Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea [Paperback]

Robert K. Massie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2, 2004

In a work of extraordinary narrative power, filled with brilliant personalities and vivid scenes of dramatic action, Robert K. Massie, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandra, and Dreadnought, elevates to its proper historical importance the role of sea power in the winning of the Great War.

The predominant image of this first world war is of mud and trenches, barbed wire, machine guns, poison gas, and slaughter. A generation of European manhood was massacred, and a wound was inflicted on European civilization that required the remainder of the twentieth century to heal.

But with all its sacrifice, trench warfare did not win the war for one side or lose it for the other. Over the course of four years, the lines on the Western Front moved scarcely at all; attempts to break through led only to the lengthening of the already unbearably long casualty lists.

For the true story of military upheaval, we must look to the sea. On the eve of the war in August 1914, Great Britain and Germany possessed the two greatest navies the world had ever seen. When war came, these two fleets of dreadnoughts—gigantic floating castles of steel able to hurl massive shells at an enemy miles away—were ready to test their terrible power against each other.

Their struggles took place in the North Sea and the Pacific, at the Falkland Islands and the Dardanelles. They reached their climax when Germany, suffocated by an implacable naval blockade, decided to strike against the British ring of steel. The result was Jutland, a titanic clash of fifty-eight dreadnoughts, each the home of a thousand men.

When the German High Seas Fleet retreated, the kaiser unleashed unrestricted U-boat warfare, which, in its indiscriminate violence, brought a reluctant America into the war. In this way, the German effort to “seize the trident” by defeating the British navy led to the fall of the German empire.

Ultimately, the distinguishing feature of Castles of Steel is the author himself. The knowledge, understanding, and literary power Massie brings to this story are unparalleled. His portrayals of Winston Churchill, the British admirals Fisher, Jellicoe, and Beatty, and the Germans Scheer, Hipper, and Tirpitz are stunning in their veracity and artistry.

Castles of Steel is about war at sea, leadership and command, courage, genius, and folly. All these elements are given magnificent scope by Robert K. Massie’s special and widely hailed literary mastery.


From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Nicholas and Alexandra returns with a sequel to Dreadnought that is imposing in both size and quality, taking the British and German battle fleets through WWI. The fluent narrative begins amid the diplomatic crisis of July 1914 and ends with the scuttling of the German High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow in 1919. Massie makes a coherent if long narrative out of a sequence of events familiar to students of naval history but probably not to many other potential readers. The focus is on the two fleets that confronted each other across the North Sea, their weapons and tactics and their complex and controversial leaders, both military and political. As in his other books, the author describes his cast of characters with the vividness of a novelist, British Admiral Beatty's disastrous marriage being a painful case in point. What emerges from that focus is not only a number of outstanding battle narratives (Jutland is only the most famous), but a closely argued case for the German fleet having been a disaster for its country's war effort. Once built, the High Seas Fleet made war with England and the blockade of Germany inevitable. Unable to break the blockade with that expensive fleet, Germany felt compelled to choose between a negotiated peace and unrestricted submarine warfare. Once the Germans chose the latter course, American intervention and disaster become nearly unavoidable. It may seem odd to describe a book of this size as an "introduction," but readers will soon understand that the size of the topic requires a long narrative. "Castles of steel" was Winston Churchill's grand phrase for the Grand Fleet and its German counterpart, and this unusually fine military narrative lives up to it as well.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From The New Yorker

In "Dreadnought," Massie chronicled the buildup of the British and German navies in the years before the First World War. Here he continues the story, showing the fleets in preparation for their inevitable decisive engagement. When the clash finally came, in 1916, at the Battle of Jutland, it was a somewhat muddled affair and both sides claimed victory. This centerpiece battle springs to life, thanks to Massie's clear grasp of tactics and his suspenseful narration. His portraits of major figures—including Winston Churchill, then a brash First Lord of the Admiralty, and the death-haunted Admiral von Spee—are perceptive and enthralling, and he writes of war's casualties with grim directness. Jutland marks a fascinating juncture in naval warfare: when the gentlemanly sea battle gave way to a more technical type of encounter. Submarines, which the British considered "the weapon of cowards," had already begun to dominate. Massie poignantly describes the sailors on older ships, who, when they spotted a modern cruiser on the horizon, knew that they were doomed, hours before the enemy fired a shot.
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 880 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (November 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345408780
• ISBN-13: 978-0345408785
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (85 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #69,387 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #50 in Books > History > Military > World War I
  • #89 in Books > History > Military > Naval

More About the Author

Robert Massie is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandra, Dreadnought and The Romanovs: The Final Chapter. He lives in Irvington, New York.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughly Magnificent, November 13, 2003

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John D. Cofield - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea (Hardcover)

Robert K. Massie has produced another masterpiece of narrative history, comprehensive without being dry and fascinating in every detail. In Castles of Steel he takes up the story he started with his 1991 bestseller Dreadnought: the struggle between Britain and Germany for sea mastery during the Great War.

The book begins with the final days of peace in July 1914, when Europe realized that the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand was about to trigger a major war. Massie describes the calculations of the British and German leadership as they moved toward conflict. One of Massie's greatest skills as a writer is his ability to create short but thorough biographical sketches, seen here most vividly in his treatments of Jellicoe and Beatty, the men who were to lead the British Grand Fleet. Massie also has an eye for odd humorous moments, as in his amusing description of the trick a German ship played on an unsuspecting French colony soon after war was declared.

After the war actually begins Massie focusses on the manuevers of the British and German fleets as they prepare for action. Another narrative track traces the steps of the politicians like Winston Churchill and Prince Louis of Battenberg who are setting war policy. Massie's main focus is on the British, and he thoroughly analyzes successes like the Battle of Dogger Bank and disasters like the Gallipoli landings. The climax of the book is the Battle of Jutland in 1916, which was the only major clash between the two navies. Massie also documents the submarine war and details how it eventually brought the United States into the conflict. The last few pages of the book describes the scuttling of the surrendered German fleet at Scapa Flow, symbolic of the enormous waste caused by the whole conflict.

Castles of Steel is a fitting companion to Dreadnought and will certainly be considered one of the most comprehensive, yet accessible, histories of the Great War.

40 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth The Wait, November 17, 2003

By 

Bruce Loveitt (Ogdensburg, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea (Hardcover)

For those of you who have read Mr. Massie's "Dreadnought," which detailed the German/British battleship "arms race" leading up to WWI, and who have been waiting for years for the sequel....here it is. And is it great! Fans of the author know that he is a master of narrative history. His books read like good novels, and he excels at capturing personalities with telling anecdotes. At the beginning of "Castles Of Steel" he explains how Kaiser William compensated for his withered left arm, and basically useless left hand, by building up his right arm. William also wore large rings on the fingers of his right hand. He would shake hands with a steel-like grip and watch with amusement as his victim winced. To quote the author "...the hand shaker said merrily, 'Ha ha! The mailed fist! What!' " This small episode not only tells us a lot about William's personality, but the expression he uses also reminds us of his Anglophilia (he was, after all, Queen Victoria's grandson). In a similar way, Mr. Massie conjures up the characters of other people who are important to this story. On the British side: Beatty, Jellicoe, Churchill, Jacky Fisher, David Lloyd George, etc. On the German side: Hipper, Scheer, Tirpitz, Hindenburg, Ludendorff, etc. The major pre-publication concern about this book would have been: could Mr. Massie satisfy not just the fan of narrative history but also the fan of military history. After all, unlike the author's previous books, this book was to be primarily about battles rather than personalities. It turns out that we needn't have had any worries on that score, either. In particular, the descriptions of The Battle of the Falkland Islands and of Jutland are brilliant. The author explains the events leading up to the battles, the strategy, the tactics, etc. He takes us, in a clear manner, step-by-step through the battles and the aftermath. You feel as though you are on-deck with the various admirals as they make their decisions. Mr. Massie also covers the importance of Naval Intelligence during the war - the British, early on, broke the German code and usually knew ahead of time what was planned.(Despite the fact that, seemingly by magic, the British fleet always seemed to pop up whenever the German fleet ventured out to sea, the Germans refused to believe that their codes had been compromised.) Things might have turned out very differently in the several North Seas battles if it weren't for this. Mr. Massie also covers the British blockade of Germany, the Dardanelles/Gallipoli fiasco, the U-Boat War (and the sinking of the Lusitania), the entry of the United States into the war, etc. Another big plus for this book is that it will probably generate disagreement and discussion amongst academics and serious students of the war. Mr. Massie isn't afraid to tell us about who he admires and who he doesn't much care for. Thus, he clearly thinks Jellicoe superior to Beatty (especially at Jutland)and he thinks Jellicoe was treated in a very shabby manner by the politicians - especially David Lloyd George. Mr. Massie, while admiring Churchill, thinks he made many mistakes during his tenure as First Lord (and not just during the Dardanelles/Gallipoli period), and that these mistakes were caused by Churchill's overconfidence, coupled with his total lack of any background regarding naval affairs. Setting aside Jacky Fisher's histrionics and peevish personality, Mr. Massie generally gives the First Sea Lord high marks for his perspicacity regarding military matters. After all, Fisher made the WWI British navy what it was, and he also realized the importance of submarines. The author makes a strong case that Fisher clearly knew that the Dardanelles/Gallipoli campaign, if done the way it was ultimately done, would be a huge mistake. Churchill, with his youth, energy, eloquence and misplaced (in this case) self-confidence wore down Fisher and, at least for awhile, got the First Sea Lord to shelve his doubts and get "on-board" regarding the scheme. Mr. Massie takes the sensible view that the German use of unrestricted submarine warfare forced a very reluctant Woodrow Wilson to commit the U.S. to the war. While American forces didn't win the war, the huge numbers of fresh troops streaming into Europe made it clear to Germany that she no longer had any realistic prospect of victory - hence, the German decision to accept an armistice. Mr. Massie wisely steers clear of counterfactuals, but it is interesting to think about what might have happened if Germany had resisted the use of unrestricted submarine warfare and the U.S. had stayed out of the war. At the very least, the one million German soldiers who were freed up for use on the Western front due to the collapse of Russia would not have been counterbalanced by the flood of American troops. A minor criticism of the book is the lack of maps. They are few and far between and some more would have been very helpful in following along during the extended battle sequences. But, hey, when a book is this good...well, you can't have everything!

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A compelling history of the Great War at sea, November 5, 2003

By 

Bruce Trinque (Amston, CT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea (Hardcover)

I would think that anyone who read and liked Robert Massie's "Dreadnought" should appreciate his new "Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea". As in the earlier book, although the ships and navies of the two rival nations are always at center stage, it is the people who built those ships and directed their activities and operated them and - in this book - fought them that really make the text vivid. And what personalities! Winston Churchill, the extraordinary Jacky Fisher who was the true father of the Dreadnought-type battleships that defined the era, the glamorous Admiral David Beatty who captivated the British public, Kaiser Wilhelm, Admiral Franz von Hipper ... If anything, the narrative in "Castles of Steel" is even more compelling than that of the first book because it deals with the drama and chaos of World War One itself. Massie's narrative lucidly explains the course of the naval war from the very opening days until the German High Seas Fleet scuttled itself after the conclusion of hostilities to prevent its delivery to its enemies. Along the way, several complex, controversial episodes are examined, including the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign and the Battle of Jutland, the great clash of battle fleets towards which decades of naval technical development had been aimed. Massie does not shy away from exploring the bitter in-fighting that erupted after the guns of battle had fallen silent, and he appears to present the arguments on both sides of controversies fairly. Although his portrait of Winston Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty is as an ambitious politician whose directives sometimes seeded chaos rather than order, Massie by no means holds Churchill solely or perhaps even chiefly responsible for the Gallipoli debacle. The admirals and generals on the spot are shown to have repeatedly erred and provided London with faulty advice. With Jutland, Massie's basic sympathy is clearly with the quiet, somewhat cautious Jellicoe rather than with his flamboyant subordinate, David Beatty, who according to Massie later did much to rob Jellicoe of deserved credit while evading blame for his own errors. Although the great dreadnoughts and battle cruisers - the "castles of steel" of the title - are never far from the main narrative thrust, U-boat warfare and diplomatic maneuvering (and the politics of the British Admiralty) are given their due.

Although a long book at over 800 pages, "Castles of Steel" is nonetheless a powerful, fast-moving history of naval warfare as it emerged into the modern era of steel and radio.