Spies in Uniform - British Military and Naval Intelligence on the Eve of the First World War (Hardcover)

Why did the British government declare war on Germany in August 1914? Was it because Germany posed a threat to British national security? Today many prominent historians would argue that this was not the case and that a million British citizens died needlessly for a misguided cause.
This book counters such revisionist arguments. Matthew Seligmann disputes the suggestion that the British government either got its facts wrong about the German threat or even, as some have claimed, deliberately 'invented' it in order to justify an otherwise unnecessary alignment with France and Russia. By examining the military and naval intelligence assessments forwarded from Germany to London by Britain's service attaches in Berlin, its 'men on the spot', Spying on the Kaiser clearly demonstrates that the British authorities had every reason to be alarmed. From these crucial intelligence documents, previously thought to have been lost, Dr Seligmann shows that in the decade before the First World War, the British government was kept well informed about military and naval developments in the Reich. In particular, the attaches consistently warned that German ambitions to challenge Britain posed a real and imminent danger to national security. As a result, the book concludes that the British government's perception of a German threat before 1914, far from being mistaken or invented, was rooted in hard and credible intelligence.

General

Imprint:	Oxford UniversityPress
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	2006
First published:	February 2006
Authors:	Matthew S. Seligmann
Dimensions:	242 x 162 x 22mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	286
ISBN-13:	978-0-19-926150-5
Categories:	Books > Humanities > History > British & Irish history > General Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Military history Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > Defence strategy, planning & research > Military intelligence Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > War & defence operations > Battles & campaigns Books > Humanities > History > World history > From 1900 > First World War Books > History > British & Irish history > General Books > History > History of specific subjects > Military history Books > History > World history > From 1900 > First World War
LSN:	0-19-926150-4
Barcode:	9780199261505

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