Land bridge to Britain

Lewx

Let's say that an ancient, medieval or early modern ruler (someone relatively unhinged, like Caligula) decides to smash to pieces mountains and dump it on the English channel (Calais-Dover), creating a massive pier, which is drawn out until it connects Europe with Great Britain.

Would it theoretically have been possible?
 
Colonel Levnekov

Colonel Levnekov

Lewx said:
Let's say that an ancient, medieval or early modern ruler (someone relatively unhinged, like Caligula) decides to smash to pieces mountains and dump it on the English channel (Calais-Dover), creating a massive pier, which is drawn out until it connects Europe with Great Britain.

Would it theoretically have been possible?
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With the technology back then, the short answer is no.

Even with Cold War tech, it still took 6 years to build the Channel Tunnel. With much less advanced tech, and other factors to consider, I don't see anyone until perhaps the Industrial Revolution even trying to attempt it.

Someone might try, and maybe there could be small extensions. But an entire land bridge? No way in hell.
 

funnyhat

Per wikipedia, the average depth of the Strait of Dover/Pas de Calais is 30 meters (98 feet). So that's not very doable.

Also, there aren't any mountains in the area. The nearby region is called the Low Countries, after all. People along the coast needed all the soil, rocks and whatnot they could find to build barriers to protect themselves from the sea.
 

Lewx

funnyhat said:
Per wikipedia, the average depth of the Strait of Dover/Pas de Calais is 30 meters (98 feet). So that's not very doable.

Also, there aren't any mountains in the area. The nearby region is called the Low Countries, after all. People along the coast needed all the soil, rocks and whatnot they could find to build barriers to protect themselves from the sea.
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Caligula would probably have transported stones from the Alps if he got that idea.
 
Alcsentre Calanice

Alcsentre Calanice

Gone Fishin'
An additional question: Would, beside of the financial and logistic problems, a bridge be possible in Roman times? A stone bridge, notabene.
 
Colonel Levnekov

Colonel Levnekov

Lewx said:
Caligula would probably have transported stones from the Alps if he got that idea.
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And how would he get the stones there? :rolleyes:

Remember, that there's not even viable transports to getting to Britain. Even if one was to attempt it, what's the point? You could just take a boat to Britain, and it's not like going from Beijing to Archangelsk by boat during the winter.
 

jahenders

Banned
When i saw the title, I thought this was going to be a thread about "WI there was a pre-existing land bridge permanently connecting England to France?" That could be interesting -- the channel couldn't be transitted, people could cross to England without a navy, etc. It might change the British view on a Navy, but would definitely mean that the Brits and France would probably have big forts on either end. Heck, depending on how wide the bridge was, it might make Napoleon's efforts and/or Sea Lion doable, or could even change thoughts on the natural borders of countries.
 
floppy_seal99

floppy_seal99

Colonel Levnekov said:
And how would he get the stones there? :rolleyes:
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I'm sure Caligula was an IRL Minecraft genius- remember, opening your inventory is incredibly easy. (At least he probably thought he was) You can transport 100s of heavy 1m x 1m x 1m granite bricks on a single person for however long you want over however many miles!

jahenders said:
When i saw the title, I thought this was going to be a thread about "WI there was a pre-existing land bridge permanently connecting England to France?" That could be interesting -- the channel couldn't be transitted, people could cross to England without a navy, etc. It might change the British view on a Navy, but would definitely mean that the Brits and France would probably have big forts on either end. Heck, depending on how wide the bridge was, it might make Napoleon's efforts and/or Sea Lion doable, or could even change thoughts on the natural borders of countries.
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SEA LION IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE ASB!!! :p. Still, this might actually be the only way. Until the UK uses heavy machinery to take a nice, fat chunk out of the land bridge and build a large drawbridge in its place. That'll stop the Germans from getting over.
 

funnyhat

jahenders said:
When i saw the title, I thought this was going to be a thread about "WI there was a pre-existing land bridge permanently connecting England to France?" That could be interesting -- the channel couldn't be transitted, people could cross to England without a navy, etc. It might change the British view on a Navy, but would definitely mean that the Brits and France would probably have big forts on either end. Heck, depending on how wide the bridge was, it might make Napoleon's efforts and/or Sea Lion doable, or could even change thoughts on the natural borders of countries.
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If there had always been a land bridge, making Great Britain a peninsula instead of an island, European history would be entirely different. You can't assume there would be a country called England. It may well have become part of Charlemagne's empire and who knows what happens from there?
 

DominusNovus

funnyhat said:
If there had always been a land bridge, making Great Britain a peninsula instead of an island, European history would be entirely different. You can't assume there would be a country called England. It may well have become part of Charlemagne's empire and who knows what happens from there?
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Why assume there would be a Charlemagne? An actual land bridge would change pre-history, let alone known hidtory.
 
Osakadave

Osakadave

Yeah, the title implies a lasting*Weald–Artois anticline land bridge, which would have resulted in far earlier human habitation of GB. And that, in turn, would have butterflied European prehistory and history well and beyond Charlemagne, Napoleon, or Uncle Adolf.
 

Circonflexe

I think that a few month ago we determined that dumping big rocks in the Channel was actually one of the more feasible ways for Napoléon to invade Britain.
 

riggerrob

Merely shift your POD back 15,000 years to the last Ice Age. Sea levels were 300 feet (100 metres) lower because of all that water trapped in glaciers. Humans routinely walked and hunted on the exposed Dogger Banks between Holland and England.
 
Artaxerxes

Artaxerxes

Banned
jahenders said:
When i saw the title, I thought this was going to be a thread about "WI there was a pre-existing land bridge permanently connecting England to France?" That could be interesting -- the channel couldn't be transitted, people could cross to England without a navy, etc. It might change the British view on a Navy, but would definitely mean that the Brits and France would probably have big forts on either end. Heck, depending on how wide the bridge was, it might make Napoleon's efforts and/or Sea Lion doable, or could even change thoughts on the natural borders of countries.
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So Doggerland?

http://log.doggerland.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/doggerland4.png

http://log.doggerland.net/2010/10/21/a-hypothetical-landscape/

https://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/archaeology/research/projects/title_89282_en.html
 

god....freyjones

Banned
roman construction was in some ways superior to our own.

But then even then and now we couldn't build a structure such as described. sourcing the material would be fine, and the English Channel compared to many ocean waterways is shallow (50 metres average is nothing compared to the deep oceans). But even then, the water pressures would eventually crack it up, and the maintenance on it would be high. A bridge could work, if the UK PM (or England, if the UK even exists then lol.) and French President agree a treaty in 2050/60 or something, it could happen. China already has the world's longest bridge, and this is more than 18 miles.
 

Somedevil

god....freyjones said:
roman construction was in some ways superior to our own.

But then even then and now we couldn't build a structure such as described. sourcing the material would be fine, and the English Channel compared to many ocean waterways is shallow (50 metres average is nothing compared to the deep oceans). But even then, the water pressures would eventually crack it up, and the maintenance on it would be high. A bridge could work, if the UK PM (or England, if the UK even exists then lol.) and French President agree a treaty in 2050/60 or something, it could happen. China already has the world's longest bridge, and this is more than 18 miles.
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Yeah Modern Times it would not be that hard. but pre 1900 and especially roman times nope.
 
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