Robert K. Massie's Dreadnought covers the political setting of the British-German naval race. German naval expansion is treated as a major reason Britain entered the First World War directly. Without that challenge at sea, Britain might instead have adopted a benevolent neutrality while supplying France and Russia. The counterfactual still involves British finance and industrial support, including credit that the recipients would later repay with interest. The naval race therefore changed Britain's strategic position as well as its shipbuilding programme.
Chapter · 4:11-5:11
Dreadnought and the Anglo-German naval race
Robert K. Massie's Dreadnought introduces a counterfactual in which Britain might have financed and supplied France and Russia rather than entering the First World War directly if Germany had not built a large navy.