England and Germany between Napoleonic times and pre-WW1

[RandomPoster]

I have been reading that England and Germany actually got along fairly well until the late 19th century. When the Kaiser decided he wanted to have the biggest navy in the world, England seems to have over-reacted out of what can only be interpreted as childish vanity. Doesn't it seem like naval pride is a silly reason to start a financially draining naval arms race and turn good relations into bitter rivalry? Would it really have hurt England to settle for having the second biggest navy in the world? Engaging in a naval arms race is one thing, except it seems England actually started treating Germany as an enemy for no reason.

 

[Syriusly]

I have been reading that England and Germany actually got along fairly well until the late 19th century. When the Kaiser decided he wanted to have the biggest navy in the world, England seems to have over-reacted out of what can only be interpreted as childish vanity. Doesn't it seem like naval pride is a silly reason to start a financially draining naval arms race and turn good relations into bitter rivalry? Would it really have hurt England to settle for having the second biggest navy in the world? Engaging in a naval arms race is one thing, except it seems England actually started treating Germany as an enemy for no reason.

Vanity would have been a bad reason.

Oddly enough there was more going on. I would suggest reading up on WW1- and the build up to WW1

 

[IsaacNewton]

I have been reading that England and Germany actually got along fairly well until the late 19th century. When the Kaiser decided he wanted to have the biggest navy in the world, England seems to have over-reacted out of what can only be interpreted as childish vanity. Doesn't it seem like naval pride is a silly reason to start a financially draining naval arms race and turn good relations into bitter rivalry? Would it really have hurt England to settle for having the second biggest navy in the world? Engaging in a naval arms race is one thing, except it seems England actually started treating Germany as an enemy for no reason.

Come on now, you just have to view the batshit that is going on today. 'Make America great again' and Putin who wants to 'Make Russia the Soviet Union again'.

This kind of mental illness runs throughout the human race. The democracies tend to keep it tamped down but you have a period, like now, where the mental cases get control of things and operate on feelings and their own shortcomings. Witness the orange turd and Kim Jong Trump.

 

[RandomPoster]

I have been reading that England and Germany actually got along fairly well until the late 19th century. When the Kaiser decided he wanted to have the biggest navy in the world, England seems to have over-reacted out of what can only be interpreted as childish vanity. Doesn't it seem like naval pride is a silly reason to start a financially draining naval arms race and turn good relations into bitter rivalry? Would it really have hurt England to settle for having the second biggest navy in the world? Engaging in a naval arms race is one thing, except it seems England actually started treating Germany as an enemy for no reason.

Vanity would have been a bad reason.

Oddly enough there was more going on. I would suggest reading up on WW1- and the build up to WW1

Sp, why did England care so much about the Kaiser building boats? I have read that he tried to re-assure England that he did not consider them an enemy.

 

[Syriusly]

I have been reading that England and Germany actually got along fairly well until the late 19th century. When the Kaiser decided he wanted to have the biggest navy in the world, England seems to have over-reacted out of what can only be interpreted as childish vanity. Doesn't it seem like naval pride is a silly reason to start a financially draining naval arms race and turn good relations into bitter rivalry? Would it really have hurt England to settle for having the second biggest navy in the world? Engaging in a naval arms race is one thing, except it seems England actually started treating Germany as an enemy for no reason.

Vanity would have been a bad reason.

Oddly enough there was more going on. I would suggest reading up on WW1- and the build up to WW1

Sp, why did England care so much about the Kaiser building boats? I have read that he tried to re-assure England that he did not consider them an enemy.

Are you talking about the period before WW1? Or when?

Great Britain at that time boasted- accurately- that the sun never set on the British empire. GB was an island nation traditionally defended by its navy- and its worldwide empire. Less than 100 years before it was the Navy that prevented Napolean from invading England.

Germany was a rising power- trying to establish its own overseas empire and definitely building up its military. GB accurately considered Germany to be its greatest potential threat- and Germany's interest in building a navy larger than GB had only one potential purpose- being able to take GB on.

Remember- Germany was not an island nation and had a relatively small worldwide empire- Germany had no plausible 'need' for the world's largest navy- other than to take on the world's largest navy.

 

[RandomPoster]

I have been reading that England and Germany actually got along fairly well until the late 19th century. When the Kaiser decided he wanted to have the biggest navy in the world, England seems to have over-reacted out of what can only be interpreted as childish vanity. Doesn't it seem like naval pride is a silly reason to start a financially draining naval arms race and turn good relations into bitter rivalry? Would it really have hurt England to settle for having the second biggest navy in the world? Engaging in a naval arms race is one thing, except it seems England actually started treating Germany as an enemy for no reason.

Vanity would have been a bad reason.

Oddly enough there was more going on. I would suggest reading up on WW1- and the build up to WW1

Sp, why did England care so much about the Kaiser building boats? I have read that he tried to re-assure England that he did not consider them an enemy.

Are you talking about the period before WW1? Or when?

Great Britain at that time boasted- accurately- that the sun never set on the British empire. GB was an island nation traditionally defended by its navy- and its worldwide empire. Less than 100 years before it was the Navy that prevented Napolean from invading England.

Germany was a rising power- trying to establish its own overseas empire and definitely building up its military. GB accurately considered Germany to be its greatest potential threat- and Germany's interest in building a navy larger than GB had only one potential purpose- being able to take GB on.

Remember- Germany was not an island nation and had a relatively small worldwide empire- Germany had no plausible 'need' for the world's largest navy- other than to take on the world's largest navy.

I am talking about pre-WW1. England could have simply let Germany build their navy. Germany, England, USA, and Austria-Hungary would have made a good alliance.

 

[Syriusly]

I have been reading that England and Germany actually got along fairly well until the late 19th century. When the Kaiser decided he wanted to have the biggest navy in the world, England seems to have over-reacted out of what can only be interpreted as childish vanity. Doesn't it seem like naval pride is a silly reason to start a financially draining naval arms race and turn good relations into bitter rivalry? Would it really have hurt England to settle for having the second biggest navy in the world? Engaging in a naval arms race is one thing, except it seems England actually started treating Germany as an enemy for no reason.

Vanity would have been a bad reason.

Oddly enough there was more going on. I would suggest reading up on WW1- and the build up to WW1

Sp, why did England care so much about the Kaiser building boats? I have read that he tried to re-assure England that he did not consider them an enemy.

Are you talking about the period before WW1? Or when?

Great Britain at that time boasted- accurately- that the sun never set on the British empire. GB was an island nation traditionally defended by its navy- and its worldwide empire. Less than 100 years before it was the Navy that prevented Napolean from invading England.

Germany was a rising power- trying to establish its own overseas empire and definitely building up its military. GB accurately considered Germany to be its greatest potential threat- and Germany's interest in building a navy larger than GB had only one potential purpose- being able to take GB on.

Remember- Germany was not an island nation and had a relatively small worldwide empire- Germany had no plausible 'need' for the world's largest navy- other than to take on the world's largest navy.

I am talking about pre-WW1. England could have simply let Germany build their navy. Germany, England, USA, and Austria-Hungary would have made a good alliance.

I pretty much answered that. England could have simply let Germany build their navy- and essentially did.

England just built their navy even larger.

As to why the alliances formed as they did- the whole pre-WW1 power struggle and alliance building I am vaguely aware of but not enough to argue about what 'alliance' made sense. As I recall the USA was not even in any alliance at the time- which kept America out of the war until near the end- which was good for America since that war was a meat grinder for soldiers.

 

[Bleipriester]

I have been reading that England and Germany actually got along fairly well until the late 19th century. When the Kaiser decided he wanted to have the biggest navy in the world, England seems to have over-reacted out of what can only be interpreted as childish vanity. Doesn't it seem like naval pride is a silly reason to start a financially draining naval arms race and turn good relations into bitter rivalry? Would it really have hurt England to settle for having the second biggest navy in the world? Engaging in a naval arms race is one thing, except it seems England actually started treating Germany as an enemy for no reason.

Germany was not an actual national unity before 1870. With Germany becoming a powerhouse with more economic weight than Britain, whose economy has hardly developed between 1850 and 1910, the Brits got nervous. British manufacturing was 1/3 of the world´s in 1850, it was 1/7 in 1910 plus the British products had hardly improved over time. The Brits controlled the entire world trade with their mercantile marine, something they were not eager to share.