Invasion literature (also the invasion novel) is a

literary genre A literary genre is a category of literature. Genres may be determined by literary technique, tone, content, or length (especially for fiction). They generally move from more abstract, encompassing classes, which are then further sub-divided in ...

that was popular in the period between 1871 and the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

(1914–1918). The invasion novel first was recognized as a literary genre in the UK, with the novella '' The Battle of Dorking: Reminiscences of a Volunteer'' (1871), an account of a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

invasion of England, which, in the Western world, aroused the national imaginations and anxieties about hypothetical invasions by foreign powers; by 1914 the genre of invasion literature comprised more than 400 novels and stories.. The genre was influential in Britain in shaping politics, national policies, and popular perceptions in the years leading up to the First World War, and remains a part of popular culture to this day. Several of the books were written by or ghostwritten for military officers and experts of the day who believed that the nation would be saved if the particular tactic that they favoured was or would be adopted.

Pre-"Dorking"

Nearly a century before the invasion literature genre became a true popular phenomenon after the publication of ''The Battle of Dorking'' in 1871, a mini-boom of invasion stories appeared soon after the French developed the

hot-air balloon A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule), which carries p ...

. Poems and plays that centred on armies of balloons invading England could be found in France, and even America. However, it was not until the Prussians used advanced technologies such as breech-loading artillery and railroads to defeat the French in the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 that the fear of invasion by a technologically superior enemy became more realistic.

In Europe

One of those stories is a history of the sudden and terrible invasion of England by the French, in the month of May, 1852, According to I.F. Clarke: Many feared that military weakness at home would invite attack from abroad; and for the rest of the century not a decade passed without an alarm of some kind about the dangers pressing upon the nation. After the coup d’état by Louis Napoleon, for instance, there were general fears that the French might attempt an invasion. In order to demonstrate the defenceless condition of the country an anonymous author wrote A History of the sudden and terrible invasion of England by the French … in May 1852 ( London, 1851). This was the first complete imaginary war of the future to be written in English, and it anticipated Chesney’s technique of giving a detailed account of the weaknesses that led to the disaster. The novella, '' The Battle of Dorking: Reminiscences of a Volunteer'' (1871), by

George Tomkyns Chesney Sir George Tomkyns Chesney (30 April 1830 – 31 March 1895) was a British Army general, politician, and writer of fiction. He is remembered as the author of the novella ''The Battle of Dorking'' (1871), a founding work in the genre of invasion ...

was first published in ''

Blackwood's Magazine ''Blackwood's Magazine'' was a British magazine and miscellany printed between 1817 and 1980. It was founded by the publisher William Blackwood and was originally called the ''Edinburgh Monthly Magazine''. The first number appeared in April 1817 ...

'', a respected political journal of the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

. ''The Battle of Dorking'' describes the invasion of England by an unnamed enemy (who speak German), in which the narrator and a thousand citizens defend the town of Dorking, with neither supplies, ''matériel'', or news of outside world. The narrative of the story then moves forward fifty years in time, and England remains devastated. The author, like many of his countrymen at the time, was alarmed by

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

's successful invasion of France in 1870, defeating Europe's largest army in only two months. ''The Battle of Dorking'' was initially meant to shock readers into becoming more aware of the possible dangers of a foreign threat, but unwittingly created a new literary genre appealing to popular anxieties. The story was an immediate success, with one reviewer saying "We do not know that we ever saw anything better in any magazine... it describes exactly what we all feel." It was so popular that the magazine was re-printed six times, a new pamphlet version was created, dozens of spoofs were created, and it was for sale throughout the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

. One

running joke A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling. Though they are similar, catchphrases are not ...

in England at the time was an injury, such as a bruise or scrape, being attributed to a wound received at the battle of Dorking. Between the publication of ''The Battle of Dorking'' in 1871 and the start of the

in 1914 there were hundreds of authors writing invasion literature, often topping the best seller lists in Germany,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, England and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. During the period it is estimated over 400 invasion works were published. Probably the best known work was

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by ''Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan (magazine), Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appear ...

'' (1897), bearing plot similarities to ''The Battle of Dorking'' but with a

science fiction theme The following is a list of articles about recurring themes in science fiction. Overarching themes * First contact with aliens *Artificial intelligence **Machine rule/Cybernetic revolt/AI takeover *Extraterrestrials in fiction *End of humanity: ...

. In 1907, Wells wrote ''

The War in the Air ''The War in the Air: And Particularly How Mr. Bert Smallways Fared While It Lasted'' is a military science fiction novel written by H. G. Wells. The novel was written in four months in 1907, and was serialized and published in 1908 in ''Th ...

'', a cautionary tale depicting purely human invasions: a German invasion of the US triggers off a worldwide chain of attacks and counter-attacks, leading to the destruction of all major cities and centers, the collapse of world economy, disintegration of all the fighting nations and the sinking of the world into new Middle Ages. '' Dracula'' (1897) also tapped into English fears of foreign forces arriving unopposed on its shores, although between 1870 and 1903 the majority of these works assumed that the enemy would be France, rather than Germany. This changed with the publication of Erskine Childers's 1903 novel ''

The Riddle of the Sands ''The Riddle of the Sands: A Record of Secret Service'' is a 1903 novel by Erskine Childers. The book, which enjoyed immense popularity in the years before World War I, is an early example of the espionage novel and was extremely influenti ...

''. Often called the first modern

spy novel Spy fiction is a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device. It emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intelligen ...

, two men on a sailing holiday thwart a German invasion of England when they discover a secret fleet of invasion barges assembling on the German coast. Of these hundreds of authors, few are in print now.

Saki Hector Hugh Munro (18 December 1870 – 14 November 1916), better known by the pen name Saki and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirize Edwardian society and cultu ...

is one of the exceptions, although his 1913 novel ''

When William Came ''When William Came: A Story of London Under the Hohenzollerns'' is a novel written by the British author Saki (the pseudonym of Hector Hugh Munro) and published in November 1913. It is set several years in what was then the future, after a war b ...

'' (subtitled "A Story of London Under the

Hohenzollerns The House of Hohenzollern (, also , german: Haus Hohenzollern, , ro, Casa de Hohenzollern) is a German royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenb ...

") is more jingoistic than literary. Another is John Buchan, whose novel '' The Thirty-Nine Steps'', published in 1915 but written just prior to the outbreak of World War I, is a thriller dealing with German agents in Britain preparing for an invasion.

William Le Queux William Tufnell Le Queux ( , ; 2 July 1864 – 13 October 1927) was an Anglo-French journalist and writer. He was also a diplomat (honorary consul for San Marino), a traveller (in Europe, the Balkans and North Africa), a flying buff who officia ...

was the most prolific author of the genre; his first novel was '' The Great War in England in 1897'' (1894) and he went on to publish from one to twelve novels a year until his death in 1927. His work was regularly serialised in newspapers, particularly the '' Daily Mail'', and attracted many readers. It is believed Ian Fleming's

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

character was inspired by Le Queux's agent "Duckworth Drew". In some ways ''The Great War'' can be considered an antithesis to ''The Battle of Dorking'' – with the one ending for Britain in sombre and irrevocable defeat and decline, while in the other the invasion of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

is pushed back in the last moment (with the help of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, portrayed as a staunch ally against

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

), with enormous territorial aggrandizement (Britain gets

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

and Russian

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

; "Britannia" becomes "Empress of the World"). Le Queux's most popular invasion novel was ''

The Invasion of 1910 ''The Invasion of 1910'' is a 1906 novel written mainly by William Le Queux (along with H. W. Wilson providing the naval chapters). It is one of the most famous examples of invasion literature. It is viewed by some as an example of pre-World War ...

'' (1906) which was translated into twenty-seven languages selling more than a million copies world-wide. Le Queux and his publisher changed the ending depending on the language, so in the German print edition the fatherland wins, while in the English edition the Germans lose. Le Queux was said to be

Queen Alexandra Alexandra of Denmark (Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia; 1 December 1844 – 20 November 1925) was List of British royal consorts, Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 22 January 1901 t ...

's favorite author.

P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...

parodied the genre in '' The Swoop!'', in which England is simultaneously invaded by nine different armies, including Switzerland and Germany. English elites appear to be more interested in a cricket tournament, and the country is eventually saved by a boy scout named Clarence. In France, Émile Driant writing as Capitaine Danrit, wrote of future wars opposing France to Great Britain (La Guerre Fatale) or to Germany (La Guerre de Demain).

In Asia

Invasion literature had its impact also in Japan, at the time undergoing a fast process of modernization.

Shunrō Oshikawa was a Japanese author, journalist and editor, best known as a pioneer of science fiction. Education and early career While studying law at Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō (present day Waseda University) at the turn of the century, Oshikawa published ''Kai ...

, a pioneer of Japanese

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

and adventure stories (genres unknown in Japan until a few years earlier), published around the start of the 20th century the

best-seller A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties (novel, nonfiction book, cook ...

''Kaitō Bōken Kidan: Kaitei Gunkan'' ("Undersea Battleship"): the story of an armoured,

ram Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...

-armed submarine involved in a

future history A future history is a postulated history of the future and is used by authors of science fiction and other speculative fiction to construct a common background for fiction. Sometimes the author publishes a timeline of events in the history, whil ...

of war between Japan and Russia. The novel reflected the

imperialist Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...

ambitions of Japan at the time, and foreshadowed the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

that followed a few years later, in 1904. The story would notably be the main source of inspiration for the 1963 science-fiction movie ''

Atragon is a 1963 Japanese tokusatsu science fiction film produced and distributed by Toho. It is based on ''The Undersea Warship: A Fantastic Tale of Island Adventure'' by Shunrō Oshikawa and ''The Undersea Kingdom'' by Shigeru Komatsuzaki. The film ...

'', by

Ishiro Honda Ishiro may refer to: * Chamacoco language, or Ishiro, a language of South America * Chamacoco, or Ishiro, an ethnic group of South America * Ishirō Honda (1911–1993), Japanese film director See also * Ichirō , also written Ichiro, Ichirou ...

. When the actual war with Russia broke out, Oshikawa covered it as a journalist while also continuing to publish further volumes of fiction depicting Japanese imperial exploits set in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

and

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

– which also proved an enormous success with the Japanese public. In a later career as a magazine editor, he also encouraged the writing of more fiction in the same vein by other Japanese authors. Colonial

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

's earliest work of invasion literature is believed to have been the 1897 '' The Back Door''. Published in serial form in a local English-language newspaper, it described a fictional French and Russian naval landing at Hong Kong Island's

Deep Water Bay Deep Water Bay is a bay and residential area on the southern shore of Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. The bay is surrounded by Shouson Hill, Brick Hill, Violet Hill and Middle Island. As per Forbes (July 2015), with 19 of the city's rich ...

; the story was intended to criticise the lack of

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

funding for the defence of Hong Kong, and it is speculated that members of the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

may have read the book in preparation for the 1941 Battle of Hong Kong.

In the US

One of the earliest invasion stories to appear in print in the US was "The Stricken Nation" by Henry Grattan Donnelly published in 1890 in New York. It tells of a successful invasion of the US by the UK. The move of U.S. public opinion towards participation in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

was reflected in ''Uncle Sam's Boys at The Invasion of the United States'' by H. Irving Hancock. This four-book series, published by the

Henry Altemus Company The Henry Altemus Company was a publishing company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for almost a century, from 1842 to 1936. History The firm started as a bookbindery. In 1863, Altemus was awarded a patent for a particular type of binding f ...

in 1916, depicts a German invasion of the US in 1920 and 1921. The plot seems to transfer the main story line of Le Queux's ''The Great War'' (with which the writer may have been familiar) to a US theatre: the Germans launch a surprise attack, capture

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

despite heroic resistance by "Uncle Sam's boys", overrun all of

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

and New York and reach as far as

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

– but at last are gloriously crushed by fresh US forces.

In Australia

Australia's contribution to invasion literature was set against the background of pre-

Federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-govern ...

colonial fears of the "

Yellow Peril The Yellow Peril (also the Yellow Terror and the Yellow Specter) is a racial color metaphor that depicts the peoples of East and Southeast Asia as an existential danger to the Western world. As a psychocultural menace from the Eastern world ...

" and the foundations of the

White Australia policy The White Australia policy is a term encapsulating a set of historical policies that aimed to forbid people of non-European ethnic origin, especially Asians (primarily Chinese) and Pacific Islanders, from immigrating to Australia, starting i ...

. From the late 1880s through to the beginning of World War I, this fear was expressed in Australia through cartoons, poems, plays and novels. Three of the most well known of these novels were ''White or Yellow? A Story of the Race War of AD 1908'' (1888) by journalist

William Lane William Lane (6 September 1861 – 26 August 1917) was an English-born journalist, author, advocate of Australian labour politics and a utopian socialist ideologue. Lane was born in Bristol, England into an impoverished family. After showin ...

, ''The Yellow Wave'' (1895) by Kenneth Mackay and ''The Australian Crisis'' (1909) by Charles H. Kirmess (possibly a pseudonym for another Australian author Frank Fox). Each of these novels contained two major common themes which were a reflection of the fears and concerns within a contemporary Australian context; the Australian continent was at risk of major invasion from a strong Asian power (ie. China or Japan, sometimes with the assistance of the Russian Empire) and that the United Kingdom was apathetic towards the protection of its faraway colonies, and would not come to Australia's aid when needed.

After World War I

The "

First Red Scare The First Red Scare was a period during the early 20th-century history of the United States marked by a widespread fear of far-left movements, including Bolshevism and anarchism, due to real and imagined events; real events included the R ...

" following

produced Edgar Rice Burroughs's '' The Moon Men'' (1925), a depiction of Earth (and specifically, the United States) under the rule of cruel invaders from the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

. This book is known to have been originally written as ''Under the Red Flag'', an explicit anti-Communist novel, and when rejected by the publishers in that form it was successfully "recycled" by Burroughs as science fiction. Ivan Petrushevich's " The Flying Submarine" (1922) depicts an invasion of the United Kingdom by Soviet forces after most of Europe and Asia fall to communism. The story features the British fleet being destroyed by a swarm of insect-like single pilot submarines, which can emerge from the water to attack their foes.

Robert A. Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein (; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accu ...

's '' Sixth Column'' (1941) told the story of the invasion and conquest of the United States by the technologically advanced PanAsians, and the subsequent guerrilla struggle to overthrow them with even more advanced technology.

The Cold War

In the 1950s, US fears of Communist invasion were notable in the novel ''

The Puppet Masters ''The Puppet Masters'' is a 1951 science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, in which American secret agents battle parasitic invaders from outer space. It was originally serialized in ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' (September, Oc ...

'' (1951), by

, the movie '' Invasion, USA'' (1952), directed by Alfred E. Green, and the US defence department propaganda film ''

Red Nightmare ''Red Nightmare'' is the best-known title of the 1962 Armed Forces Information Film (AFIF) 120, ''Freedom and You''. The short film was produced to mold public opinion against communism. The film was later released to American television and as a ...

'' (1957), directed by George Waggner. An explicit invasion-and-occupation scenario is presented in ''Point Ultimate'' (1955), by

Jerry Sohl Gerald Allan Sohl Sr. (December 2, 1913 – November 4, 2002) was an American television scriptwriter and science fiction author who wrote for ''The Twilight Zone'' (as a ghostwriter for Charles Beaumont), '' Alfred Hitchcock Presents'', '' The Out ...

, about life in the Soviet-occupied US of 1999. In the 1960s, the invasion literature enemy changed from the political threat of Communist infiltration and indoctrination from and conquest by the Soviets, to the 19th-century

of "Red China" (the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

) who threaten the economy, the political stability, and the physical integrity of the US, and thus of the Western world. In '' Goldfinger'' (1964) Communist China provides the villain with a dirty atomic bomb to irradiate and render useless the gold bullion that is the basis of the US economy. In '' You Only Live Twice'' (1967), the PRC disrupts the geopolitical balance between the US and the Soviets, by the kidnap of their respective spacecraft in outer space, to provoke a nuclear war, which would allow Chinese global supremacy. In ''

Battle Beneath the Earth ''Battle Beneath the Earth'' is a 1967 British sci-fi thriller film starring Kerwin Mathews. It was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film also features character actor Ed Bishop. Plot Scientist Arnold Kramer believes that rogue elements o ...

'' (1967), the PRC attempt to invade the US proper by way of a tunnel beneath the Pacific Ocean. In 1971, when the US began acknowledging that the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

(1945–1975) was a loss, two books depicting the Soviet occupation of the continental US were published; the cautionary tale ''Vandenberg'' (1971), by Oliver Lange, wherein most of the US accepts the Soviet overlord without much protest, and the only armed resistance is by guerrillas in New Mexico; and '' The First Team'' (1971), by John Ball, which depicts a hopeless situation resolved by a band of patriots, which concludes with the country's liberation. The film ''

Red Dawn ''Red Dawn'' is a 1984 American action drama film directed by John Milius with a screenplay by Milius and Kevin Reynolds. The film depicts a fictional World War III centering on a land invasion of the continental United States by an alliance ...

'' (1984) depicts a Soviet/Cuban invasion of the United States and a band of high school students who resist them. The television miniseries '' Amerika'' (1987), directed by Donald Wrye, which depicts life in the US a decade after the Soviet conquest. The '' Tomorrow'' series (1993–1999) by John Marsden, details the perspective of adolescent guerrillas fighting against the invasion of Australia, by an unnamed country (implied to be Indonesia).

Political impact

Stories of a planned German invasion rose to increasing political prominence from 1906. Taking their inspiration from the stories of Le Queux and Childers, hundreds of ordinary citizens began to suspect foreigners of espionage. This trend was accentuated by Le Queux, who collected 'sightings' brought to his attention by readers and raised them through his association with the Daily Mail. Subsequent research has since shown that no significant German espionage network existed in Britain at this time. Claims about the scale of German invasion preparations grew increasingly ambitious. The number of German spies was put at between 60,000 and 300,000 (in spite of the total German community in Britain being no more than 44,000 people). It was alleged that thousands of rifles were being stockpiled by German spies in order to arm saboteurs at the outbreak of war. Calls for government action grew ever more intense, and in 1909 it was given as the reason for the secret foundation of the Secret Service Bureau, the forerunner of

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...

and

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

. Historians today debate whether this was in fact the real reason, but in any case the concerns raised in invasion literature came to define the early duties of the Bureau's Home Section.

Vernon Kell Major General Sir Vernon George Waldegrave Kell, (21 November 1873 – 27 March 1942) was a British Army general and the founder and first Director of the British Security Service, otherwise known as MI5. Known as K, he was described in ...

, the section head, remained obsessed with the location of these saboteurs, focusing his operational plans both before and during the war on defeating the saboteurs imagined by Le Queux. Invasion literature was not without detractors; policy experts in the years preceding the First World War said invasion literature risked inciting war between England and Germany and France. Critics such as

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Henry Campbell-Bannerman Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (né Campbell; 7 September 183622 April 1908) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. He served as the prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1905 to 1908 and leader of the Liberal Party from 1899 to 1 ...

denounced Le Queux's ''

'' as "calculated to inflame public opinion abroad and alarm the more ignorant public at home." Journalist Charles Lowe wrote in 1910: "Among all the causes contributing to the continuance of a state of bad blood between England and Germany perhaps the most potent is the baneful industry of those unscrupulous writers who are forever asserting that the Germans are only awaiting a fitting opportunity to attack us in our island home and burst us up."

Notable invasion literature

Pre-World War I

*''Coming events cast their shadows before.” A history of the sudden and terrible invasion of England by the French, in the month of May, 1852'' (1851) by an unknown author *'' The Invasion of England – A Possible Tale of Future Times,''(1870) by Alfred Bates Richards *''

The Battle of Dorking ''The Battle of Dorking: Reminiscences of a Volunteer'' is an 1871 novella by George Tomkyns Chesney, starting the genre of invasion literature and an important precursor of science fiction. Written just after the Prussian victory in the Franc ...

'' (1871) by

* ''Chapters from Future History: The Battle of Berlin'' (1871) by M. R. McCauley * ''The Invasion'' (1877) W. H. Walker *'' A Catástrofe'' (ca. 1878) by José Maria Eça de Queiroz *'' La Guerre de demain'' (1888) by Émile Driant * The battle of the Swash and the capture of Canada (1888) by Barton Samuel *'' The Battle of Mordialloo'' (1888) by Samuel Mullen *'' White or Yellow? A Story of the Race War of AD 1908'' (1888) by

*'' The Stricken Nation'' (1890) by Henry Grattan Donnelly *'' The Germ Growers'' (1892) by Robert Potter *'' Hartmann the Anarchist'' (1893) by

Edward Douglas Fawcett Edward Douglas Fawcett (11 April 1866 – 14 April 1960) was an English mountaineer, philosopher and novelist. Life Edward Douglas Fawcett was born in Hove, Sussex on 11 April 1866. He was the elder son of Edward Fawcett, an equerry to the P ...

*'' The Angel of the Revolution'' (1893) by

George Griffith George Griffith (1857–1906), full name George Chetwynd Griffith-Jones, was a prolific British science fiction writer and noted explorer who wrote during the late Victorian and Edwardian age. Many of his visionary tales appeared in magazin ...

* Olga Romanoff (1894) by

*''The Captain of the Mary Rose'' (1894) by

William Laird Clowes Sir William Laird Clowes (1 February 1856 – 14 August 1905) was a British journalist and historian whose principal work was ''The Royal Navy, A History from the Earliest Times to 1900'', a text that is still in print. He also wrote numerous ...

*'' The Great War in England in 1897'' (1894) by

*'' The Yellow Wave'' (1895) by Kenneth Mackay *''The Final War'' (1896) by Louis Tracy *'' Briton or Boer? A Tale of the Fight for Africa'' (1897) by

*'' The Back Door'' (1897) by Anonymous *'' The Yellow Danger'' (1898) by

M. P. Shiel Matthew Phipps Shiell (21 July 1865 – 17 February 1947), known as M. P. Shiel, was a British writer. His legal surname remained "Shiell" though he adopted the shorter version as a ''de facto'' pen name. He is remembered mainly for supernatura ...

*''

'' (1898) by

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

The Celestial Hand: A Sensational Story'' (1903) by Joyce Vincent *''

'' (1903) by Erskine Childers *''

'' (1906) by

*'' The Australian Crisis'' (1907) by C. H. Kirmess *''

'' (1908) by

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

Swoop of the Vulture'' (1909) by James Blyth *'' Spies of the Kaiser'' (1909) by

*'' The Swoop!'' or How Clarence Saved England: A Tale of the Great Invasion (1909), by

*'' White Australia or, The empty North'' (1909) by

Randolph Bedford Randolph Bedford (born George Randolph Bedford 27 June 1868 – 7 July 1941) was an Australian poet, novelist, short story writer and Queensland state politician. Early life Bedford was born in Camperdown, Sydney, the son of Alfred Bedford, w ...

* ''

The Unparalleled Invasion "The Unparalleled Invasion" is a science fiction story written by American author Jack London. It was first published in ''McClure's'' in July 1910. Plot summary Under the influence of Japan, China modernizes and undergoes its own version of t ...

'' (1910) by

Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...

*''The Yellow Peril'' (1911) by G.G. Rupert *'' Private Selby'' (1912) by

Edgar Wallace Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1 April 1875 – 10 February 1932) was a British writer. Born into poverty as an illegitimate London child, Wallace left school at the age of 12. He joined the army at age 21 and was a war correspondent during th ...

*'' The Air Scout: A Tale of National Defense'' (1912) by Strang, H. *'' The Air Patrol: A Tale of the North-West Frontier'' (1913) by Strang, H. *''

'' (1913) by

*''

The World Set Free ''The World Set Free'' is a novel written in 1913 and published in 1914 by H. G. Wells. The book is based on a prediction of a more destructive and uncontrollable sort of weapon than the world has yet seen. It had appeared first in serialised ...

'' (1914) by

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

All For His Country'' (1915) by

John Ulrich Giesy John Ulrich Giesy (August 6, 1877 – September 8, 1947) was an American physician, novelist and author. He was one of the early writers in the Sword and Planet genre, with his Jason Croft series. He collaborated with Junius B. Smith on many of h ...

*''

The Fall of a Nation ''The Fall of a Nation'' is a 1916 American silent drama film directed by Thomas Dixon Jr., and a sequel to the 1915 film ''The Birth of a Nation'', directed by D. W. Griffith. Dixon, Jr. attempted to cash in on the success of the controversia ...

'' (1916) by Thomas Dixon Jr. *'' Conquest of the United States'' (1916) by H. Irving Hancock *'' Before Armageddon: An Anthology of Victorian and Edwardian Imaginative Fiction Published Before 1914'' edited by

Michael Moorcock Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, best-known for science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has worke ...

(1975) *'' England Invaded'' (1977), a collection of six popular invasion literature stories, edited by Michael Moorcock, published in 1977

Post-World War I

* '' The Terror of the Air'' by

(1920) * '' The Flying Submarine'' by Ivan Petrushevich's (1922) * '' Beneath an Ardent sun'' (1923) by Sir Frank James Fox * '' The Moon Men'' by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1925) * '' The Tunnel Thru the Air; Or, Looking Back from 1940'' by William Delbert Gann (1927) * ''

Armageddon 2419 A.D. ''Armageddon 2419 A.D.'' is a science fiction novella by Philip Francis Nowlan that first appeared in the August 1928 issue of the pulp magazine ''Amazing Stories''. A sequel called '' The Airlords of Han'' was published in the March 1929 iss ...

'' by Philip Francis Nowlan (1928) * '' The Airlords of Han'' by Philip Francis Nowlan (1929) * '' The Red Napoleon'' by Floyd Gibbons (1929) * '' A Fantasy A.D. 1975,'' (1933) by Pullar's Celestalia * ''The Awakening'' (1937) by G. D. Mitchell’s * '' Fools’ Harvest'' (1939) by Erle Cox’s * '' The Death Guard'' by Philip George Chadwick (1939) * '' Sixth Column'' by

(1941) * ''

'' by

(1951) * ''

Not This August ''Not This August'', also known as ''Christmas Eve'', is a Hugo Award shortlisted science fiction novel by Cyril M. Kornbluth. It was originally published in 1955 by Doubleday. It was serialized in ''Maclean's'' magazine (Canada) in May and J ...

'' by C.M. Kornbluth (1955) * '' Point Ultimate'' by

(1955) * '' A Time to die'' (1967) by Kap Pothan's * ''The Invasion'' (1968) by john hay * '' A Piece of Resistance'' (1970) by Clive Egleton * ''The First Team'' (1971) by John Ball * ''Vandenberg'' (1971) by Oliver Lange * '' Rule Britannia (novel)'' (1972) by

Daphne du Maurier Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, (; 13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989) was an English novelist, biographer and playwright. Her parents were actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and his wife, actress Muriel Beaumont. Her grandfather was Geo ...

* ''Operaatio Finlandia'' by

Arto Paasilinna Arto Tapio Paasilinna (, approximately ; 20 April 1942 – 15 October 2018) was a Finnish writer, being a former journalist turned comic novelist. One of Finland's most successful novelists,exVirtual Finland, 2007 Archived at Wayback Machine. he w ...

(1972) * ''A Nasty Little War'' (1979) by Page Michael * ''The Third World War: August 1985'' (1978) and '' The Third World War: The Untold Story'' (1982) by General Sir John Hackett * '' The Survivalist'' series (1981–1993) by Jerry Ahern * ''

Red Army (novel) ''Red Army'' is a 1989 Cold War-era war novel written by US Army intelligence analyst Ralph Peters. The story explores a Cold War scenario based on a Soviet attack on West Germany across the North German Plain, with defense provided by NATO army ...

'' (1989) by

Ralph Peters Ralph Peters (born April 19, 1952) is a retired United States Army lieutenant colonel and author. In addition to his non-fiction books, he has published eight novels under the pen name Owen Parry of which ''Honor's Kingdom'' received the Hamme ...

* ''An Act of War'' (1990) by Michael O'Connor *''Below the Line'' by Eric Willmot (1991) *'' Tomorrow'' series (1993–1999) by John Marsden *''

The Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, '' The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first ...

'' series (1983–2003) by William W. Johnstone * '' Protect and Defend'' (1999) by Eric L. Harry * '' Invasion (Harry novel)'' by Eric L. Harry (2000) * '' Crescent Moon Rising'' by Kerry B. Collison (2005) * '' A Line Too Far: Australia is invaded'' (2016) B C Colman

Footnotes

References

* * * *

External links

*Clarke, I.F., 1997
"Future War Fiction"
An award-winning essay. *Clarke, I.F., 1997

*

(1871)
''The Battle of Dorking''
London, G. Richards ltd., 1914, introduction by G. H. Powell. From

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

. *Patrick M. Kirkwood
"The Impact of Fiction on Public Debate in Late Victorian Britain: The Battle of Dorking and the 'Lost Career' of Sir George Tomkyns Chesney"
The Graduate History Review 4, No. 1 (Fall, 2012), 1-16. {{DEFAULTSORT:Invasion Literature Fiction by genre Military fiction