German intentions were frustrated when the British instituted a novel
—
and technically illegal—distant blockade. British forces would not patrol
off Germany's North Sea coastline as required by international law governing
blockades; they would cut off Germany from the open ocean by
patrolling the English Channel and the waters between Scotland and Norway.
There would be few opportunities for Germany to whittle down the
number of Britain's capital ships. Correspondingly, British intentions were
frustrated when the Germans, expecting a close blockade, refused to challenge
the Royal Navy in the open waters of the North Sea.
Small German and British task forces met off the coast of Chile and
Argentina at the Battle of Coronel (October 1914) and the Battle of the
Falklands (November 1914). The Germans triumphed in the first, the British
in the second. But such encounters were the exception.
Instead, for the first two years of the war, the two great surface fleets
dueled with one another in a number of indecisive engagements in the
waters separating Germany and the east coast of England. The Germans,
for example, raided Britain's coastal ports, hoping to provoke a reckless
pursuit that would bring part of the British fleet into contact with superior
German forces. The British set traps for the Germans, seeking on a number
of occasions to get between parts of the High Seas Fleet and their home
ports. Neither strategy worked.
World History
