Tony Bolton : Invasion Scares from Napoleon to the Kaiser.
It is remarkable, given the power of the Royal Navy that the country descended into so many ‘invasion scares’ in the century leading to the First World War. The talk will consider what the driving force was for these scares and identify why literature played such a significant role. It will consider many of the common threads, from technology to the increasingly vocal calls for conscription. The talk will also address the scares during the war and the differences, and similarities to their predecessors.
Tony has been a member of The Western Front Association almost from its inception in 1980. He has been Chair of the Executive Committee of the WFA for the last five years and was Chair at Chesterfield Branch for ten years. He has presented talks on First World War subjects to many external groups and has spoken at some twelve branches in England and Ireland.
Tony completed his Master’s degree in British First World War History with Distinction at Birmingham in 2014. His dissertation on the Resignation of Austen Chamberlain and the Mesopotamia Commission also received a Distinction.