The Hidden Perspective: The Military Conversations 1906-1914 (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781908323989)

In 1905, British Foreign Secretary Edward Grey agreed to speak secretly with his French counterparts about sending a British expeditionary force to France in the event of a German attack. Neither Parliament nor the rest of the Cabinet was informed. The Hidden Perspective takes readers back to these tense years leading up to World War I and re-creates the stormy Cabinet meetings in the fall of 1911 when the details of the military conversations were finally revealed.

Using contemporary historical documents, David Owen, himself a former foreign secretary, shows how the foreign office's underlying belief in Britain's moral obligation to send troops to the Continent influenced political decision-making and helped create the impression that war was inevitable. Had Britain's diplomatic and naval strategy been handled more skillfully during these years, Owen contends, the carnage of World War I might have been prevented altogether.


Author: David Owen
ISBN-10: 1908323981
ISBN-13: 9781908323989
Publisher: Haus Pub.
Language: English
Published: 09/15/2015
Pages: 273
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 8.70h x 5.40w x 1.00d