The Lion and the Eagle is a trilogy dealing with Imperial Germany’s decision to create a battle fleet to rival that of Great Britain, and the consequences of that policy. It argues that, not only did this decision force Britain into the arms of nations that had been their long-term mutual, natural, and traditional enemies, but ensured that Germany could not win the Great War. The existence of the High Seas Fleet not only failed as a deterrent to war between Britain and Germany, but was actually a major factor in precipitating hostilities between the two nations. The two later volumes describe the naval conflict that ensued as a result.
This volume charts the events and the personalities that led to two, previously close, allies being on opposing sides at the outbreak of the First World War, and the role that the building of a German High Seas Fleet played in ensuring that this would inevitably be the case. It maintains that, had even a quarter of the resources lavished on a navy that was never permitted to properly confront its opponent been diverted to the army, which represented Germany’s real strength, the war would probably have concluded, in Germany’s favour, by the end of 1914 – the unknowable consequences of which would have completely changed the face of twentieth century history.
David Gregory is an ex-Royal Navy officer who later served in the armed forces of Trucial Oman. He was subsequently employed worldwide in the offshore oil industry before becoming a professional yacht captain. He has had a lifelong interest in naval affairs and has contributed articles to several specialist naval publications. This, his first book, is the product of many years of writing and research, ashore and afloat.
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