The Great Naval Game: Britain and Germany in the Age of Empire

by Jan Rüger

This book is about the theatre of power and identity that unfolded in and between Britain and Germany in the decades before the First World War. It explores what contemporaries described as the cult of the navy: the many ways in which the navy and the sea were celebrated in the fleet reviews, naval visits and ship launches that were watched by hundreds of thousands of spectators. At once royal rituals and national entertainments, these were events at which tradition, power and claims to the sea were played out between the nations. This was a public stage on which the domestic and the foreign intersected and where the modern mass market of media and consumerism collided with politics and international relations. Conflict and identity were literally acted out between the two countries. By focusing on this dynamic arena, Jan Rüger offers a fascinating new history of the Anglo-German antagonism.

356 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2007

About the author

Jan Rüger teaches history at Birkbeck College, University of London. In 2002-3, he was a visiting fellow at the Yale Center for International and Area Studies, Yale University.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an absolutely fantastic work, despite its nearly $90 cost. Premises accepted, it certainly goes a long way towards exploring one of the least touched-on causes of the First World War. Extensively researched and well written, this book is a must for any student of Socialogy and Naval Analysis.

[Gunther Prien · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and combined with 'The Grand Scuttle' it helped to fill in many 'blanks' and helped with understanding the situation concerning Germany and England pre-WWI. I recommend both of them be read 'together'.