Career
Holtzendorff served as a commander in the High Seas Fleet from 1909-1913. He was forced into retirement due to his opposition of rapid German naval expansion in direct competition with the British Royal Navy. When World War I broke out, he was recalled to duty to serve as head of the German Navy General Staff. Holtzendorff had been converted during his "retirement" to a strong belief in unrestricted submarine warfare. He published a memo in December 1916 that was presented to Kaiser Wilhelm II, and approved at the Pless conference in January 1917. The belief that aggressive adoption of submarine warfare would starve Britain and bring about its demise was predicted with the statement to the German Third Supreme Command that "England will be forced to sue for peace within five months as the result of launching an unrestricted U-boat war".
Holtzendorff was retired in 1918 after his policy succeeded in destroying British ships, but failed to destroy Britain before the Americans joined the war. He died in 1919.
Read more about this topic: Henning Von Holtzendorff
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“He was at a starting point which makes many a man’s career a fine subject for betting, if there were any gentlemen given to that amusement who could appreciate the complicated probabilities of an arduous purpose, with all the possible thwartings and furtherings of circumstance, all the niceties of inward balance, by which a man swings and makes his point or else is carried headlong.”
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