Secret Warriors

by Taylor Downing

Overview

World War I is often viewed as a war fought by armies of millions living and fighting in trenches, aided by brutal machinery that cost the lives of many. But behind all of this an intellectual war was also being fought between engineers, chemists, code-breakers, physicists, doctors, mathematicians, and intelligence gatherers. This hidden war was to make a positive and lasting contribution to how war was conducted on land, at sea, and in the air, and most importantly, life at home.Secret Warriors provides an invaluable and fresh history of the World War I, profiling a number of the key incidents and figures which lead to great leaps forward for the twentieth Century. Told in a lively and colorful narrative style, Secret Warriors reveals the unknown side of this tragic conflict.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781605987507
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	04/15/2015
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	464
Sales rank:	512,696
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Taylor Downing read history at Cambridge University. His most recent books published in Britain include Spies in the Sky, 1983: The World at the Brink, Churchill's War Lab, Breakdown, Cold War, and Night Raid. He lives in England.
Taylor Downing read history at Cambridge University. His most recent books include 1942: Winston Churchill and Britain's Darkest Hour; Spies in the Sky; 1983: The World at the Brink; Churchill's War Lab; Breakdown; Cold War; and Night Raid. He lives in England.

Table of Contents

Prologue 1

1 New Century, New World 13

Part 1 Aviators

2 The Pioneers 41

3 The New Science 62

4 Observing the War 75

Part 2 Code Breakers

5 Room 40 101

6 The Great Game 124

Part 3 Engineers and Chemists

7 The Gunners' War 149

8 The Yellow-Green Cloud 173

9 Breaking the Stalemate 191

Part 4 Doctors and Surgeons

10 The Body 213

11 The Mind 241

Part 5 Propagandists

12 The War of Words 269

13 The War in Pictures 290

14 Masters of Information 315

Epilogue - The First Boffins 335

Who's Who of Secret Warriors 359

Acknowledgements 383

Endnotes 385

Bibliography 405

Index 413

About the Author 439

Editorial Reviews

★ 02/09/2015
Downing (Spies in the Sky), a British TV producer and writer, offers an ingenious history that sets aside WWI’s immense slaughter in order to concentrate on those who labored behind the scenes (primarily in Britain). Though he fails to provide a unifying theme (an introductory chapter attempts to do so by describing the world-changing 19th-century advancements that defined the pre-WWI era), few readers will complain as they proceed through five unrelated but completely engrossing sections on aviation, intelligence, weapons, medicine, and communication. Even readers familiar with Bletchley Park’s dazzling feats in WWII will marvel at how Britain was able to decipher Germany’s military and diplomatic codes nearly from the start of WWI. Downing’s fine history of the war’s most notable weapons—machine guns, tanks, poison gas—precedes chapters giving even finer histories of vast advances in surgery (90% of wounded soldiers in WWI survived, versus 60% during the American Civil War) and sanitation (10% of deaths stemmed from disease in WWI, versus 70% in the Civil War). He also outlines how Hitler and Goebbels admired and emulated Britain’s surprisingly effective journalism and propaganda operations during WWI, which have been adopted by countries at war ever since. For better or worse, these military developments remain with us, and Downing delivers a riveting account of how they happened. B&w photos. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Taylor Downing's vivid account brings alive this important turning point in military history with flair and pace.

Andy McNab

A fascinating read and a significant contribution to the history of World War II.

Professor David Reynolds

Vivid and fast-paced.

The Financial Times (on Churchill's War Lab)

Taylor Downing's brilliant research has created a ripping yarn.

The Sunday Express (on Spies in the Sky)

02/15/2015
Downing (Churchill's War Lab; Spies in the Sky) discusses the role of scientific advancement in the unfolding of World War I and divides his narrative into five sections: aviators such as John Moore-Brabazon, code breakers such as Alexander Denniston; engineers and chemists such as Chaim Weizmann, the first president of Israel; doctors and surgeons such as Harold Gillies, who later pioneered sexual reassignment surgery; and propagandists such as newspaper baron Lord Beaverbrook, a member of Winston Churchill's cabinet. A helpful appendix, "Who's Who of Secret Warriors," contains brief biographical sketches of the more than 20 major players, many of whom were affiliated with Churchill in some aspect. In general, the content is engaging, providing an in-depth look at a subject that doesn't get its fair share of discussion within the military history genre. While history buffs will feel right at home, general readers of nonfiction may be put off by the frequent topic changes and nonlinear story thread, which at times makes this account read a bit like an exciting textbook. However, this is a very successful work. Downing's voice is clear and highly readable. VERDICT This volume should be of interest to most readers, especially those interested in military history.—John Helling, Bloomfield-Eastern Greene Cty. P.L., IN

Library Journal

2014-12-15
TV producer and writer Downing (Night Raid: The True Story of the First Victorious British Para Raid of WWII, 2013, etc.) recounts the complete transformation of warfare during World War I, the first industrialized war.The author tracks innovations in aviation, code-breaking, the chemistry and engineering of weapons, medical breakthroughs and the birth of the art of propaganda. Gone was the idea of a gentleman's war; spying and even chemical warfare were fair game. Those who felt things were "just not done" were overruled by the endless stalemate of trench warfare and brutality of chemical attacks. England's scientific community successfully overcame pure science's prejudice against applied science. With help from civilian inventors, they created airplanes that were capable of reconnaissance over the trenches. Within six hours of the declaration of war, the British cut five German cables in the North Sea and English Channel, forcing Germany to rely on wireless communication. Pure luck had handed British codebreakers three code books—one found by the Russians, one by an Australian and a third picked up by a fishing trawler. Each new invention led to another: Grenades demonstrated the need for steel helmets; chemical warfare required gas masks; planes flying recon needed aerial photography. With so many casualties, doctors needed to perfect quick fixes to return soldiers to the front, and there were vast improvements in blood transfusions, plastic surgery for horrific facial wounds, and psychology for shell shock. The greatest difficulty was convincing the Army officials; they obstructed, rejected and denied innovations that could have shortened the war. Tanks, the single most important tool in breaking the stalemate, weren't used successfully until November 1917. A meticulously detailed, welcome addition to the literature of World War I, the "first ‘total' war in which all the resources of the state were involved."

Kirkus Reviews