Erich Raeder: Admiral of the Third Reich

by Keith W Bird

Overview

From 1928 to 1943, Erich Raeder led the German navy during the last turbulent years of the Weimar Republic, the rise of Hitler, and through World War II, yet until now there has not been a full-length biography written about him. This study draws on archival resources and the rich scholarship of German naval history over the past five decades to review the evolution of Raeder's concept of naval strategy and his attempts to achieve the political and military means necessary to attain the navy's global naval ambitions. While previous histories have viewed Raeder as a product of the Wilhelmian era and heir to Admiral von Tirpitz's sea power ideology, this work clearly demonstrates the navy's affinity with Hitler's fascism. Author Keith Bird refutes Raeder's own argument that his navy was non-political and independent and shows him to be a political activist and the architect of German naval policy. For the first time, Raeder's strict leadership of the navy after 1928 and his relationship to Hitler and the National Socialist state is placed in the context of Raeder's formative years as an Imperial naval officer, his First World War combat experience, and his critical role in the survival and development of the post-war Reichsmarine. The author traces the impact of Hitler's influence on both the pace and nature of naval rearmament 1933-1939 and the conduct of the Kriegsmarine in war as well as Raeder's furtive attempts to influence Germany's strategic thinking in favor of a maritime strategy. Blinded by his need to justify the navy's existence and achieve his vision of world power, Raeder was ultimately defeated by the contradictions in his own policies as well as Hitler's and the realities of Germany's resources and military necessities.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781612513751
Publisher:	Naval Institute Press
Publication date:	05/11/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Keith W. Bird has published extensively in German naval and military history, including the critically acclaimed German Naval History: A Guide to the Literature. Now Chancellor of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System in Versailles, Kentucky, he studied at the Free University (Berlin) as a Fulbright scholar after earning his PhD from Duke University and received a German fellowship to the Military History Research Office in Freiburg.

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction xv

1 The Genesis of an Admiral 1

2 Raeder and the Politics of the Naval Command, 1918-1920 31

3 Rebuilding the Navy: Raeder and the Reichsmarine, 1920-1928 49

4 Chief of the Republican Navy, 1928-1933 68

5 Raeder, Hitler, and the Nazi Party, 1928-1939 91

6 Between Raeder and Hitler: Fleet Building and Strategy in the Third Reich, 1933-1939 112

7 Once Again, World War 134

8 Dreaming in Continents, 1940-1942 153

9 Raeder and German Surface Operations: Fall 1940-December 1942 175

10 The End of the Raeder Era 195

11 Defending the Navy, 1943-1960 210

Postscript 227

Notes 229

A Note on Bibliography and Sources 269

Index 273

Editorial Reviews

A controversial and important biography... It describes his life and its consequences very well.” —Workboat World

From the Publisher