Review
“In building the High Seas Fleet that challenged Britain’s Royal Navy, Tirpitz sought greater freedom and glory for Germany. Yet his strategic mirror-imaging reflected his own failings. His fleet bottled and then scuttled, Tirpitz escaped into Rightist fantasy. Epkenhans offers a devastating portrait of a life’s work gone wrong, one deserving of careful scrutiny by today’s military and strategists.”—William Astore, Associate Professor of History, Pennsylvania College of Technology Published On: 2008-08-26
“Well conceived, thoroughly researched, and masterfully argued, this superb book cuts through decades of apologias for Germany’s challenge to British mastery of the seas during the ‘cold war’ that led to July 1914. This is biography at its best by Germany’s most eminent naval historian.”—Holger Herwig, Canada Research Chair in Military and Strategic Studies, University of Calgary, and author of The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary, 1914–1918 Published On: 2008-08-26
“This important book concisely tackles an emblematic figure of the early twentieth century and perceptively synthesizes Admiral Alfred Tirpitz’s place in history. Michael Epkenhans has not only written a biography of Tirpitz, but has given us a lens for understanding the mess of German military rationalizations that led to the First World War. It is highly recommended for students of German history.”—Sarandis Papadopoulos, Naval Historian Published On: 2008-08-26
"Epkenhans masterfully synthesizes the major historiography of the Tirpitz controversy and outlines the extent of Tirpitz's failure in his strategic assumptions and ultimately life's work. . . . Epkenhans's portrait of Tirpitz is convincing and provocative, contributing to a new engagement with this significant period of history."—Journal of Military History Published On: 2009-08-19
“This is another in the superb series of short, fact-packed, and highly readable biographies whose main purpose is to provide the reader with enough basics to encourage more in-depth research, and in this it succeeds spectacularly.”—Sea Classics Published On: 2009-11-06
“Epkenhans has produced an excellent account of Tirpitz’s role in German naval and domestic policy. [This] brief, but satisfying biography—which will appeal to both general and academic audiences—of Alfred von Tirpitz fills a great historiographical need.”—International Journal of Maritime History Published On: 2010-02-22
About the Author
Michael Epkenhans, PH.D., is director of the Otto Von Bismarck Foundation, in Hamburg, Germany. He is the author of several works on the Imperial Germany Navy, including Die wilhelminische Flottenrüstung, 1908-1914: Weltmachtstreben, industrieller Fortschritt, soziale Integration [The Wilhelminian Fleet Buildup, 1908- 1914: The Drive for World Power, Industrial Progress, Social Integration] and a forthcoming full-length biography of Tirpitz. He lives in Hamburg, Germany.
