Spies of the First World War

Best-selling author James Morton tells the story of adventure, heroism and betrayal across Europe from the darkest days of the Great War. He introduces a world of colourful characters and dark underhand dealing in which spies, male and female, driven by love, money, patriotism or a mix of all of them, struggled to survive. The first English officer amateur spies are featured along with their frequently flamboyant French, Belgium and German counterparts - from the 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.

Contents: PART ONE: 1. The early spy novels and Germans in England; 2. The formation of MI5 nd MI6; 3. Pre-First World War German spies in England and abroad; 4. Pre-First World War British and other spies abroad; PART TWO: 5. German spies; 6. The spymasters, English, French and German; 7. Codes and codebreakers; PART THREE: 8. Shot in the tower 1914-1916; 9. The spy survivors; 10. Women spies; 11. German spies in Europe, America and India during the war; 12. After the war was over.

Author: James Morton is the author of The Krays in The National Archives' Crime Archives series and has written many successful books on organised crime. He was previously a defence solicitor.