tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6933470253715910366.post2732695709299583652..comments2024-03-29T06:05:14.320+00:00Comments on Wargaming Miscellany: Austro-Hungarian BattleshipsRobert (Bob) Corderyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13109130990434792266noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6933470253715910366.post-80237966122045898412014-03-18T23:35:06.815+00:002014-03-18T23:35:06.815+00:00Colonel Scipio,
The problem posed by the Austro-H...Colonel Scipio,<br /><br />The problem posed by the Austro-Hungarian dreadnoughts is their effect upon the balance of seapower in the Mediterranean. The Anglo-French Naval Agreement allowed the RN to concentrate its efforts - and ships - in the North Sea and Channel as the French would secure the Mediterranean against the Italian Navy. (Don't forget that the Italians were a member of the Triple Alliance alongside Germany and Austro-Hungary.) The increase in the number of modern battleships available to the Triple Alliance would mean that the British would have to divert battleships away from their main theatre of operations in order to protect the route to India <i>via</i> the Suez Canal. Any battleships diverted away from the North Sea and Channel would need to be replaced by building more battleships ... an increase that the Germans would feel the impelled to match.<br /><br />In the end the Italians sided with the British and French ... but if they had not the situation in the Mediterranean in 1914 would have been very different.<br /><br />My thoughts, anyway.<br /><br />All the best,<br /><br />BobRobert (Bob) Corderyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13109130990434792266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6933470253715910366.post-16824437038240216712014-03-18T18:54:12.863+00:002014-03-18T18:54:12.863+00:00Very interesting - I thought I had all of the 1890...Very interesting - I thought I had all of the 1890 - 1918 naval Ospreys but clearly not.<br /><br />I read an interesting theory in The Great Naval Race by Peter Padfield, that the building of four AH battleships contributed more to the First World War than the Germans' 13 did. The race had been going on for some years between Britain and the Germans and an uneasy status quo had developed; it was the unexpected laying down of four battleships by Austria-Hungary in 1911 that destabilised the situation and forced the Admiralty's hand. Not sure how credible that is, given the distant AH coastline... any thoughts, Bob?<br /><br />Thanks for the heads up.Colonel Scipiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02632701529009379584noreply@blogger.com