Dreadnought

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Dreadnought Page 130

by Robert K. Massie


  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.

  51 “construction was postponed for a year”: 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

 

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