Literary Works

Hugh Oakeley Arnold-Forster (1888) In a Conning Tower; or, How I Took H.M.S. "Majestic" into Action. A Story of Modern Ironclad Warfare, Murray's Magazine Hugh Oakeley Arnold-Forster (1855 – 1909), was a British politician and writer. He notably served as Secretary of State for War from 1903 to 1905. From boyhood he had devoted himself to the close study of naval affairs and of warships. His love of the sea was insatiable, and he spent many a holiday cruising in a Thames barge, which he fitted out in quite homely fashion. In 1884 he inspired the famous articles on ' ...
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Samuel Barton (1888) The battle of the Swash and the capture of Canada One of the first novels in the ‘future war’ genre, The Battle of the Swash focuses on what was known in the 1880s as the ‘Canadian Problem’. This was primarily a mercantile dispute deriving from Canada’s high tariffs on American goods. The Battle of the Swash is the response of a wealthy American businessman, angry at what he saw as Britain’s subversion of the free market. Though set in 1890, the story is narrated – by one Samuel Barton – in an imagined 1930. The detail of ...
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Lester, H. F. (1888) The Taking of Dover,  Bristol, J.W. Arrowsmith Russia and France defeat Germany and then staging a fake falling out to lull Britain into complacency they invade England. "The thing Governments most think about is, how to cut down the expenditure, which is the greatest blunder that can be made in the interests Of the country. It is simply the question of the existence Of the Empire, or the non-existence of it."  -  The Duke Of Cambridge, Commander-in-Chief.  "In times like the present, it behoves the people of England to know the whole truth in regard to ...
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Anon (1889) Bombardment of Scarbro' by the Russian Fleet in 1891, and Terrific Battle of Scalby Beck, and Other Stories More details awaited ...
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Anonymous (1889) England's Danger; or, Rifts Within the Lute. A Russian Plot THE MAGAZINES AT PORTSMOUTH. PRECISELY at a quarter past eight, in the evening of the following day, a single rocket was observed to shoot up from the vicinity of the Nelson monument, upon the Portsdown Hill, near Portsmouth. A moment afterwards a boat darted out from the shelter of Horsea Island, under which it had been lying, and shaped its course for the end of a small pier, upon the north side of Tipnor magazine. The oars were muffled at the row-locks, but, as the boat approached the ...
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Robert Cromie (1889) For England's Sake, London, Frederick Warne The British with Indian support defeat the Russians in Afghanistan. For England's Sake by Robert Cromie, is published by Frederick Warne and Co.; and dedicated to Edwin Arnold. It deals with an exciting series of war incidents in Afghanistan, and is written in bright and dashing style. [Burnley Express 20th April 1889] Cromie published a follow up, The Next Crusade , in 1896 ...
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Danrit, E. (1889) La Guerre en Ballon The third book in Danrit's trilogy La Guerre de demain. Full text (in French) at: http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b598073;view=thumb;seq=1 ...
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Frank Richard Stockton (1889) The Great War Syndicate, New York, Dodd, Mead and Company. Later, when Stockton turned to novels, he continued to use sf themes occasionally, though his humorous style remained the most prominent feature. In The Great War Syndicate (1889) a naval Future War between the UK and America – set off by a renewal of American exceptionalist ire over the continued existence of Canada, and organized by a consortium of American entrepreneurs – is resolved when the British find arrayed against them various advanced Weapons, including invulnerable warships and a torpedo that travels at the speed of ...
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Henry Grattan Donnelly (1890) The Stricken Nation Although written and published in the USA this book is included to show the opposite scenrio to most included on this site: in this case the British attack the USA. Despite Clarke's assertion that after the 1880s 'the United States did not have any major external enemy to serve as the focus for future war l" there do appear to be certain repeated enemies, such as the stories', British. Americans war against the UK in Samuel Rockwell Reed's The war of 1886, between the United States and Great Britain (1882), Samuel Barton's The ...
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Admiral P. H. Colomb (1892) The War of 189-. London, William Heinemann. Such fears found powerful expression in a new and very popular genre of fictional writing: elaborate narratives predicting the outbreak and course of future wars. Seeking to entertain, to frighten, and to highlight the weaknesses of existing policy-making and strategic thought, literary, journalistic, and miItary expertise combined to construct evocative stories of conflicts yet to come. These stories proved an instant success with the public; the most popular sold ins of thousands of copies, raced through multiple editions, and were translated into numerous foreign Ianguages. As was intended, ...
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A.N. Seaforth (George Sydenham Clarke), The Last Great Naval War, 1892 A retrospective (supposedly written in 1930) looking back on an Anglo-French naval war in the 1890s. Preface: So many able pens have dealt with the last great naval war that an apology is needed for adding to the already copious literature of the subject. Some of the existing histories, such, for instance, as the excellent works of Admiral Colomb and Professor Laughton, are, however, perhaps too strictly professional for the general reader; while Professor Bryces National Federation deals mainly with constitutional questions. Other books, written for popular consumption, are ...
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W. Laird Clowe (1893) The Captain of the "Mary Rose" - A Tale of To-morrow, London, W. Thacker & Co Review This is a " tale of to-morrow,"—i.e., of the next naval war. We find ourselves suddenly at war with France. Our neighbours, better prepared for eventualities than we are, strike the first blow with astounding promptitude, and the Mediterranean Fleet is practically destroyed. Disaster after disaster falls on the naval defences of England. How these reverses are redeemed, we must leave our readers to discover for themselves from Mr. Laird Clowes's pages. We need not say more than that ...
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E. Douglas Fawcett (1893) Hartmann The Anarchist, London, Edward Arnold. Illustrated by F.T. Jane. The plot centers around Mr Stanley, a young moneyed gentleman who aims to stand for election as part of the Labour party in the early 20th century. Through his associations with many of London's most prominent socialists and anarchists, he encounters and befriends Rudolph Hartmann and 'goes along' with Hartmann's plan to attack London using his airship The Attila. [Wikipedia] Hartmann the Anarchist, originally published in 1892, was written by Edward Douglas Fawcett when he was 17 years old. After being out of print for 100 ...
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A Gladstonian M.P. (1893) The Great Betrayal: or, The Invasion of East Anglia PREFACE. SLIGHTLY modifying the proverb, "Si non e veri ben trovato" it may be said of this little sketch that, if not true, it is likely to become so. Given a certain set of causes, corresponding effects may be fairly anticipated ; and upon such a basis the present writer, in 1884, ventured to foretell precisely the course Mr. Gladstone would take in Egypt, and the disaster that would ensue. The late Lord Iddesleigh, writing to the author, then expressed the fear that his predictions would prove ...
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George Griffith (1893) The Angel of the Revolution: A Tale of the Coming Terror, London, Tower Publishing Company The Angel of the Revolution: A Tale of the Coming Terror (1893) is a science fiction novel by English writer George Griffith. It was his first published novel and remains his most famous work. It was first published in Pearson's Weekly and was prompted by the success of The Great War of 1892 in Black and White magazine, which was itself inspired by The Battle of Dorking. A lurid mix of Jules Verne's futuristic air warfare fantasies, the utopian visions of News ...
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1894, Eardley-Wilmot, S.M. Sir , The Next Naval War  ...
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George Griffith (1894) Olga Romanoff / The Syren of the Skies first published as Pearson's Weekly. The novel continues (from The Angel of the Revolution) the tale of a worldwide brotherhood of anarchists fighting the world armed with fantastical airships, ending on an apocalyptic note as a comet smashes into the earth. Full text at: http://www.forgottenfutures.com/game/ff7/olga.htm ...
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William Le Queux (1894) The Great War in England in 1897 Le Queux's novel depicts Britain being invaded by coalition forces led by France and Russia, who make several early advances, but the brave English patriots fight on and eventually manage to turn the tide, especially after Germany 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 and Russian Central Asia, thus decisively winning The Great Game, while Germany annexes more of mainland France in addition to Alsace-Lorraine, thus ...
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