Napoleon


In the mid-nineteenth century the electrical telegraph revolutionised communication. Information that had previously taken days, weeks or even months to reach its destination could be received within minutes. It was the first form of electrical communication, the precursor to the telephone, fax and internet. But it was neither the first system of long-distance message transmission nor the first method of communication to be called a telegraph. […]

A revolutionary method of communication


In a long and spectacular military and political career, Napoleon dominated most of Europe. Of all his enemies, only one remained permanently out of his grip – Britain. Napoleon couldn’t conquer England and was ultimately vanquished by a coalition of allies led by the British. This didn’t stop the defeated Emperor finally seeing the country that had beaten him with his own eyes. For two weeks […]

Napoleon’s English adventure



The last ditch defence for London from invasion by Napoleon was, appropriately, if optimistically enough, a ditch. The Royal Military Canal, to give this rather grand ditch its rather grand title, runs for 28 miles from Seabrook (near Folkestone) to Cliff End (near Hastings). It was never tested against France’s Grande Armée, but did have some uses in taming the wild, smuggler’s paradise of the Romney […]

The Royal Military Canal – the last ditch


Today is Day Two of the First Week of Rainful in the CCXXI year of the revolution. We have just left the month of Snowful, even if the British weather has not yet caught up. This is not the start of a piece of pulp science fiction but today’s date as determined by the French Revolutionary Calendar. The republican zeal to remake society was to extend […]

Time for revolution