Spies of the First World War: Under Cover for King and Kaiser [first edition]

This is the first popular history to reveal espionage activity across Europe - Germany, Britain, Holland, Belgium, France - from the early 20th century to after the First World War. It has remarkable range and depth of coverage, using original MI5 records and sources in The National Archives and elsewhere and tells the stories of international agents, their handlers and pursuers told in their own words.In Spies of the First World War best-selling author James Morton tells the story of organized espionage in Britain from spy fever early in the 20th century to the end of the First World War and the rise of air intelligence. He introduces a world of colorful characters and dark underhand dealing in which spies, male and female, driven by love, money, patriotism or a mix of them all, struggled to survive. The first English officer amateur spies are featured along with their frequently flamboyant French, Belgian and German counterparts - from hunchback dentist Wilhelm Klauer to the Grande (and lesser) horizontales such as Mata Hari. So too are their controllers such as authors John Buchan and Somerset Maugham and men like Richard Tinsley who oversaw a network of some 2000 spies from Holland. As professionalism grew great successes emerged – not least the deciphering of the intercepted Zimmerman telegram – along with notable failures. Morton tackles both in a meticulously researched narrative that balances the history of espionage with the human stories of individuals and tales of heroism with cowardice, incompetence and betrayal.