The Battle of the Falkland Islands, 1914 ⚓ Major Naval Clash in the South Atlantic

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In December 1914, as the First World War raged in Europe, Falkland Harbour underwent strategic fortifications under Governor Allardyce. Unbeknownst to the approaching German squadron led by Admiral von Spee, the British fleet, commanded by Admiral Sturdee, lay in wait in the calm waters of Port Stanley. A tense standoff ensued as warning shots were fired, revealing the British presence, and both sides prepared for the imminent Battle of the Falkland Islands.

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0:00 Introduction

📚 Sources:

Written by House of History

🎵 Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound

🖼 Photos, paintings and imagery: Public Domain, Wikicommons
🧾Machinima: Total War, Creative Assembly

#HouseofHistory #History

[HoH]

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[RoberttheFox]

It's great to find you tubers that spend the time to know the difference between Battlecruisers, heavy cruisers and armored cruisers and express that in the videos. Thank you.

[jetgnome]

Love watching. My great-grandfather was a sailor in Von Spee’s fleet. Family history is that he was sick and left in an hospital in Valparaiso. I don’t know in which ship he served. He settled in Chile and raised a family there. Before he lived in Bremen. My mother found a photocopy of a document issued by the German government that accompanied a medal for WWI service

[arthurblundell]

after Coronel a lady offered flowers to Von Spee -- he smiled as said "save them for my funeral"

[tirantloblanch]

And like 25 years later a pocket battleship named after the admirald graff spee has a historical combat in front of argentina again, the irony

[tombogan]

Sturdee was waiting for Von Spee.
Canopus was run aground, inside the harbor .
Out of sight, but with spotters on the hills.
The first Von Spee knew was when he saw real big shell splashes

[mbryson]

Beautifully done. The battles of Coronel and the Falklands starkly underscore the pointlessness of war. So many killed in mere footnotes. 😢

[wswaine]

Thanks for this. My Great Grandfather was on HMS Canopus during this battle.

[napoleonibonaparte]

I want to believe there was an old geezer on the islands that saw this battle as a child, witnessed WW2 and the Falklands War as well.

[mattanderson]

I had never realised the irony of the graff spee being scuttled before.
Thanks, liked and subscribed!

[Jake-xecv]

...my grandfather was on HMS Glasgow as an engineroom artificer. He was at the battle of Coronel a month before this and I went there, to the Falklands, in another RN task force in 1982. Little had changed...

[akula]

Canopus was in the Harbour. Her guns were directed by shore based observers. It was her masts that alerted the Germans to the fact that the Falkland had heavy naval units.

[LewisPulsipher]

As I recall, von Spee could see the masts of the battle cruisers in the port. His only hope at that point was to charge in and rely on surprise and short range to survive/prevail. By running he assured his defeat - his massacre - as he had no hope of getting away.

[ultimo]

awesome. really brings home how far flung the battles in the 1st world war ACTUALLY were.

[Hillbilly]

Love the channel HoH. From ancients to WWII. What a playlist!! Been digging the WWI naval stuff of late, but Alte Fritz is still my go-to guy. Cheers from Tennessee

[richgweil]

I love your videos, great stuff! Just wanted to point out that the graphic at 4:14, the info on Inflexible is slightly off. Inflexible had 4 twin 12-inch gun turrets for a total of 8 12-inch guns. Not "4 x 12 in" as seen in the graphic. The narrative info is correct, of course. Just nit-picky really. Keep up the great work!

[wr]

Why didn't the Germans send the Dresden ahead as the fastest ship in order to scout the presence of any British ships? It could have been done at dusk, share the information with the rest of the German fleet, and attack at dawn less than eight hours later or flee during the night. Remember it's maximum daylight with only seven hours of darkness in December at the Falklands.

[sof]

I am a sucker for these Naval animated battle videos.

I would be up for watching any major battle.

[ProfShikari]

I love these videos, a lot of these naval battles are never given life like you have given them, as someone that has been fascinated by naval history in recent years, it is great to learn of battles from history

[johnwright]

Naval warfare before radar and sealplanes was a risky business. It involved guessing where the enemy would be, poor visibility, bad weather and mechanical issues, great respect for all involved, especially all the poor crew who were killed or wounded by enemy fire, went down with the ship or went into the sea with little hope of survival.