Plans associated with Jackie Fisher and Julian Corbett would have used monitors around the Danish straits to support Denmark against Germany. Before the First World War, German anxiety that Denmark might side with Britain created an opening for deception or an operation intended to provoke a German invasion. Germany's occupation of Denmark and Norway in 1940 closed that geographic option and reflected lessons drawn from its earlier vulnerability. A plan that looks foolish when viewed backward through the Second World War could appear sensible to planners working with the politics and assumptions of 1914. Germany's later Zimmermann Telegram scheme offers a parallel case of trying to distract an enemy by encouraging pressure on another frontier. The episode is a compact lesson in judging strategy within its original information and political environment.
Notable Point · 30:42-33:33
Why old monitor plans cannot be lifted into a new war
A proposed Danish operation involving monitors shows why historical strategy has to be judged in its original political and military setting.