- Hardcover: 1007 pages
- Publisher: Random House Inc (T); 1 edition (Nov 1991)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0394528336
- ISBN-13: 978-0394528335
- Product Dimensions: 23.8 x 15.8 x 6.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
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282,615 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #35 in Books > History > Britain & Ireland > British Heads of State > Edward VI
- #99 in Books > History > Britain & Ireland > British Heads of State > Edward I
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'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, .'Massie tells the story with controlled energy and attention to detail, especially human detail. It ahs not been told so well before.', Literary Review .'He can take an enormous canvas and fill every inch with action and description.', Sunday Times .'He has the supreme gift of making history live in simple, readable language.', Observer .'This is a book you are bound to enjoy. It is a chronicle of the Anglo-German naval rivalry placed against the broader background of the personal and national clashes that led to the Great War. 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
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
"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.
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.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 16 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
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
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.
10 of 13 people found the following review helpful
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
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 1 month ago by Darren O'Connell
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 1 month ago by Peter M. Gladwell
Dreadnought-The Perfect History
In this era of mass histories where a single brief event generates a hundred instant histories within a few weeks and twice as many reviews, it is difficult to discuss the immense... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Greg House
Could have been better
A book that is very well written, and such narrative histories are, alas, in short supply. However, the book is so unabashedly pro-British that it makes you cringe from time to... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Ivan Vukcevic
extraordinary window on history
Paced like a thriller, absolutely compelling, full of pungent character portraits, intrigues superbly elucidated, diplomacy judiciously weighed, and controversies stripped of... Read more
Published 11 months ago by W. Hamilton
Historical Writing At Its Very Best
I came to this book via Massie's superb biography of Peter the Great. If anything, this book is even better. Read more
Published 12 months ago by CorkRebel67
Dreadnought
I find this book opens up the society and the main personalities at the turn of the 20th century in a clear and readable way, unlike any book I have read before. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Jac
Superb historical content and biographies
I read prolifically and I thought that I had read the better books written by the most notable historical writers but Robert Massie stands at the pinnacle. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Jerz Jurkiewicz
An Excellent Book
Dreadnought: Britain, Germany and the Coming of the Great War is a very, very good book. It is well-written with a good structure and narrative, it is fast-paced but at the same... Read more
Published on 18 Sep 2009 by HBH
Dreadnought:Britain,Germany and the Coming of the Great War
i was under he impression that i was going to read about the Dreadnought as the title hinted at but the dreadnought was only mentioned now and again . Read more
Published on 12 April 2009 by Mr. S. Whiteside
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