Nicholas Black examines the role of the Naval Staff of the Admiralty in the 1914-18 war, reassessing both the calibre of the Staff and the function and structure of the Staff. He challenges historians such as Arthur Marder and naval figures such as Captains Herbert Richmond and Kenneth Dewar who were influential in creating the largely bad press that the Staff has received subsequently, showing that their influence has, at times, been both unhealthy and misinformed. The way in which the Staff developed during the war from a small, overstretched and often manipulated body, to a much more highly specialised and successful one is also examined, reassessing the roles of key individuals such as Jellicoe and Geddes, and suggesting that the structure of the Staff has been misunderstood and that it was a rather more sophisticated body than historians have traditionally appreciated. Black also looks at how the Staff performed in various major naval issues of the war: the role of the Grand Fleet, the war against the U-boat, the Dardanelles Operation and the implementation of the economic blockade against Germany. Overall, the book complements, and at times challenges, both operational histories of the war and biographies of the leading individuals involved.
NICHOLAS BLACK is Head of History at Dulwich College.
Reviews
Black has blown aside some of the fog of history and shed light on the accomplishments of a group of mostly overlooked and underestimated men. NAUTICAL RESEARCH JOURNALBlack's excellent book demonstrates that the staff was larger, more professional and more important. Ultimately an effective, if not always efficient, staff was essential to the successful prosecution of total war in the twentieth century. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW
[An] elegantly written and well-researched volume. [...] This is an illuminating study that will have a major impact on histories of the First World War. HISTORY
A first-class study of a major subject, whose findings challenge all standard accounts. [...] Black's monograph is the product of a rare combination of diligent and original research in primary sources, a comprehensive and accurate reading of the existing scholarly literature on his subject, a sophisticated historical sensibility, and a writer's gift for clear and engaging exposition. It replaces the existing interpretation of the history of Britain's naval staff during the First World War with one that is much more complete and satisfying. [It] is an exemplar of the power of serious scholarly inquiry. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MARITIME HISTORY
For Naval enthusiasts it's essential stuff [which] rescues from oblivion a fine and unjustly traduced body of men. THE MAIL ON SUNDAY
