Kiel defies all upheavals

Geography determines the strategic and military policy significance of the navy, which is stationed in and around Kiel, the capital of Schleswig-Holstein, to a disproportionately high degree. As a strategic partner, Kiel's naval shipbuilding companies are highly relevant in terms of security, economic and employment policy as well as technology.

Kiel has traditionally been closely associated with the navy. This goes back to two epoch-making strategic military decisions that still shape the city today: firstly, the decision of the Frankfurt National Assembly on 14 January 1848 to build the first German imperial fleet, with Kiel becoming the main war port of the German navy, and secondly, the order issued by King Wilhelm I to the city of Kiel on 24 March 1865 immediately after the end of the German-Danish War: "The naval station of the Baltic Sea is to be relocated from Danzig to Kiel (...)". Finally, the imperial constitution of 18 January 1871 declares Kiel to be an imperial war port.