Dreadnought - By Robert K Massie

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http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dreadnought-Britain-Germany-Coming-Great-ebook/dp/B00D5FOGL6/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1389215961&sr=1-1&keywords=dreadnought

If someone asks me why the Great War occurred….I really don't have a clue, other than the assassination of some random arch-duke in Bosnia. So in this, the 100th anniversary of the commencement of the Great War, can I recommend this book to members, which allows the average person on the street to understand how the conditions for the 1914-18 war fermented in the decades before. It starts in the mid 1800's with Germanys expansion and a fascinating story it is.

The title is "Dreadnought" because of the importance of Britain's naval power, that so influenced Germany in the pre-war years.

This book, which is a big read, commences at The Battle of Trafalgar. Buts it not just a naval story, its the intimate story of the countries involved in the war, how the preceding century formed their thinking, their prejudices and actions. Its the tale of the Royal families of Germany and UK, the individual politicians and how the slow build up to war commenced. I was amazed to read that the Kaiser was Queen Victorias grandson and how she was a very big influence on curbing his ambitions, that check and balance being lost on her death.

Massie is a fantastic story teller, easily accessible, very much is the style of Antony Beevor, he weaves the story beautifully making a complicated set of political manoeuvring very understandable. I'm ¾'s of the way through the book and loving it. I'm looking forward to reading the follow up - Castles of Steel which looks at the Great War.

Available on Kindle.

A must for all with an interest in this conflict. Read the reviews on Amazon.

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Finally finished the book…Epic. If you like political intrigue combined with military history, this is a winner.

I've now started the follow up "Castles of Steel" which covers The Great War. We have a young Winston as The First Lord of The Admiralty, who even then was making decisions in the face of opposition that ensured the British Fleet was in a position to fight the Germans at that onset of war, even though he had initially been against the ship building programme. For all his faults(and there were many), he certainly had the strength of character to take awkward unpopular decisions.

All the characters on both sides of the conflict so beautifully described by Massie in "Dreadnought" appear again, now that the shooting has started.

The German Fleet was mainly in Wilhelmshaven, so the British parked their fleet at the top of the North Sea at Scarpa Flow and another fleet hung around in the Dover Straits. The Germans were effectively corralled at the start of hostilities. Check the map! Fascinating stuff.