Whatever effect the naval blockade ultimately had on the outcome of the war, it of course did not succeed in bringing it to a swift conclusion the way people believed and Churchill implied it might. Gerry Docherty and Jim McGregor contend this was because it was deliberately porous on the level of bureaucracy. They describe this as a conflict between the Admiralty, who wanted to institute an effective blockade, and the Foreign Office, who did not.

Notes

Harry Patch: Anti War Hero: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d26IVqVivE

Hidden History: The Secret Origins of the First World War, by Gerry Docherty and James MacGregor: https://tinyurl.com/4pdt37sj

Robert A. Doughty: Pyrrhic Victory French Strategy and Operations in the Great War

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WmmaZ-iHVM

Thank The Universe Podcast - Hidden History: Secret Origins of the First World War

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKXrUcN8sJ8

Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics & the New World Order, by F. William Engdahl:

https://tinyurl.com/4v7da7sd

The World War One Conspiracy, documentary by James Corbett

https://www.corbettreport.com/wwi/