Britain's War At Sea, 1914-1918

In Britain, memory of the First World War remains dominated by the trench warfare of the Western Front. Yet, in 1914 when the country declared war, the overwhelming expectation was that Britain’s efforts would be primarily focussed on the sea. As such, this volume is a welcome corrective to what is arguably an historical neglect of the naval aspect of the Great War. Kennedy also offers a case study in ideas about military planning for ’the next war’: questions about how next wars are thought about, planned for and conceptualised, and then how reality actually influences that thinking, have long been - and remain - key concerns for governments and military strategists. This collection brings to full light the dominance of the maritime environment, for Britain, in that war and the lessons that has for historians and military planners.