The Hidden Perspective: The Military Conversations 1906-1914
Author: David Owen
Format: Paperback, 273 pages, 15mm x 25mm, 680 g
Published: 2015, Haus Publishing, United Kingdom
Genre: Military History
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Using contemporary historical documents, David Owen, himself a former foreign secretary, shows how the foreign office's underlying belief in Britain's moral obligation to send troops to the Continent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.
David Owen (Lord Owen) served as Foreign Secretary under James Callaghan from 1977 until 1979, and later co-founded and went on to lead the Social Democratic Party (SDP). Between 1992-95 Lord Owen served as EU Peace Negotiator in the former Yugoslavia and he now sits as an independent social democrat in the House of Lords. He is the author of many books, including In Sickness and In Power and The Hubris Syndrome.
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Using contemporary historical documents, David Owen, himself a former foreign secretary, shows how the foreign office's underlying belief in Britain's moral obligation to send troops to the Continent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.
David Owen (Lord Owen) served as Foreign Secretary under James Callaghan from 1977 until 1979, and later co-founded and went on to lead the Social Democratic Party (SDP). Between 1992-95 Lord Owen served as EU Peace Negotiator in the former Yugoslavia and he now sits as an independent social democrat in the House of Lords. He is the author of many books, including In Sickness and In Power and The Hubris Syndrome.