Pohl negotiated the campaign with Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg while moving from the Admiralty Staff to operational fleet command in February 1915. He did so without consulting Tirpitz, Müller, or the officer succeeding him on the staff. Pohl acted independently of the patrons who had built his career and left the naval leadership with an effectively completed policy decision. The promise also reveals a serious mismatch between the campaign's strategic ambition and the tiny force assigned to deliver it.
Notable Point · 24:31-25:50
The claim that twenty U-boats could collapse Britain
On taking command of the High Seas Fleet, Pohl promised that twenty U-boats could stop neutral shipping without a diplomatic crisis and force Britain to collapse.