Sir Francis B Head (1793-1875) The defenceless state of Great Britain, 1850, Sir Francis Bond Head, John Murray, London A long, early book reviewing Britain’s readiness for war and its capabilities to resist invasion. I.f. Clarke comments: The nearest any of them ever came to fiction was a brief passage in The Defenseless State of […]
The following extracts of parliamentary business are taken from Hansard and other public records. [Extracts contain Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.] House Commons Debate, 14th May 1901. ARMY ORGANISATION Sir John Colomb: I hope the House will appreciate the difficulty in which this ruling of the Chair has placed me. This […]
Charles Lowe (1910) About German Spies – Contemporary Review, January 1910, pp.46-47 Journalist Charles Lowe wrote in 1910: “Among all the causes contributing to the continuance of a state of bad blood between England and Germany perhaps the most potent is the baneful industry of those unscrupulous writers who are forever asserting that the Germans […]
Arthur Conan Doyle (1913) Great Britain and the Next War – published in Fortnightly Review, February 1913. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was one of the few major authors of the time who clearly foresaw the impending dangers. Now known mainly for his Sherlock Holmes stories, he was also an expert in military affairs, bluff, and […]
Fred Burnaby (1876) A Ride to Khiva It is 1875, the time of the ‘Great Game’, when the British and Russian Empires are vying for power in central Asia. A British officer rides for Khiva, a Russian city closed to European travellers. He is on a dangerous mission, to learn if Russia plans to invade […]
Frederick Burnaby (1877) On Horseback through Asia Minor, London; Sampson Low and Co A follow-up to A Ride to Khiva. “On Horseback Through Asia Minor” details how the brave Burnaby set off in the winter of 1876, convinced he could once again outwit the Czar’s secret police. This time Burnaby determined to ride 2,000 miles […]
General Friedrich von Bernhardi (1911) Deutschland und der Nächste Krieg. [Germany and the Next War, translated by Allen H. Powless – 1912] Friedrich Adolf Julius von Bernhardi (November 22, 1849 – December 11, 1930) was a Prussian general and military historian. He was one of the best-selling authors prior to World War I. A militarist, […]
Sir Robert Baden-Powell (1915) My Adventures as a Spy, London, C. Arthur Pearson Ltd In this entertaining little volume of reminiscences Sir Robert Baden-Powell joyfully accepts the title of spy, and he thus does something to remove the absurd discredit attaching to a title which is too loosely used. The process of finding out information […]
James Blyth (1909) The Swoop of the Vulture, London: Digby, Long, and Company. Review from New ZealandEvening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 150, 26 June 1909, Page 19 A DREAM OF INVASION. “The Swoop of the Vulture.” By James Blyth. London: Digby, Long, and Company. Now and then one meets with a literary work which brings […]
‘The Peril of Pine’s Place’.The Academy and literature, 1910-1914; Jan 27, 1912; p.112 The Peril of Pine’s Place. By JAMES BLYTH. (F. V. White and Co. 6s.) THERE are two young men just down from college, two girls with whom the young men fall in love without hesitation, a rather ill-defined lady villain, and a […]