Great Britain's Navy's Influence

(picture from the movie "Master and Commander")

• Britain's lack of naval supremacy exposed b/c of imperialism, France and Russia involved
• Fighting over colonies in the Mediterranean between Britain, France and Russia (France and Russia = allies, worries Britain)
• French more innovative in naval guns technology, more important than #s
• Public support/propaganda for strengthening Britain's naval program leads to passing of Naval Defense Act in 1889
• Britain bolsters naval program, once again becomes world's most powerful navy
• Unwittingly causes endless naval race between Britain, France and Russia, which sours relations and helps cause WWI

I chose to research the power of Great Britain's navy during the 19th and early 20th century because I had always heard about the power of the famed and intimidating British navy, but didn't know much about it. Also, I'm not even sure if this was the British navy, but I was reminded of the cool movie "Master and Commander," which has a bunch of cool naval battles and is about the same time period.

I learned from Gale (search "Great Britain's navy" on a basic search on Gale's World Resource Center if the link doesn't work) that Britain's legendary navy wasn't as powerful as I thought they were. France was in serious competition with Britain for naval supremacy, and Britain's edge in number of ships was rendered useless by France's more advanced war ships.

Great Britain's lack of naval supremacy was exposed by the wave of imperialism that struck Europe. GB, France and Russia all wanted to colonize areas in the Mediterranean and Britain's lack of success not only made obvious their naval weakness, but unofficially made France and Russia allies. This was troublesome for GB because France was their greatest competitor.

Britain realized their fall from naval power, and drawing heavily on the propaganda of major naval figures and the general public's support, the British government passed the Naval Defense Act of 1889. This program once again made GB the world's naval superpower, but at what cost (besides fiscal, of course)? They unwittingly set into motion a never ending race between France, Russia and themselves for naval supremacy that no country could win. Britain's initial naval program also soured relations between the countries and each country's individual programs led to the Great War.