No, instead they had the flat-bottomed boat, which would have been even worse at crossing the Channel - heck, most of them would have sunk shortly after leaving Boulogne.Did the French even have river barges back then?
No, instead they had the flat-bottomed boat, which would have been even worse at crossing the Channel - heck, most of them would have sunk shortly after leaving Boulogne.Did the French even have river barges back then?
Napoleon simply could not get an army across the Channel.
I do not say the French cannot come, I only say they cannot come by sea
No, instead they had the flat-bottomed boat, which would have been even worse at crossing the Channel - heck, most of them would have sunk shortly after leaving Boulogne.
It is an absurd idea in reality, but I'd love to see Napoleon go "Bugger the fleet", and just do an Alexander The Great and build a massive bloody causeway between Calais and Dover - fortified with cannons and emplacements as it went.
I dread to think how long it would take to build, but it'd be a true wonder to see. 20 miles of rock shipped from across continental Europe? It'd be a horror.
well, yes, there was talk of a tunnel, and some of hot-air balloons...
So, this might be crazy, but does anyone have numbers on how much stone was being produced in Europe in this era? My quick estimate of how much stone this would take puts it about 20 pyramids worth, so this might technically be possible. It would be the largest engineering project of its era but if production was high enough, it would be possible if highly improbable.
I could hardly imagine what the British would think as a slowly creeping mass of land began creeping forward carrying with it the great hordes of the Grande Armée. It's something that is just crazy enough that it might work. As it got close, I imagine there would be a near continual bombardment day and night which would destroy most fortifications and turn the region into the closest thing to Hell humanity had achieved so far.I've always daydreamed of building a half stone, half wood giant causeway to the white cliffs of Dover. Problem is in my daydreams, I am immediately confronted by the largest fortification ever built in human history on the opposite side. If, however, I can figure out a way to build a giant cannon on the scale of the German WWII railroad siege guns, I should be good...
The flat-bottomed boats were the most seaworthy objects of the time, but they could float and move, assuming good weather conditions. In septembre 1803, the Calais flotilla had an inconclusive encounter with an english light squadron, but ended up to regroup with the Boulogne flotilla. If the French prames were such carpenters' mistakes, they could not have done it.
So far as the hope of even a third of these 1,200 boats navigating in battle order - they are poorly built, heavy, overloaded - across the heavy seas, currents and winds of the Channel, it's an absurdity which reveals the greatest ignorance of the elements in which this tactical march would be carried out
I could hardly imagine what the British would think as a slowly creeping mass of land began creeping forward carrying with it the great hordes of the Grande Armée. It's something that is just crazy enough that it might work. As it got close, I imagine there would be a near continual bombardment day and night which would destroy most fortifications and turn the region into the closest thing to Hell humanity had achieved so far.
The causeway idea boggles the mind. I wonder what the early 19th century English equivalent of "You have got to be shitting me, Pyle" would have been.
The causeway idea boggles the mind. I wonder what the early 19th century English equivalent of "You have got to be shitting me, Pyle" would have been.
Someone has got to perform a scientific study on what exactly is required to build this causeway. And I mean not just how much stone should be thrown into the ocean, but how many railroad ties, how many carts, how many cannon, how many men, how many man-hours and rations for those men.
Then we need to compare this with equally in-depth analyses of building a fleet of balloons and a tunnel. And we should then compare all three to what it would take to conquer all of Eurasia and Africa and daring the British to blockade it all.
Just imagine the captain of a merchant ship from America heading for Saint Petersburg that comes across the monstrosity and realizes that he's going to have to go around the entire island now.The causeway idea boggles the mind. I wonder what the early 19th century English equivalent of "You have got to be shitting me, Pyle" would have been.