Fortress Britain: All the Invasions and Incursions since 1066

by Ian Hernon

Overview

The British have not been backward in coming forward when it comes to aggressive visits abroad. But it hasn't all been one way. In 1193 for example, the Danes teamed up with the most persistent offenders, the French, for a full-scale invasion. The French Prince Louis the Lion came close to success exactly 150 years after the Battle of Hastings. The 100 Years War saw multiple raids on British towns and ports by the Spanish and French. Following the Armada, there was the bloodless invasion of 1688, Bonnie Prince Charlie's march south, the remarkable American John Paul Jones' attack on Whitehaven during the American War of Independence, the German occupation of the Channel Islands and—the great what if of British, perhaps world history—the threat of Operation Sealion. Ian Hernon brings his journalistic flair to bear in this dramatic narrative of the survival of an island race over 900 years—sometimes, surprisingly, against the odds. Whilst such a history (one leaving out the boring bits) is bound to entertain, it also cannot fail to inform: where were shots last exchanged with an enemy on the mainland? At Graveney Marsh in Kent.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780752497129
Publisher:	The History Press
Publication date:	11/01/2013
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction 7

1 After Hastings 9

2 King Louis of England? 15

3 The Hundred Years' War 31

4 The Pretenders 47

5 Henry's Castles and the Invasion of the Isle of Wight 53

6 The Spanish Armada 62

7 Mousehole 76

8 The Barbary Pirates 82

9 The Battle of the Medway 95

10 The 'Glorious' Invasion 109

11 The French Armada of 1692 126

12 The Jacobite Invasion of England 133

13 The Choiseul Plan 148

14 John Paul Jones 159

15 The Battle of Fishguard 170

16 The Napoleon Threat and Britain's' Great Terror' 185

17 Threats from America and Germany 193

18 Operation Sea Lion 198

19 The Battle of Graveney Marsh 215

20 The Occupation of the Channel Islands 218

Conclusions 227

Appendix 1 Chroniclers' Accounts of the 1377 Raids 231

Appendix 2 Later History of Castles and Fortifications Featured 234

Appendix 3 Samuel Pepys's Diary Extracts 243

Appendix 4 Martello Towers 252

Appendix 5 Pillboxes 256

Bibliography and Sources 260

Index 267