German Submarine Warfare in World War I: The Onset of Total

German Submarine Warfare in World War I: The Onset of Total War at Sea

This compelling book explores Germanyâ€™s campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare in World War I, which marked the onset of total war at sea. Noted historian Lawrence Sondhaus shows how the undersea campaign, intended as an antidote to Britainâ€™s more conventional blockade of German ports, ultimately brought the United States into the war. Although the German people readily embraced the argument that an â€œundersea blockadeâ€ of Britain enforced by their navyâ€™s Unterseeboote (U-boats) was the moral equivalent of the British navyâ€™s blockade of German ports, international opinion never accepted its legitimacy.
Sondhaus explains that in their initial, somewhat confused rollout of unrestricted submarine warfare in 1915, German leaders underestimated the extent to which the policy would alienate the most important neutral power, the United States. In rationalizing the risk of resuming the unrestricted campaign in 1917, they took for granted that, should the United States join the Allies, German U-boats would be able to stop the transport of an American army to France. But by bringing the United States into the war, while also failing to stop the deployment of its troops to Europe, unrestricted submarine warfare ultimately led to Germanyâ€™s defeat. Because US manpower proved decisive in breaking the stalemate on the Western Front and securing victory for the Allies, Sondhaus argues that Germanyâ€™s decision to stake its fate on the U-boat campaign ranks among the greatest blunders of modern history.

Country	USA
Author	Lawrence Sondhaus
Binding	Hardcover
EAN	9781442269545
ISBN	1442269545
Label	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Manufacturer	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
NumberOfItems	1
NumberOfPages	278
PublicationDate	2017-08-11
Publisher	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Studio	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ReleaseDate	0000-00-00

German Submarine Warfare in World War I: The Onset of Total War at Sea

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