For many reasons I have resumed writing my book centred on the Magical Battle of Britain and Dion Fortune. It looks into the background of both world wars, seeing the roots of 1940 in the first decade of the century.
I shall be publishing some teaser extracts over the coming months before hopefully delivering the finished result next year.
On February 28th 1900, barely into the New Year and
century, there were serious discussions in France concerning a possible
invasion of Britain. The two nations were the main players in the so-called
‘Scramble for Africa’ and they had recently almost come to blows in 1898 in the
Sudan. France wanted Britain to accept her takeover of Morocco. Britain wanted
her sphere of influence in Egypt and the Sudan left alone. Britain was involved
in the deeply unpopular Boer War and was being heavily criticised by Germany on
behalf of some of her citizens caught up in it. France tried to cultivate
Germany against Britain. A conflict spanning the globe was envisaged. Maybe an expedition
to Egypt a century or so after Napoleon? Burma could be attacked from French
Indo China. Maybe the Russians could be persuaded to attack India? Britain’s
biggest issue in Foreign Policy was the ‘Great Game’ with Russia that was
played out on the borders of India and in China. Clearly, international
relations were somewhat mutable considering that, within a decade, Britain and
France would be locked into an alliance with Russia that led them into the
catastrophic war against Germany. This all helps to intensify the sense of the horror
of 1914 and underline Gurdjieff’s estimation of the human race as sleepwalkers.
