- Location
- Tamaki Makaurau
What with all this talk of Operation Sealion this month, I thought I'd draw attention to a, perhaps, lesser-known proposed invasion of Britain.
During the Seven Years' War, when Britain and Prussia stood alone together against literally everyone else in the Western world, various obviously ASB occurrences saved their bacon - the Miracle of the House of Brandenburg is the obvious one, but the Battle of Quiberon is another.
The French had been planning an invasion of Britain for about a year, and the format was basically up in the air until far too late - the original plan was just for a flotilla of flat-bottomed boats to cross the Channel, but soon Bonnie Prince Charlie stuck his oar in and now the plan consisted of a complex three- or four-pronged attack on Scotland, Portsmouth, Maldon and Ireland, with the main force joining up with an obligatory Jacobite rising in the Highlands before doing literally the same thing as in 1745. Meanwhile, Bonnie Prince Charlie would become King of Ireland and something something something. It was at this point that the Duc de Choiseul told him politely to fuck off, but the changed plans were continued with, including the Jacobite rising dimension.
In any case, just as the troops were about to get on the ships, the Royal Navy sank them all in the Battle of Quiberon. Apart from a couple of ships belonging to a privateer, who set off anyway and occupied the castle of Carrickfergus for nearly a week, and then sailed away when he realised that he'd literally just invaded a major military power with 600 men.
So what happens if the British fleet fails to engage the French armada? Are there any Jacobites left alive in Scotland to join their banners? Could Ireland be whipped into a frenzy of nationalist revolution? Would the French have a decent chance of winning? Could we even see a belated Jacobite restoration?
During the Seven Years' War, when Britain and Prussia stood alone together against literally everyone else in the Western world, various obviously ASB occurrences saved their bacon - the Miracle of the House of Brandenburg is the obvious one, but the Battle of Quiberon is another.
The French had been planning an invasion of Britain for about a year, and the format was basically up in the air until far too late - the original plan was just for a flotilla of flat-bottomed boats to cross the Channel, but soon Bonnie Prince Charlie stuck his oar in and now the plan consisted of a complex three- or four-pronged attack on Scotland, Portsmouth, Maldon and Ireland, with the main force joining up with an obligatory Jacobite rising in the Highlands before doing literally the same thing as in 1745. Meanwhile, Bonnie Prince Charlie would become King of Ireland and something something something. It was at this point that the Duc de Choiseul told him politely to fuck off, but the changed plans were continued with, including the Jacobite rising dimension.
In any case, just as the troops were about to get on the ships, the Royal Navy sank them all in the Battle of Quiberon. Apart from a couple of ships belonging to a privateer, who set off anyway and occupied the castle of Carrickfergus for nearly a week, and then sailed away when he realised that he'd literally just invaded a major military power with 600 men.
So what happens if the British fleet fails to engage the French armada? Are there any Jacobites left alive in Scotland to join their banners? Could Ireland be whipped into a frenzy of nationalist revolution? Would the French have a decent chance of winning? Could we even see a belated Jacobite restoration?