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Best regards, Andrew Stewart - - - Subscribe to the Washington Babylon newsletter via https://washingtonbabylon.com/newsletter/ Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: March 19, 2020 at 8:59:15 AM EDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-War]: Peifer on Rüger, 'Heligoland: Britain, > Germany, and the Struggle for the North Sea' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Jan Rüger. Heligoland: Britain, Germany, and the Struggle for the > North Sea. Oxford Oxford University Press, 2017. Illustrations. > 370 pp. $34.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-19-967246-2. > > Reviewed by Douglas Peifer (Air War College) > Published on H-War (March, 2020) > Commissioned by Margaret Sankey > > Heligoland--or Helgoland to the Germans--is not simply a geographic > reality but a "product of the imagination," according to Jan Rüger, > a scholar of Anglo-German relations and professor at Birbeck, > University of London (p. 6). The small archipelago is located in the > heart of the German Bight, some forty-three miles from Cuxhaven at > the Elbe River's outlet and five hours by sea from Hamburg. The > archipelago consists of two small islands once connected to each > other, a low-level uninhabited sand dune and a slightly larger > inhabited island famous for its towering, scenic red sandstone > cliffs. The Royal Navy seized Heligoland from the Danes during the > Napoleonic Wars, with Britain retaining the island for much of the > nineteenth century until exchanging it with the German Empire in 1890 > in return for German concessions in East Africa. Rüger's micro-study > is more than a study of a small island located in the strategic > southeastern corner of the North Sea. It is a beautifully written > examination of Anglo-German relations over the course of the > nineteenth and twentieth centuries, using the real and imagined > Heligoland to analyze the local and global interplay of British and > German Romanticism, nationalism, imperialism, navalism, culture, and > tourism. > > Rüger draws on art, poetry, film, music, maps, and popular culture > alongside diplomatic and military records to examine the meaning > British and German visitors, officials, and statesmen attached to the > island. Inhabited since prehistoric times, the island was home to > inhabitants who spoke a Frisian dialect, stubbornly defending their > historic rights and identity, as ownership of the island shifted from > the Kingdom of Denmark to the British Empire to imperial Germany. > Heligoland provides a prism for assessing Anglo-German relations as > Germany evolved from a confederation of states following the > Napoleonic Wars to an empire dominated by Prussia during the final > decades of the long nineteenth century to a republic following the > First World War, then becoming the Third Reich, then two Germanies > anchored in opposing Cold War alliances, and finally a united, > democratic Germany after 1990. Consciously shifting the focus of > analysis away from politicians, diplomats, and admirals, Rüger uses > Heligoland to paint a nuanced, differentiated picture of Anglo-German > cooperation, confrontation, and interaction over two centuries. > > The book is organized chronologically, with nine chapters framed by a > prologue and epilogue taking the reader from the early nineteenth > century to the post-World War II period. The opening chapter does a > superb job explaining how and why Great Britain acquired Heligoland, > taking the reader back to the life and death struggle between Britain > and Napoleonic France. Following Trafalgar, Austerlitz, and > Jena-Auerstedt, France could no longer directly threaten the British > Isles with invasion while Britain faced the grim reality of a Europe > dominated by France. Faced with economic warfare and fearful that > Denmark with its powerful fleet might align with France, in 1807 the > British government decided to preemptively sink the Danish fleet > while seizing Heligoland as an outpost to northern Germany. The > little island became a hub for anti-French activities, allowing > Britain to insert spies, support sympathizers, and undermine > Napoleon's Continental system. Britain courted the cooperation of > Heligolanders by assuring them that the British Crown would recognize > the rights they had enjoyed under Danish rule. By 1810, hundreds of > vessels moved back and forth between the island and the German coast, > with the Royal Navy protecting the smuggler's haven. Rüger estimates > the value of goods shipped through the island over the three-year > period, 1809-1811, as roughly 86.3 million pounds, which, to put > things in perspective, was equivalent to Britain's annual budget at > that time (p. 25). The outpost also served as a recruiting station > for the king's German Legion, epitomizing the bonds that developed > between Britain and Germans eager to throw off the French yoke. > > With the tides of war running against Napoleon by the fall of 1813, > Denmark abandoned its alliance with France and made a separate peace > with the United Kingdom and Sweden. One of the conditions of the > Treaty of Kiel signed in January 1814 was that Denmark officially > renounce its claim to Heligoland, ceding the island to Britain. > Following Napoleon's final defeat the next year, Heligoland lost its > wartime utility as a smuggler's haven, recruiting post, and conduit > for spies and agents. It reverted to what it had been before the > war--an isolated island community subsisting on fishing, local trade, > and the occasional visitor. One important distinction, however, set > it apart from the Frisian islands closer to Germany: as an outpost of > the British Empire, it lay beyond the jurisdiction of Austrian and > Prussian officials intent on suppressing opinions and publications > that criticized their conservative, Restorationist agendas. German > liberals, radicals, and nationalists could express themselves > relatively freely on Heligoland, transforming it into a haven for the > poets, painters, and professors of the _Vormärz_ (pre-1848) period. > Heinrich Heine wrote of freedom and revolution in his _Helgoländer > Briefe_ (1830), and August Heinrich Hoffman (using the pseudonym > Hoffmann von Fallersleben) penned the _Lied der Deutschen_ while > visiting the island in 1841. The lines of this poem conveyed the > nationalist sentiment of a Germany still divided into multiple > kingdoms and principalities and would later be adopted as the lyrics > of the German national anthem. By 1844, the island had become "so > notorious as a safe haven for national liberals and political > radicals" that Klemens von Metternich himself warned British > authorities that it was becoming a hotbed for troublemakers (p. 40). > > Metternich had reason to fear German nationalism, as the German > Confederation experienced revolution, war, and then unification > excluding Austria. Chapters 3 through 5 use Heligoland as a prism for > illustrating the cooperative and conflictual elements of the > Anglo-German relationship in the second half of the nineteenth > century. The British governor of Heligoland was a Germanophile and a > realist, an admirer of German culture but one distrustful of Otto von > Bismarck's Continental ambitions. British and German influence > overlapped on the little outpost of the British Empire, with > Heligolanders welcoming the increasing number of German tourists and > investors while retaining the "ancient privileges" the British Crown > had promised them (p. 67). The steamship made mass tourism to the > island possible, with mainland Germans fascinated by the island's > romantic terrain and its association with nationalist poets and > painters. The Royal Navy, well aware that sentiment on the island was > becoming increasingly German, believed that new technologies > (steam-powered battleships, torpedoes, mines) and strategies (distant > vice close blockade) were making the island both more difficult to > defend and less important geopolitically. In 1890, the British and > German governments negotiated an exchange of territories and claims > that seemed mutually beneficially. In exchange for German claims in > East Africa, the British government gave Wilhelmine Germany > Heligoland. When some British officials wondered whether the > Heligolanders should be consulted regarding their preferences about > who should rule them, the Colonial Office reminded them that putting > the matter to a plebiscite might be unwise as other British > territories might point to this as a precedent that should apply to > them as well. > > The Anglo-German Treaty of 1890 was based on British hopes for a > continued, cooperative relationship with the new German Empire. > Rüger analyzes how these hopes withered over the next decade, as > Wilhelm II made the fateful decision to build a battleship navy > designed to coerce Great Britain. Heligoland again serves a microcosm > for understanding the changing relationship between Germany and > Britain. Heligolanders had been given the option of choosing British > or German citizenship, and one could find islanders serving on both > British and German merchant ships well after the transfer of the > territory. Some Heligolanders, at sea when the treaty was signed, > left Heligoland as subjects of the British Crown only to discover > upon their return that they were now Germans. Yet if cooperation was > ascendant in 1890, by the close of the decade suspicion had replaced > it. The German government, entranced by Alfred von Tirpitz's > assurances that a German fleet could force Britain to support its > global ambitions, transformed the island into a mighty fortress with > heavy guns and searchlights. The story of Heligoland, in short, is > more than a micro-study of a small island. Instead, Rüger elegantly > uses the small to illustrate the large, embedding his account of the > changing character of the island into an analysis of Anglo-German > relations. The Tirpitz Plan, the Crowe Memorandum, and the Moroccan > crises all find their place in Rüger's account, as the author deftly > moves from the local to the global and from the military/diplomatic > spheres to the cultural and economic realms. > > The second half of the book takes the reader through the First World > War, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, and the Second World War, > concluding with a chapter about how the Federal Republic was able to > convince Britain to return the island to Germany as the Cold War > transformed enemies into allies. Military historians looking for > detailed discussion of what units were stationed on the island, of > its effectiveness as a screen for minelayers/sweepers, or of the > importance in the Second World War of the island's radars and airbase > for the air war over Germany will be disappointed at the level of > detail. Rüger likewise touches only lightly on the > experience/memories of the six thousand strong garrison stationed on > the island, though one might surmise that the massive Allied air > attacks on the island must have made life a terrifying experience. > Yet Rüger's purpose is not to write a military history but rather to > use Heligoland as a mirror for the broader dynamics reflecting > Anglo-German relations. His discussion of how and why Britain > returned the island to German control after both world wars is > superb, illustrating the unequal dialogue between victor and > vanquished, between occupier and occupied. Britain reluctantly > returned Heligoland to Germany after the First World War on the > condition it be thoroughly demilitarized. Fifteen years later, Adolf > Hitler's Germany set out to make the island a fortress of > unparalleled strength, with grandiose visions of transforming it into > a first-rate naval strongpoint by dredging additional land, building > piers that stretched far into the North Sea, and constructing an > airfield. After World War II, British military authorities planned to > retain the island long into the future as a bombing range. Operation > Big Bang, conducted in 1947, was the largest detonation of > conventional ammunitions to date, destroying what was left of its > already devastated fortifications. In fascinating detail, Rüger > unpacks how pacifist and environmentalist West German student groups > protesting British devastation of the island were spurred on by East > German agents intent on creating fissures between Konrad Adenauer's > Germany and Great Britain. Britain returned the island to West German > control in 1952, as the Anglo-German relationship entered its next > phase, one of cooperation between the UK and West Germany as partners > in a Western military alliance confronting the Soviet Union, its > Germany (the Democratic Republic of Germany), and the satellite > states of the Warsaw Pact. > > Rüger's _Heligoland: Britain, Germany, and the Struggle for the > North Sea_ succeeds brilliantly in exposing how Britons and Germans > moved from admiration to antagonism, from cooperation to conflict, > intermingling elements of both during the long nineteenth century, > between the world wars, and after the Second World War. Focusing on > the specific, it illustrates the shifting dynamics of the general > relationship. The micro-study references higher level diplomacy and > the military dimensions of the Anglo-German relationship but focuses > on how art, poetry, music, and the everyday interactions of > islanders, visitors, and representatives of the state made Heligoland > into something more than two small islands buffeted by the waves of > the North Sea. > > Citation: Douglas Peifer. Review of Rüger, Jan, _Heligoland: > Britain, Germany, and the Struggle for the North Sea_. H-War, H-Net > Reviews. March, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54739 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
