GKH served in the Royal Navy at a special period in his nation's history. His career (1863-1914), coincided almost exactly with the height of Great Britain's imperial power, when this small country, with a population of less than 50 million, presided over the largest empire the world had ever known; an empire which at its height covered one quarter of the world's land surface and included one quarter of its population. More than any other, one historical factor was responsible for this extraordinary achievement; the almost continuous success of the Royal Navy since the end of the 16th Century against the maritime forces of other European Powers.
In the 17th Century the decline of Spanish naval power had allowed the English to colonise the east coast of what is now the United States, and acquire other colonies in the West Indies. In the 18th Century a series of victories at sea against France and Spain, particularly during the Seven Years War (1756-63), added Canada to the Empire. Indirectly these victories also gave Great Britain a foothold on the Indian subcontinent which was subsequently expanded into the Indian Empire and led to the voyages of Captain Cook which added Australia and New Zealand to Great Britain's growing list of possessions. The late 18th Century saw one major setback to the growth of the British imperial power, when the American Colonies achieved their independence. However the situation was restored a generation later by the triumph of Trafalgar. In the subsequent peace treaties, after the defeat of Napoleonic France, Great Britain acquired a number of strategically placed new colonies such as Malta, Cape Colony, Ceylon and Mauritius. Alone amongst the victorious allies she had a powerful navy which was able to make use of these bases and exercise undisputed control over many areas of the world. As Napoleon had said when he sold the territories of the Louisiana Purchase to the United States "No colonies are possible without a Navy".
For nearly 30 years after Waterloo Great Britain was, in modern terms, a maritime super power. The Royal Navy, supported by the wealth and shipbuilding capacity of the country and its international prestige from its past successes, had no rivals. However events were occurring which could threaten this supremacy. The first Industrial Revolution, which ironically had started in Great Britain, was introducing new technologies, materials and forms of power which in a period of twenty years would transform the maritime scene and make the wooden hulled line-of-battleship, and therefore the existing British fleet, obsolete.
These technical changes are discussed in more detail below and at this stage it is not necessary to say more than that, after a hesitant start, the Royal Navy encouraged by a perceived threat from France, and drawing on the country's wealth and industrial skills in the new technologies, was able by the end of the 1860s to make the transition to the new maritime environment and remain the most powerful navy in the world, though not perhaps by as large a margin as it had been used to in the past.
It was at this stage in the history of the Royal Navy that GKH first went to sea and started writing his diaries and it might perhaps be useful to review the international scene at the beginning of the 1870s.
In Western Europe the unification of Germany had taken place under Prussian leadership following the defeat of France in 1871 and the unification of Italy had been completed by 1870. In Eastern Europe the scene was dominated by the conflict between Russia and Turkey with the former supporting the Slavs under Turkish rule in the Balkans and the Western Powers reluctantly supporting the declining Ottoman Empire in order to prevent Russian expansion to the south.
In America, after victory of the North in 1865, the United States continued its enormous industrial expansion, which by the 1890s made it the world's leading industrial power, although the international implications of this change were not immediately obvious as the main energies of the country were directed towards developing the West. In economic terms 1870 marks the change from the first to the second industrial revolution. The first industrial revolution, sometimes called 'the revolution of coal and iron' was led by Great Britain, which in the 1850s was the richest and leading manufacturing country in the world. After 1870 Great Britain continued to be a great manufacturing country, but the second industrial revolution, sometimes called the 'revolution of steel and electricity' was led primarily by the newly unified Germany. By the 1890s both Germany and the United States had overtaken Great Britain as the leading industrial powers.
After the end of the Napoleonic Wars the British Empire continued to expand. By the 1840s the limits of the future Indian Empire were established and in other parts of Asia the British acquired settlements in Malaya and Borneo, and on the south China coast at Hong Kong. In Africa the major acquisitions of territory that took place during, what became known as, 'The Scramble for Africa' still lay ahead in the 1880s and 90s and the only major possession was Cape Colony and most of present day Natal. There were also a number of small possessions in West Africa, one of which, The Gold Coast, was to lead to the Ashanti Wars in the early 1870s. In the Americas there was no significant colonial expansion after the Napoleonic Wars, but this continent was closely connected to one of the most benign exercises of sea power ever carried out by the Royal Navy, the abolition of the slave trade. The Atlantic slave trade was finally ended in the 1860s, but, as will be seen from the Diaries, the East African slave trade continued until the end of the century.
From this review it will be seen that by the early 1870s, at the beginning of GKH's naval career, Great Britain was passing the peak of its relative power, but still had increasing imperial responsibilities and therefore the continuing need for a powerful navy.
For a while this need seems to have been partly forgotten by the government of the day and public opinion. After the energetic building programme of the 1860s the Royal Navy suffered a period of neglect. In the early 1870s there may have been some justification for this complacent behaviour on the part of the British Government. France, Britain's only significant maritime rival since the end of the Napoleonic Wars offered no threat while she recovered from her defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. However by the end of the decade the situation was changing. Other continental powers, particularly France, had begun to build modern fleets. At first the British Government and public opinion took little notice of this potential threat. Great Britain's relations with the other continental powers were reasonably harmonious and in 1880 Mr Gladstone became Prime Minister for the second time. His main interest was in domestic, rather than imperial, affairs and increased naval expenditure was not compatible with his great ambition to abolish Income Tax.
This happy state of affairs did not last long. The early 1880s saw the beginning of the thirty year period of international rivalries and shifting alliances that ultimately led to the First World War. Throughout this period the imperial and maritime ambitions of the various powers played an important part in the events that led to this war and we must now look at the part played by the British Empire and the Royal Navy in this unfolding drama.
Since the Napoleonic Wars Britain had avoided entering into a permanent alliance with any continental power, and this policy of Splendid Isolation, which was still being pursued in the 1880s, had been largely made possible by the supremacy of the Royal Navy. By the middle of the 1880s Great Britain had disputes of varying severity with a number of continental powers, particularly France and Russia, and it came as a serious shock to public opinion to learn from disclosures in the Press that the combined battleship strength of the French and German navies, would shortly be greater than that of the Royal Navy and that if something was not done soon, the strength of the French Navy would overtake that of the Royal Navy by the end of the 1880s. These disclosures created the 'The Navy Scare of 1884' which was the first of a series that continued until the outbreak of war in 1914.
The alarms of 1884 and another Navy Scare in 1888 led to the setting up of the Two Power Standard as a policy for defining British naval requirements, and the Naval Defence Act of 1889. In the diplomatic circumstances of 1889 the Two Power Standard applied to France and Russia. France was considered to be Great Britain's most likely enemy. Not only did she have the second largest navy, but also several of the most severe disputes during this period were with that country. A number of these were connected with the colonisation of Africa that had been gathering pace since the beginning of the 1880s, for instance the French were particularly incensed over Great Britain's refusal to withdraw from Egypt after we had occupied the country in the early 1880s. Relations with Russia were also strained as her active policy in Central Asia was considered by Great Britain to be a threat to India. However the possibility that alarmed Britain most was an alliance between France and Russia and, in particular, its effect on the British maritime position in the Mediterranean.
The Naval Defence Act was a crucial point in the history of the Royal Navy. Since the 1860s, such was the rate of technical change, our capital ships had been built in classes of only two or three ships and in some aspects were technically inferior to French warships. The Naval Defence Act introduced the Royal Sovereign Class, which formed the basis of British 1st Class battleship design for the next fifteen years. Over forty of these pre-Dreadnoughts were built between 1891 and 1906.
The 1890s saw the origins of some of the main developments that ultimately led to the First World War. In 1894 Continental Europe became divided between the Dual and Triple Alliance when France and Russia signed their military agreement. Colonial and commercial rivalries exacerbated relations between the powers as the partition of Africa entered its final stages and similar rivalries occurred in China and the Pacific. Britain, with by far the largest Empire, inevitably became involved in a number of these disputes as other nations tried to extend their overseas possessions. For instance in 1895 the Kaiser enraged British public opinion by sending a telegram of support to President Kruger, the leader of the Boer Republic, and in 1898 Britain and France nearly went to war over an obscure oasis, called Fashoda, in what is now the Sudan. There was even a quite serious quarrel between Britain and the United States when the latter supported Venezuela over a boundary dispute with the British colony of British Guiana.
The maritime result of all this colonial and overseas commercial activity was significant. Other nations realised that Britain had established its enormous empire by sea power and that if they wished to follow her example they must also have a navy and the associated overseas bases. In 1890 there were only two or three navies of any significance, those of Britain, France and perhaps Russia. Ten years later at least seven nations had acquired or were in the process of acquiring a modern navy. The new members of the club were the United States, Italy, Japan and most important of all, Germany.
The implications to Britain of this naval arms race were disturbing. By the middle of the 1890s the naval building programme started at the beginning of the decade had given the Royal Navy a clear lead in quantity and quality over a French and Russian naval combination, but this might no longer be enough. Britain was remarkably short of friends during this period. If one of these new navies should combine with the French and Russians, then the Royal Navy might not be powerful enough and there was even talk of the need for a Three Power Standard. Opponents of further naval expenditure pointed out that it would never be possible for the Royal Navy to deal with all possible naval combinations against it and for the first time thought was given to abandoning the policy of Splendid Isolation and joining an alliance. Opinion was divided as to whether to join the Dual or Triple Alliance.
In retrospect it can be seen that the 1890s marked the end of Britain's position as a maritime super power. In economic terms she had been overtaken by the United States and Germany. She still had the world's largest empire protected by the world's most powerful navy, as had been so dramatically shown at the Silver Jubilee in 1897, but this navy could no longer guarantee to deal with all possible maritime combinations of a number of increasingly envious nations that wanted their share of a place in the sun. As the new century opened this position was brought home very forcibly. In 1899 Britain became involved in a difficult war with the two Boer Republics and in the early stages of this war the British army suffered a series of reverses and substantial troop reinforcements had to be sent out to South Africa which denuded the country of its organised military forces. Continental reaction to this war was extremely hostile. The French Army and navy appeared to be making dispositions that might lead to an invasion of Britain and the Tsar even proposed a Franco-Russo German coalition to come to the rescue of the Boers. In the event it became obvious that these alarms were exaggerated. An invasion by the French was never a serious threat and the Royal Navy was still powerful enough to secure the sea lanes between Britain and South Africa. However public opinion had suffered a severe psychological shock which indirectly led to an important change in British foreign policy.
The reaction of the continental powers to the Boer War had made it clear that Britain had few foreign friends and that it was becoming increasingly difficult for the Royal Navy to maintain superiority over all possible rivals in all parts of the world. One area where this was particularly true was the Far East where all the major powers were pursuing an active policy to increase their trade and influence in China. To meet this situation Britain decided to end its policy of Splendid Isolation and in 1902 signed the Anglo-Japanese Treaty. This treaty, in which both countries, depending on the circumstances, agreed to either remain neutral or support the other in the case of a war in the Far East, ensured that no possible combination of forces could threaten Britain's position in the area.
Having settled affairs to their satisfaction in the Far East the British now concentrated their attention on Europe. At the turn of the century France and Russia were still considered to be the main threat to the well-being of the British Empire, although there were a few who foresaw that Germany might become a problem in the future. Five years later the situation was completely reversed. All major differences between Britain and France and Britain and Russia had been resolved, and Germany was considered by all sections of opinion as the principal threat and there were many who believed that war with Germany was inevitable. What had brought about this remarkable diplomatic turnabout?
Until the 1890s relations between Britain and Germany were generally warm and friendly and similar relations existed between the two navies. However by the middle of the 1890s the situation had changed considerably. Kaiser Wilhelm, no longer restrained by the cautious Bismarck, pursued an erratic and expansionist policy, particularly in Southern Africa, which inevitably conflicted with British interests. In 1896 he sent the notorious Kruger telegram in which he gave his personal support to the president of the Boer Republic after the Jamieson Raid. The effects of this episode were wide ranging. There was talk of military action between the two countries and public opinion on both sides was enraged. Under the calming influence of Queen Victoria and the Prime Minister, Salisbury, the former having written a tactful letter to her grandson, the immediate crisis passed away, but it has been argued that this incident marked the start of the Anglo-German naval arms race that was to dominate the maritime scene until 1914 and to play such an important part in shaping British attitudes to Germany.
As we have seen Anglo-German relations suffered further damage during the Boer War, but again this need only have been a temporary phase if it had not coincided with a major expansion of the German Navy. In 1898 Tirpitz had become the German Minister of Marine and at the end of that year had introduced the Navy Bill which in effect founded the modern German Navy. This bill in itself did not cause too much alarm in Britain but when subsequent building programmes, taking advantage of anti -British feeling in Germany caused by the Boer War, doubled the number of battleships under construction, there was widespread alarm in Britain. By 1903 all important sources of opinion were convinced that the German Fleet represented the main threat to Britain in the future and it was widely accepted that Germany could only need such a large navy for one reason; to challenge the superiority of the Royal Navy and thereby threaten the future existence of the British Empire.
The first five years of the new century, which saw the rise of the German maritime threat and the consequent diplomatic realignment, was also a period of major change and reform for the Royal Navy. These changes were, to a large extent, brought about by the extraordinary energy and vision of one man, Admiral Sir John Fisher, one of the most remarkable men in the history of the Royal Navy. As Commander in Chief Mediterranean (1899-1902), during part of which period GKH was his Chief of Staff, he set the scene for his future reforms. In October 1904 he was appointed 1st Sea Lord, a post he was to hold until 1910.
During the long period of peace in the second half of the 19th Century the Royal Navy had become complacent and to a certain degree had forgotten that its main purpose was to fight a war. The main aim of the Fisher reforms was to reverse this trend and improve the readiness and the fighting efficiency of the Fleet. To achieve this he paid off the majority of non-effective ships carrying out policing duties on foreign stations and concentrated the effective units in Home Waters where the main threat lay. At the same time he accelerated the process, which had started in 1900, of transforming the fighting ability of the major fleet units. It was this last reform that led to his most courageous and controversial decision and gave this period of naval history its name, the Dreadnought Era.
Until 1900 the average planned range of engagement between two battleships would have been about 3000 yards; by 1905 this range had trebled to over 10,000 yds. This remarkable increase in fighting distance was not brought about by the increased range of the guns, but by the way in which they were controlled. Improved range finders, the introduction of the spotting method and centralised control of salvoes from directors all helped to make it possible to hit targets at ranges somewhere near the maximum range of the gun. The adoption of these techniques for long-range firing led to the need for a new design of battleship. The result was Dreadnought, the first battleship with an all-big-gun armament of the same calibre.
The decision to proceed with the Dreadnought was a brave one. As with the Warrior in the 1860s, the introduction of the new design made all existing battleships obsolete and gave the other rival fleets an opportunity to start from an equal position. Fortunately once again the opposition was surprised and indecisive and with its superior ship building ability (Dreadnought went to sea one year and one day after having its keel laid) the Royal Navy was able, despite the inevitable 'Navy Scare', to establish a clear lead in the new arms race.
By about 1907 the political and diplomatic factors that were to lead to the outbreak of the First World War were firmly established. The Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria Hungary and, in theory, Italy was ranged against the Dual Alliance of France and Russia. By the signing of the Ententes with France in 1904 and Russia in 1907 Britain had abandoned her policy of Splendid Isolation and moved towards siding with the Dual Alliance. Although officially the Ententes were only settlements of outstanding differences and not alliances, they did, in fact, lead to moral commitments that made it very difficult for Britain not to support France when war broke out in 1914.
GKH was placed on the Retired List in February 1914, six months before the outbreak of the First World War. When he had joined the Royal Navy fifty years earlier the world position of Europe, Great Britain and its Empire had seemed unassailable. Now Europe was about to embark on a war which, although won by Britain and its allies, left both the victors and losers seriously weakened and led ultimately to the end of the British Empire, the rise and fall of the Soviet Union and the centre of balance of world power moving across the Atlantic to the United States.