After Sealion
A German Channel Tunnel
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10074285 |
|---|---|
| Authors | John Farquharson (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1990 |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 409-430 |
| Publication date | 1990-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Contemporary History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-0094 • E-ISSN: 1461-7250 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/002200949002500402 |
| OpenAlex | W2007382524 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
The recent decision to build a Channel Tunnel marks the conclusion of a long-standing debate on the issue of linking Britain to Europe. In the past, military considerations based on national security have been pre-eminent among objections, which until now have continually frustrated the construction. Less documented is the whole question of such an undersea route as a means of invading the United Kingdom from the Continent during the second world war. However odd this may sound at first hearing, this notion was largely born of the failure of Sealion, Hitler's own invasion scheme for the autumn of 1940. Initially planned to take place on 15 September, it was first postponed until the 21 st of that month and then, four days prior to that date, put off indefinitely.' German inability to mount the operation in the conventional fashion gave rise to fears in high places in Whitehall that a different method might next be tried by means of excavation from France. The aim of this article is to map out how and why this belief originated, and to what consequences it led. Much attention will be given to the key role played in the affair by Lord Hankey, who was the prime mover of the debate in 1941-42 over the possibility of a tunnel being built by the Germans in order to invade Britain. It will be suggested here that to a very real extent this arose from Hankey's concern that any undersea route into the country represented a genuine threat to its security. This was a view that he had displayed often in the past, and it is probable that wartime apprehension about invasion in general heightened his awareness of this danger to the point of obsession. Before undertaking the examination, we shall give a very brief sketch of the history of the Channel Tunnel idea as a point of reference for the reader, in order to bring out the invasion phobia that from the beginning had attended the concept: the idea had been repeatedly canvassed since its origins in 1800.2 The initial proposal emanated from a Frenchman, Mathieu, but subsequent hostilities
Archaeology · Business · Channel (broadcasting · Channel tunnel · Civil engineering · German · Order (exchange · Political science · Politics · Prime minister · Telecommunications · Archaeological Research and Protection · Engineering · History · Law
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,1 |
| Citation span | 1995 - 2014 (20) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |