The Naval Race

The German emperor Wilhelm II had a dream of being an imperial ruler. He set his sights on having an Empire to match that of the British. To do this he would need to have a large and powerful navy. In 1900 Wilhelm decided to put this dream into practice. He ordered the construction of several large and powerful boats. The British saw this as a threat and responded by building a ‘Dreadnought’. This was a fast and very dangerous boat. In turn the Germans started building this type of boat. A race started to have the largest navy. This race led to tension between Germany and the British.