When was the last time a nation could invade Britain before 1900.

When was the last time another nation had the navy to beat and then invade the British isles before 1900 and after the HYW, and how succesful would they be when they landed.
 
A French invasion of Britain might have been possible at several points during the 18th century. Britain had naval superiority throughout the period, but not the decisive supremacy that would make an invasion ASB rather than merely difficult.


Three key differences between the 18th century and later periods:
  1. Britain's margin of naval superiority was smaller. The French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars were a major turning point here. The French Navy's officer corps was gutted by the Revolution and the Reign of Terror, France and Spain lost most of their warships in a series of disastrous naval battles, the long blockade took its toll on the population of skilled sailors, and the British fleet was built up to enforce the blockade and ensure decisive superiority.
  2. Supplies were less of an issue. Armies were small enough with a light enough logistical footprint to carry supplies with them and eke them out with local goods (purchased, captured, or plundered), so it could be sufficient to gain local naval superiority for just long enough to transport and disembark the invasion force and their supply train. In the Napoleonic period and later, a successful invasion would have required holding a supply line open across the Channel until Britain sued for peace.
  3. For much of the first half of the 18th century, Jacobitism was alive enough to produce a rising in support of a rebellion. A well-timed Jacobite rising would provide a second axis of threat and potentially an area of Jacobite-controlled territory from which to draw supplies and reinforcements.
From what I gather, these are the specific instances where France was closest to being able to pull off an invasion with a real chance of success:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_French_invasion_of_Britain_(1744)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armada_of_1779
 

Saphroneth

Banned
A long shot, but I would say 1871.
... with whom?
The Germans?
They had a heck of an army, sure, but what navy?
I make it that they had five ironclads, as opposed to the RN which had at the time about thirty-three. Plus eight coastal ironclads designed to take the fight directly to the enemy's harbours, and another six ironclads commissioned in 1871!
 
well the dutch succeeded twice (solebay 1667/raid on the medway, glorious revolution 1688)
the 2nd one was so successful they try still to mask it a revolution lol
so the glorious invasion of 1688.

would say the french revolutionary time, maybe a pod where napoleon joins the navy? (which he originally planned to do)
 

HJ Tulp

Donor
If you are talking about the British isles as a whole there must have been a possibility of a succesful French or Spanish invasion of Ireland in the 17th or 18th Century.
 
By Prussia?

... with whom?
The Germans?
They had a heck of an army, sure, but what navy?
I make it that they had five ironclads, as opposed to the RN which had at the time about thirty-three. Plus eight coastal ironclads designed to take the fight directly to the enemy's harbours, and another six ironclads commissioned in 1871!



No by France.

http://dossiersmarine.free.fr/index.html

1871 was when France stopped trying to have a meaningful navy and concentrated wholly on the army. Until then, the French Navy was often within shouting distance of the RN and it was possible (even if not likely most of the time) that the French Navy, with luck, could dominate the RN enough to allow an invasion of England. In particular, the 2nd Empire was one of the few times in history when the French Navy was arguably, for some little time windows (e.g. 1863), superior to the RN. After that, the MN was not even in the same league as the RN (discouting late 20th, early 21st century, of course).
 
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I would say the last best opportunity would be during the Seven Years War, by France. This is the last time that a Rival Great Power to Britain had a Navy to invade with, and, with a small PoD, the diplomatic freedom to commit their resources and focus to such an invasion.

France may have had the raw capacity to launch an invasion before this, however they never had the diplomatic security, there was always a significant threat on the Continent that they needed to devote their attention to.

However, if Prussia doesn't have their Miracle, then France will have a brief moment where they have no immediate threats on the Continent, giving them the freedom to devote their resources to an Invasion of Britain.
 
I would say the last best opportunity would be during the Seven Years War, by France. This is the last time that a Rival Great Power to Britain had a Navy to invade with, and, with a small PoD, the diplomatic freedom to commit their resources and focus to such an invasion.

There was an excellent opportunity in 1779. France had no enemies on the Continent at that time and Britain's costal defenses were not particularly strong at the time.
 

Saphroneth

Banned
No by France.

http://dossiersmarine.free.fr/index.html

1871 was when France stopped trying to have a meaningful navy and concentrated wholly on the army. Until then, the French Navy was often within shouting distance of the RN and it was possible (even if not likely most of the time) that the French Navy, with luck, could dominate the RN enough to allow an invasion of England. In particular, the 2nd Empire was one of the few times in history when the French Navy was arguably, for some little time windows (e.g. 1863), superior to the RN. After that, the MN was not even in the same league as the RN (discouting late 20th, early 21st century, of course).
France... having just been hammered flat by the Prussians?

Huh, I assume you're using an earlier PoD then.
 
Well first you are going to need a navy that can defeat the Royal Navy. If the French teams up with the Spaniards and Danes, then they might stand a chance of perhaps defeating the navy if they hunt it down in small pieces.
 
France... having just been hammered flat by the Prussians?

Huh, I assume you're using an earlier PoD then.

I mean in a TL in which they are not at war with the prussians, of course (or they win the war). My point is that the MN was the last power which rivalled the RN before the 20th century and France turned from it after 1871 OTL. So the last time OTL anyone could have invaded England (with even a little chance of success) before the 20th century was 1871. AFterward you have to wait until WWII.
 
1781? IIRC, the French and Spanish were seriously considering the idea and could have at least landed troops (although the odds of the invasion being successful were very, very low).

Also, possibly during the Napoleonic Wars. Trafalgar goes horribly wrong for the British, France doesn't stab Spain in the back, the Franco-Spanish alliance continues, Napoleon gets a little time to build more ships....it's unlikely, but stranger things have happened. And of course, the invasion probably wouldn't succeed (since sending enough troops to occupy Britain would leave France open to attack from other countries).

I mean in a TL in which they are not at war with the prussians, of course (or they win the war). My point is that the MN was the last power which rivalled the RN before the 20th century and France turned from it after 1871 OTL. So the last time OTL anyone could have invaded England (with even a little chance of success) before the 20th century was 1871. AFterward you have to wait until WWII.

Wait, who in 1871 could have invaded Britain? Wasn't the British Navy more than twice the size of the French Navy at the time?
 
No, most definitely not. Check the link I posted upthread.

..would you happen to have a link in English?

EDIT: And maybe twice the size was a bit of an exaggeration, but I was under the impression that British naval supremacy was basically unchallenged between 1814 and 1880. And even after that, when Germany tried to compete, it never really came close.

SECOND EDIT: I found a list of warships launched by each country between 1850 and 1870. France built 26 cruisers, the United Kingdom built 62. France built 20 battleships, the United Kingdom built 40, including the HMS Hotspur (I guess somebody in the Royal Navy was a Tottenham fan).
 
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..would you happen to have a link in English?

EDIT: And maybe twice the size was a bit of an exaggeration, but I was under the impression that British naval supremacy was basically unchallenged between 1814 and 1880. And even after that, when Germany tried to compete, it never really came close.

SECOND EDIT: I found a list of warships launched by each country between 1850 and 1870. France built 26 cruisers, the United Kingdom built 62. France built 20 battleships, the United Kingdom built 40, including the HMS Hotspur (I guess somebody in the Royal Navy was a Tottenham fan).

There is an explanation in english to the right of the first page. For the rest, I don't think you need a lot of translation for launch dates and characteristics.

Concerning your link, it seems to omit quite a bit of french armored ships listed in the link I provided (same thing for Cruisers, your link does not seem to count quite a few french ships; I guess the problems comes from classification, as the french did not use cruiser by 1871 as a naval definition) and to count costal defence ships as battleships for the RN but not for the MN. When I add these, I arrive to 41 armored ships for the MN by 1871, without counting the armored self-propelled floating batteries (as their speed is ridiculously low) or the woodenclads.
 
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