UNITED KINGDOM

Historical

(Pre-World War I Materials)

Q - Z

Read, Conyers. Mr. Secretary Walsingham and the Policy of Queen Elizabeth. 3 vols. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925.

Rice, Edward. Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton: The Secret Agent Who Made the Pilgrimage to Mecca, Discovered the Kama Sutra, and Brought the Arabian Nights to the West. New York: Scribner's, 1990.

Ferris, I&NS 7.4, says that he can recommend this biography "only after much hesitation." The author writes well and has a good grasp of certain aspects of Burton's story, but he "entirely misunderstands his subject's role as an intelligence officer and agent of empire in the 'Great Game.'"

Seligmann, Matthew S. Spies in Uniform: British Military and Naval Intelligence on the Eve of the First World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Stevenson, I&NS 21.6 (Dec. 2006), comments that "[t]his book fills a very significant gap in our knowledge of British policy towards Germany" before World War I. The focus is on "the military and naval attachés in Berlin between 1900 and 1914." The author's "lucidly constructed presentation is rich in detail."

For Boghardt, DIJ 16.1 (2007), this is "a fine study of a hitherto underappreciated intelligence provider to the British government.... [It] is highly recommended to anyone interested in Anglo-German relations, pre-World War I intelligence, and the role of service attachés in the intelligence gathering process."

Seligmann, Matthew S. "A View From Berlin: Colonel Frederick Trench and the Development of British Perceptions of German Aggressive Intent, 1906–1910." Journal of Strategic Studies 23, no. 2 (2000).

From abstract: Trench was British military attaché in Berlin from 1906 to 1910. "At this time, the British Army ... had to rely heavily on the reports of military attachés for information about their continental rivals. Trench, who believed that Germany planned to wage war against Britain..., was the main source of data on the German Army. From the limited surviving records of who read these reports and how they responded to them, this essay posits that Trench’s views contributed to the growing British perception of a German threat, a perception that did much to influence British strategic planning in this period."

Seligmann, Matthew S., ed. Naval Intelligence from Germany: The Reports of the British Naval Attachés in Berlin, 1906-1914. Navy Records Society no. 152. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007.

According to Bönker, H-Soz-u-Kult, H-Net Reviews [http://www.h-net.org], Jun. 2008, there are 222 of these reports included in this "extremely useful collection of primary documents meant to provide insight into British thinking about Germany and its navy during the Anglo-German naval arms race before World War I."

Seth, Ronald. Spy in Silk Breeches: The Story of Montagu Fox, 18th Century Admiralty Agent Extraordinary. London: Frewin, 1968. [Chambers]

Sheffy, Yigal. "British Intelligence and the Middle East, 1900-1918: How Much Do We Know?" Intelligence and National Security 17, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 33-52.

Until World War I, "almost no institutionalized British intelligence agency functioned in the region on a permanent basis." The coming of the war "completely altered the picture." There are sufficient primary sources available to allow serious study within a broad context of the functioning of the British intelligence apparatus in the Middle East during the first two decades of the 20th century. However, "available evidence remains obscure and fragmentary with regard to the inner mechanism of the system."

Sheffy, Yigal. "Une convergence d'intérêts collaboration entre les services secrets français et britanniques au Levant pendant la Première Guerre mondiale." In De Bonaparte à Balfour: La France, L'Europe occidentale et la Palestine, 1799-1917, eds. Dominique Trimbur and Ran Aaronson, 89-107. Paris: CNRS Editions, 2001.

Sloan, Geoff. "Dartmouth, Sir Mansfield Cumming and the Origins of the British Intelligence Community." Intelligence and National Security 22, no. 2 (Apr. 2007): 298-305.

The author suggests that the process of institutionalization that led to intelligence becoming an integral part of the British government was linked to the "education and training" that three of the early leaders of British intelligence -- Mansfield Smith (Cumming), Hugh Sinclair, and William Hall -- received at the naval training facility at Dartmouth.

Smith, Bradley F. "The Birth of SIS: A Newly Released Document." Intelligence and National Security 13, no. 2 (Summer 1998): 183-189.

Smith provides brief background and commentary on the newly released "record of the second session of the 1909 Sub-Committee on Intelligence (of the Committee of Imperial Defence)" with regard to the formation of the Secret Intelligence Service. The document itself is reproduced at pages 185-189.

Sparrow, Elizabeth. Secret Service: British Agents in France 1792-1815. London: Boydell & Brewer, 1999.

Crossland, Sunday Times (London), 20 Feb. 2000, notes that the author brings "impressive scholarship" to her work (such as, tracking down "a secret-service archive tucked away in the vaults of the old Public Record Office ... for nearly 200 years"). However, she "too often allows her research to get in the way of a good story."

For Romans, I&NS 16.3, this is an "invaluable overview," with the author reaching beyond the limits of the subtitle to cover the operations of British agents "from the Baltics to the Middle East and against both the Revolution and Napoleon." Although Sparrow's "tendency to include superfluous material can make the narrative impenetrable" and "some ... attributions should be viewed with caution," her "identification of numerous operatives and the webs along which their information flowed has rendered a tremendous service to historians of this period."

Spiers, Edward M. "Intelligence and Command in Britain's Small Colonial Wars of the 1890s." Intelligence and National Security 22, no. 5 (Oct. 2007): 661-681.

The author reviews the lessons from two campaigns -- Sudan (1896-1899) and South Africa (1899-1902). "Intelligence may not have decided the outcome in either of these conflicts but it certainly affected command decisions, tactical choices, and the evolution of British operations in the face of new conditions of warfare."

Urban, Mark. The Man Who Broke Napoleon's Codes. New York: HarperCollins, 2001.

Brooks, NIPQ 19.1/2, says that this "history of the Peninsula campaign ... is engagingly written and provides unique insights into Wellington's strengths and ... weaknesses. The story is woven around the [cryptologic] contributions" of Lt. Col. George Scovell.

According to Kruh, Cryptologia 26.4, the author "chronicles Wellington's campaigns against the French from the battle of Corunna in 1809 to the 1815 victory at Waterloo, showing how Scovell's decoding of enemy communications was pivotal to Napoleon's defeat. This is an excellent book about a little known code breaker who helped to change the face of history."

Goulden, Washington Times, 7 Dec. 2003, and Intelligencer 14.1, calls this an "astounding work of historical research... [N]ot a single historain or biographer has addressed the significance" of the work of Scovell to Wellington's victories. This is "[a] good read, even for those of us who are happily ignorant of the mechanics of code breaking."

Watson, Vera. "Spy in the Committee of Public Safety." History Today 9 (Oct. 1959): 672-680.

Calder: "Discusses the British penetration of the French Committee of Public Safety.... Executions were held to clean out the spies, but the espionage continued."

Wharam, Alan. Treason: Some Famous English Treason Trials. Wolfeboro Falls, NH: Alan Sutton Publishing, 1995. Stroud, UK: Phoenix Mill, 1995.

Surveillant 4.3: "Famous treason trials from the Earl of Essex to 'Lord Haw Haw' in 1946."

Winstone, H.V.F. The Illicit Adventure: The Story of Political and Military Intelligence in the Middle East, 1898-1926. London: Cape, 1982. Frederick, MD: UPA, 1982.

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