Book Recommendation
If you haven't read it, I highly recommend the book "The Victory at Sea." It's free on Kindle.
This is not a tie-in to the 50s television series, but rather a personal account of American naval involvement in World War One. It was written in 1920 by Rear Admiral William Sims, who served as the President of the Naval War College before the war and as the American naval attache to British Admiralty House during the war.
Far from a dry accounting of mere facts, the book is full of rare inside information and astute geopolitical analysis, as well as fascinating anecdotes and first-hand stories about famous people who were central to the war such as John Jellicoe, Admiral Bayly and David Lloyd George.
It is very interesting to read an account of the naval war in 1917-18 written immediately after the event, as Admiral Sims had no way of knowing about political and technological developments which would occur during the interwar years, developments which we now take for granted. There is a tendency among many historians to overshadow World War One, specifically understating the threat posed by U-boats, but the situation was every bit as dire in 1917 as it was in 1941. Without American intervention, it's very possible the Germans would have won the war. Though modern Englishmen and Europeans chafe to admit that, the people in charge of defending the British Isles at the time -- like Jellicoe and George -- knew it only too well. The coat of glossy paint applied by modern history texts is not present in this book, as it was written by a direct participant immediately following the event, one who was fairly high up in the political food chain. As students of history know, that's a rare treasure indeed.
If you've any interest in naval power and the early development of post-imperial Western policy, I think you'll find it an entertaining read.
And it's free. So try it; you might like it.
Download here
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This is not a tie-in to the 50s television series, but rather a personal account of American naval involvement in World War One. It was written in 1920 by Rear Admiral William Sims, who served as the President of the Naval War College before the war and as the American naval attache to British Admiralty House during the war.
Far from a dry accounting of mere facts, the book is full of rare inside information and astute geopolitical analysis, as well as fascinating anecdotes and first-hand stories about famous people who were central to the war such as John Jellicoe, Admiral Bayly and David Lloyd George.
It is very interesting to read an account of the naval war in 1917-18 written immediately after the event, as Admiral Sims had no way of knowing about political and technological developments which would occur during the interwar years, developments which we now take for granted. There is a tendency among many historians to overshadow World War One, specifically understating the threat posed by U-boats, but the situation was every bit as dire in 1917 as it was in 1941. Without American intervention, it's very possible the Germans would have won the war. Though modern Englishmen and Europeans chafe to admit that, the people in charge of defending the British Isles at the time -- like Jellicoe and George -- knew it only too well. The coat of glossy paint applied by modern history texts is not present in this book, as it was written by a direct participant immediately following the event, one who was fairly high up in the political food chain. As students of history know, that's a rare treasure indeed.
If you've any interest in naval power and the early development of post-imperial Western policy, I think you'll find it an entertaining read.
And it's free. So try it; you might like it.
Download here
___
Labels: books
posted by Jar(egg)head at 15:14
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