Internationalising sea power: ideas of world order and the maintenance of peace, 1890-1919

Thesis

Between 1890 and 1919, loosely-grouped communities of policymakers, strategic thinkers, and naval elites in Britain, France, and the United States of America developed visions of a new world order, in which peace would be enforced by sea power. Their designs culminated in the creation of the League of Nations at the end of the First World War. Existing studies of the League project have focused on legal-internationalism, the outbreak of the war, and the role of President Woodrow Wilson. This thesis uses an array of sources from archives in Europe and North America, along with contemporary publications, to present a new interpretation. It argues that debates over imperial defence and grand strategy prior to and during the war, especially in Britain, shaped the design of the League. These conceptions centred on multinational naval co-operation, ‘internationalising’ sea power through the League. Its leading members, Britain, France, and the United States, would wage economic warfare at sea to punish recalcitrant states and uphold the new liberal international order.

This thesis makes three major contributions to the literature. Firstly, it recovers the role of strategic thought and ideas of ‘liberal militarism’ in the origins and creation of the League of Nations. Visions of global strategic alignments underpinned by sea power were pioneered by strategic theorists including Halford Mackinder and Julian Corbett throughout this period. Secondly, it reconsiders perceptions of the utility of sea power during the war. Contemporaries believed that it was the great strategic tool. In turn, discussions over ‘freedom of the seas’ led to plans for an ‘internationalised’ sea power for enforcing peace. Lastly, in doing so it frames a new understanding of sea power both in the international system of this period, and the systemised forms of international thought which pre-dated the emergence of ‘International Relations’ as an academic discipline.

Authors: Halewood, LM

• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Freedom of the Seas; First World War; World Order; Sea Power; League of Nations
• Subjects: History, Modern; History; History, Naval