With the biographer's rare genius for expressing the essence of extraordinary lives, Massie brings to life a crowd of glittering figures: the single-minded Admiral von Tirpitz; the young, ambitious Winston Churchill; the ruthless, sycophantic Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow; Britain's greatest twentieth-century Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey; and Jacky Fisher, the eccentric admiral who revolutionized the British Navy and brought forth for the first true battleship, H.M.S. Dreadnought. Their story, and the story of the era, filled with misunderstanding, missed opportunities, and events leading to unintended conclusions, unfolds like a Greek tragedy in this powerful narrative. Intimately human and dramatic, Dreadnought is history at its most riveting.
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Massie tells the story with controlled energy and attention to detail, especially human detail. It has not been told so well before. (Literary Review )
He has the supreme gift of making history live in simple, readable language. (Observer )
Inheritor of Barbara Tuchman's mantle as the English-speaking world's pre-eminent popular historian...Robert K. Massie has now turned his attention to the arms race between Britain and Germany c.1890-1914, the most important precipitant towards the outbreak of the First World War. (Frank McLynn )
This is a book you are bound to enjoy. The set pieces - the naval review of June 1897, the Jameson Raid, The Kaiser's visit to Windsor, Winston Churchill visiting the fleet, "the spring of the panther" - are dramatically recreated. The pen portraits of the political and naval establishments of Wilhelmine Germany and Victorian and Edwardian Britain are brilliantly evoked with a sharp eye for the memorable detail...Massie keeps his complex story under tight control...Monographers like myself can only envy the sheer sweep of Dreadnought and the author's rich palette of colours so deftly applied. Like Barbara Tuchman's Guns of August this is narrative history at its very best. Financial Times (Financial Times )
He has the supreme gift of making history live in simple, readable language. (Observer )
Inheritor of Barbara Tuchman's mantle as the English-speaking world's pre-eminent popular historian...Robert K. Massie has now turned his attention to the arms race between Britain and Germany c.1890-1914, the most important precipitant towards the outbreak of the First World War. (Frank McLynn )
This is a book you are bound to enjoy. The set pieces - the naval review of June 1897, the Jameson Raid, The Kaiser's visit to Windsor, Winston Churchill visiting the fleet, "the spring of the panther" - are dramatically recreated. The pen portraits of the political and naval establishments of Wilhelmine Germany and Victorian and Edwardian Britain are brilliantly evoked with a sharp eye for the memorable detail...Massie keeps his complex story under tight control...Monographers like myself can only envy the sheer sweep of Dreadnought and the author's rich palette of colours so deftly applied. Like Barbara Tuchman's Guns of August this is narrative history at its very best. Financial Times (Financial Times )
About the Author
Robert K. Massie is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandra, Dreadnought and The Romanovs: The Final Chapter. He lives in Irvington, New York
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Robert K. Massie clearly loves his subject, and this book is an enthusiastically-written history of the personalities, and technology, behind the steady drift of Europe to World War 1. The style is such that reading the book is like encountering a clubbable historian in your local pub. Some people may not like this method of writing, but I found it a refreshing change, and I enjoyed the anecdotes about some of the personalities, like Lord Salisbury entertaining a lunatic unawares, in his personal railway compartment. For a non-specialist but interested reader, like me, this book was an excellent read.
19 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It was the First World War - known at that time as "The Great War" which changed Britain and Europe forever. As the Generals on both sides sent millions and millions of men to their deaths in the carnage which they regarded as warfare, there came about a change in the psyche of the British male - a change which would herald a complete alteration in the way he thought and acted towards those of the upper, ruling classes. No longer would that British male be so quick to use such words as "M'Lord" or even "Sir." No longer would he doff his cap as a mark of respect, no longer would the ordinary police Constable be so quick to "arrest that man" just because a well dressed person had ordered him so to do.
That change in British Society continues to this day and is easily traced back to the feelings of loss and despair which came with the realisation that far too many young men had died "at the front" - even though the war itself had been won and mainland Britain had escaped unscathed.
In this epic tale, author Robert Massie delves deep into why that war occurred in the first place. Every single aspect of argument and behaviour on both sides (both military and political) is exposed and analysed. As the title of the book would suggest, the theme is the world's first great arms race. When Britain produced the first Dreadnought Battleship it rendered all other battleships obsolete at a stroke (including the remainder of the British Fleet!). From that moment onwards it was always a question of who could produce the most new Dreadnoughts in the quickest possible time. Set against this wish by both Britain and Germany to be seen as the world's supreme masters of the seas was a political intrigue which few have been able to commit to print in such a masterly fashion as is found in this book.
In short, this is one of the greatest books of our time. It is also a damn fine read.
NM
That change in British Society continues to this day and is easily traced back to the feelings of loss and despair which came with the realisation that far too many young men had died "at the front" - even though the war itself had been won and mainland Britain had escaped unscathed.
In this epic tale, author Robert Massie delves deep into why that war occurred in the first place. Every single aspect of argument and behaviour on both sides (both military and political) is exposed and analysed. As the title of the book would suggest, the theme is the world's first great arms race. When Britain produced the first Dreadnought Battleship it rendered all other battleships obsolete at a stroke (including the remainder of the British Fleet!). From that moment onwards it was always a question of who could produce the most new Dreadnoughts in the quickest possible time. Set against this wish by both Britain and Germany to be seen as the world's supreme masters of the seas was a political intrigue which few have been able to commit to print in such a masterly fashion as is found in this book.
In short, this is one of the greatest books of our time. It is also a damn fine read.
NM
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
'Dreadnought' is a superb companion to any technical history of battleship development: it provides the essential political and even personal backdrop to the development and construction of these mighty ships.
Massie touches lightly on specifics of armour and armament and propulsion, concentrating his formidable talents on the political and personal histories surrounding the Anglo-German naval arms race of the late 19th century and the events that led to World War 1.
Massie brings the personalities to life, describing their backgrounds and showing how they reacted to and helped to shape the events of their time. With the men of the time so described, he explores how confusion, mutual distrust, antagonism, personal ambition and national pride dragged Europe into the morass of the First World War. He captures chillingly the popular and, in some cases, private enthusiasm for conflict.
I found this book to be both enlightening and entertaining, and highly recommend it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
absolutely first class
This is a great book and comprehensively does what it says in the title, covering all the politics and politicians, royalty and their connections -and petty jealousies, in the... Read more
Published 9 days ago by book worm
5.0 out of 5 stars
A liked present
I received this book quickly and in good condition. It was reasonably priced. It was a gift for a military enthusiast and he enjoyed it
Published 2 months ago by Carly
5.0 out of 5 stars
thank you
this was bought my my hubby, so I am sorry but I can't comment on this product. thank you very much
Published 2 months ago by happybuyer
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very enjoyable, as long as you're not looking for a dedicated naval...
For the non-specialist new to this period of history, Robert Massie's Dreadnought: Britain, Germany and the Coming of the Great War is a thorough and entertaining read. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mark Pack
4.0 out of 5 stars
A generally well written account
While being well aware of the series of events that led to the First World War, this book has given me a fascinating insight into the lives and personalities of the people... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Bookman
5.0 out of 5 stars
Required Reading
Should you wish to have an understanding of the genesis of World War One I cannot recommend a better starting place than this excellent and most readable book. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Rodney Bencke
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best history books in any class
An absolute classic, brilliantly written and weaves the personalities into the history wonderfully
No wonder it is a prize winner!!
No wonder it is a prize winner!!
Published 4 months ago by Robert Wallace
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unputdownable
A masterpiece, written with lucidity and a fine balance between the grand sweep of power politics and the charmingly anecdotal. Read more
Published 8 months ago by J. T. Osbourn
4.0 out of 5 stars
Thorough, insightful but at times a bit slow!
"Dreadnought" is perhaps one of the best written and entertaining books about the naval arms race that preceded WWI. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Darren O'Connell
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dreadnoght: Britain, Germnany and the coming of the Great War
Although I have only recently begun reading this book I would have no hesitation is recommending this as a good source of reference to thsoe studying Maritime History in that... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Peter M. Gladwell
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