The Ultimate Enemy Chapter Summaries

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Published in 1985 by Cornell University Press, The Ultimate Enemy: British Intelligence and Nazi Germany, 1933-1939 is a scholarly piece, focusing on Britain’s use of their intelligence services in the years prior to the outbreak of the second world war. Authored by the historian, professor and scholar, Wesley K. Wark. Wark studied previously unpublished documents from the British government to gather information for the subject matter. His focus throughout the book is in a few subject areas; the growth of British intelligence in the time period, why Britain formed the policies it did regarding Nazi Germany, how, even with multiple intelligence agencies employed, the overall intelligence image became skewed, and reasons for the decisions made by British leadership. The Ultimate Enemy has been reviewed by multiple …show more content…
Farrar Jr. for the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Farrar focuses less on explaining the division of branches causing Britain’s skewed intelligence picture but still concludes that, that the competing intelligence factions were a main source of problems from the time period. Farrar does well summarizing the book in a way that does not simply go through the book chapter by chapter. He includes various quotes from Wark that help convey key ideas throughout The Ultimate Enemy. Farrar adds more of his view and the theme he found regarding Britain’s appeasement, than Gollin does in the previous review. He attempts to sum the main point into one sentence, saying, “since appeasement failed, intelligence failed.” Farrar does touch more on the notion that even if the intelligence was gathered in a more effective way that Britain’s preconceptions about Germany may not have been overturn. He ends his review by introducing the idea that even with better intelligence, the British appeasement may have been the best route, instead of taking Germany to war before they had built up their military