Documents behind the Anglo-German naval race

The Naval Route to the Abyss is a documentary history of the Anglo-German naval race from the late nineteenth century to 1914. Its chapter structure follows alternating German challenges and British responses instead of treating the race as a single uninterrupted building contest. A 1905 memorandum shows British concern that German coaling stations near Gibraltar or northwest Africa would extend German naval reach. Another document weighs Britain's maritime advantage against France's exposure to a costly land invasion, revealing why alliance diplomacy could not be separated from naval planning. The reproduced archival documents and accompanying analysis let readers test the editors' interpretation against the sources themselves.