Well, this is long in coming! But, in my defense, this book is quite the door-stopper! At 1000+ pages, it took a little longer to tackled than I'd anticipated.
Where to begin? Massie's book covers the politics and personalities of the late 19th Century, focusing on Germany and Britain, without neglecting other key players - French, Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and the like. I think the over-used phrase tour de force applies in this case. I'm amazed at how dense, yet readable this book is.
I'm not an historian, so I don't necessarily think in those sorts of terms. However, Massie is clearly focused on the personalities as the drivers of his late 19th, early 20th Century European history. Every page delves into the intricacies of the many players of his history - personal quirks, leisure activities, mistresses, friendships and hatred -- he covers them all. I would say that, at its core, this is a book about how conflicting personalities drove this critical period of history. It's not so much about greater, external trends so much is it is about how the interplay of many (interesting and colorful) people led to the Great War. Massie does a superb job of making one get to know his vast cast of characters (bigger and far more complex than any soap opera or 1970s mini series!). Despite his personality focus, he does manage to have some good sections on technology, everything from shipbuilding, to gunnery, torpedoes, submarines, and the like. He does this while still providing enough context to make a complete picture, or as near as one can with a mere thousand pages.
Since this is a predominately character-driven history, talking about them all is impossible. So, I will just cherry-pick a few ideas. There are some definite heroes in this book. Jacky Fisher, "father" of the modern Royal Navy is certainly one, and he is given a great deal of page count discussing his extensive reforms, and how they took a hidebound navy still focused on Trafalgar and turned it into something ready for the modern age. Other personages given a favorable appraisal range from Queen Victoria (far from the clichéd image of a passive old woman) to Winston Churchill (a relative latecomer to the story). Giants like Bismarck have a more nuanced portrayal - competent, yes, but not necessarily a benign influence on these events.
The closest thing to the villains of the piece? I'd say Admiral Tirpitz and Kaiser Wilhelm himself. The former is portrayed (rightly, I think) as single-minded in his quest for a great Navy. The Kaiser, on the other hand, is depicted as conflicted (his love-hate relationship with his English family in particular), unsteady, and unpredictable. He's clearly seen as possessing a dangerous mixture of an inferiority complex coupled with a heightened sense of his own grandeur. A dangerous mix, to be sure (Side note: I guess I never realized that, after his abdication, he went to live in the Netherlands and managed to live long enough to end up living under Nazi occupation, which he apparently approved of).
Tirpitz is an interesting study. His "risk theory" is a key component of the naval arms race. The theory held that Germany need not build a navy to match Britain one for one. Rather, Germany need only build enough ships such that, in the case of a fight, Britain would lose so many ships that it lost its premier place in naval power. With that the case, Britain would be disinclined to fight a naval war with Germany. But, couple that with Britain's stated desire to remain as strong as the next two naval powers, and the naval arms race becomes all but inevitable. Massie, focusing on individuals, also factors in the Kaiser. Wilhelm II was strongly influenced by his grandmother, Queen Victoria, and her country's navy. Like any insecure youngster, he tends to imitate those he most admires, and in his case, that meant ships. Whether it was racing yachts to show up his British cousins, or battleships, his personality was a key factor.
It's hard to do a book like this justice, given its complexity. However, I will say that it has filled in a gap in my own knowledge about European politics of the latter half of the 19th Century through 1914.
Bastard thing just deleted my comment.
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