The Elephant and the Whale
Thrice Against England. By Kurt Stechert. (Cape. 12s. 6d.)
WAR between a great land power and a great sea power has often been compared to a struggle between an elephant and a whale In this country we are naturally most familiar with the whale's point of view. We therefore turn with eager expectancy to this book, which has been translated from the German by Eden and Cedar Paul. No information is given us about the author. His preface. however, is dated from Stockholm and his theme is soon made apparent. He is concerned with three classic examples of conflict between a Continental power and British sea power, and in each case his point of view is that of the elephant. Whatever our opinion of the way his task has been executed, the author deserves consider- able credit for a refreshing breach with the general tendency of Continental thinking and writing about war. To realise the nature and importance of sea power is no small achievement for a European.
In attempting to judge how successful the author has been in
carrying out his task, one is faced with an initial difficulty. Who is intended to read this book? On the face of it, it seems to bk addressed to the general reader, for nearly half the book is devoted to the period after 1918, another very long section deals with the German reaction to the problems raised by sea-power before 1918, and only a short chapter of less than fifty pages is given to Napoleon. It is a reasonable deduction from these facts that the author's intention has been-to provide readers interested in the present war with sufficient material to appreciate the effect that the pressure of sea power, actual or potential, has had on German policy. Napoleon obviously owes his place in the book for purposes of comparison, and the treatment of his problems is on a much smaller scale. If this is a fair description of the author's aim, he has had a good measure of success. The general reader, providid he retains the full use of his critical faculties, will enjoy this book. He is not likely to be deceived by some of the author's opinions ; the view of the battle of the Marne presented here will not win general assent nor will the author's juggling with figures persuade many to believe that in 1914 the French army was in any way numerically superior to the German. The book, however, will ,provoke thought, and a reader ought to obtain from it a better realisation of the importance of sea power.
It is possible, of course, that the author may have intended his book for a more specialist audience. If such were the case, more should be said in criticism. There is no index or detailed table of contents and there are no references to authorities (although the preface suggests that these may have existed in the original and been omitted in the translation). A specialist reader, too, would expect to see some reference to such German writers on sea-power as Persius and Sethe. But the specialist would find much to interest him. in the book, even though he found it incomplete and occasion- ally perverse, and much can be forgiven a Continental writer who recognises that Trafalgar was an offensive rather than a defensive action. In fact, anyone who is interested in the present war and its background ought to read attentively this eminently readable
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