Helgoland lies off the Elbe and near the outlet of the Kiel Canal. That position could threaten German economic and naval access to the North Sea, but it could also protect the same approaches in friendly hands. During the Franco-Prussian War, a more aggressively neutral Royal Navy operating from the island could have checked French action at sea near Germany. France achieved little there because its navy had been underinvested, underfunded, and poorly sustained, showing that useful geography still requires a ready fleet. Britain would not interdict German commerce in peacetime, whereas war would turn the island into a severe pressure point.
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A position over the Elbe and Kiel Canal approaches
Locate the island beside Germany's key waterways and see how forward presence turns geography into wartime leverage.