Aboukir Bay - The Naval Battle Which Made a Hero
“Before this time tomorrow I shall have gained a peerage or Westminster Abbey.” - Horatio Nelson
10 min read
01/01/1970
Marching Sheepishly: How the British wool industry helped the French to win the War of the First Coalition
They wore this wool at Lodi, at Milan, at Mantua, and at Arcole. It would have been difficult to persuade these soldiers to go into battle without uniforms, and as such it is perfectly reasonable to make the claim that without British wool, France would never have won the War of the First Coalition.
6 min read
22/04/2023
Why did Britain oppose the French Revolution?
This may seem an odd question with the gift of hindsight. When the French Revolution exploded into an international crisis, no country fought harder to suppress France than Great Britain (United Kingdom from 1801). Britain would not only act as financiers against the French Revolution, funding the multiple coalition wars, but the British Empire would also play an important military role both on land and at sea. It may come across as odd, perhaps, to ask why Britain would be opposed to the French Revolution.
9 min read
15/04/2023
The time Britain funded an invasion of itself... twice!
One of the more famous real estate sales in human history was the Louisiana Purchase. Not only was it an enormous sale, but also all sides involved got what they wanted from the deal. In 1803, Napoleon Bonaparte sold the French colonies of Louisiana to the young United States for a sum of $15 million (estimated to be roughly $309 million today). This purchase would, interestingly enough, come in large part from British financiers... and would end up funding and providing justification for two separate invasions of Britain and its territories.
7 min read
08/04/2023
One better than Alexander - The remarkable story of how Britain conquered India
Many believe that Britain’s conquest of India was a forgone conclusion. Images may arise of a technologically superior wealthy British empire taking on an India totally unprepared for European imperialism - in the same vein as the Scramble for Africa or the colonisation of the New World. Nothing could be further from the truth.
7 min read
01/04/2023
