ABSTRACT
Until the middle of the nineteenth century, German interest in maritime affairs limited itself to questions of trade.1 The great struggles of the Western European powers for naval supremacy took place with minimal German involvement. The German states were more concerned with the trading advantages they could gain in times of war, which meant, more often than not, a leaning towards a greater freedom of the seas for neutral vessels. Consequently, the German states with maritime interests frequently sided with continental European powers on matters regarding freedom of the seas, often at variance with the aims of the strongest naval power in the world, Great Britain.
