32. L’Empereur’s Invasion of England
Hitler’s threatened invasion in 1940 is probably what first comes to mind when people picture a continental tyrant threatening Britain. However, a century earlier, Britain had faced an even greater invasion threat from another menacing tyrant: the Emperor of France. Between 1803 to 1805, Napoleon Bonaparte assembled and trained an army of 200,000 men near Boulogne, named the “Army of England” for its intended purpose of invading and conquering that country.
A large flotilla of barges was constructed to ferry it across the English Channel when the moment arrived. Control of the English Channel during the crossing was a prerequisite for launching the invasion – as Napoleon put it: “Let us be masters of the English Channel for six hours, and we shall be masters of the world“. However, that was no easy task, given the British Royal Navy’s superiority over Napoleon’s fleet of French and allied Spanish warships.
