Dreadnought

[Old Tom]

I have almost finished this book and thought it worthy of a mention. The title is somewhat misleading and indeed I bought it on a whim as I wanted something as an introduction to the naval war of which I have little knowledge and was attracted by the word 'Dreadnought'. The subtitle 'Britain, Germany and the comming of the Great War' is much more descriptive.

This is quite a comprehensive work, some 1,000 pages, and deals with relations between England and Germany over the period from the reign of Queen Victoria up to the outbreak of war and, as its title suggests, includes the competitive period of English and German naval construction. But, much more than that describes the many episodes of international tension and does this by providing brief biographies of the principal players, royal, military and political. I found it gave me an insight to the various mindsets of the age and a basis for understanding the events in 1914 following the assassination of the Grand Duke in a much wider context than the Balkans.

It was mentioned in the forum back in Feb 2007 as one of a series of suggestions for books dealing with the war in general terms.In my opinion it deserves an entry in its own right.

Old Tom

[Martin Bennitt]

This is on my bookshelf too, and I agree with Tom about its value. The 'sequel', Castles of Steel, is also worth a read. I find the build-up to the war as fascinating as the conflict itself

cheers Martin B

[Steven Broomfield]

I agree: a jolly good book indeed. And large. Very large. Value for money.

[AlanCurragh]

Especially good value on Kindle today at 99p