Distant Victory: The Battle of Jutland and the Allied Triumph in the First World War

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Distant Victory is an examination of the great sea fight at Jutland that is more than a mere balance sheet of ships sunk and lives lost, or an account of which fleet fled before the other. Rather, it is an a retelling of the battle that reveals its long-term consequences set in motion by the decisions both the Germans and the British made as a result of each fleet's experience at Jutland. While the German High Seas Fleet could claim a tactical victory because it sank more ships and inflicted higher casualties on the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet than the British did to the Germans, the British could rightly claim that strategically they won the battle, for when it was over the German warships had retreated to the safety of their harbors, having failed in their objective of defeating the Grand Fleet in detail. For the past nine decades the Battle of Jutland has been history's most hotly debated and least understood naval action. Treated usually as a tactical German victory or else as a draw, and dismissed as strategically indecisive, it has been remembered by historians as for its lost opportunities, mistakes, and sheer scale, the largest naval surface action ever fought and the greatest clash of battleships the world would ever see. The Battle of Jutland has never been seen as one of the decisive battles of the First World War.

Reviews

[D]istant Victory is an entertaining introduction to the Jutland era in naval history.It provides a good read for buffs. * The Journal of Military History *
Germany's new foreign minister Arthur Zimmerman's equally new maritime policies ensured allied victory in the Great War, and the Battle of Jutland is one the best cases in point. Controversial from the moments the guns silenced, with Germany claiming victory in terms of tonnage sunk and the Royal Navy claiming strategic victory in chasing the German fleet back into their harbors, the battle resulted in the failure of the German fleet to break the British blockade. Realizing that despite the boasts of the German admiralty, Germany had in essence failed, Zimmerman and other civilian authorities turned to submarine warfare, a tactic that was successful only in bringing the US into the war out of fear. Maritime writer Butler concentrates on the little-known reasons why Jutland proved to be decisive in ways even its combatants did not fully realize. * Reference & Research Book News *

Author Bio

Daniel Allen Butler is the author of Unsinkable: The Full Story of RMS Titanic, The Lusitania: The Life, Loss and Legacy of an Ocean Legend, Warrior Queens: RMS Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth in World War Two, and The Age of Cunard: A Transatlantic History, 1839-1999.