The GIUK Gap is a recurring maritime space whose strategic history predates the Cold War. During the Napoleonic era, the main threats to Britain came from France and Spain, but northern fisheries and connections with Canada still required patrols in the high north. The approaches became more explicit operational concerns during both world wars. Technology and enemies changed while the geography continued to shape movement between northern waters and the Atlantic.
Chapter · 21:49-23:19
The GIUK approaches mattered before the Cold War
Northern fisheries, Canada, and two world wars made the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom approaches strategically relevant long before Soviet submarines defined their Cold War image.