Literary Works

Motly Ranke McCauley (1871) Chapters from Future History: The Battle of Berlin (Die Schlacht von Königsberg) - Note: dated 1890 as published An account of an imaginary war; Germany decides to take possession of Heligoland, and is defeated in the resulting war with Great Britain. Combats the pessimistic Battle of Dorking scenario through its focus on an 1875 Germany about to turn republican. An Invasion on the part of British and other forces, and the defeat of Russian imperialists, indeed generates a republic, and the eventual confederation of all Europe [SFE] Full text at: http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015050664161;view=1up;seq=9 ...

Maximilian Moltruhn (1871) The Other Side of the Battle of Dorking, or Reminisences of an Invader, London, Whittaker Moltruhn is believed to be the pseudonym of an unidentified British writer. The Other Side at the Battle of Dorking (1871) by Maximilian Moltruhn, retelling the original tale of British defeat from a German viewpoint. A German participant in the Invasion of the UK tells his story; the tale preserves the main thrust of the Battle of Dorking scenario: the defeat of the unready British. [SFE] It begins with a parody of the opening of The Battle of Dorking: “You ask me, ...

James Payn (1871) The Cruise of the Anti-Torpedo, Chambers Journal [Being an account of the voyage of the last ship left to England after its conquest by Bismark & Co. (Limited) ; what she did, and what she omitted to do; and how she finally succeeded single-handed (as a pawn regains a queen), in restoring the fallen fortunes of our beloved country.] One of the many post-Battle of Dorking stories. THE CRUISE OF THE ANTI-TORPEDO. IN THREE CHAPTERS.—CHAPTER 1. 'Go on ahead!' cried our gallant captain. 'Go on ahead !' reiterated the call-boy in his shrill treble; and that noble ...

(1871) Reactions to The Battle of Dorking In the months following the publication of Chesney's The Battle of Dorking a veritable raft of articles and books appeared that variously explained: What happened nextWhy it couldn't have happened as it didWhat might have happened insteadSatires based on the workThe battle from a German point of view They include the following (all 1871 unless noted otherwise and anonymous except where authors are listed): A Punch verse on the Battle of DorkingAfter the Battle of Dorking; or what became of the invaders?The Battle of Dorking: a MythBritannia in CouncilThe cruise of the Anti-Torpedo ...

Arthur Sketchley [George Rose] (1871) Mrs Brown on the Battle of Dorking ...

Octogenarian (1872) The British Federal Empire; how it was Founded. A Speech Delivered in a Certain Year of the Twentieth Century, in a Certain City of the Empire, London: C. H. Clarke Fife Herald - Thursday 20 June 1872: The British Federal Empire in the 20th Century. Octogenarian. London: C. H. ClarkeThis oracular sketch of what the British Empire will be when all its divisions are to be united to England and to each other the federal ties which Isaac Butt demands for Ireland. The reasoning employed to show that such ties are the most natural, proper, and safe, is ...

Clarendon Macaulay [Walter Marshall Adams] (1874) The Carving of Turkey; a chapter of European history, from sources hitherto unpublished. London, Meads & Co ...

Anonymous (1875) The Battle of Pluck No information currently available ...

Anonymous (1876) The Invasion of 1883. A Chapter from the Book of Fate, Glasgow, James Maclehose. Glasgow Herald - Monday 22 May 1876, p.5: INVASION OF SCOTLAND BY THE GERMANS. The Invasion of 1883, a Chapter from the Book of Fate," is the title of a little pamphlet published by Mr James MacLehose, of this city. It is one of the numerous brood of the famous "Battle of Dorking," which in its time set the whole country a-cackling. The Glasgow chicken is not, however, altogether unworthy of its game-cockish paternity; for although it has chipped the shell at a pretty ...

Cassandra (1876) The Channel Tunnel; or, England's ruin, London, William Clowes and Sons No further information available at present ...

Anonymous (1877) Fifty Years Hence - An Old Soldiers Tale of England's Downfall, London, G.W. Bacon & Co. A soldier's reminiscences from 1927. Britain gets dragged into a conflict between Russia and Turkey on the Turkish side. Austria, our only ally, is pressured by Germany to stand aside and the British declare war on Russia when the Suez canal is blocked and Alexandria bombarded. Germany aligns with Russia. Our fleet suffers eventual defeat and a weakened Britain cannot prevent an uprising in India that quickly frees it from British rule. Britain is forced to accept punitive peace terms. IT was ...

W. H. Walker (1877) The Invasion An account of an imaginary invasion of Australia by a Russian fleet. WE had lived such a hum-drum life at Parkestown for long, that when on the morning of the 18th May, 187—, the Herald was not delivered as usual, I almost felt as if the Solar System had gone out of gear. Reflection showed me that the irregularity might be accounted for by some minor cause, but when ten o'clock came, and brought, instead of the paper, an appalling rumour, through our butter and pumpkin merchant, I thought that I might as well ...

A. Dekhnewallah (1879) The Great Russian Invasion of India - A sequel to the Afghanistan campaign of 1878-9 In 1879, a certain A. Dekhnewallah published a pamphlet, The Great Russian Invasion of India, which described a future war between the two empires. Advancing through Afghanistan, Russian troops occupy the Punjab and Central provinces. Their attack is well prepared by the numerous spies who provoke mutiny among lower castes. British India is saved by an artillery officer, "a quiet man with large dreamy eyes," who withdraws the troops to Kashmir and organizes cunning attacks on the invaders. Finally, the British send ...

José Maria Eça de Queirós (1879) A Catastrofe - published posthumously in 1925 The following are taken from Alan Freeland (1999) Imagined endings: national catastrophe in the fiction of Eca de Queiros, Portuguese Studies, Jan 1999: 'A Catastrofe', first published posthumously in 1925.  In approaching this text we need to bear in mind its status as a draft that the novelist himself left unpublished, apparently abandoned. For convenience I shall refer to it here as a story. However, its interest does not lie in its literary value as a finished and polished conto, but in Eca's exploration of a particular ...

Lang-Tung (Pseudonym) (1881) The Decline and Fall of the British Empire: Being a History of England Between the Years 1840-1981: Written for the Use of Junior Classes in Schools Two satires on imperial inefficiency and the excesses of the Gilded Age take the long view of history, within which both Britain and the USA have disappeared into obscurity. The Decline and Fall of the British Empire (1881) ironically reduces Gibbon's grand history to a pamphlet designed for use in junior schools. Its simple question-and-answer sequence infanfilizes the projected reader, the whole work being presented as a primer, translated from the ...

Anonymous (1882) Submarina: or Green Eyes and Blue Glasses - The Channel Tunnel. Danger to England or No Danger!, London: Yates, Alexander and Shepheard, 21 Castle Street, Holborn,E.C A strange tale, from 100 years ahead, of the debates around the danger of a channel tunnel. Extract: As to the unmitigated disastrousness of the scheme of which we hear, I was under the impression before I left my club this evening that there could be no two opinions on the subject Is it too much for most obtuse and dull imagination on the other side of this House to picture the ...

Anonymous [Sir William Butler] (1882) The Invasion of England, told twenty years after by an old soldier, Sampson Low, London A telling example of this form of apocalyptic novel is the anonymously authored The Invasion of England: Told Twenty Years After, by an Old Soldier, ...... The unattributed opening epigraph contains fantastic imagery similar to that of Revelation: “And I saw two hosts conflicting in the air, / And shadows doubtless of the unborn time, / Cast on the mirror of night.”  There is the apocalyptic sense of impending violence, as “portents of war were observable throughout the empire, and ...

Rev. Thomas Berney (1882) The battle of the channel tunnel and Dover Castle and forts : a letter (March 11th, 1882, but with some corrections and modifications) to the Right Honourable Wm. Ewart Gladstone, M.P., First Lord of the Treasury Sir, I beg leave with great respect to address you upon a subject which has long been a source of the greatest anxiety to me, and to which I am most thankful to see that you have given your recent attention in the appointing of a Scientific Committee ; and then, I learn, of a Committee on the question of ...