only were there major improvements in pay and conditions for sailors, but detailed consideration was also given to the future of the spirit ration; to the punishing and eradicating of homosexual practices; to the spiritual concerns of the fleet; and to the regime of corporal punishment that underpinned naval discipline for boy sailors. In short, under Churchill, the Royal Navy introduced a social reform programme perfectly encapsulated in this elegant quip. And, yet, not only has no one studied it; many people do not even know that such a programme even existed. This book rectifies that. It shows that Churchill was not just a major architect of welfare reform as President of the Board of Trade and as Home Secretary, but that he continued to push a radical social agenda while running the Navy.

Rum, Sodomy, Prayers, and the Lash Revisited: Winston Churchill and Social Reform in the Royal Navy, 1900-1915

History

Seligmann, Matthew S.

Europe

Oxford University Press

When and why did the Royal Navy come to view the expansion of German maritime power as a threat to British maritime security? Contrary to current thinking, Matthew S. Seligmann argues that Germany emerged as a major threat at the outset of the twentieth century, not because of its growing battle fleet, but because the British Admiralty (rightly) believed that Germany's naval planners intended to arm their country's fast merchant vessels in wartime and send them out to attack British trade in the manner of the privateers of old. This threat to British seaborne commerce was so serious that the leadership of the Royal Navy spent twelve years trying to work out how best to counter it. Ever more elaborate measures were devised to this end. These included building 'fighting liners' to run down the German ones; devising a specialized warship, the battle cruiser, as a weapon of trade defence; attempting to change international law to prohibit the conversion of merchant vessels into warships on the high seas; establishing a global intelligence network to monitor German shipping movements; and, finally, the arming of British merchant vessels in self-defence. The manner in which German schemes for commerce warfare drove British naval policy for over a decade before 1914 has not been recognized before. The Royal Navy and the German Threat illustrates a new and important aspect of British naval history.

The Royal Navy and the German Threat 1901-1914: Admiralty Plans to Protect British Trade in a War Against Germany

Germany From Reich To Republic, 1871-1918 (European History in Perspective)

Germany from Reich to Republic, 1871-1918 provides an up-to-date interpretation of the political development of the Germany of Bismark and Kaiser Wilhelm II. Focusing on domestic politics as well as diplomacy, personalities, and decision-making, attention is given to the latest historical research, the documentary evidence on which it is based, and the debates and controversies that are thereby evoked.

Germany from Reich to Republic 1871-1918: Politics, Hierarchy and Elites (European History in Perspective)

McLean, Roderick R.

PALGRAVE~MACMILLAN

Daily Life in Hitler's Germany tells the story of what it was like to actually live under the Nazi regime in the 1930s and during the war years of the early 1940s. The wide range of topics examined in the book include the Nazi indoctrination of children through such organizations as the Hitler Youth, the subversion of the arts to serve National Socialist ideology, the Nazi obsession with sport as a means of creating a super-fit Aryan race, the role of women in Germany in the 1930s, and the fate of those individuals and races who had no place in the Thousand Year Reich. In addition, Daily Life in Hitler's Germany looks closely at the Nazi "economic miracle" of the 1930s to explain how unemployment in Germany had virtually disappeared by 1939. Written by experts on twentieth-century and German history, the book gets under the skin of the Third Reich to bring the most chilling era in Germany's part to life. Above all, the Third Reich was the manifestation of the character, ambitions, and will of its leader, Adolf Hitler. Dogmatic and intolerant in his simplistic views, eventually the Nazi state reflected his crude belief in Darwinism: that struggle was the father of all things. Daily Life in Hitler's Germany examines fully how Hitler influenced the everyday lives of millions of ordinary Germans. The hundreds of photographs in the book are particularly interesting, and show many facets of the Nazi regime. Propaganda and ritual were central to Nazi social control, and so Daily Life in Hitler's Germany contains images of the mass Nuremberg rallies, the persecution of the Jews and other minorities, the 1936 Olympic Games, and the large-scale military maneuvers conducted by the armed forces. Ultimately, the Third Reich failed in its aim of building a large empire in Eastern Europe, and the price was paid by the German people themselves. As Daily Life in Hitler's Germany shows, Germany's cities were reduced to rubble by strategic bombing, and the country itself was torn apart and then divided in the most destructive war in modern history. Includes: - Highly illustrated account of everyday life as it affected ordinary Germands during the Third Reich, 1933-1945 - Contains first-hand accounts from German civilians and military personnel who lived through the years of Nazi rule - Written by experts on the social, political, economic, and military history of the Third Reich - Includes chapters on resistance to Nazi rule, the role of women in the Third Reich, and minorities and genocide - Illustrated with 270 black-and-white photographs showing all aspects of life in the Third Reich

Daily Life in Hitler's Germany

McDonald, John

Davison, John

World

Thomas Dunne Books

This book provides an up-to-date interpretation of the political development of the Germany of Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm II. Focusing on domestic politics as well as diplomacy, personalities and decision-making, attention is given to the latest historical research, the documentary evidence on which it is based, and the debates and controversies which are thereby evoked.

Germany from Reich to Republic, 1871-1918: Politics, Hierarchy and Elites (European History in Perspective)

Reference

Many of the major wars of the twentieth century emerged from the ruins of previous peace settlements. French hostility to the Treaty of Frankfurt of 1871 contributed to the tense political climate that culminated in the First World War; German resentment of the Treaty of Versailles helped to create the conditions necessary for Hitler's attempt to reshape Europe by force in the Second World War. Likewise the Cold War had its roots in the outcome of the titanic Russo-German struggles of 1914-17 and 1941-5 - the former created the Bolshevik regime which signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and the latter brought the Soviet armies to the River Elbe and the Soviet leadership to the negotiating table at Yalta and Potsdam. Beyond Europe, post-1945 wars in Korea, China, the Middle East and Indochina all had their origins in failed peace settlements. Why did peace so often collapse in this period? What was the causality that led from peace to war? Drawing on a series of case studies, Matthew Hughes and Matthew S. Seligmann provide a comprehensive and cohesive study that answers the question of why peace has so often failed in the modern era. The searching analysis of the key themes of peace and war has implications for conflict resolution across the globe.

Does Peace Lead to War?: Peace Settlements and Conflict in the Modern Age

Politics & Social Sciences

Hughes, Matthew

Politics & Government

Sutton

The Naval Route to the Abyss (Publications of the Navy Records Society, 161)

The intense rivalry in battleship building that took place between Britain and Germany in the run up to the First World War is seen by many as the most totemic of all armaments races. Blamed by numerous commentators during the inter-war years as a major cause of the Great War, it has become emblematic of all that is wrong with international competitions in military strength. Yet, despite this notoriety, ’the Great Naval Race’ has not received the attention that this elevated status would merit and it has never been examined from the viewpoint of both of its participants simultaneously and equally. This volume, which contains a comprehensive survey of the existing scholarship on this topic, both English-language and German, as well as important primary source materials from a range of archives in both Britain and Germany, fills this gap. By putting the actions of the British Admiralty side-by-side with those of its German counterparts, it enables the naval race to be viewed comparatively and thereby facilitates an understanding of how the two parties to this conflict interacted. By offering a comprehensive range of German documents in both their original text and in English translation, the book makes the German role in this conflict accessible to an English speaking audience for the first time. As such, it is an essential volume for any serious student of naval policy in the pre-First World War era.

The Naval Route to the Abyss: The Anglo German Naval Race 1895-1914 (Navy Records Society Publications, 161)

Nägler, Frank

Australia & Oceania

The Navy Records Society

Routledge

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