Admiral Reinhard Scheer: Insights From His Autobiography

Admiral Reinhard Scheer (1863–1928) is something of an enigma, at least where the Anglosphere is concerned. He is famous for commanding the German High Seas Fleet at the Battle of Jutland, the largest fleet action during the First World War. There is plenty of English-language material about his role at Jutland, and Scheer’s wartime memoirs were translated as early as 1919.1 Reinhard Scheer, Germany’s High Sea Fleet in the World War (London: Cassell and Company, 1920). However, there is little English-language material about his life and career more generally. There is no robust biography, and…