Captain William Laurence (betwixtsea_nsky) wrote in valarnet, @ 2018-04-07 08:59:00 |
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Entry tags: | judy hopps, marcus keane, william laurence |
An interesting tidbit of history: It was once famously said by the First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord St. Vincent, "I do not say they cannot come – I only say they cannot come by sea" and in the Napoleonic wars, this was proven true. Napoleon was a clever general over land, but completely hopeless when it came to battling at sea, and Napoleon was never able to launch a successful invasion of England over the Channel.
Though, as history showed, he had once thought to invade England by air balloon. This plot never came to fruition either, as he was urged to avoid said tactic due to unpredictability of travelling by balloon, and the winds.
It seems that in a world where every major militarily force has an air force made up of dragons, contemplating the idea of invasion by air balloon was completely unnecessary. Napoleon crafted wooden ships, chock-full of soldiers, and was to have then carried over by dragon. He very nearly succeeded, too. If Temeraire hadn't discovered that he could... I'm not even sure how he managed it. He roared, and the force of his cry shattered the ships. But if he hadn't discovered that as his skill, then surely England would have been lost. I shudder to think of what could have happened.