Alfred von Tirpitz Facts & Worksheets

• Tirpitz enlisted in the Prussian Navy more by chance than by choice after his friend made the announcement. 
• On 24 April 1865, at the age of 16, Tirpitz decided he liked the concept and, with his parents' approval, enlisted as a naval cadet. He went to the Naval School in Kiel. 
• A year later, Austria and Prussia were at war. On 24 June 1866, Tirpitz was commissioned as a midshipman and sent to a sailing ship that was policing the English Channel. 
• Prussia joined the North German Union in 1866. Tirpitz formally joined the new organisation on 24 June 1869, and the union officially adopted its fleet.
• To the shame of the Prussian Navy, the ship was forced to spend the entirety of the Franco-Prussian War at anchor due to a significant numerical disadvantage. Prussia and Great Britain enjoyed cordial relations in Tirpitz's early career, and the Prussian Navy frequently visited British ports. 
• According to Tirpitz, Plymouth was friendlier to German sailors than Kiel and offered simpler access to higher-quality supplies and equipment than could be found at home. At this time, Prussian commanders had a great deal of regard for their British counterparts, and the British Royal Navy was happy to help Prussia in its progress.
• Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Alfred von Tirpitz was a key figure in the growth of the German Imperial Navy. 
• After being engaged in the invention of torpedoes, Tirpitz took charge of the Torpedo Inspectorate and oversaw the construction of torpedo boats. 
• He suggested strategies for attacking Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, the French port, demonstrating his implicit knowledge. 
• Due to his enthusiasm for naval advancement, Tirpitz supported battleships, which went against the belief of then-Navy State Secretary Leo von Caprivi, who preferred a defensive fleet. 
• Tirpitz was sent to Berlin to concentrate on a high-seas fleet plan as a result of this dispute.
• When Tirpitz was appointed head of the naval staff in 1892, his ideas for a potent battleship fleet encountered opposition. He was so frustrated that he sought to be replaced, only to be told that he had to provide proposals for naval construction instead. As a result, a proposal was submitted in 1896, just as tensions were rising in Southern Africa. 
• Tirpitz was finally named State Secretary of the Imperial Navy Office, despite early financial difficulties. 
• His 1898 plan emphasised the necessity for battleships to fight the anticipated threat from Great Britain. 
• Tirpitz organised a massive campaign that included media attention, lobbying, and the establishment of the Navy League to garner support for the first Naval Bill, which was eventually enacted in 1898.
• Tirpitz successfully pushed for the Second Naval Bill, which doubled the number of battleships to combat alleged threats and preserve German naval dominance, a year later. Britain became concerned about this growth, which prompted it to review its naval strategy and look for partners to counter the German threat. In 1906, 1908 and 1912, three further naval laws were introduced in response to crises and obstacles in diplomacy. 
• The risk hypothesis, which was the basis of Tirpitz's naval strategy, claimed that significant damage could be inflicted by even a smaller German fleet, therefore discouraging a bigger adversary. This method influenced German naval strategy and fuelled the naval armaments race that preceded World War I. 

TIRPITZ PLAN

• The Tirpitz Plan was his blueprint for using naval strength to become a global power while simultaneously attending to internal matters. The Tirpitz Plan's political legacy was established by the 1898, 1900, 1908 and 1912 Fleet Acts. They endowed Germany with the second-largest naval force in history by 1914. 
• Along with more than 40 submarines, it contained 17 contemporary dreadnoughts, 5 battlecruisers, 25 cruisers and 20 pre-dreadnought battleships. Despite having some partially unrealistic goals, the expansion effort was enough to frighten the British, sparking an expensive naval weapons competition and forcing them to forge stronger connections with the French.
• Tirpitz created a 'risk theory' according to which the British would attempt to avoid conflict with Germany if the German Imperial Navy surpassed a particular strength in comparison to the Royal Navy of Britain. The British may potentially lose their naval supremacy if the German Navy engaged in combat and dealt enough damage to them. 
• Tirpitz believed that, rather than losing the empire at the expense of keeping Germany weaker, the British would choose to preserve naval superiority to protect their empire and allow Germany to grow into a global force. This was because the British relied on their navy to retain control over the British Empire. The German and British Empires engaged in a naval weapons race during the first ten years of the 1900s as a result of this notion.