79 “I am Winston Bloody Churchill”: ibid., 314
80 “the handsomest man in England”: Morgan, 138
81 “I suppose you think”: Manchester, Winston Churchill, 320
82 “The square forehead”: ibid., 346
83 “When the young member for Oldham”: ibid.
84 “Restless, egotistical, bumptious”: ibid., 345
85 “Can my Right Honorable Friend”: ibid., 348
86 “If it had not been for me”: Magnus, 351
Chapter 41
Churchill at the Admiralty
1 “a poor ambition”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 252
2 “We cannot detect”: Morgan, 317
3 “That is because”: Bonham-Carter, 190
4 “was to inculcate in myself”: Winston Churchill, World Crisis, I, 72
5 “had got on too fast”: ibid., 87
6 “You seem very young”: Morgan, 322
7 “fell desperately in love”: FGDN, II, 114
8 “most amusing together”: ibid.
9 “My dear Lord Fisher”: Randolph Churchill, II, 532
10 “fearfully cut up”: Mackay, 432
11 “I had certain main ideas”: Winston Churchill, World Crisis, I, 77
12 “a veritable volcano”: ibid.
13 “But by the Sunday night”: ibid., 78
14 “continuous talking”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 264
15 “every sort of news and counsel”: Winston Churchill, World Crisis, I, 79
16 “The greatest triumph of all”: FGDN, II, 418
17 “In two years”: ibid., 419
18 “So far every step”: ibid., 430
19 “I regret that in regard”: ibid., 450
20 “Winston, alas!”: Randolph Churchill, II, 565
21 “a Royal Pimp”: Manchester, Winston Churchill, 440
22 “...as regards Winston Churchill”: FGDN, II, 459
23 “My dear Fisher”: Randolph Churchill, II, 566
24 “Some of us went ashore”: Bonham-Carter, 202
25 “Danced on deck”: ibid.
26 “I was nearly kidnapped”: FGDN, II, 465
27 “WC said the King was always talking”: ibid., 464
28 “largely my office”: Winston Churchill, World Crisis, I, 119
29 “These were great days”: ibid., 118
30 “in cramped and oily quarters”: Randolph Churchill, II, 552
31 “dancing about the guns”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 253
32 “My young friend yonder”: ibid.
33 “W[inston] in glorious form”: Bonham-Carter, 210
34 “Winston talks about nothing”: Chalmers, 112
35 “You have become a water creature”: Randolph Churchill, II, 558
36 “The flags of a dozen admirals”: Winston Churchill, World Crisis, I, 119
37 “No First Lord in the history of the Navy”: Manchester, Winston Churchill, 443
38 “He had a yarn”: Randolph Churchill, II, 558
39 “Why didn’t you lock him up?”: Gretton, 76
40 “Do you know your men...?”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 254
41 “None”: Bonham-Carter, 217
42 “And what are they?”: Manchester, Winston Churchill, 443
43 “to help things along”: FGDN, II, 418
44 “If, by any misadventure”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 258
45 “Might I ask the First Lord”: Morgan, 339
46 “What I ask the Noble Lord to do”: ibid., 342
47 “I do hope the whole business”: Randolph Churchill, II, 621
48 “there must be some mistake”: ibid., 628
49 “Oliver Cromwell was one of the founders”: ibid., 629
50 “It seems right”: ibid., 631
51 “I bow”: ibid.
52 “unworthy of the royal mind”: Gretton, 88
53 “No one who has not experienced”: Winston Churchill, World Crisis, I, 122
54 “To shrink”: ibid.
55 “If only we could make a trial gun”: ibid., 123
56 “He was steadfast”: ibid.
57 “Fancy if they failed”: ibid.
58 “everything in the naval world”: Randolph Churchill, II, 552
59 “a battle between two great”: Manchester, Winston Churchill, 443
60 “Speed! Speed!”: FGDN, II, 404
61 “The first of all necessities”: Winston Churchill, World Crisis, I, 140
62 “I do not believe in the wisdom”: ibid., 128
63 “The ordeal of coaling ship”: ibid., 129
64 “This liquid fuel problem”: ibid., 132
65 “lamentable exception”: ibid.; 131
66 “We were by no means pleased”: Winton, 127
67 “a very large number of officers”: ibid., 128
68 “I recall vividly”: Winston Churchill, World Crisis, I, 119
Chapter 42
The Haldane Mission
1 “We all know that blood”: Haldane, Before The War, 56
2 “fulfilled its purpose”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 273
3 “It readily grants the English”: ibid.
4 “The purpose of our naval policy”: ibid., 274
5 “He felt that an effort”: Winston Churchill, World Crisis, I, 94
6 “I felt I should be all the stronger”: ibid., 95
7 “Notices on board”: Huldermann, 123
8 “and that he would withdraw”: ibid., 194
9 “dietary difficulties”: Herwig, Officer Corps, 43
10 “a quiet unpretentious man”: Lamar Cecil, German Diplomatic Service, 99
11 “the pairing of a German stallion”: Bülow, I, 347
12 “I am no friend of Jews”: Lamar Cecil, German Diplomatic Service, 99
13 “I heard a few days ago”: Holstein Papers, II, 80
14 “in no way prejudiced”: Bülow, I, 347, 469
15 “the Jewish peril”: Lamar Cecil, Ballin, 111
16 “Siegfried Meyer”: ibid., 109
17 “The essential thing is the throne”: ibid., 115
18 “very largely a special preserve”: ibid., 123
19 “strengthening of the war fleet”: ibid., 151
20 “The fleet is... the embodiment”: ibid., 153
21 “Tirpitz... did not wish to negotiate”: ibid., 159
22 “Alpha and Omega”: ibid., 169
23 “Such a meeting”: Huldermann, 151
24 “his department... his specialty”: Lamar Cecil, Ballin, 173
25 “feel highly honored”: Huldermann, 165
26 “His friendly sentiments”: ibid.
27 “prepared with the approval”: William II, My Memoirs, 143
28 “Acceptance of British superiority”: Winston Churchill, World Crisis, I, 95
29 “verbal note was aimed at our Naval Law”: William II, My Memoirs, 144
30 “for fear of obscurity”: ibid., 145
31 “since I knew English best”: ibid.
32 “I sat at the writing table”: ibid.
33 “We devoured this document”: Winston Churchill, World Crisis, I, 95
34 “The spirit may be good”: ibid., 96
35 “Even the Socialists are not resisting”: ibid.
36 “full commission of 25 battleships”: ibid.
37 “This is certainly not dropping”: ibid., 97
38 “Cassel says they did not seem”: ibid., 96
39 “there never was any question”: ibid., 98
40 “was to see a woman and a dog”: Haldane, Autobiography, 13
41 “looked as if they had seen”: Maurice, 17
42 “I rose dripping”: Haldane, Autobiography, 22
43 “seemed difficult in comparison”: ibid., 31
44 “Of sport and of general society”: ibid., 29
45 “weeks of unbroken happiness”: ibid., 117
46 “the new German program”: Maurice, 292
47 “the Morocco question was now out of the way”: Hal
dane, Before the War, 106
48 “matters of routine”: ibid., 107
49 “he really was apparently afraid”: Bethmann-Hollweg, 51
50 “could not define”: Maurice, 305
51 “We should certainly”: ibid., 306
52 “Perhaps over eight or nine years”: ibid., 307
53 “My admirals are very difficult”: ibid.
54 “It was not a case”: ibid., 294
55 “The atmosphere which resulted”: ibid.
56 “There is no doubt”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 278
57 “The balance of power”: Haldane, Before the War, 148
58 “bones without flesh”: ibid., 109
59 “would laugh at the agreement”: BD, VI, 710
60 “hard”: Haldane, Autobiography, 243
61 “Admiral Tirpitz is a strong and difficult man”: Maurice, 295
62 “so disturbed”: ibid., 311
63 “Can we not spread out the tempo?”: ibid.
64 “The third squadron will be asked for”: Huldermann, 175
65 “for I had the strong impression”: Maurice, 312
66 “that I was disappointed”: ibid., 295
67 “I said emphatically”: Maurice, 313
68 “a détente rather than an entente”: Haldane, Before the War, 63
69 “depressed”: Woodward, 332
70 “The Chancellor”: Maurice, 314
71 “We sat down at a table”: ibid., 315
72 “At the end he rose”: ibid., 296
73 “Whether success or failure”: ibid., 315
74 “I got back to the hotel”: ibid., 297
75 “A promising beginning”: Jarausch 2, 128
76 “had been delightful to me”: Maurice, 295
77 “My impression was”: Haldane, Before the War, 67
78 Before I left Berlin: ibid., 110
79 “An extraordinary increase”: Winston Churchill, World Crisis, I, 102
80 “You are quite right”: Huldermann, 179
81 “The quicker we publish”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 280
82 “I shall consider any transfer”: Jarausch, 129
83 “I believe our prayers have been answered”: Maurice, 298
84 “had a communication from the Chancellor”: ibid.
85 “England will make”: DGP, XXXI, 181
86 “England will therefore observe”: ibid.
87 “didn’t go half far enough”: Jarausch, 130
88 “a change of personnel”: BD, VI, 714
89 “as long as he remained”: Woodward, 348
90 “I have never in my life”: DGP, XXXI, 183
91 “becoming more and more doubtful”: BD, VI, 745
Chapter 43
Naval Estimates and a “Naval Holiday”
1 “a helmet of bright brass”: Randolph Churchill, I, 143
2 “white uniform”: Manchester, Winston Churchill, 424
3 “I am very thankful”: ibid.
4 “a terrible engine”: ibid., 426
5 “My dear Winston”: ibid., 425
6 “Germany’s action at Agadir”: ibid., 427
7 “It is not for... Belgium”: Randolph Churchill, II, 513
8 “We knew that a formidable new Navy Law”: Winston Churchill, World Crisis, I, 94
9 “Until Germany dropped”: Randolph Churchill, II, 542
10 “One sentence stood out vividly”: Winston Churchill, World Crisis, I, 99
11 The “Luxury Fleet” speech is drawn from ibid., 100
12 “the expression passed angrily”: ibid., 101
13 “a plain statement”: Bonham-Carter, 197
14 “far from being a hindrance”: Winston Churchill, World Crisis, I, 101
15 “I suppose it is difficult”: Randolph Churchill, II, 551
16 “These estimates have been framed”: Woodward, 368
17 “Let me make it clear”: ibid., 369
18 “We must always be ready”: FGDN, II, 443
19 “Nothing, in my opinion”: Winston Churchill, World Crisis, I, 105
20 “Supposing we were both to take a holiday”: ibid., I, 109
21 “such arrangements”: Winston Churchill, World Crisis, I, 109
22 “We cannot have everything”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 289
23 “We cannot possibly hold”: Randolph Churchill, II, 570
24 “Would be to expose a British fleet”: ibid., 575
25 “The ultimate scale”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 296
26 “he must clearly understand”: BD, X, 601
27 “The point I am anxious to safeguard”: Winston Churchill, World Crisis, I, 112
28 “free to aid France or not”: BD, X, ii, 603
29 “an engagement that commits”: ibid., 614
30 “The disposition, for instance”: Woodward, 382
31 “Because of our preoccupation”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 290
32 “was absolutely repugnant”: ibid., 305
33 “marked the limits”: ibid.
34 “Rome had to call in”: ibid., 290
35 “The choice lies”: ibid., 291
36 “In order to estimate”: Winston Churchill, World Crisis, I, 112
37 “The only ‘trump card’”: ibid.
38 “to form an integral part”: Woodward, 389
39 “But if we come forward now”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 297
40 “Naval supremacy is of two kinds”: Woodward, 391
41 “What Tirpitz said”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 312
42 “We must not try to read”: Woodward, 408
43 “If, for the space of a year”: ibid., 409
44 “events will continue to move”: ibid.
45 “Act as though”: ibid., 412
46 “Next year, we are to lay down”: ibid., 419
47 “Winston is playing”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 315
48 “take a holiday from speech-making”: ibid.
49 “utopian and unworkable”: ibid.
50 “would throw innumerable men”: ibid.
52 “endless, dangerous chapter”: Woodward, 423
53 “It is really a cosmopolitan matter”: ibid., 425
54 “furious”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 316
55 “a piece of madness”: ibid.
56 “When will First Lords”: ibid.
57 “If other countries will not join us”: ibid.
58 “Don’t let Winston”: Randolph Churchill, II, 636
59 “You are breaking with the tradition”: ibid., 645
60 “You made me love you”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 318
61 “the boom in the ship-building trade”: Randolph Churchill, II, 637
62 “We had a Cabinet”: ibid., 638
63 “When he went to the Admiralty”: ibid., 640
64 The Churchill–Lloyd George exchange of notes is in ibid., 642
65 “organized insanity”... “bloated and profligate”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 318
66 “The Chancellor of the Exchequer’s interview”: Randolph Churchill, II, 647
67 “to give interviews”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 319
68 “needless folly”: Randolph Churchill, II, 647
69 “furious”: ibid., 649
70 “back against the wall”: ibid.
71 “the Prime Minister must choose”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 323
72 “if the declared program”: Randolph Churchill, II, 646
73 “there is no chance whatever”: ibid., 643
74 “vital”... “fundamental”: ibid., 650
75 “Without a doubt”: ibid., 651
76 “No predecessor of mine”: ibid., 652
77 “My dear Winston”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 323
78 “My dear Prime Minister”: ibid., 324
79 “My dear Winston”: Randolph Churchill, II, 659
80 “searched and scrubbed”: ibid., 660
81 “Come to breakfast tomo
rrow”: ibid., 662
82 “the longest and perhaps also”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 326
83 Churchill’s March 17, 1914, speech is taken from The Times, March 18, 1914
Chapter 44
“The Anchors Held.... We Seemed to Be Safe”
1 “We met in the afternoons”: Grey, Twenty-Five Years, I, 256
2 “there were six skeletons”: ibid.
3 “Eventually”: ibid., 261
4 “There was no formal finish”: ibid., 262
5 “very drab and humdrum”: ibid., 263
6 “In 1912–13, the current of European affairs”: ibid., 267
7 “the fulfillment of Gottlieb’s”: Bülow, III, 38
8 “What?”: ibid., 39
9 “My love for Your Highness”: ibid.
10 “Nothing has helped”: Lamar Cecil, German Diplomatic Service, 318
11 “The intimate exchange of opinion”: Woodward, 405
12 “He’s becoming admirably seasoned”: Lamar Cecil, German Diplomatic Service, 319
13 “not only correct but considerate”: Winston Churchill, World Crisis, I, 178
14 “The Kaiser was very cautious”: Bethmann-Hollweg, 76; DGP, XXXIII, 302
15 “eunuch-like statesmen”: Woodward, 396
16 “I made it a practice”: Lichnowsky, 85
17 “a muddlehead”: ibid.
18 “who by his intimates”: ibid., xix
19 “flax and turnips”: ibid., 48
20 “I send only my ambassador”: Lamar Cecil, German Diplomatic Service, 217
21 “The King, although not a genius”: Lichnowsky, My Mission to London, 66
22 “A jovial bon vivant”: LVS, 86
23 “querulous”... “rather trying”: ibid.
24 “In spite of black socks”: ibid.
25 “The simplicity and honesty”: Lichnowsky, 68
26 “hand in hand”: ibid., 159
27 “Sir Edward Grey said”: ibid., 167
28 “swarthy... thick-set”: Grey, Twenty-Five Years, I, 270
29 “To my mind”: ibid., 274
30 “to reassure Russia”: ibid., 276
31 “No such negotiations”: ibid., 279
32 “left nothing to be desired”: Lamar Cecil, Ballin, 203
33 “most satisfactory”: Gooch, History of Modern Europe, 530
34 “great relief”: Grey, Twenty-Five Years, I, 283
35 “in the mind of the Berliner Tageblatt”: Schmitt, 367
36 “He would find it difficult”: Gooch, History of Modern Europe, 531
37 “the coming months would see”: Lichnowsky, 340