The Protagonists (Volume One) (The Lion and the Eagle: Anglo-German Naval Confrontation in the Imperial Era - 1815-1914) - Tapa dura

The Lion and the Eagle is a Trilogy describing how Britain and Germany, from being close allies during the Napoleonic wars, became steadily estranged once the newly formed German Empire, already the dominant military force in Europe, set out to challenge British maritime supremacy. It then follows the story through the events of the First World War to the final denouement in 1919, when the remnants of the Kaiser's High Seas Fleet scuttled themselves in Scapa Flow. This first volume, 'The Protagonists', covers the period from 1815 to the outbreak of hostilities in 1914. It introduces the main players on both sides of the divide, and describes the process of progressive alienation that accompanied a naval race which stretched the financial and industrial resources of both nations to the limit. It also seeks to show that the great fleet constructed by Germany was a, if not the, prime cause of her defeat in the subsequent conflict. Not only did it radically alter the balance of power in Europe by ensuring that Britain would become involved on the side of Germany's enemies, it also consumed resources of men, materiel and capital that would have been more effectively devoted to the army. Had this been the case, it is argued that the Great War would probably have been over, in Germany's favour, by Christmas 1914 with all the vast and imponderable consequences for the history of the twentieth century that this would have implied.

Born in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, in 1945, David Gregory was brought up in Newfoundland and Pakistan before completing his education in England. He served in the Royal Navy as a seaman officer during the 1960s before spending six years in the Sea Wing of the Abu Dhabi Defence Force as it grew to become the nucleus of the present day UAE Navy. Subsequently, he worked worldwide in the offshore oil industry as Captain of salvage tugs and support ships. In 1980, having bought and lived on a yacht during leave periods for several years, he became a full time professional yacht skipper. Over the next twenty years, he captained, and supervised building of, vessels for the Saudi and Bahraini royal families, and for an Australian entrepreneur. During this period, he wrote a series of articles for Navy International and became involved in the campaign to preserve HMS Plymouth. In 2000, with his wife, he carried out a resurrection of an old, derelict motor sailor that they then cruised until family concerns required a permanent presence in the UK. David Gregory is now retired and lives in Todmorden, on the Yorkshire/Lancashire border in the Pennines.