Richard B. Haldane
Sir Edward Grey
Jennie Churchill, 39, in 1893
Winston Churchill and his mother in 1912 Winston was 37, Jennie 58.
Winston Churchill in 1904 when he crossed the aisle, abandoning the Unionists to join the Liberals.
The First Lord inspecting naval cadets, 1912.
H.M.S. Dreadnought assuming the role of flagship of the Home Fleet in 1907.
Notes
ABBREVIATIONS USED IN NOTES
BD British Documents on the Origins of the War, 1898–1914, ed. G. P. Gooch and Harold Temperley, II vols., London, His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1927–38
DGP Die grosse Politik der europäischen Kabinette, 1871–1914, 53 vols., Berlin, 1921–27. Cited by document number. Selected translations into English were done by E.T.S. Dugdale. They are cited together in the Notes.
FGDN Fear God and Dread Nought: Correspondence of Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher, ed. A. J. Marder, 3 vols., London, Jonathan Cape, 1952–59
KAUTSKY Outbreak of the World War, German Documents Collected by Karl Kautsky, New York, Oxford University Press, 1924
LVS Letters to Venetia Stanley, by H. H. Asquith, selected and edited by Michael and Eleanor Brock, New York, Oxford University Press, 1982
PRO Public Record Office, Kew, England
Trafalgar
1 “those far distant, storm-beaten ships”: Mahan, The Influence of Seapower upon the French Revolution and Empire, 118
2 “No captain can do very wrong”: Howarth, 73
Introduction:
Sea Power
1 “black-browed little Spaniards”: Daily Mail, June 26, 1897
2 “The victualing yard”: PRO, ADM-179, No. 55
3 “Chief among the foreigners”: Daily Chronicle, June 26, 1897
4 “even now, the muzzles”: ibid.
5 “by no means conducive”: The Times, June 26, 1897
6 “Will they stand the wear and tear”: Daily Mail, June 26, 1897
7 “The United States officers”: Daily Chronicle, June 26, 1897
8 “Germany has sent us”: Daily Mail, June 26, 1897
9 “I deeply regret”: Daily News, June 26, 1897
10 “a great highway”: Mahan, The Influence of Seapower upon History, 25
11 “Give me six hours”: Puleston, 117
12 “France is, and always will remain”: Lady Gwendolen Cecil, IV, 106
13 “The countries with which”: Paul Kennedy, Antagonism, 191
14 “I am just now not reading but devouring”: Puleston, 159
15 “It closed the ranks of the Entente”: Churchill, World Crisis, I, 114–115
16 “lest she tread on the toes”: Daily Mail, June 28, 1897
17 “No one looked better”: Daily News, June 28, 1897
18 “Perhaps her lawlessness”: The Times, June 28, 1897
19 “Admirals just presented”: PRO, ADM-179, No. 55
20 “lines of fire”: Daily Chronicle, June 28, 1897
21 “a myriad of brilliant beads”: Daily News, June 28, 1897
22 “a fairy fleet”: Daily Mail, June 28, 1897
23 “At the stroke of twelve”: ibid.
PART 1: THE GERMAN CHALLENGE
Chapter 1
Victoria and Bertie
1 “I have a feeling for our dear little Germany”: Strachey, 177
2 “An imbecile, a profligate, and a buffoon”: Longford, 62
3 “What would you like”: ibid., 27
4 “You must not touch those”: ibid., 28
5 “There is no royal road to music”: ibid., 31
6 “I am nearer to the throne”: ibid., 32
7 “I am very young”: ibid., 61
8 “the best-hearted, kindest”: ibid., 66
9 “All dogs like me”: ibid., 74
10 “I intend to train myself”: ibid., 130
11 “Albert’s beauty is most striking”: ibid., 133
12 “delicate moustachios... beautifulfigure”: ibid.
13 “It is with some emotion”: ibid., 132
14 “You forget, my dearest Love”: ibid., 140
15 “ill or not, I NEVER, NEVER”: ibid., 143
16 “the husband, not the master”: ibid., 148
17 “We prayed that our little boy”: Esher, 2
18 “spoke German like their native tongue”: Lee, I, 17
19 “had been injured by being with the Princess Royal”: Magnus, 9
20 “What you say of the pride”: Longford, 271
21 “Luncheon: meat and vegetables”: ibid., 276
22 “Dress... the outward sign”: Esher, 11
23 “A gentleman does not indulge”: Lee, 1, 49
24 “You may well join”: Magnus, 17
26 “You will find Bertie grown up”: ibid., 27
27 “Bertie has a remarkable social talent”: ibid.
28 “Bertie’s propensity is indescribable laziness”: ibid., 32
29 “I am very sorry”: ibid., 28
30 “He was immensely popular”: ibid., 41
31 “good looks, health”: Battiscombe, 17
32 “She is a good deal taller”: ibid., 21
33 “a pearl not to be lost”: ibid., 23
34 “Outrageously beautiful”: Magnus, 46
35 “Alix has made an impression”: ibid., 49
36 “with a heavy heart”: ibid., 51
37 “fight a valiant fight”: ibid.
38 “I am at a very low ebb”: ibid., 52
39 “How am I alive”: Longford, 307
40 “Oh, that Boy”: Magnus, 52
41 “that wicked wretches”: Longford, 315
42 “After a few commonplace remarks”: Magnus, 59
43 “I frankly avow”: ibid., 60
44 “How beloved Albert”: ibid., 62
45 “dear, gentle Alix”: ibid., 66
46 “He gives you his blessing!”: ibid., 67
47 “You may think that I like”: ibid.
48 “So, my Georgie boy”: Nicolson, King George V, 42
49 “The Princess had another bad night”: Battiscombe, 83
50 “I am anxious to repeat”: Strachey, 303
51 “After ’61”: Magnus, 77
52 “anything of a very confidential nature”: Longford, 365
53 “The Prince of Wales... has no right to meddle”: Magnus, 166
54 “Freddy, Freddy, you’re very drunk”: ibid., 92
55 “repulsive, vulgar, bad and frivolous”: ibid., 120
56 “Bertie and Alix left Windsor today”: ibid., 73
57 “In those heart-rending moments”: Longford, 389
58 “and as there are 27 archdukes”: Magnus, 101
59 “I should like to be your son”: Longford, 274
60 “The weather is still excellent”: Morton, 101
61 “could never rid himself”: Bülow, IV, 463
62 “stain forever”: Lee, I, 250
63 “The country, and all of us”: Longford, 365
64 “You remind me, my dearest Mama”: Magnus, 197
65 “One day she chanced to look”: Battiscombe, 209
66 “She has only to say that the P. of W. has never been fond of reading”: Magnus, 123
67 “The Prince of Wales writes to me that there is not much use his remaining”: ibid., 236
68 “Well, ma’am, as soon as I get back”: William II, My Early Life, 78
69 “We are not amused”: Strachey, 395
70 “Everyone likes flattery”: Longford, 401
71 “Today, Lord Beaconsfield”: Strachey, 347
72 “that half-mad firebrand”: Magnus, 165
73 “the danger to the country”: Longford, 518
74 “he speaks to me as if I were a public meeting”: Strachey, 336
75 “How different, how very different”: Longford, f.n. 569
Chapter 2
Vicky and Will
y
1 “Oh, Madam, it is a Princess”: Longford, 153
2 “Queen, queen, make them obey me”: Balfour, 64
3 “Victoria, go and fetch it yourself”: Longford, 259
4 “Bertie is my caricature”: Magnus, 28
5 “not to entertain the possibility”: Empress Frederick, Letters, 8
6 “Poor, dear child!”: Strachey, 279
7 “I think it will kill me”: Barkeley, 60
8 “I am not of a demonstrative nature”: Longford, 269
9 “You ask me... what I think”: Empress Frederick, 10
10 “Endless dark corridors”: Paget, 53
11 ‘To govern a country”: Balfour, 67
12 “You cannot think how dull”: Empress Frederick, 16
13 “She delivered judgement”: Balfour, 66
14 “She came from a country”: ibid., 65
15 “Our darling grandchild... came walking”: Empress Frederick, 24
16 “a clever, dear, good little child”: Cowles, 29
17 “The poor arm is no better”: Empress Frederick, 68
18 “He... would be a very pretty boy”: ibid., 120
19 “My greatest troubles”: William II, My Early Life, 37
20 “the weeping prince”: ibid.
21 “the result justified [the] method”: ibid., 37
22 “Hinzpeter was really a good fellow”: Kürenberg, 14
23 “His education will... be an important task”: Lamar Cecil, “History as Family Chronicle,” in Röhl and Sombart, Kaiser Wilhelm II: New Interpretations, 95
24 “a stern sense of duty”: William II, My Early Life, 31
25 “Willy is a dear”: Balfour, 81
26 “I am sure you would be pleased”: Empress Frederick, 119
27 “happy hours spent”: William II, My Early Life, 20
28 “It is impossible to find two nicer boys”: Empress Frederick, 168
29 “Willy would be satisfied”: ibid., 174
30 “the feverish haste and restlessness”: William II, My Early Life, 158
31 “passionately interested... to go to Egypt”: ibid., 162
32 “It was so big”: ibid., 17
33 “I knew nothing”: Bismarck, The Man and the Statesman, I, 346
34 “Fritz a furious letter”: Empress Frederick, 41
35 “A loyal administration”: ibid., 46
36 “Fritz... has for the first time in his life”: ibid., 43
37 “we are dreadfully alone”: ibid.
38 “I feel that I am now every bit as proud”: Empress Frederick, 65
39 “To us and to many”: ibid., 138
40 “I wonder why Bismarck”: ibid., 191
41 “A bottle of champagne”: William II, My Early Life, 95
42 “I really found my family”: Lamar Cecil, “History as Family Chronicle,” in Röhl and Sombart. Kaiser Wilhelm II: New Interpretations, 96
43 “my son, the complete Guards officer”: Holstein Papers, II, 34
44 “nice but silly”: Balfour, 86
45 “For a woman in that position”: ibid., 87
46 “Hallelujah Aunts”... “blessed set of donkeys”: Lamar Cecil, “History as Family Chronicle,” in Röhl and Sombart, Kaiser Wilhelm II: New Interpretations, 98
47 “the English colony”: ibid., 99
48 “a false and intriguing character”: ibid., 100
49 “our state of dependence on England”: William II, My Early Life, 210
50 “Considering the unripeness”: Bismarck, New Chapters, 6
51 “My service in the Foreign Office”: William II, My Early Life, 211
52 “Now Bismarck governs”: Holstein Papers, II, 202
53 “Have you asked the Crown Princess?”: ibid., 195
54 “Everyone agrees”: ibid., 164
55 “You have only to look”: ibid., 195
56 “knowing her liking for stewed peaches”: ibid., 166
57 “My father... has a soft heart”: Thomas Kohut, “Kaiser Wilhelm II and His Parents,” in Röhl and Sombart, Kaiser Wilhelm II: New Interpretations, 75
58 “Now I cannot talk to my father”: ibid., 76
59 “The extraordinary impertinence”: Balfour, 101
60 “the old hag”: Holstein Papers, 11, 254
61 “William is always much surprised”: Balfour, 101
62 “He did not condescend”: Empress Frederick, 200
63 “The dream of my life”: ibid., 215
64 “The doctors determined”: Bismarck, The Man and the Statesman, II, 331
65 “not more dangerous”: William II, My Early Life, 284
66 “recovery of my father’s voice”: ibid., 285
67 “the idea of a knife touching his dear throat”: Barkeley, 193
68 “the greatest living authority”: Holstein Papers, II, 344
69 “fibromatous swelling... like any other mortal”: William II, My Early Life, 285
70 “My arrival gave little pleasure”: ibid., 288
71 “You ask how Willy was”: Empress Frederick, 256
72 “My father took his sentence”: William II, My Early Life, 289
73 “To think that I have such a horrid, disgusting illness”: Empress Frederick, 260
74 “My darling has got such a fate”: Queen Victoria, I, 359
75 “The more failing”: Longford, 503
76 “emaciation and the yellow color”: William II, My Early Life, 294
77 “I thank you”: Empress Frederick, 286
78 “At this moment of deep emotion”: Queen Victoria, I, 390
79 “In my entire ministerial career”: Lamar Cecil, German Diplomatic Service, 205
80 “My own dear Empress Victoria”: Longford, 505
81 “What a woman!”: ibid., 506
82 “he assured me he would”: Queen Victoria, I, 405
83 “a jolly little body”: Holstein Papers, I, 142
84 “I don’t understand”: Bülow, IV, 618
85 “It was terrible”: Queen Victoria, I, 408
86 “I soon noticed”: William II, My Early Life, 300
87 “We are living in sad times”: Empress Frederick, 229
88 “The Crown Princess’s behavior is typical”: Holstein Papers, II, 348
89 “the English Princess who is my mother”: Thomas Kohut, “Kaiser Wilhelm II and His Parents,” in Röhl and Sombart, Kaiser Wilhelm II: New Interpretations, 79
90 “The decisive interference”: William II, My Early Life, 285
91 “though he fully believed”: Queen Victoria, I, 377
92 “Am in greatest distress”: ibid., 416
93 “I am broken-hearted”: ibid., 417
94 “Darling, darling, unhappy child”: ibid., 507
95 “None of my own sons”: ibid., 417
96 “Try, my dear Georgy”: Magnus, 202
97 “Colonel Swaine arrived from Berlin”: Queen Victoria, I, 417
98 “The Queen is extremely glad”: ibid., 421
99 “Let me ask you to bear with poor Mama”: ibid., 423
100 “There are many rumors”: ibid., 424
101 “where I hope to meet”: ibid., 425
102 “Trust that we shall be very cool”: ibid., 429
Chapter 3
“Blood and Iron”
1 “not as friends, but as tools, like knives and forks”: Stern, 231
2 “A Swabian family”: Crankshaw, Bismarck, 177
3 “he was the clever sophisticated son”: Taylor, 12
4 “by no means intended”: ibid., 18
5 “I asked myself what harm the Indians had done me”: Crankshaw, Bismarck, 21
6 “I have never been able to put up with superiors”: Taylor, 20
7 “I like piety”: ibid., 28
8 “On a night like this”: ibid.
9 “We have been saved”: ibid., 56
10 “Yes, it is a hot day”: Robertson, 85
11 “It is one of those houses”: Crankshaw, Bismarck, 73
12 “When I have been asked”: ibid., 87
13 “on ice”: Taylor, 43
14 “Bismarck receives no news”: Cranksnaw, Bismarck, 103
15 “Hidden in a steep ravine”: ibid., 123
16 “Were I at all inclined”: ibid., 124
17 “Periculum in mora!” Eyck, 53
18 “He is here”: Taylor, 51
19 “Germany does not look”: Crankshaw, Bismarck, 133
20 “The Prussian monarchy”: Robertson, 128
21 “Here in the Landtag”: Crankshaw, Bismarck, 139
22 “Whether the Germans in Holstein”: ibid., 164
23 “Austria was no more wrong”: Taylor, 87
24 “the thankless task”: Robertson, 212
25 “You know that I was against this war”: Bismarck, The Man and the Statesman, II, 52
26 “It is France which has been beaten at Sadowa”: ibid., 220
27 “If you want war”: ibid., 221
28 “with a very, very heavy heart”: Eyck, 168
29 “The honor and interests of France”: Crankshaw, Bismarck, 263
30 “an assurance that he will never”: ibid., 267
31 “to the last gaiter button”: Robertson, 259
32 “I don’t like so many Frenchmen”: Taylor, 133
33 “We are no longer looked upon”: Crankshaw, Bismarck, 299
34 “I’d sooner have had a horse”: Taylor, 134
35 “haloed by the iron radiance”: Crankshaw, Bismarck, 304
36 “His words inspire respect”: Robertson, 299
37 “The Emperor is not my monarch”: Balfour, 21
38 “The fig leaf of absolutism”: ibid., 23
39 “Can’t we get into a side street?”: Eckardstein, 17
40 “I took office”: Taylor, 164
41 “It is not easy to be emperor”: ibid., 137
42 “I am bored”: ibid., 138
43 “I have the unfortunate nature”: ibid., 12
44 “Faust complains”: ibid.
45 “Far from it, I am all nerves”: ibid.
46 “You see, I am sometimes spoiling for a fight”: Holstein Papers, II, 39
47 “That seems to me to be rudeness”: ibid., 52
48 “Oh, he never keeps his friends for long”: ibid., I, 126
49 “Part of the trouble”: ibid.
50 “I am no orator”: Taylor, 198