''The Great War in England in 1897'' was written by William Le Queux and published in 1894. Le Queux's work is an early example of Invasion literature genre, which began with '' The Battle of Dorking'' in 1871, where the British are soundly defeated by an invading German army. ''The Battle of Dorking'' was written by army veteran George Tomkyns Chesney, originally as a warning against the further demobilisation of the British armed forces. It was first serialised in the weekly paper ''Answers''. It was a huge success, and after being published as a book, it went through eight editions.

Plot

Le Queux's novel depicts Britain being invaded by coalition forces led by

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, who make several early advances, but the brave English patriots fight on and eventually manage to turn the tide, especially after

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

enters the war on the side of the British. By the end of the story, the invasion goes the other way as the victors divide the spoils: Britain seizes

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

and Russian Central Asia, thus decisively winning The Great Game, and Germany annexes more of mainland France in addition to Alsace-Lorraine, thus leaving the enemies crushed and both the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

and German empires the dominant forces of Europe.

Historical approach

From a historical perspective, the book is interesting in depicting the precise reverse of the alliances of the actual

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

which broke out two decades after its publication: France and Russia, which were to become Britain's World War I allies, are depicted as its implacable cruel foes, while Imperial Germany is the gallant ally coming to Britain's aid in the nick of time. As evidenced by the book's great popularity, the scenario of such an alliance seemed plausible to the British public in 1894; only four years later, Britain and France were indeed on the verge of war during the Fashoda Incident. The fate of the story's treacherous villain who, with all his plots unmasked flees to Spain and there meets an ignominious end, might have been inspired by the fate of Richard Pigott. The author of the "Pigott forgeries" had in 1889 tried to defame

Charles Stewart Parnell Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom from 1875 to 1891, Leader of the Home Rule Leag ...

, and after his plot was discovered, fled to

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

and there killed himself. At the time of writing, this was a recent and well-known scandal. The

Entente Cordiale The Entente Cordiale (; ) comprised a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and the French Third Republic, French Republic which saw a significant improvement in Fr ...

of 1904 changed the diplomatic and military landscape, which was reflected in fictional writings. Thus, in 1906, Le Queux wrote '' The Invasion of 1910'', which featured Germany invading and occupying Britain and stressed the need to prepare for war with Germany.

Influences on other works

''The Great War in England'' is considered to have influenced, directly and indirectly, many subsequent works. Specifically,

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

' ''

The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. It was written between 1895 and 1897, and serialised in '' Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US in 1897. The full novel was ...

''. In Wells' book, as in Le Queux's, a relentless enemy makes a devastating surprise attack and penetrates to the heart of London. In many ways, however, Wells' book seems a deliberate antithesis to Le Queux's nationalism: in the Wells book, the attack is extraterrestrial with the invading Martians posing a deadly threat to all humanity equally; human weapons are futile against the invaders, who are overcome only by earthly microbes; and in the aftermath, the nations of chastened humanity are drawn together.

Anthologies

*'' Before Armageddon: An Anthology of Victorian and Edwardian Imaginative Fiction Published Before 1914 '' (1976)

References

External links