Author's Note
136 Words
Author’s NoteNice and Savoy became part of the French Empire on April 2nd, 1860, a few weeks after this story finishes.
There was a plebiscite but, to the English, it was an act of unjustifiable aggression.
In England the invasion panic did not end suddenly, it gradually faded away. By mid-1861 Britain had increased her ironclads from four to fifteen, and with the new Armstrong reflect guns her Statesmen felt the worst was over.
But relations between Victorian England and Imperial France never fully recovered from the panic years.
In 1870 the French Second Empire suffered an ignominious collapse with the Emperor’s defeat by the Prussians at the battle of Sedan.
Although for the sake of the story I have described H.M.S. Warrior – Britain’s first ironclad – as being in use in 1860, the actual launching took place a year later.
- Writer
