John Ferris is a giant figure in espionage, both through his pioneering work in British intelligence and in his studies of British strategic history. This volume selects his best essays of the past fifteen years. Many of these have been rewritten to incorporate recently released evidence. Archives once closed have been opened, providing fascinating new findings and making possible a reconsideration of British naval, air and military operations in the two world wars, and of its diplomacy during the interwar years. This superb new book brings these fascinating developments to life. The Berlin wall which once separated diplomatic and military history has fallen, while international and strategic history have provided new means for understanding power and war in recent times. These works span the period from the 1870s to the 1940s. They include studies of how intelligence affected British policy during the great eastern crisis and the appeasement eras, of naval and air policy during the interwar years, of the transmission of British techniques for naval aviation to the Japanese navy, of the development of British signals intelligence, of British signals, signals security and the desert campaign, of how ULTRA affected the Second World War and of how intelligence is related to classical theories of war.

They will greatly interest any student of intelligence and strategic history.