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below The unexpected collapse of France in May/June 1940 turned the theoretical risk of a German invasion of Britain into a real threat.
They’re coming! The invasion scares of 1803-05 & 1940
Napoleon and Hitler both drew up detailed plans for the invasion of Britain, spreading alarm among the public and forcing urgent measures from the UK government in return. Here, David Porter compares the plans, and the threat posed by the country’s two would-be invaders.
On 4 June 1940, as the last British and other Allied forces were evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk, Winston Churchill gave what would become one of the best-known speeches of the 20th century. Addressing the House of Commons, the newly installed prime minister warned of the sacrifice that would likely soon be needed to deter the imminent threat of invasion by the most powerful armed forces ever assembled.
‘Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail,’ he said defiantly. ‘We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight
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