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This
book marks the completion of a three volume history of the Royal Navy in the
Mediterranean and British policy towards the Ottoman Empire from the turn of the
century until the inception of the Dardanelles campaign. The first volume, Superior Force: the conspiracy behind the escape of Goeben and Breslau,
published in 1996 by the University of Hull Press, examined in detail the escape
of the German Mittelmeerdivision and
revealed how that escape was facilitated as a result of the political divisions
in Greece in 1914. The second volume, Straits,
which appeared in 1997, analyzed British policy towards the Ottoman Empire,
charting the many lost opportunities and failed policies, in the period from the
Young Turk revolution of 1908 until the outbreak of war between Britain and
Turkey in November 1914. Straits also
considered the origins of the Dardanelles campaign and the implications of the
Royal Navy’s switch to oil-fired ships. This final volume charts the history
of the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean from its turn of the century zenith to
its decline after 1912. The parlous state of Anglo-French naval co-operation,
the strategic options available to Britain in the pre-war period, the problem of
the naval situation in the Mediterranean, and the extent of the moral commitment
to France are all examined. The British Cabinet’s decision to intervene in the
war is then described in some detail as, in my view, this decision was forced
upon a reluctant Cabinet (but not a reluctant Foreign Secretary) by the failure
to address the altered strategic balance following Germany’s decision to
challenge the Royal Navy and the 1912 withdrawal from the Mediterranean.
Although it appears as the final
volume of the trilogy, The Millstone
was originally to have been the first. In the initial draft of the manuscript,
the purpose of what follows was to set the scene for the escape of Goeben
and Breslau, the subject of Superior
Force. However, it was felt at the University Press that the allegations
made in Superior Force regarding the
activities of Admiral Mark Kerr and Prime Minister Venizelos in Athens were so
astounding that that volume should appear first. Although some of the many
reviewers preferred to believe in the “cock-up” rather than the conspiracy,
the main charge levelled at Kerr and Venizelos — that they both knew
beforehand of the destination of the German ships and kept this information to
themselves — has not been seriously challenged. To follow the story of the
escape to its conclusion, and to investigate how much the presence of the German
ships was responsible for Turkey’s entry into the war and therefore for the
subsequent Dardanelles campaign, it was decided to follow Superior Force with Straits.
By the time that a tentative decision was taken late in 1997 to proceed with
publication of The Millstone the
manuscript had not been touched for some two years and it at once became clear
that it would have to be extensively reworked. Most important, as it had
originally been intended to lead directly into Superior Force, The Millstone,
as it stood, lacked an ending — it simply finished with the abortive 1914
Anglo-Russian naval talks and the situation in the Mediterranean in the early
summer of 1914. My task, then, was twofold: to re-write the early chapters,
omitting extraneous material and adding the products of recent research, and to
add a new second section concerning the decision for war.
As with the previous volumes, The
Millstone is Anglocentric in its approach. In large part this limitation has
been imposed by financial considerations. In a generally favourable review of Superior Force, Professor Paul Halpern commented that ‘No matter
how exhaustive the author’s labor, a study limited to documents in the British
Isles will be a restricted one.’ Although it would be possible to take issue
with this statement on other grounds, I then consulted the prefaces in
Halpern’s first two books, to discover the following: ‘I am also grateful to
Harvard University for a travel grant and fellowships … and to both the
Research Council and the Department of History of the Florida State University
for financial assistance …’ (from The
Mediterranean Naval Situation, 1908-1914). ‘I also thank the American
Philosophical Society and the President’s Club of Florida State University for
financial assistance …’ (from The
Naval War in the Mediterranean, 1914-1918). Unlike Halpern (and most others
in this field, I suspect), I have had no financial assistance. All my capital
has been expended in the years taken to research and write the Straits trilogy. This also involved the not inconsiderable expense
of my move from Sydney to London (and subsequently Flamborough) to pursue the
project. If a grant had been
obtainable to facilitate work in a foreign archive I would have accepted it
without hesitation. Instead, this book is my last work of non-fiction. As much
as I enjoy it, it does not pay the bills; it is time to give fiction a try. It
is my hope that support for others in my position becomes available before it is
too late.
As before, I would like to thank
the staffs of all the archives in which I have worked: the Public Record Office;
the National Maritime Museum; the Department of Documents at the Imperial War
Museum; the Naval Historical Library; the British Library Department of
Manuscripts; the National Library of Scotland; St Antony’s College, Oxford
(Centre for Middle Eastern Studies). Also, the British Library’s Document
Supply Centre located a number of esoteric titles, which, together with more
straightforward works, were then delivered to Flamborough library.
For permission to quote from
material to which they own the copyright, I would like to thank the following:
the Trustees of the National Maritime Museum and the British Library. Crown
copyright material is reproduced by permission of the Controller of Her
Majesty’s Stationery Office. Material from letters by the Prime Minister to
His Majesty King George V is reproduced by gracious permission of Her Majesty
the Queen. Extracts from Lord Hankey’s The
Supreme Command, 2 vols., (George Allen & Unwin, London, 1961) are
reproduced by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Extracts from The
Companion Volumes published by William Heinemann as an adjunct to the Life of
Winston S. Churchill are reproduced with permission of Curtis Brown Ltd, London
on behalf of C&T Publications: Copyright C&T Publications Ltd. Extracts
from, M. & E. Brock (eds), H. H.
Asquith: Letters to Venetia Stanley, (Oxford, 1982) are reproduced by
permission of Oxford University Press.
Where copyright has not lapsed, I
have attempted to trace known copyright holders, however I offer my sincere
apology if I have inadvertently infringed any other copyright. If the owners of
such copyrights would care to contact me I will ensure that a suitable
acknowledgement is made in subsequent editions of this book.
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