Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- List of contributors
- List of abbreviations
- General introduction and acknowledgements
- Introduction générale et remercients par
- Introduction (English)
- Introduction (français)
- The sea and seapower within the international system
- Germany, 1870–1914: a military empire turns to the sea
- The Imperial Japanese Navy, 1937–1942
- The US as a new naval power, 1890–1919
- World war suspended and resumed: Russia, 1919–1940
- Freedom and control of the seas, 1856–1919
- Unclos and the modern law of the sea
- New navies and maritime powers
- Britain, 1815–1850: naval power or sea power?
- Free trade, industrialization and the global economy, 1815–1914
- Coal and the sea
- Shipbuilding and power: some reflections
- Maintaining naval hegemony in the industrial age: Britain, 1850–1889
- Naval armaments races, 1889–1922
- The British Empire and the war at sea, 1914–1918
- Steaming worldwide waters: adaptation and transformation in the Netherlands
- Austria-Hungary: an inland empire looks to the sea
- The Ottoman Empire and the sea, 1789–1922
- Empire and trade without a major navy: Portugal
- Italy, 1861–1914: did the sea build a state and an empire?
- Imperial failure of the industrial age: Spain, 1805–1898
- Denmark: a small power with a growing shipping industry
- Sweden and the sea in the 19th century
- Navies, internal order and trade in South America, 1830–1914
- The sea and the American Civil War
- The wider Caribbean during the 19th and 20th centuries
- Ship canals
- Oil and water
- Imperial failure in the industrial age: China, 1842–1911
- China turns to the sea, 1912–1990
- India and the sea
- Les Îles d'Océanie et l'ouverture sur la mer à l'heure de la première mondialisation contemporaine
- Maritime labour
- Fisheries
- Geographical determinism and the growth of the American whaling and sealing industries
- La France et la mer, 1815–1914
- Russia tries the new naval technologies, 1815–1914
- The First World War and Japan: from the Anglo-Japanese Alliance to the Washington Treaty
- The sea in the Great War
- The Mediterranean and World War I
- Germany in World War One: naval strategy and warfare
- The sea in German grand strategy, 1919–1939/40
- The case of Germany in the first part of World War II, 1939–1942
- Britain on the defensive, 1939–1942
- Britain and the sea, 1943–1945
- The Washington Treaty era, 1919–1936: naval arms limitation
- The Washington Treaty era: neutralising the Pacific
- The United States and the Second World War
- The sea as a decisive factor in the Second World War
- The sea and the rise of the dictators: Italy, 1919–1940
- The Italian offensive, 1940–1941
- The sea and the Cold War
- NATO as a maritime alliance in the Cold War
- The sea and the Soviet Empire
- The sea and the economic slump, 1919–1939
- Océans et globalisation depuis 1945
- America's Pacific power in a global age
- Les nouvelles ressources océaniques
- Hiérarchies portuaires dans le monde et changements régionaux de connectivité maritime, 1890–2010
- Between empires and institutions: non-state actors and the sea since 1945
- The narcotics trade and the sea
- Climate change and world trade
- La France et la mer depuis 1945: une mutation inachevée
- Changes in naval power and seaborne trade in postwar Asian waters
- Looking to the future
- Conclusion(English)
- Conclusion(français)
- General conclusion
- Conclusion générale par
- Miscellaneous Endmatter 1
- Miscellaneous Endmatter 2
The sea as a decisive factor in the Second World War
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 May 2017
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- List of contributors
- List of abbreviations
- General introduction and acknowledgements
- Introduction générale et remercients par
- Introduction (English)
- Introduction (français)
- The sea and seapower within the international system
- Germany, 1870–1914: a military empire turns to the sea
- The Imperial Japanese Navy, 1937–1942
- The US as a new naval power, 1890–1919
- World war suspended and resumed: Russia, 1919–1940
- Freedom and control of the seas, 1856–1919
- Unclos and the modern law of the sea
- New navies and maritime powers
- Britain, 1815–1850: naval power or sea power?
- Free trade, industrialization and the global economy, 1815–1914
- Coal and the sea
- Shipbuilding and power: some reflections
- Maintaining naval hegemony in the industrial age: Britain, 1850–1889
- Naval armaments races, 1889–1922
- The British Empire and the war at sea, 1914–1918
- Steaming worldwide waters: adaptation and transformation in the Netherlands
- Austria-Hungary: an inland empire looks to the sea
- The Ottoman Empire and the sea, 1789–1922
- Empire and trade without a major navy: Portugal
- Italy, 1861–1914: did the sea build a state and an empire?
- Imperial failure of the industrial age: Spain, 1805–1898
- Denmark: a small power with a growing shipping industry
- Sweden and the sea in the 19th century
- Navies, internal order and trade in South America, 1830–1914
- The sea and the American Civil War
- The wider Caribbean during the 19th and 20th centuries
- Ship canals
- Oil and water
- Imperial failure in the industrial age: China, 1842–1911
- China turns to the sea, 1912–1990
- India and the sea
- Les Îles d'Océanie et l'ouverture sur la mer à l'heure de la première mondialisation contemporaine
- Maritime labour
- Fisheries
- Geographical determinism and the growth of the American whaling and sealing industries
- La France et la mer, 1815–1914
- Russia tries the new naval technologies, 1815–1914
- The First World War and Japan: from the Anglo-Japanese Alliance to the Washington Treaty
- The sea in the Great War
- The Mediterranean and World War I
- Germany in World War One: naval strategy and warfare
- The sea in German grand strategy, 1919–1939/40
- The case of Germany in the first part of World War II, 1939–1942
- Britain on the defensive, 1939–1942
- Britain and the sea, 1943–1945
- The Washington Treaty era, 1919–1936: naval arms limitation
- The Washington Treaty era: neutralising the Pacific
- The United States and the Second World War
- The sea as a decisive factor in the Second World War
- The sea and the rise of the dictators: Italy, 1919–1940
- The Italian offensive, 1940–1941
- The sea and the Cold War
- NATO as a maritime alliance in the Cold War
- The sea and the Soviet Empire
- The sea and the economic slump, 1919–1939
- Océans et globalisation depuis 1945
- America's Pacific power in a global age
- Les nouvelles ressources océaniques
- Hiérarchies portuaires dans le monde et changements régionaux de connectivité maritime, 1890–2010
- Between empires and institutions: non-state actors and the sea since 1945
- The narcotics trade and the sea
- Climate change and world trade
- La France et la mer depuis 1945: une mutation inachevée
- Changes in naval power and seaborne trade in postwar Asian waters
- Looking to the future
- Conclusion(English)
- Conclusion(français)
- General conclusion
- Conclusion générale par
- Miscellaneous Endmatter 1
- Miscellaneous Endmatter 2
Summary
ABSTRACT.The Second World War began as two wars of continental domination, in China and then in Europe. Some of the major campaigns were fought partly or entirely at sea, but the real importance of the sea was that it permitted the Western alliance to unify its efforts, shipping supplies and armies around the world, and to choose its targets, while at the same time dividing and isolating its enemies.
RÉSUMÉ.La seconde guerre mondiale commença par deux guerres de domination continentale, en Chine puis en Europe. Certaines des principales campagnes s'exécutèrent partiellement ou intégralement en mer. Cependant, le véritable rôle de la mer fut de permettre à l'alliance occidentale d'unifier ses efforts, de transporter des armées et des stocks d'approvisionnement à travers le monde et de choisir ses cibles tout en divisant et isolant ses ennemis.
“Because World War II was in truth worldwide, it was basically a naval war.” Chester Nimitz set out this assessment in his foreword to a 1961 history.Nimitz had been the most successful admiral of that war, as Commander-in-Chief of the American Pacific Fleet; in a long and distinguished career he also served as Chief of Naval Operations.
The statement that 1939–1945 was “basically a naval war” is an extreme one. To evaluate it we need to bear in mind that the conflict was indeed “in truth worldwide” and that it was an extremely complex event. Few simple generalisations can be made, and the war needs to be considered from multiple national perspectives. And in enumerating “basic” features, the causes of the Second World War, and the conduct and results of that struggle must be treated as distinct entities.
THE CAUSES OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR
Nimitz's use of the word “naval” is narrow for present purposes; “maritime” is better – for discussion of the role of “the sea”. But even so, it is hard to argue that the Second World War was essentially caused by maritime issues. It might be there were “deep” causes related to the sea: challenges by regional “revisionist”(“new-order”) powers – Germany, Italy and Japan – to the existing overseas empires of the European powers, especially Britain. But that is really too general to be helpful.
This is not the place to detail the origins of the war. But in very general terms the eventual “worldwide” conflagration had two distinct sites of ignition.
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- The Sea in History - The Modern World , pp. 531 - 541Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2017