Book Review: Jutland 1916

We're now in the second year of the First World War's Centennial.

Despite the historical significance of this moment in time, I haven't read any in-depth material on The Great War.  In fact, I don't own a single book on the "mud, blood and poetry" of the trenches.

However, I do own over 30 softcover books by Osprey Publishing.

All of them unread, until now.

I thought I'd use the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Jutland to read my first Osprey book, cover to cover.

Jutland 1916 is a concise, readable account of the events that led up to the clash, the battle itself, and the aftermath. 

(Note:  My copy is a different edition with an "armored plate" cover, but with the same cover art and was published the same year as this "Campaign Series" book was.  My copy also lacks "The Battlefield Today" and "Wargaming Jutland" chapters).

Jutland 1916 is divided into the following chapters, typical of Osprey's template:

Introduction
Origins of the Campaign
The Opposing Fleets (Forces)
The War in the North Sea (Battle Area, Region)
The Opposing Commanders
Opposing Plans
The Battle
Aftermath
Chronology

The book provides a nice over-view of events, which is just enough to give readers basic details, and maybe spark interest in reading weightier tomes.

The battle continues to be controversial even after a hundred years have passed.  Basically, both sides had mirror-image plans, blundered into each other--repeatedly--from the evening of 31 May until the morning of 1 June; more British ships were sunk than German, with heavier loss-of-life; but the German High Seas Fleet retreated into port--and never sortied for battle ever again.  Both sides claimed victory.

The author acknowledges the controversies swirling around each of these facets of the battle, and glosses over them.  Sympathy and scorn towards the attitudes and decisions made by the flag officers is fairly even-handed.  Nearly all of them entered service in the mid-to-late 19th Century, when navies were just phasing-out, or still using steam-powered sailing ships, or ironclads.  No one had a complete grasp of the radical technological advances made up until "the guns of August."

Jutland 1916, earns a solid 4-star rating on Amazon.com. 

I give it the same rating.  Not because I find any fault with the book, but because it is more of an overview than a detailed analysis of the battle.

Bonus Article & Video

While scrolling through Facebook a few weeks back, I came across a post on the Naval Wargames page.

Here's an article with a Battle of Jutland animation.