But what if there was no Kruger Telegram and Germany is indifferend towards the Boers?
That helps a lot. When you openly give your support to a country's enemies, you give good reason to make them see your shipbuilding program as threatening.
That helps a lot. When you openly give your support to a country's enemies, you give good reason to make them see your shipbuilding program as threatening. Germany could have been so much more tactful in its diplomacy.
Sorry, but using irregular forces, civilians even, is not the "good tone" of inter country relations. The Empire "officialy" did not have anything to do with those brigands or am I in error?
Because if they did it would be state terrorism. At least now. How it would be called then?
So allways harping on bad German diplomacy and saberratteling gets old fast in the face of British wrong...
But what if there was no Kruger Telegram and Germany is indifferend towards the Boers?
While the Dutch view is well justified by their strong connection, it was obvious any German sympathy for the Boers was primarily just Schadenfreude at the British Empire's struggle, not because they actually had anything to gain from Boer independence. That may not have been intended to be bad diplomacy but it was sure harmful for foreign relations.
An alternate KM would look like a coastal defense force that could close off the Danish Sound
Considering only modern ships, before WWI the French and Russians together had a naval force of 16 Dreadnoughts and 4 Battlecruisers. Parity alone requires the Kaiserliche Marine to have 20 modern ships, if not one or two or three more. However, IOTL the Germans had 28 modern ships (21 Dreadnoughts and 7 Battlecruisers), so realistically you'd only cut a maximum of 7 or 6 ships.
Which ships do you count?
IIRC the French had 4 BBS (Danton) and no BC in summer 14 the Russians had no ships of the types mentioned comissioned.
I agree the french were fast approachuing 3 more (Bretagne) and the Russians 4 (Gangut) in the Baltics and 3 (Empress Marija) in the Black sea.
The Borodinos were not even launched.
Germany would need much less ships than the fleets combined as the Blacks sea fleet was effective bottled up as were the ships in the BAltics.
Germany would never have to face all French Russian ships at once, so they could concentrate on the "larger/more dangerous fleet"
That is probably the French one as it could - in theory - used for blockading Germany.
That equals 8 ships - give a 50% advantage 12 ships of teh dreadnought type needed (but thats not much less than the Germans HAD (15BB + 4 BCs) in June 1914
OTOH Germany woudl not need all those ships if you count in their allies (nominally Italy 4BBs + 4 BCs and Austria 3 BBs)
Germany would have to have enough ships to counter 4 Courbet-class, 3 Bretagne-class and 5 Normandie-class Dreadnoughts from the French side (Dantons were pre-Dreadnoughts, IIRC) as well as 4 Gangut-class and 4 Empress Marija-class Dreadnoughts, and the four Borodinos from Russia.