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Part One Hundred Thirty-Two: British Invasion Literature
Next update's done. I had another section planned for this but didn't really feel like writing it yet, so this update's a little shorter.
Part One Hundred Thirty-Two: British Invasion Literature
The Great War and the turn of the shifting geopolitical reality with the rise of Germany and the United States as world powers had a significant impact on the literature of the era. One of the curious hallmarks of the era's culture is the rise in popularity of "invasion literature" in Britain and around the Empire. This genre of literature began largely in the 1870s following the Second Napoleonic War and the resurgence of France as a power. One of the founding examples of the genre was The Battle of Guildford, written by George Tomkyns Chesney[1] and published in 1872. Chesney was a lieutenant in the Second Napoleonic War serving both on the Spanish front and in Britain. Chesney lamented the state of the British armed forces in the war, and after the French victory he used The Battle of Guildford to bring the nation's attention to the poor state of Britain's defenses[2]. The Battle of Guildford has the French continuing to rise after the Second Napoleonic War, and launching an invasion of southern England in the 1880s after conquering Belgium and the Netherlands. The book provides a detailed account of the last British line of defense in Guildford south of London. The poor state of training in the army due to Irish conscription and poor morale after the destruction of the Royal Navy by the French lead to the British losing the battle and the French occupying London and dismantling the British Empire with support from the United States. The Battle of Guildford was originally published as a serial, and was later compiled into a novel in 1884.
While The Battle of Guildford and other early stories in the invasion genre with a successful invasion of the British Isles, later stories in the invasion genre were mixed on the outcome. Particularly, in the early 1900s and especially following the Battle of Flamborough Head, British invasion literature increasingly ended with Great Britain victorious and repelling the invasion force. This also marked a surge in popularity of the genre in Great Britain, with hundreds of serials being published about a hypothetical invasion of Britain. William Le Queux and Edgar Wallace are some of the more prominent authors to have written invasion literature, with both authors' works having Britain triumphant. Le Queux gained particular notoriety for his series The Invasion of 1910, published in the Daily Mail in 1906 prior to the outbreak of the Great War. The Invasion of 1910 featured a German invasion of northeast England that turned out very similar to the actual German invasion five years later. The Daily Mail's nationalistic bent made it a common publishing medium for invasion literature during this time, and regularly published Le Queux's serials. Le Queux also gained fame in Britain for penning some of the first modern spy fiction, with his Secrets of the Foreign Office stories. These stories involved British agent Alfred Harmsway, who repeatedly foiled plots by the French, Germans, and Russians to undermine British interests on the continent and unite it in alliance against Britain. Because of the active promotion of Le Queux's work by newspaper magnate Lord Thanet[3], who owned several major papers at the time including the Daily Mail.
While Great Britain was the main producer of invasion literature during this time period, the genre spread to other countries around the world and influenced science fiction. Geographically, authors in other countries also produced invasion literature to encourage militarism in their respective countries. William Le Queux wrote another invasion serial, The Copenhagen Interpretation, in 1912 about a German invasion of Denmark repulsed by Danish and British forces that gained a large readership in Denmark. Other examples of invasion literature at the time include a novel recounting a Russian occupation of Germany and stories depicting a Korean invasion and occupation of Japan. In particular is the story Still Wind or Madakaze in Japanese, by Shunro Oshikawa. Oshikawa combined the Korean occupation with a science fiction element to make Madakaze one of the pioneering examples of Japanese science fiction. The infusion of science fiction into the invasion genre also occurred in European and American stories. French writers Arnold Galopin and Eugene Torquet both wrote stories of invasions of France by alien forces[4]. Galopin's Guerre de l'Ether in 1913 featured his Doctor Omega character fending off a Venusian landing in Normandy, and gained a following throughout France. In the United States, it would be pioneering science fiction author Edgar Rice Burroughs who brought the invasion genre to the country. Burroughs' 1915 and 1916 serials, later compiled into the Carson Napier collection, depicted a civilization on Mars landing on Earth in the northwestern United States. The main character, the eponymous Carson Napier, fights off the invasion force and in later serials steals one of the invading ships and takes the fight to Mars itself[5]. While the early stories of the Carson Napier series are more typical invasion literature, the series also is one of the first to heavily expand upon the Martian culture and civilization and influenced the depiction of alien civilizations in science fiction going forward.
[1] Chesney wrote The Battle of Dorking in OTL.
[2] This was the original reasoning for invasion literature in OTL as well. The Battle of Dorking was published to convince the British public a larger military was needed after the Franco-Prussian War.
[3] OTL Alfred Harmsworth, Lord Northcliffe, also owner of the Daily Mail and a major patron of Le Queux's. Alfred Harmsworth is also partly where I got the TTL Secrets of the Foreign Office protagonist's name from (the other is for the 'in harm's way' pun
).
[4] Jules Verne? You mean the mediocre playwright who worked with Aristide Hignard?
[5] I cobbled the summary from a mix of plot elements from the Barsoom series, the Amtor series, War of the Worlds, and possibly the Flash Gordon serials.
Part One Hundred Thirty-Two: British Invasion Literature
The Great War and the turn of the shifting geopolitical reality with the rise of Germany and the United States as world powers had a significant impact on the literature of the era. One of the curious hallmarks of the era's culture is the rise in popularity of "invasion literature" in Britain and around the Empire. This genre of literature began largely in the 1870s following the Second Napoleonic War and the resurgence of France as a power. One of the founding examples of the genre was The Battle of Guildford, written by George Tomkyns Chesney[1] and published in 1872. Chesney was a lieutenant in the Second Napoleonic War serving both on the Spanish front and in Britain. Chesney lamented the state of the British armed forces in the war, and after the French victory he used The Battle of Guildford to bring the nation's attention to the poor state of Britain's defenses[2]. The Battle of Guildford has the French continuing to rise after the Second Napoleonic War, and launching an invasion of southern England in the 1880s after conquering Belgium and the Netherlands. The book provides a detailed account of the last British line of defense in Guildford south of London. The poor state of training in the army due to Irish conscription and poor morale after the destruction of the Royal Navy by the French lead to the British losing the battle and the French occupying London and dismantling the British Empire with support from the United States. The Battle of Guildford was originally published as a serial, and was later compiled into a novel in 1884.
While The Battle of Guildford and other early stories in the invasion genre with a successful invasion of the British Isles, later stories in the invasion genre were mixed on the outcome. Particularly, in the early 1900s and especially following the Battle of Flamborough Head, British invasion literature increasingly ended with Great Britain victorious and repelling the invasion force. This also marked a surge in popularity of the genre in Great Britain, with hundreds of serials being published about a hypothetical invasion of Britain. William Le Queux and Edgar Wallace are some of the more prominent authors to have written invasion literature, with both authors' works having Britain triumphant. Le Queux gained particular notoriety for his series The Invasion of 1910, published in the Daily Mail in 1906 prior to the outbreak of the Great War. The Invasion of 1910 featured a German invasion of northeast England that turned out very similar to the actual German invasion five years later. The Daily Mail's nationalistic bent made it a common publishing medium for invasion literature during this time, and regularly published Le Queux's serials. Le Queux also gained fame in Britain for penning some of the first modern spy fiction, with his Secrets of the Foreign Office stories. These stories involved British agent Alfred Harmsway, who repeatedly foiled plots by the French, Germans, and Russians to undermine British interests on the continent and unite it in alliance against Britain. Because of the active promotion of Le Queux's work by newspaper magnate Lord Thanet[3], who owned several major papers at the time including the Daily Mail.
While Great Britain was the main producer of invasion literature during this time period, the genre spread to other countries around the world and influenced science fiction. Geographically, authors in other countries also produced invasion literature to encourage militarism in their respective countries. William Le Queux wrote another invasion serial, The Copenhagen Interpretation, in 1912 about a German invasion of Denmark repulsed by Danish and British forces that gained a large readership in Denmark. Other examples of invasion literature at the time include a novel recounting a Russian occupation of Germany and stories depicting a Korean invasion and occupation of Japan. In particular is the story Still Wind or Madakaze in Japanese, by Shunro Oshikawa. Oshikawa combined the Korean occupation with a science fiction element to make Madakaze one of the pioneering examples of Japanese science fiction. The infusion of science fiction into the invasion genre also occurred in European and American stories. French writers Arnold Galopin and Eugene Torquet both wrote stories of invasions of France by alien forces[4]. Galopin's Guerre de l'Ether in 1913 featured his Doctor Omega character fending off a Venusian landing in Normandy, and gained a following throughout France. In the United States, it would be pioneering science fiction author Edgar Rice Burroughs who brought the invasion genre to the country. Burroughs' 1915 and 1916 serials, later compiled into the Carson Napier collection, depicted a civilization on Mars landing on Earth in the northwestern United States. The main character, the eponymous Carson Napier, fights off the invasion force and in later serials steals one of the invading ships and takes the fight to Mars itself[5]. While the early stories of the Carson Napier series are more typical invasion literature, the series also is one of the first to heavily expand upon the Martian culture and civilization and influenced the depiction of alien civilizations in science fiction going forward.
[1] Chesney wrote The Battle of Dorking in OTL.
[2] This was the original reasoning for invasion literature in OTL as well. The Battle of Dorking was published to convince the British public a larger military was needed after the Franco-Prussian War.
[3] OTL Alfred Harmsworth, Lord Northcliffe, also owner of the Daily Mail and a major patron of Le Queux's. Alfred Harmsworth is also partly where I got the TTL Secrets of the Foreign Office protagonist's name from (the other is for the 'in harm's way' pun
).[4] Jules Verne? You mean the mediocre playwright who worked with Aristide Hignard?
[5] I cobbled the summary from a mix of plot elements from the Barsoom series, the Amtor series, War of the Worlds, and possibly the Flash Gordon serials.
- wilcoxchar
- Word Count: 1k