Britain and the Mine, 1900–1915

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Richard Dunley

   Pages 1-7

3. Mining in a Cultural Context

   • Richard Dunley

   Pages 9-21

4. British Attitudes to Mining Before 1904

   • Richard Dunley

   Pages 23-44

5. Mine Warfare in the Russo-Japanese War: The Royal Navy Perspective

   • Richard Dunley

   Pages 45-71

6. The Russo-Japanese War: Outrage and Reaction

   • Richard Dunley

   Pages 73-95

7. Mining and International Law: Britain and the Hague Conference

   • Richard Dunley

   Pages 97-130

8. The Strategic Shift: The Origins of British Mine Warfare

   • Richard Dunley

   Pages 131-163

9. Development and Institutionalisation: Offensive Mining 1906–1909

   • Richard Dunley

   Pages 165-192

10. Strategic Flux and Technical Failure

    • Richard Dunley

    Pages 193-224

11. The Test of Conflict

    • Richard Dunley

    Pages 225-266

12. War, Law and Diplomacy

    • Richard Dunley

    Pages 267-295

13. Conclusion

    • Richard Dunley

    Pages 297-303

14. Back Matter

    Pages 305-317

    PDF

This book examines Britain’s complex relationship with the mine in the years 1900-1915. The development of mine warfare represented a unique mix of challenges and opportunities for Britain in the years before the First World War. The mine represented the antithesis of British maritime culture in material form, and attempts were made to limit its use under international law. At the same time, mine warfare offered the Royal Navy a solution to its most difficult strategic problem. Richard Dunley explores the contested position occupied by the mine in the attitudes of British policy makers, and in doing so sheds new light on the overlapping worlds of culture, strategy and international law.  

• First World War
• Russo-Japanese War
• Royal Navy
• maritime
• warfare

• The National Archives, Kew, London, United Kingdom

  Richard Dunley

Richard Dunley is Principal Records Specialist at the National Archives, UK. His previous publications examine British defence, strategic and foreign policy in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. 

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