Dreadnought: Britain, Germany and the Coming of the Great War

Dreadnought #1

by Robert K. Massie

"A classic [that] covers superbly a whole era...Engrossing in its glittering gallery of characters."
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Robert K. Massie has written a richly textured and gripping chronicle of the personal and national rivalries that led to the twentieth century's first great arms race. Massie brings to vivid life, such historical figures as the single-minded Admiral von Tirpitz, the young, ambitious, Winston Churchill, the ruthless, sycophantic Chancellor Bernhard von Bulow, and many others. Their story, and the story of the era, filled with misunderstandings, missed opportunities, and events leading to unintended conclusions, unfolds like a Greek tratedy in his powerful narrative. Intimately human and dramatic, DREADNOUGHT is history at its most riveting.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War I, Military History, War, Military Fiction, European History

1007 pages, Hardcover

First published January 16, 1992

About the author

Robert Kinloch Massie was an American historian, writer, winner of a Pulitzer Prize, and a Rhodes Scholar.

Born in Versailles, Kentucky, Massie spent much of his youth there and in Nashville, Tennessee. He studied American history at Yale University and modern European history at Oxford University on his Rhodes Scholarship. Massie went to work as a journalist for Newsweek from 1959 to 1964 and then took a position at the Saturday Evening Post.

After he and his family left America for France, Massie wrote and published his breakthrough book, Nicholas and Alexandra, a biography of the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, his wife, Alexandra of Hesse, and their family and cultural/political milieu. Massie's interest in the Tsar's family was triggered by the birth of his son, the Rev. Robert Kinloch Massie, who suffers from hemophilia, a hereditary disease that also afflicted the last Tsar's son, Alexei. In 1971, the book was the basis of an Academy Award–winning film of the same title. In 1995, in his book The Romanovs: The Final Chapter, Massie updated Nicholas and Alexandra with much newly discovered information.

In 1975, Robert Massie and his then-wife Suzanne chronicled their experiences as the parents of a hemophiliac child and the significant differences between the American and French healthcare systems in their jointly written book, Journey.

Massie won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Biography for Peter the Great: His Life and World. This book inspired a 1986 NBC mini-series that won three Emmy Awards, starring Maximilian Schell, Laurence Olivier and Vanessa Redgrave.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

“A battleship is a floating platform for naval guns designed to destroy enemy ships. Assuming equal marksmanship on both sides, the ship with the larger number of guns, firing heavier shells at longer range, will prevail. Speed is also a factor, giving a captain the power to choose the moment of action – whether to pursue or withdraw. In battle in mid-ocean, where an enemy ship cannot flee to a friendly harbor and where there is no hiding place other than in rain clouds, fog, or darkness, destruction of the slower, weaker vessel is almost inevitable. Range is important because a ship which can fire and score hits out of range of the guns of her enemy is fighting a helpless foe. Range, size of the guns, and destructive power go hand in hand; the larger the shell, the greater the range, and the heavier its penetrating and blast effect. When she was designed and built, the Dreadnought was the supreme embodiment of these concepts…”
- Robert Massie, Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War

In 1906, Great Britain’s Royal Navy unveiled the HMS Dreadnought, a new breed of battleship with an all big-gun armament of ten 12-inch guns, giving her a broadside capable of hurtling 6,800 pounds of steel and high explosive at an enemy. Along with the guns, the HMS Dreadnought had steam turbines that could push her through the ocean at the not-insignificant speed of twenty-one knots. She was also heavily armored, especially at her most critical points.

Speaking in modern terms, HMS Dreadnought was a game changer, a technological marvel, different and better than what had come before. As a technological marvel, Great Britain’s new battleship was also a disruptor. She made older ships obsolete – for both Great Britain and everyone else – while also upsetting the balance of power on the high seas.

In Robert Massie’s Dreadnought, the titular battlewagon does not get built until roughly halfway through the book’s 900-page length. Nevertheless, in Massie’s telling, she is the fulcrum on which the relationship between Great Britain and Germany in the years leading to the First World War ultimately turned. Before her launch, the onetime allies – who had joined together to beat Napoleon at Waterloo – had jockeyed warily for position, with Great Britain ruling the waves, and a united Germany asserting herself on the continent. Though not friends, per se, the two nations were bound by both history and blood ties. After all, Kaiser Wilhelm II was actually Queen Victoria’s grandson, and the cousin of King George V.

After the launch of the HMS Dreadnought, however, a naval arms race ensued, with Germany suddenly desperate to match Great Britain, who had the greatest navy in the world. The result of this struggle for oceanic supremacy was the isolation of Germany, and the alliance of age-old enemies Great Britain and France.

The culmination, of course, came in August 1914.

Beginning in 1897, Massie’s Dreadnought narrates the fateful years before the explosion of the First World War, but does so through the prism of the relationship between Great Britain and Germany, especially as regards their respective navies.

There is no shortage of literature on the leadup to World War I. Indeed, the causes of the war are far more interesting than the grim, slogging manner in which it was fought. But while there are many titles from which to choose, Dreadnought is the best I’ve read. Massie’s contribution is not only lucid and comprehensive, it is consistently engaging. In a methodical, chronological narrative, he takes you through the World War version of the Stations of the Cross: the Jameson Raid; the Boer War; the Moroccan Crises; and the Balkan Wars. Massie makes sure you understand why these points of friction, occurring at the edges of colonial empires, created the sufficient conditions for war in 1914. He does this by focusing on the main players, occasionally pausing on the timeline to present marvelous biographical chapters on Kaiser Wilhelm, Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, Arthur Balfour, Admiral Jackie Fisher, and Sir Edward Grey, among others.

Massie is an accomplished biographer who has written wonderful tomes on Peter the Great and Catherine the Great. In Dreadnought, he puts those skills to good use, delivering compact and entertaining sketches that turn these distant people into flesh-and-blood human beings. Massie can take someone as oft-caricatured as Kaiser Wilhelm and somehow find the internal logic by which he operated.

The personalities in Dreadnought carry the story, to an extent that most professional historians would probably criticize. That is, the Great Man Theory has fallen into disrepute, and academics are far more likely to attribute the ebb and flow of events to large, impersonal forces, rather than the personalities of kings or queens, admirals or generals. As popular history, though, Massie’s ability to humanize rather than theorize works perfectly. For example, Massie is extremely fond of Sir Edward Grey, Great Britain’s much-maligned foreign secretary. In Massie’s hands, Grey becomes an eccentric, near tragic figure, a man who lost his first wife to a freak carriage accident, who loved to fly fish, and who worked to tie together Great Britain and France, who less than a century earlier had been mortal enemies. To Massie, Grey is nothing less than heroic:

[Grey] stopped for a moment, struggling for words. When he resumed [his speech], his eyes were filled with tears. “Thus, the efforts of a lifetime go for nothing. I feel like a man who has wasted his life.” At dusk that evening, Grey stood with a friend at his window in the Foreign Office, looking down at the lamps being lit in St. James's Park. It was then that the unpoetic Sir Edward Grey uttered the lines which memorably signaled the coming of the First World War. “The lamps are going out all over Europe,” he said. “We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.”

Of course, Grey’s example also shows the limitations of Massie’s approach. After all, Grey’s secretive attempts at forging an Anglo-Franco alliance put Great Britain into a position of having to fight a war that she did not necessarily need to fight. More than that, Massie’s portrait of Grey as the grieving widower is a bit idealized, as testified by Grey’s affairs and illegitimate children.

Moreover, while Dreadnought is an absolute blast to read, it is a bit simplified. By sticking so close to Great Britain and Germany, you do not get as much detail regarding the actions of Russia, France, Austria-Hungary, and Serbia, all of which had their role to play in the Great War to come. Those looking for a more sophisticated, complicated treatment of these years would be well served in checking out Margaret MacMillan’s The War that Ended Peace.

Having read hundreds and hundreds of history books, I have a very good idea of what I want. Veracity is obviously extremely important. However, if I was mono-focused on facts alone – on what happened, when, and where – it would be far easier and less time consuming to simply read a summary on the internet. When I invest my hours in a book, I require additional value. A good history needs to do more than convince me of the author’s aptitude for scouring dusty libraries in search of primary documents. It has to give me a sense of what it might have been like to live during the time being described on page. Massie’s ability to deliver global-sized events at a human scale is nearly unparalleled. I place him near the top of all the writer-historians I have encountered, with Dreadnought perhaps his strongest effort.

[Marcus · Rating 5 out of 5]

First the bad news – this book is not, strictly speaking, about the topic alluded to by the title. Yes, the development of the British and German navies and effect of that arms race figures very prominently in the book, but it is by no means a book solely about those events. Rather, naval arms race between Great Britain and imperial Germany is used as a red thread binding together a story that starts in the middle of Victorian era and ends with the outbreak of the Great War.

The good news is that “Dreadnought” is very possibly one of the top five history books I have read so far, and I have read quite a few of them by now. Massie manages to visualize all the main characters of the period and make them human. Furthermore, he weaves a mesmerizing slideshow of events, that first very slowly, but then with more and more momentum leads to one of humanity's greatest calamities. The end result is stunning.

Final chapters of “Dreadnought” are worth special praise, because they show very different picture of politicians that led Europe to the disaster of World War I. History books often concentrate on proclamations, alliances and such. Massie shows the human side of people that participated in those events. It will come as a huge surprise how much effort was committed to stop the ball from rolling and how much personal despair the final outcome caused to those involved once they realized that nothing could stop the events from unfolding. While nations of Europe sung as they marched to the slaughterhouse, most politicians wept. And I admit freely, there are passages in “Dreadnought” that brought tears also to my eyes.

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steaming Towards War

Dreadnought by Robert K Massie is simply one of the best history books I have ever read. At 908 reading pages this book is simply unputdownable and manages to be epic in content and scope. The topic of the book is one of the most important and discussed in world history, the causes and road to the First World War. It is balanced, fair and comprehensive. The title is taken from the importance and weight behind the naval race which built momentum in the ten years or so prior to 1914. HMS Dreadnought, a new type of ship was launched in 1906 and unintentionally started a rivalry between Germany and the United Kingdom, two traditional friends who had stood shoulder to shoulder against the French in the 18th and early 19th century.

As Massie shows to learn the origins of WWI we must start in the 1840s and the marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert and then the birth of Vicky (German Empress Victoria) and Bertie (Edward VII). With this slowly began Victoria’s long reign where she tied up most of the royal houses of Europe into her wider family, in the hope this would create the harmony and sought after balance of Europe. This was not to be, as Massie shows these monarchs were not as influential as we might believe. Politicians, soldiers and diplomats really called the shots. Victoria’s grandson William is born into the age of a new nation Germany created by Prince Otto von Bismarck, the Prussian political genius. Thus we have a new powerful, wealthy and confident power on the continent. A weak and anxious France, eager for revenge of her humiliation in the Franco-Prussian War, an isolated Russia, a crumbling Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungry only held together by its old Emperor Franz-Josef.

As you would expect from the title the book focuses heavily on the naval arms race and the importance of naval supremacy to the island nation of Britain, who had been master of the seas since Admiral Viscount Horatio Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar in 1805. All of the key events during the late 19th and early 20th centuries are covered which built tension and add context to the sleepwalk into Armageddon. The Jameson Raid and Kruger Telegram, the Agadir Crisis, the Balkan Wars and the infamous Telegram Interview with the Kaiser. All this with international relations and politics masterfully written. Nothing is boring in the book, a single page. All of the major players are present, Robert Gascoigne-Cecil, Marquess of Salisbury, Winston Churchill, Jackie Fisher and his rivalry with Lord Beresford, Lord Curzon, Lord Landsdowne, Arthur Balfour, HH Asquith, Robert Haldane, David Lloyd George and Sir Edward Grey. But also Alfred von Tirpitz, Helmuth von Moltke, Bernard von Bulow and Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg to name a few. In this book I have gained a great understanding of their personalities, the roles they played and their relationships which each other.

Dreadnought is the benchmark for any book on the origins of the First World War, one of the most important events in human history. This surpasses Barbara Tuchman’s Guns of August and The Proud Tower, which highly influence Massie. I have seen criticisms of this book where Massie is targeted for failing to tell what happens to the ships once they face each other off the coast of Denmark in 1916, this isn’t the point of the book. It is to focus on the importance of the ships in build up to these and why this was a major factor in tension between Germany and the UK. Both tried to reduce this tension, both failed. Neither was wrong or right, but ultimately they could have avoided war. Massie does not pass opinion on this, he shows what happened and what they said publicly and privately. Massie is a master of narrative history, every book I have read of his is written in a beautiful style. If you can complete the marathon and have an interest in WWI, this is for you.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite this book’s title, and the picture of a great big ship on the cover, this is really a book about people.

Massie tells the story of the political and diplomatic relationship between Britain and Germany and the slow build up to war, from the late 19th century through to 1914. He uses a hybrid structure, a series of mini-biographies sit within a broadly chronological narrative, bringing to life key people (I especially enjoyed his depictions of Kaiser Wilhelm II, Winston Churchill and Jackie Fisher) and events (the Jameson Raid, the Boer War, Agadir, etc.). And ever present, flowing through these stories and linking them together, is the escalating naval arms race between Britain and Germany.

If that sounds a little dry, it really isn’t. Despite this being a long and quite detailed account of a complex situation, Massie writes so well and clearly that I was completely hooked. I found this easy to read, endlessly absorbing and entertaining.

Despite this book’s length I wouldn’t describe it as an exhaustive or comprehensive history of the build up to war. Its focus is almost entirely monarchs, statesmen and admirals, not the man on the street. And you won’t get much insight into France, Russia, or anyone other than Britain and Germany (fair enough, the clue’s in the subtitle).

Those aren’t criticisms though. For me, this is beyond criticism. Amazing.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an outstanding work of narrative history, featuring a detailed account of the gradually deteriorating relationship between Britain and Germany from the mid-19th century up to the outbreak of WWI. In terms of analysis, the book doesn’t provide anything I haven’t read in other works, but it has many other strengths, and the last two chapters in particular swung my rating from 4 to 5 stars.

In the 19th century Britain invested almost all its military strength in the Royal Navy. It maintained only a tiny volunteer army that was dwarfed by its Continental counterparts. Bismarck once quipped that if the British Army ever came ashore on the coast of Prussia he would leave it to the local police to round them up. It followed that if any enemy army got onto British shores, the island would quickly be overrun. The key to Britain’s defence was stopping the enemy from getting across the Channel, and maintenance of naval supremacy was therefore the UK’s number one priority. After the final defeat of Napoleon in 1815, Britain faced no existential threats for around 50 years. This all changed with the sudden rise of Prussia and the creation of a united Germany between 1866 and 1871, and most of all by the decision of the German government to build a fleet to rival Britain’s, thereby locking both countries into an economically ruinous arms race.

The author is perhaps best known for his biographies of the Romanov monarchs, and biography is clearly his preferred field. Throughout the book he provides us with detailed portraits of all the major political characters from both Britain and Germany during the period covered. It’s all fascinating stuff and I now have a much more rounded opinion of many of those featured.

The book is highly readable throughout and despite its length never gets boring. The author’s dramatic retelling of the events of July 1914 represents history at its most compelling. Massie places the blame for WWI squarely on the shoulders of the governments of Austria-Hungary and Germany, (a view I think is largely supported by the historical evidence). We get descriptions of the frantic attempts by the Entente governments to avoid war, and the great personal distress of many of the politicians and diplomats involved, (including German and Austrian diplomats, kept in the dark by their own Governments). The book ends with the leading British politicians sitting in the Cabinet Room, staring at the telephone that linked to the Foreign Office, and listening to the clock as it ticked towards the expiry of Britain’s ultimatum to Germany over the invasion of Belgium. A very, very poignant scene to end a superb narrative.

[Dimitri · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book has been praised to seventh heaven and back, what can I add ?
For those familiar with the facts of European diplomacy and defence in the period ca. 1890-1914, Massie will bring them to life with love.

It does not tell the neatly wrapped story of the origins of WWI, nor does it focus exclusively on the naval armaments race between the British and German empires. At over a 1000 pages it is certainly not aimed at the novice history aficionado.

Rather, it is a score written for the saga of Clark and MacMillan*. All aspects of the rising antagonism between the Great Powers of Europe make an appearance in the flesh, resurrected from contemporary sources down to entire conversations quoted ad verbatim.

Well-known tableaux such as the funeral of Edward VII (which opened for the Guns of August) and the assassination of Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary (printed to death) are joined by episodes that usually warrant scant lines, even tough they are each marked as stepstones on the road to the outbreak of war:

Here, the French brave the perils of the Sahara only to wearily watch a British flotilla approach Fashoda. Here, the Kaiser's unruly horse ruins the majesty of his entry in Tangier; six years later a solitary, frustrated German merchant waves the gunboat "Panther" to shore in order to justify an armed intervention in Morocco. Here, two Jewish businessmen make a last-minute bid to ease the Anglo-German antagonism by inviting Lord Haldane for a mission.

The Leitmotif of the book is the naval race. Fisher's impact upon the development of the Dreadnought and the reorientation of naval defence towards protecting the Home Islands from the Hochseeflotte is similarky humanized and stripped of its inevitability. Here, the mercurial Fisher prevails thanks to his good rappport with the King, beset on all sides by powerful opponents within the naval establishment.

* The War that Ended Peace: How Europe abandoned Peace for the First World Warby Margaret MacMillan
The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 by Christopher Clark

[Boudewijn · Rating 4 out of 5]

With more than 900 pages, this book is not for the casual reader. However, the writing style makes this read like a novel. Highly recommended if you want to know more about the people and events leading up to the Great War

Central theme in the book is the race between Great Britain and Germany for naval supremacy. Great Britain, due to her island geography, was forced to rely on her naval supremacy for her own survival. Germany, being the central great industrial power on the continent, had a great army but lacked in naval arms.

The story starts in 1897, with the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria and the review of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth. Since Nelson and Trafalgar, the Royal Navy had ruled the waves. But not for long if it was to the German Kaiser, who wanted to take part in the continental spoils and wanted to have a large navy as well, in order to take its place among the great colonial powers.

The book is a collection of small biographies, centering on the English and German royalty, with the prime ministers, chancelors and ministers as well. While reading, it is almost you take part in the conversations in cigar smoke filled chambers, nipping champagne with the Kaiser and the Kings.

The book slowly builds up to armageddon, the starting of World War I. We see the events leading up to the start of the Great War, the way diplomacy saved the day a few times, but in the end it was all in vain. When the light went out, they went out during a lifetime.

[Jill H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a word...........fantastic. One of, if not the best, histories of the build-up of sea powere between Great Britain and Germany prior to WWI. This should be read as a preface to "Castles of Steel" also by Massie. The highest recommendation.

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dreadnought is the story of the naval arms race between Britain and Germany prior to WWI and the development of the modern British Navy, but even more it is the story of the people, policies and diplomacies of the governments of Britain and Germany in those years. Massie is at his best profiling the lives of the leaders, politicians and diplomats in myriad biographical vignettes. Winston Churchill, David Lloyd George, Magot & H. H. Asquith, Joseph Chamberlain, Arthur Balfour, Edward Grey, Richard Haldane, Lord Salisbury, Henry Campbell Bannerman, Jacky Fisher, Lord Charles Beresford, Queen Victoria, Edward VII, George V, Otto von Bismarck, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Bernhard von Bulow and other prominent figures of this time are incisively portrayed. The book reads like a novel detailing the events leading to the Great War. For years the policymakers and statesmen of Britain and Germany match wits seeking advantage while avoiding war. Then suddenly and inexplicably everything goes awry. This abrupt fall into the abyss left me puzzled.


Massie depicts Kaiser Wilhelm II’s Prussian pride, his immaturity, his cockiness, his bumbling and most importantly his implacable desire for German hegemony supported by strident German nationalism. Formulation and execution of German foreign policy by the Kaiser and his disparate collection of bureaucrats working at odds with each other is disjointed, particularly when the strong Chancellors, Bismarck and Bulow, are not in charge. Germany’s amoral diplomacy, frequently duplicitous, pushes its neighbors to the brink time and again in search of any conceivable advantage but not war. However the German Navy under Admiral Tirpitz steadily prepares Germany for war against Britain and while the book gives the German army minimal attention, by 1914 the German army is fully prepared with a detailed war plan to take on all of Europe.


For years the Kaiser uses the German military buildup to intimidate other nations but not to start a war. However in 1914 the Kaiser and his ministers push Germany’s ally Austria into starting a small local war with Serbia but somehow do not anticipate Russia’s only possible reaction in support of its Slavic ally. With his brinkmanship egging on Austria to fight Serbia going too far the Kaiser is surprised when Russia declares war on Austria. Bound by a pact to come to Austria’s aid, the Kaiser consults his army Chief of Staff Moltke regarding a possible war with Russia. Moltke insists not only on war with Russia but that any war with Russia must also be fought with France and Belgium, which also ensures Britain’s entrance into the war. Moltke considers Britain’s entry inconsequential but the Kaiser was well aware of Britain’s capabilities, particularly its navy.


Rather than back off and negotiate a settlement which he could easily have done since Russia, Britain and France wanted desperately to avoid war, the Kaiser defers to Moltke because Moltke tells him that the army has a detailed war plan that cannot be changed. This acquiescence to Moltke on the Kaiser’s part going in a single stroke from a policy of tough diplomacy without war to all-out war seems incredulous to me. Germany had negotiated prior settlements in Balkans’ disputes and backed down in its Agadir adventure when it proved counterproductive.


This is what I find confusing by the history Massie vividly presents. How could the Kaiser change his strategy so completely so quickly? From his year in year out game of diplomatic brinkmanship with no intention of going to war he just turns completely around and lets the army engage all of Europe in a massive conflict. The ease with which Germany moved from diplomacy, no matter how provocative and inept, to a world war that no country wanted just floors me.


While I was fascinated by Massie’s book and learned much from it, it left me with more questions than I started with. Massie writes well and gives one great insight into the key individual political decision makers of the time, both from a personal and professional perspective. Still, I would only recommend his book for the history buff or individual who really wants to understand why WWI started with the caveat that after reading Dreadnought you likely will still not know why WWI started but you will be able to ask much better questions.

[Cameron Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good. Don't let the title mislead you; this is in my opinion the best account of the events, alliances, national ambitions, and personalities that led to the Armageddon that we know as World War 1.

[Phrodrick slowed his growing backlog · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember reading Robert K. Massie’s Dreadnought – Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War soon after it first came out, circa 1991. At the time I felt deeply immersed into the politics and personalities that brought Europe to the brink of World War I. Robert Massie is a fine historian and is generally accessible. For some reason a friend of mine, having himself stumbled upon it a few years back seemed to not get that I had read it and gifted me a copy while pressuring me to read it. Upon re -read, I am still impressed by Massie’s scholarship, but find it a tad over stuffed. That and I feel the need to re-buy the follow up book, the equally long Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea.

My reservations about this book are highlighted by its full and more honest title Dreadnought – Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War. Pay attention to the part after the dash. Massie writes in great detail about the many, mostly British, slightly less so about German and almost no other major European political player In my second read, I think we get for too much about people who, whatever the influence they had in getting their respective governments to those final decision points, were long dead. However important they were that much background on their birth, school and almost to bathroom habits, was, on first read a sense that you were getting the behind-the-scenes access, but this time seemed like less than relevant page filling.

When the last decisions were being made, Massie gives us a host of strangers, about whom we should have some information. Policy and decision makers from Russia, Austria, Serbia, and France were in key places in the chain of events but represented countries not mentioned in the title. In the text they abruptly become vital in terms of their motives and traditions, and particular national points of view, but they are unknown to the reader.

I generally do not like a review that says that the author wrote the wrong book. And maybe Massie was admitting to his limits as a scholar. Perhaps he knew he could not address these other countries with equal mastery. Granting this and more; I would have liked him to skip some of the earlier and particularly the more transient political figures to have that time to speak more widely of European principals.

There are areas for which Dreadnought stands out. The discussion of Admiral Fisher and the development of the Dreadnought classes of ships, and the significance of the almost gratuitous decision by Germany to challenge British Naval Supremacy are vital technical issues and turning point political problems. Kaiser William of Germany was determined to be the singular ruling Prince over his newly unified (and hopefully expanded) empire nation. Plus, he wanted to have a fearsome Navy because he wanted a fearsome Navy.

England, was never going to accept any power threatening its vital sea routes. The Homeland could not survive the loss of food raw materials, or employment tied to its world-wide interests. For England this was an existential fact. Germany had no comparable exposure.

Further England understood that Germany could easily become the dominate, dictating power from the English Channel to the Steppes of Russia. Absent the ability of France and Russia to balance against German aspirations, Continental Europe could become another existential threat.

These points are ones that I need clarified in a many years-long quest to understand the roots of WWI. Besides Massie I have read several thousand pages of period history. Names I can recommend are Barbara Tuchman and Golo Mann. There are others and I am not entirely done with this topic. As of now I feel that WW I Was singularly unnecessary. That Germany was the pivot point where war could have been avoided or at least further delayed. England was under the most moral obligation to take up arms in both its own interest and, although they may not have fully grasped it, for the protection of greater human values. My bottom line is that a Europe under Kaiser William, would have been a terrible place.

[Sharon Barrow Wilfong · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a superb history of the events and characters surrounding the years leading up to WWI.

Massie starts with Queen Victoria, her childhood, her reign as Queen and her offspring. For a long time I did not realize how the major leaders in Europe were all related to each other, having Queen Victoria for a grandmother.

Massie does an excellent job of describing the English culture vs the German culture and how fiercely nationalistic both countries were, although Germany seems to have taken their identity to extreme heights, which helps explain the Kaiser's ambitions to conquer and colonialize third world nations.

Different chapters are devoted to leaders, Prime Ministers, Naval Ambassadors, Counselors etc... we learn of the famous Bismark, and also some good insight into Winston Churchill's upbringing and his, uh, shall we say, free-wheeling parents and also his neglected childhood, which can be heart-rending to read.

We read about the Boer War and ultimately the events that led to WWI. I had always wondered why the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand caused a world war, but then one sees the machinations behind...Austria wanting to reduce Slovenia back to a vassalage. Slovenia's refusal to return to serfdom, Russia coming to their aid, France coming to Russia's aid, England coming to France's aid and, finally the U.S. coming to everyone's aid.

Why? Because Kaiser Wihelm was determined to become Emperor of Europe and was going to back Austria invading Slovenia as a means to accomplish this.

A long, but informative and enjoyable read.

[Elliot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dreadnought, by Robert K. Massie is truly ambitious in its scope and scale. It’s the sort of book that could be either a resounding success or a dismal failure depending on the author's execution. I applaud Massie for his work, because he succeeded in making a 900 plus page book about diplomatic relations between Britain and Germany in the late 19th and early 20th centuries come alive. As other reviewers have noted, the book’s subtitle, Britain, Germany and the Coming of the Great War, gives a more accurate idea of its contents than the title itself does (though Dreadnought is a fantastic title, regardless).

The theme of naval supremacy is teased from the very start (in a brief account of the battle of Trafalgar in 1815 and then a clever introduction which is brought to life by a description of the 1897 Fleet Review for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee), but then Massie jumps back in time to start the tale from the beginning. The naval arms race between Britain and Germany, though prominent is by no means the sole focus of the book. The narrative will sometimes even ignore it for hundreds of pages at a time, though its effect is clearly illustrated in the later half of the book. I should note here that one of the features of Massie’s writing, for better or worse, is the biographical emphasis. Practically every major British and German figure who plays a role in this story is given a detailed biographical sketch. The shortest were a few pages long, but many of these sketches span entire chapters. The monarchs, Victoria and Edward and William are given their due, along with figures ranging from Bismarck and Admiral Tirpitz to Joseph Chamberlain, Jacky Fisher, and Winston Churchill.

I wager that it is Massie’s willingness to disrupt the narrative by presenting these massive biographical sketches, and the skill with which he pulls them off, that sets this book apart. These men and women, many of whom shaped the course of history, are generally portrayed quite sympathetically. I myself empathized very much with several of these figures, and that is a testimony to Massie’s skill as an author. As a result, the reader is able to view all of the events covered throughout the book—and there are a lot of them—with an understanding of what many of the people personally involved in them were feeling. The human element of history is, I believe, one of history’s biggest attractions, and Massie uses this to good effect. On a lighter note, providing interesting and detailed biographical sketches ensures that the reader will not forget who is who even 800 pages after someone is introduced, or at least that was the case for me.

It would be a futile task for me to summarize of all the history that Dreadnought covers in this review. Thus, I’ll simply settle for listing the five sections that book is divided into:

The German Challenge which details the creation of the German Empire and its initial foray into naval matters,

The End of Splendid Isolation which describes the politics and diplomacy of Edwardian Britain,

The Navy which covers the Royal Navy, the evolution of naval technology up to the creation of Dreadnoughts, and the man behind it all—Jacky Fisher,

Britain and Germany: Politics and Growing Tension, 1906-1910, and

The Road to Armageddon which includes an account of Winston Churchill’s role at the Admiralty and an Anglo-German perspective of the final few years leading up to the Great War.

Throughout the book, little to no analysis is given by Massie. His style is more understated; he lets the story speak for itself. The result is magnificent.

[ALLEN · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't read a lot of history, but when I do I want it to matter. Happily, DREADNOUGHT by Robert K. Massie is not the kind of big huge historical book that plods through ten times one hundred pages (and then some), but brilliantly sails the body of pre-WWI preludes to total war, using Anglo-Germanic naval rivalry as an entering wedge to understanding all of the arms races and diplomatic jockeying that led to that total war in 1914. (Not for nothing have many prior reviewers noted that the title of this book that follows the colon -- "Britain, Germany and the Coming of the Great War" is key to the book's sweep, not just naval armament.)

The result is an enormous (1,040 pp.) volume that is compelling, readable, and salutary for the amateur reader like me wanting a fuller picture of how the "Great War' became all but inevitable.

We cleansed our beards of the mutton-grease,
We lay on the mats and were filled with peace,
And the talk slid north, and the talk slid south,
With the sliding puffs from the hookah-mouth.
Four things greater than all things are, --
Women and Horses and Power and War.
~ from "The King's Jest," Rudyard Kipling, 1890.

In a sense DREADNOUGHT was a book waiting to be written. When Rudyard Kipling, under the semi-pseudonym "Yussuf," first published "The King's Jest" in 1890, he celebrated Great Britain's imperial might on land -- the "Great Game" of the Kyber Pass and Central Asia. Yet, for all the glory, Kipling may have helped distract the British populace from the vast naval buildup taking place, and the fact that Imperial Germany, on the move since 1871, was about to surpass Great Britain in raw production of coal and steel, but soon in naval weight and might and cutting-edge technology. Even today, we more casual students of World War I think of the appalling trenches of Flanders and Northern France, yet, horrible as they were, over-reliance on themes and tropes of land war often distract us amateurs to the crucial naval battles of the "Great War."

Dreadnought, with its great length and greater insight, requires patience but in this reviewer's opinion that patience will be well rewarded. Robert K. Massie already had a justly deserved reputation as a writer of popular (PETER THE GREAT) history; DREADNOUGHT, in my opinion, is his masterpiece. Now, when I read general histories of the Great War, I expect the naval as well as military components to be served. DREADNOUGHT, for me, was the ideal lead-in to World War One.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who wants to understand how the Great War came about should read this book. the War was about more than the asassination of Franz Ferdinand, competition between Russia and Austria-Hungary for dominion over Slavs, French resentment of Germany's Franco-Prussian War victory. This book provides the missing piece to the puzzle. And it's a history book that reads like a novel.

[Rindis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book where the subtitle is accurate and sums up the book far better than the title ever could: "Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War".

This is also Robert Massie at his best. Typically, he does a very good job following the life of one (Romanov) person, and showing the world around them. Dreadnought follows a much larger crowd through about sixty years. He handles all of this extremely well, keeping everything flowing, giving dozens of mini-biographies, and keeping the reader from getting confused.

His starting point is that in 1914 the King of England and the Emperor of Germany were closely related, and the House of Windsor was German to begin with. In the mid-1800s relations between Queen Victoria and relations were quite close to the various parts of the region of Germany. In those circumstances, Britain and Germany were unlikely to go to war. And yet that happened in 1914.

So, this is the story of how two countries went from a very close relationship to mutual suspicion and being on opposite sides of The Great War.

We start with a quick biography of Queen Victoria, her son (the future Edward VII), her daughter ("Vicky") and her husband Frederick III of Germany. In what has to be the most spectacular mis-diagnosis of history, early detection of throat cancer is missed in Frederick, and he is already dying when he succeeds his father, and reigns for a little over three months.

This leaves us with Kaiser Wilhelm II, who would rule Germany until the end of WWI. An admirer of Britain, and especially desirous of grandmotherly approval, he has plenty of troubles he inherited, as well as many of his own making, and he falls in with von Tirpitz and both want a great German fleet which can show the world just how thoroughly Germany has arrived as a Great Power.

Of course, before that, Bismark enters the scene, and adroitly engineers a number of crises which unite Germany under Prussian control. Having gotten what he wants, his politics become much more conservative, looking to preserve peace in Europe. Knowing that any sort of agreement with France is now impossible, his priorities are propping up Austria-Hungary and making agreements with Russia, which is tough because those two are opposed on many subjects. (An interesting bit is Massie shows how the Kaiser and other hawks forced through a harsher peace in the Franco-Prussian War than Bismark wanted. He wanted to be able to deal with France afterward, like with Austria-Hungary.)

Once Wilhelm II removes Bismark as Chancellor, things slowly come apart, and that is kind of the central theme of the book, hidden under so many other elements. Russia and France come into alignment. And then Britain and France come to an agreement over their colonial problems and start drifting closer together. Germany wants a closer relationship with Britain, but is now building a nice modern navy. This is stated as being so they can protect their own commerce and colonies in a war, but is largely short-ranged heavy ships. The only thing the German navy can fight is the Royal Navy.

As the German navy expands, naval matters become more and more important. Part three (of five) is the shortest section of the book, and one chapter in there is pretty much all the attention the titular HMS Dreadnought gets. Still, he presents it all well, and the coming of Dreadnought is important to everything after, especially as the arms race between Britain and Germany takes all the attention. On the British side, wrangling over the budget as the bill for the Royal Navy goes up causes its own brand of chaos, but naval supremacy is the only position the government can take.

The last section, which covers from Agadir (1911) to the start of WWI is exceptionally good. It covers the naval discussions around trying to halt/slow down the arms race, and the London Conference during Balkan Wars, and finally the July Crisis.

Overall, Dreadnought runs to a bit over 900 pages, and is packed. There's dozens of mini-biography, friendships, government maneuvers, notes between governments, and crises. Changing naval technology and changing attitudes. If you want Europe before WWI wrapped up and presented to you, this will do it. The main thing is Britain and Germany are the main players here, and don't see much of what doesn't matter to them. There is some talk of the British army and its change to a force that could properly support a land war in Europe, but not a lot of detail is gone into there.

[Bas Kreuger · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book, a joy to read. Massie intertwines the history of Germany and Britain on a political and military level, describing the lives and thoughts of leading politicians and military (mostly admirals) and of course the Royal heads ruling in Europe. He colours this broad canvas of almost 50 - 60 years (1850 - 1914) with anecdotes and petit histoire that gives an almost voyeurish view in the heads and lives of the people involved.
Although supposedly focussing on the naval arms race between Germany and Britain (hence the title "Dreadnought"), it is more about political and diplomatic history, describing the way the carefully balanced system of European treaties and safeguards set up by Bismarck, was broken down both by Kaiser Wilhelm II and his chancellors.
Funnily, Wilhelm II in this book is shown more as a show-off, a spoiled boy who acts irresponsible and hot tempered than as a man who consciously is steering his country towards war. At the moment supreme in august 1914, he tries to back down from the game of bluff that is played (specially by Austria), but is prevented from doing so by both his chancellor Von Bethman Hollweg and the General Staff under Von Moltke.
In "Castles of Steel" Massie tells the story of WWI at sea and I hope Jacky Fisher will be in that book as well, as that bulldog of a man has captivated me in his persistence to build the RN the best fleet in the world, all the while dancing with admirals and queens like a young boy!

[M. D. Hudson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating book, if you like 900 pages of looming catastrophe, which I do. Mostly, the book deals with the ridiculous, expensive naval build-up between the naval powers between c. 1890 to 1914, and we all know what happened in 1914. The folly of man and governments is boundless and apparently eternal, and I highly recommend this book to quench any election fever you might be feeling (whomever you’re voting for). It is surprisingly readable – nice genial prose, and I only got bogged down when the various treaty negotiations got too tortuous. The best parts were the personal profiles of the main characters: Lord Fisher, Bismark, Kaiser Wilhelm II, the young Winston Churchill, Lord Salisbury, Admiral Tirpitz, etc. etc.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well after a long lover affair with this book, I have finished and it is yet another favorite by Robert K. Massie. This book is massive in every way. It covers the detailed history of England and Germany in the decades leading up to the start of World War I. I learned a great deal about this period that I did not know and feel so much better for it.

The way Massie is able to provide biographical sketches of multiple historical figures in a way that explains their methods but does not slow the story down is impressive. I found myself wanting to read more about most of the individuals he referenced. In 908 pages of text, I never once found myself bored.

If you have the time to read this book, I could not recommend it highly enough.

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute beast of a book, weighing in at over 1,000 pages. Don't let the title fool you; a better title would be something like, "The Nineteenth Century Naval Arms Race That Helped Set the Stage for a World War, With Biographic Sketches of a Full Range of Supporting Characters of Many Nations, Giving Particular Emphasis to British and German Politicians, Diplomats, and Naval Personages." If you're looking for a book about ships, you'll find them here and in abundance, but they're not Massie's focus. If you're looking for a detailed account of the diplomatic and military history of the period preceding WWI, that's what you'll find, with the sort of detail that allows chapter-length accounts of the Agadir Crisis, for example, or the political storm that cost the House of Lords their veto over Commons legislation.

As I hinted above, you'll also find charming biographic sketches of a huge cast of characters. I say characters intentionally, because this reads like a gripping novel more often than not -- includes: Queen Victoria, Otto von Bismarck, Winston Churchill, Admiral Jackie Fisher, Admiral von Tirpitz, Gladstone, Balfour, Bulow, Cambon, Chamberlain, NIcholas II, Grey, Lloyd George, etc.

Random impressions:

* Wilhelmine Germany wasn't quite the modern state we're familiar with. Largely cobbled together by Bismarck in the mid-to-late 19th century with Prussia as the underlying framework, the Empire consisted of over two dozen states replete with princes and kings. Many of these states actually exchanged ambassadors with one another.

* Bismarck had a prodigious appetite for alcohol and tobacco, as well as food. He "[s]moked fourteen cigars a day, drank beer in the afternooons, kept two large goblets - one for champagne, the other for port - at hand during meals, and tried to find sleep at night by drinking a bottle of champagne... When [Bismarck] complained of an upset stomach, [his wife] calmed him with foie gras."

* Despite his reliance on military force as the means to create an Empire at the expense of the Danes, the French, and the Austro-Hungarian Hapsburgs, once the new German state was a reality, Bismarck strove to maintain a peaceful status quo in Europe. He also expressed no interest in German overseas colonies, and in fact encouraged French colonialism as a means of distracting them from the loss of Alsace and Lorraine in 1871.

* "In a country like ours, governed by discussion, a great man is never hanged. He hangs himself." Jackie Fisher's friend Esher, counseling him during a stressful period to remain calm. Jackie Fisher, by the way, is an absolutely fascinating character. Untried at sea, but a masterful commander of military bureaucracy, and an obsessive dancer.

* Many of Massie's portraits are quite nice. For instance, I find Lord Grey remarkable and very sympathetic. He spent as much free time as he possibly could at his small country cottage with his wife, and waxed poetic about communing with nature while he fished the streams by his home. On Sundays, he would often spend the day reading with his wife: "He was a serious reader and quoted with approval the story of a man happy in his country home when unexpected visitors were announced. The man greeted his visitors, declared that he was delighted to see them, and then said, "And now what would you like to do? We are reading." An unlikely Prime Minister.

* Churchill on the political wrangling that accompanied the budgeting process for ship construction: "In the end a curious and characteristic solution was reached. The Admiralty had demanded six ships; the economists offered four; and we finally compromised on eight."

* The book summarized in a few lines: "Great Britain had decided not ot tolerate German hegemony on the Continent. From this vague but powerful instinct flowed the entente with France, the rebuilding of the Royal Navy, and the entente with Russia. The result was a restoration of the balance of power in Europe. Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, the future German Chancellor, understood: "You may call it 'encirclement,' 'Balance of Power' or what you will, but the object aimed at and eventually obtained was no other than the welding of a serried and supreme combination of states for obstructing Germany, by diplomatic means at least, in the full development of her growing power." " Of course, Bethmann's take is colored by his allegiances, but that's about right.

* Diplomacy can be amusing. When King Edward visited Germany in 1909, "[t]he visit was plagued by mishaps. The first occurred as the King's train reached [the frontier], where a military band and a regiment of hussars were drawn up. When the royal train pulled into the station, the King was unready; the train had crossed into a different time zone and his value, having failed to adjust his watch, had not laid out His Majesty's uniform. When the King's suite in full uniform descended from the train, the band, expecting the monarch to follow, struck up "God Save the King." For ten minutes, while King Edward struggled into the uniform of a German field marshal, the band played "God Save the King" over and over, "till we all nearly screamed," said a member of the British suite. Eventually, King Edward appeared and, walking so briskly that he lost his breath, inspected the hussars." Also, note that Edward was wearing a German uniform. Since the European monarchies were closely related, they were fond of bestowing upon their relations honorary military rank. Wilhelm II was an honorary British admiral, and maintained a great affection and admiration for the British navy.

* Grey, on the eve of war: "Thus, the efforts of a lifetime go for nothing. I feel like a man who has wasted his life." Later that same evening: "The lamps are going out all over Europe," he said. "We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime."

There's a good deal more, obviously, not least of which is the discussion of naval planning, technology, logistics, etc.

Wonderful stuff, and highly recommended.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lyrical and fascinating; Massie is an incredible story-teller, with an eye for character study and zero-ing in on the heart of relationships and people themselves. This book is less a story of steel and rivets and more of the people and dynamics that made for the naval arms race and the Anglo-German rivalry and, eventually, the World War.

Don't be fooled by the page count. This is a fast and absorbing read. The people and dynamics are intimately familiar. Queen Victoria, her son Edward, and her grandson William may have been royal, but the family rivalries and pettiness, the roles they occupied in their family are all incredibly relatable. Who doesn't have that one person in their family?

Massie makes the major personalities come to life, and you'll walk away with a sense of knowing them well: Edward Grey, HH Asquith, Winston Churchill, Jacky Fisher, Arthur Balfour, Tirptiz, Bismarck, to name only a few.

[SoulSurvivor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like I just completed a triathlon . Filled in all the details I'll ever want to know about a period of history that I only had a fuzzy modicom of knowlege of .

[Genni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Barbara Tuchman's brilliant descriptions of naval warfare in The First Salute piqued my interest in the subject. In my readings on WWI, I was especially interested in the Battle of Jutland. I read and loved Massie's trilogy on the Romanovs, so despite the fact that this would be my 900th book on WWI, I decided to delve into this.

This work's strength was what made it ultimately unremarkable. The author completely removed himself from the narrative, in true "objective historian" style, his humor revealed only in the pithy quotes of statesmen he included. The read was easy and dramatic because the characters and events made it so, requiring very little effort on the part of the author to contribute to these aspects.

I also ended it a little unsure of the intended audience. The length alone would discourage beginners to the subject. Conversely, students of history will be familiar with huge chunks of the biographical sections. With no commentary to mull over or witty observations, the relevant sections boil down to who said what, when.

That said, those interested in the development of the dreadnought and navy buildup in the decades leading to WWI will not want to miss this. There is quite a bit of history missing from general WWI books, specifically of course, the contribution naval scares made to tensions in Europe. And Massie is a master of the "show, don't tell" style of writing. I was left thinking that, at some point, I definitely want to read Castles of Steel.

[Kym Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent and in depth read which covers the lead up to the Great War with a specific naval edge. A great focus is placed on the German and English naval arms race with consideration to the major players.

In some ways this book is a collection of biographies on those 'great' men of this age. The men who influenced the policy and strategy of the naval world from their perspective nations and positions that they held within them.

The book manages to compile its dense material in such a way that you can not but help to feel that you are reading a fictional narrative as the writing is so admirably done. It is perhaps one of the most interesting and relevant periods in modern history, while being the most misunderstood, where popular myths tend to shadow the blatant facts. Facts which to a great many seem to lurk in the great deeps as rusty hulks, Massie however does his part to salvage much of this history with a book of superb relevance.

I found this book to be an excellent read while being quite exciting, very interesting and most certainly detailed to the point that I wish that I had taken notes !

In my estimations this is one of the best naval books written about this crucial period. It is also a key read for any one interested in under standing the gradual march to war in 1914 and the impending tragedies that soon followed.

90 %

[Bob H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sweeping panorama by Robert Massie of England and Germany in the decades before the Great War, centered on the naval arms race that would be a major cause of the conflict (HMS Dreadnought being the technical centerpiece of the day's naval technology). The personalities are every bit as vivid and well-drawn as in his Nicholas and Alexandra or his Peter the Great: His Life and World: Queen Victoria, Kaiser Wilhelm, Edward VII, Admiral Fisher, Winston Churchill, Lloyd George, and more. The book isn't limited to diplomatic or naval history but tells us of society and political controversy in the same manner as Barbara Tuchman's The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914, but with new detailing. Deeply researched but readable and intriguing. Strongest recommendation.

[Liviu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a huge book (ok the title Dreadnought implies huge...) and it took me a while to read in smaller chunks, but it is very compulsive; there is a sequel about the actual war as this one ends with the British Cabinet of August 1914 watching the clock ticking and then beating the hour when the ultimatum to Germany expired...

Before that we are treated with a history of Germany and Britain from the Napoleonic wars but with an emphasis to the period from Wilhelm II (oldest grandson of Victoria) ascended the throne of Imperial Germany and his relationships with his grandmother and more generally British family; also the British Imperial history of the late 1800's and early 1900's is treated (1878 and the confrontation at Constantinople between the Russian army camped near the city and the British fleet in the Golden Horn, the Fashoda incident, the Boer war..) and the inevitable sliding of Britain towards historical enemy France and current enemy Russia, to stop the rise of aggressive and dominant Germany

Excellent book and while there is a lot of naval history as the title implies, the book is much more than that and I highly recommend it as a compulsive read too

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is wonderful; meticulously researched, mind boggling in its scope and clearly the work of a master biographer. The one downside? It was SO. VERY. LONG. Massie could have written a series of mini biographies on each of the historical figures in this book and still had enough material to write a comfortable, thousand word bestseller. Definitive. Visionary. Incredible. INFINITE.

[Mark Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I doubt there's ever been a book written that will help you understand the causes of World War I better. An exhaustive piece of research, it focuses mainly on the rivalry between Britain and Germany for supremacy in Europe and how royal family squabbles and jealousies set the Hohenzollern dynasty and the German nation on a collision course with England and Russia.

Though the book does get bogged down from time to time in litanies of ship tonnage and gunnery, it makes up for it with an equally amusing chapter about the eccentric captains of the Royal Navy. (One naval captain even kept a pet bear aboard his ship. When he sailed into port, the excited bear would jump into the water, swim over to nearby boats and climb in, much to the shock of the boat's inhabitants.)

Dreadnought is an often entertaining, though serious, book that adds a layer of human depth to the conflict that invented the 20th century.

[Joey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweeping study of how the naval race brought about WWI. This book does a great job giving the full backgrounds on a wide cast of players on the European stage. Along the way one central narrative comes to play: Germany's hubris, ambition, and organizational disunity was the primary driver of the first world war. Perhaps Massie is an anglophile (or a germanophobe) but throughout this book wherever there was a fire in Europe, Germany seemed to be holding the match, and England captaining the bucket brigade.

I read this book in sections, pausing for periods of time to read other books, not because this book was a dull per say, in fact as military history goes it had a rich narrative, but rather it was dense and needed a bit of respite between sections.

I strongly recommend it for anyone who wants a good grasp of how the lamps went out all over Europe.

[Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buy.

Warning: This book is not about the Dreadnought. In fact, the first substantial mention of the dreadnought and its class comes on Page 468, or Chapter 26 of 46. This caused some dismay on my part as I picked up the book knowing the credentials of the author but did not read the abstract close enough. I had expected a technical naval history, that's not what this is.

This is an enormously detailed and authoritative account of the lead up to WWI - a very long multi-generational lead up - primary from the point of British social elites. This can be a little irritating and follows somewhat of the "big man or men" in history narrative. Nonetheless, this is a great book and you'll come out smarter for reading it - it may take a little while though.