Ramparts of Empire (eBook)

The Fortifications of Sir William Jervois, Royal Engineer 1821 - 1897

Timothy Crick (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2015
322 Seiten
University of Exeter Press (Verlag)
978-0-85989-940-6 (ISBN)

Infos

William Jervois was a military engineer who rose to prominence as a result of Lord Palmerston's extensive programme of fortification against a feared French invasion in the middle years of the nineteenth century. Ramparts of Empire is a detailed and engaging study of his life and works. As the first comprehensive study of this influential Victorian, the bookis an important contribution to military and engineering history as well as to the history of Imperial Britain.The text is richly illustrated with photographs and plans of Jervois' forts, while supporting appendices provide a mine of supplementary information. This includes a gazetteer of Jervois' works and documentary evidence of his involvement in plans for a Channel Tunnel and a proposal for attacking the seaboard of the United States.In 1860, Palmerston's parliament sanctioned the construction of the largest system of fortifications that the British Isles had ever seen, or would ever see again, to defend against a feared French invasion. For William Jervois, then a young major in the Royal Engineers, his appointment as ';design leader' of this programme was a major step in a career in fortress construction that would see his work in Britain, the Channel Islands, Ireland, Canada, Bermuda, India, and later, Australia and New Zealand.Timothy Crick makes extensive use of extracts from Jervois' diaries and illustrations of his fortresses to give the reader a rounded picture of this Royal Engineer's wide-ranging career. He also captures a real sense of the fears of invasion that prevailed in this period. Throughout the book both the political background and the technical considerations involved in constructing forts and armaments are carefully explored to flesh out the motivations in what is sometimes referred to as the ';Golden Age' of British fort building.

Autor

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Timothy Crick is qualified in mechanical engineering and industrial design and has lectured in these disciplines as well as in design history. He is a member of the Fortress Study Group, the Coast Defense Study Group (US) and the Palmerston Forts Society.

Inhalt

CONTENTS

GLOSSARY


CHRONOLOGY                                                                                                                                                                                              INTRODUCTION


CHAPTER ONE: EARLY DAYS IN AFRICA                                                               


CHAPTER TWO: APPOINTMENT IN ALDERNEY     


CHAPTER THREE: THE THREAT FROM FRANCE                                                              


CHAPTER FOUR: THE 1859 ROYAL COMMISSION                                                           


CHAPTER FIVE:  DEFENDING THE NAVAL BASES                                                     


CHAPTER SIX: MISSION TO CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES                      


CHAPTER SEVEN: THE IRONCLAD FORTS                                                                          


CHAPTER EIGHT: IMPERIAL PROGRESS


CHAPFER NINE: AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND AND THE THREAT FROM RUSSIA             


CHAPTER TEN: COAST DEFENCE, HONOURS AND RETIREMENT                            


CHAPTER ELEVEN: JERVOIS IN CONTEXT


CHAPTER NOTES


APPENDIX A:  Gazetteer: List of fortified works associated with Jervois                  


APPENDIX B:  The Relative Industrial Strength of the Major Powers in the 19th Century


APPENDIX C:  The 'Battle of Dorking' and its Successors                                         


APPENDIX D:  The Arming of the Coaling Stations, 1884                                        


APPENDIX E:   'A Plan for Attacking the Seaboard of the United States'


APPENDIX F:    Jervois and the Channel Tunnel (1883)


APPENDIX G:   The Relative Value of the British Pound


SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY


INDEX OF PEOPLE & PLACES

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 2.3.2015
• Verlagsort: Exeter
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik ► Allgemeines / Lexika
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Militärgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Technikgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Technik ► Architektur
• Themenwelt: Technik ► Bauwesen
• Schlagworte: 19th century • battlements • Biography • British history • Channel Tunnel • Civil Engineering • Diary • Empire • Engineering History • fortifications • French invasion • Illustrations • Imperial Britain • influential Victorian • life study • Lord Palmerston • Military Biography • Military Engineering • military history • Nineteenth century • Royal Engineer • Sir William Jervois • Victorian period • warfare
• ISBN-10: 0-85989-940-3 / 0859899403
• ISBN-13: 978-0-85989-940-6 / 9780859899406