Navy League (Germany)

The Navy League or Fleet Association (German: Deutscher Flottenverein) in Imperial Germany was an interest group formed on April 30, 1898 on initiative of Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz through the German Imperial Naval Office (Reichsmarineamt) which he headed (1897–1916) to support the expansion of the Imperial German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine). Specifically it was intended to develop popular pressure on the German parliament (Reichstag) to approve the Fleet Acts of 1898 and 1900, and the attendant expenses.

The unification of Germany under Prussian leadership in 1871 was the defining point for the desire of German nationalists to have a great, world class navy. The newly created emperor, Wilhelm I, as king of Prussia, was head of state of the strongest state forming part of the new empire. His Prussian Navy had become the navy of the North German Confederation in 1867, and now became the Imperial German Navy.

The Prussian Navy and that of the North German Confederation had been relatively small with the limited purpose of protecting the Baltic and North Sea coasts and 'showing the flag' around the world.

The German naval policy changed decisively upon the accession of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1888 and the resignation of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck two years later. As the Scramble for Africa intensified, Germany's ambitions shifted from a European context to a world scene Weltpolitik. Germany's leaders sought a place in the sun which they believed to be commensurate with its rising industrial strength, primarily by the creation of a colonial empire to rival those of other powers. A world class fleet was increasingly regarded as an instrument of power to enforce German interests, culminating in the establishment of the Reichsmarineamt in 1889. In 1897 Tirpitz, a follower of Alfred Thayer Mahan's theories about The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, became its Secretary of State. He widely influenced the Empire's foreign and security policy according to his concept that a strong German navy would be indispensable to change the balance of power by building a Risikoflotte (risk fleet) that would make it impossible for the Royal Navy to defeat Germany without suffering irreplaceable losses in manpower and capital ships.

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