Abstract
One much heralded cause of World War I has been cited as the intense naval rivalry between Britain and Germany. Various historians have stressed the destruction of German sea power as an important goal of British policy. Unfortunately no writer has ever described in depth how the German Navy was rendered Impotent after World War I even though the Treaty of Versailles has been the subject of prolific study and research. All too many historians simply look at the naval clauses of the Treaty and casually observe that the terms definitely reduced the size of the once powerful German Fleet. Yet, such a simple observation has left many important questions unanswered. Host important is the obviously neglected question of what role did the British Government play in the writing of the harsh naval clauses. Also neglected to a greater extent is the position of the other Allied powers and the Germans regarding the naval terms. | However, when one starts to answer the above questions a maze of new problems confronts the researcher. It is all too easy to state that the British adopted a harsh policy towards the German Navy, but to follow the intricacies of that policy is difficult because opinion within Britain was certainly not unanimous concerning the German Navy. With this in mind one of the goals of this thesis will be to determine what factions within Britain were most responsible for the naval clauses. Yet to put demands into a treaty more often than not creates as many problems as are solved, and this is one of the aspects of the period that is most neglected. What was the attitude of Britain toward the division of the spoils of war, and in what manner would the terms of the Treaty be enforced if the Germans resisted the naval terms? Furthermore, additional problems were created when the German Fleet was scuttled in order to avoid surrender. How did Britain react to this violation of the Treaty terms? | The questions posed here usually involve complex and even technical answers. 'Wherever possible, however, the more technical problems Involving naval material will be simplified for the reader's benefit, as will be the more involved problems pertaining to enforcement of the naval clauses; for it is the main goal of this thesis to analyze British policy toward the German Navy in the period following World War I.