My Memoirs (Volumes I & II)

My Memoirs by Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz is one of the most remarkable firsthand accounts of the rise and fall of Imperial Germany’s naval power. In these two volumes, Tirpitz — the architect of the German High Seas Fleet — recounts his transformation from a young officer in the Prussian Navy to the mastermind behind Kaiser Wilhelm II’s naval expansion that challenged British supremacy before World War I.

Written with precision and candor, Tirpitz describes the political struggles within the German government, the strategic reasoning behind fleet construction, and the dramatic events that shaped the course of world history. From the early years of shipbuilding to the cataclysm of the Great War, these memoirs reveal not only a grand strategy but also the deep convictions of a man who believed that sea power was the key to national survival.

This Arcadia Press edition restores the complete text of both volumes, preserving a crucial historical document that illuminates Germany’s path to conflict and its internal divisions during the early twentieth century.

A must-read for:

• Readers of naval and military history
• Students of German politics and strategy
• Anyone interested in the origins of World War I and the downfall of empires