Castles of Steel

Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea

By: Robert K. Massie

Narrated by: Richard Matthews

Length: 40 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

In a work of extraordinary narrative power, filled with brilliant personalities and vivid scenes of dramatic action, Robert K. Massie, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandra, and Dreadnought, elevates to its proper historical importance the role of sea power in the winning of the Great War.

The predominant image of this first world war is of mud and trenches, barbed wire, machine guns, poison gas, and slaughter. A generation of European manhood was massacred, and a wound was inflicted on European civilization that required the remainder of the twentieth century to heal.

But with all its sacrifice, trench warfare did not win the war for one side or lose it for the other. Over the course of four years, the lines on the Western Front moved scarcely at all; attempts to break through led only to the lengthening of the already unbearably long casualty lists.

For the true story of military upheaval, we must look to the sea. On the eve of the war in August 1914, Great Britain and Germany possessed the two greatest navies the world had ever seen. When war came, these two fleets of dreadnoughts—gigantic floating castles of steel able to hurl massive shells at an enemy miles away—were ready to test their terrible power against each other.

Their struggles took place in the North Sea and the Pacific, at the Falkland Islands and the Dardanelles. They reached their climax when Germany, suffocated by an implacable naval blockade, decided to strike against the British ring of steel. The result was Jutland, a titanic clash of fifty-eight dreadnoughts, each the home of a thousand men.

When the German High Seas Fleet retreated, the kaiser unleashed unrestricted U-boat warfare, which, in its indiscriminate violence, brought a reluctant America into the war. In this way, the German effort to “seize the trident” by defeating the British navy led to the fall of the German empire.

Ultimately, the distinguishing feature of Castles of Steel is the author himself. The knowledge, understanding, and literary power Massie brings to this story are unparalleled. His portrayals of Winston Churchill, the British admirals Fisher, Jellicoe, and Beatty, and the Germans Scheer, Hipper, and Tirpitz are stunning in their veracity and artistry.

Castles of Steel is about war at sea, leadership and command, courage, genius, and folly. All these elements are given magnificent scope by Robert K. Massie’s special and widely hailed literary mastery.

©2003 Robert K. Massie (P)2012 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“A classic [that] covers superbly a whole era...engrossing in its glittering gallery of characters.” (Chicago Sun-Times)

“[Told] on a grand scale...Massie [is] a master of historical portraiture and anecdotage.” (The Wall Street Journal)

Well written and researched.

Once I started listening I couldn't put it down, a very well detailed historical account written and easy to understand terms. well researched and fascinating. my only critique is the author notably understates and downplays contributions made by the United States. but correctly points out the heavy lifting was done by the British Navy

A Riveting Account!

Robert Massie served a tour of duty onboard a US aircraft carrier. That may account in part for his remarkable ability to describe in vivid and insightful detail the weather conditions, shipboard activity, and battle capabilities of the naval vessels that took part in World War I. His eye for insightful detail extends to his descriptions of the high level strategic debates that took place in the British and German war cabinets and admirals’ councils that made the crucial decisions which in the end determined the outcome of the war. In particular, the German decision finally endorsed by the Kaiser in 1917 to authorize unrestricted submarine warfare against all neutral merchant shipping in an effort to bring Britain to its knees through lack of supplies and foodstuffs instead led to the decisive entry of the US into the war that year.

Most interesting throughout the book are the decisive roles played by minor incidents of incompetence, hesitation, miscommunication, or misjudgment based on human foibles or the confusion and fog of war. These include Admiral Milne’s failure to block the battle cruiser Goebben from escaping to the Dardanelles; Captain Thompson’s careless handling of critical intelligence that could have turned the tide in the Battle of Jutland; the failure of Admiral Beatty’s flag officer to assure clear and proper signaling of the Admiral’s orders; the British Admiralty’s failure to immediately pass on critical intelligence during the Battle of Jutland to Jellicoe because the communication room was left in the hands of a clueless low level officer.

All in all, a very interesting account that will provide a rich source of lessons on the critical decisions made by the naval leaders in World War I.

A bit of overload

What did you love best about Castles of Steel?

Battleships in their golden age, titans of the sea going head to head. What's not to like?

Any additional comments?

Take note: this book is well worth the listen. It's long. It's technical in many places and it's slow developing. It's like a grand chess match. This book takes patience. It's worth it.

Good, personality-driven history; needs remastered

Excellent work. Enjoyed the audiobook so much, I bought a hardcover copy.

Castles of Steel is billed as the sequel to Massie's Dreadnought (1991), which focuses on the build-up to the First World War, specifically the clash between Britain and Germany over the building of modern warships. Indeed, Castles of Steel picks up precisely where Dreadnought leaves off, with the coming of war itself in 1914. But this is a very different book. Whereas Dreadnought is an expansive, episodic (some might say meandering) profile of politicians and crises in the later half of the 19th century, all inexorably but indirectly pointing the way to war, Castles of Steel focuses directly on the combat and the progress of the war in four short years. It is far more events-driven than Dreadnought. It is also, however, like all of Massie's works, personality-driven, which makes for an interesting juxtaposition. Before reading about the tactical history of a particular naval battle, you will learn about the foibles and peculiarities of the commanders who fought in it. To that end, Massie could have done more to profile the German personalities. He does a fair profile of some German leaders (like Tirpitz) but otherwise, this is a a very Anglo-centric book. But it does not suffer much from it. One also gets a good dose of first-hand accounts from non-flag rank personnel on both sides, excerpts of diaries and memoirs by ordinary sailors and gunners, which makes for some really moving stuff. This puts some some much-needed humanity into the account of this senseless war.

The narration is top-notch. The voice actor did an excellent rendition of Churchill, and managed to imitate a wide range of accents without becoming campy or over-the-top. He even did an excellent Welsh accent to imitate David Lloyd George. The pacing is good, the delivery and intonation superb. The recording does, however, need remastering. The narration repeats in several spots, and at one crucial junction during a battle, the recording skips cleanly over the climax, spoiling the action.

Excellent Book with Technical Issues

The book itself was wonderful, and the narrator did a great job. However, there were numerous sections that repeated themselves, with the narrator skipping backward anywhere from a few words to a few sentences.

Extremely detailed account, but still engaging

Like other reviewers, I'll say at the outset that this account is EXTREMELY deep and detailed. Everything that you ever wanted to know about WWI at sea including the weapons, the personalities and, of course, the battles. This includes the relatively minor actions in the Pacific, near the Falklands, and in the Mediterranean Sea. Accounts of German raiders in the Indian Ocean are a bit lacking, however.

I will differ from other reviewers in stating that I was engaged from the very first and stayed with the author throughout the account. I never felt that the narrative dragged or wandered into unnecessary territory.

I knew zero, zilch, nadah about WWI at sea so this was exactly what I needed to better understand the overall conflict. Highly recommended if you're serious about knowing what the Great War at Sea entailed.

Best naval narrative for WW 1.

Covers all the major naval actions between Great Britain and Germany and a broad coverage of the U-boat campaigns and its implications and result, political and martial. Little coverage on German surface raiders. Details the political wrangling behind the scenes on both sides with focus on the British Admiralty. Covers the major events of the war interlaced within the story and the impact of naval policy of both adversaries. Well written and researched. With first rate narration.

Perhaps the best history book I have ever read

Initially, I hesitated to get a book about the naval battles of the First World War. I only thought of the chase of the Emden at the beginning and the Battle of Jutland, and 3ven that seemed to be simply the old “crossing the T” tactic. Little did I know there was a lot - lot more to naval battles of WWI (including Jutland). This author gives life to the entire almost 5 years, all the way through the interment of the High Seas Fleet in Scapa Flow. He also gives very good short biographies of various important personalities, including controversial David Beatty. I listened to the book as I drove my car, and looked forward to each trip. Besides well written, “Castles of Steel” is simply exciting. You feel like you were present in each battle. The narrator was superb. Anyone interested in military history will love this book.

Very Interesting Book

A really interesting topic, one I've honestly never given much mind to, and Massie has clearly done his research. He writes a smooth, clear narrative and does his best to provide color and flesh to the characters who inhabit the story. The narrator, Richard Matthews, does a fantastic job creating small differences in accent to accentuate nationality, and even does decent impersonations of major characters who had distinctive voices (looking at you, Churchill).

My main complaint is that the story seems to focus mostly on the lead-up to the war, and the first year or two. After the Gallipoli Campaign, the book pretty quickly reaches the end and feels a bit hurried.

Fascinating History

The navel history of World War I is critical to understanding the war and therefore all of early 20th century history. This book does an excellent job of presenting this story in a factual but interesting manner. The level of detail makes it plod a bit but overall it is well worth the time.