Seven Lectures on the United Kingdom for use in India: Reissued for use in the United KingdomMackinder, Halford John
History
Seven Lectures on the United Kingdom for use in India: Reissued for use in the United Kingdom
Mackinder, Halford John
Great Britain
You will remember, of course, that when we visited London in the
second of these Lectures, we came repeatedly to the names Trafalgar
and Waterloo. Trafalgar was Britain’s culminating victory on the
ocean. It was fought by a fleet of battleships in order to free the
ocean from Britain’s enemies, and to allow her commerce to grow and
her Colonies to have peace, although there was war on the continent
of Europe. The battle of Waterloo was Britain’s great victory on the
land, fought in Europe by her Army and that of her allies ten years
after Trafalgar. The Colonies had peace by reason of Trafalgar, but
Waterloo brought the war to an end.
[Sidenote: 32. Battle of Trafalgar, showing types of ships.]
[Sidenote: 33. Death of Nelson, showing types of sailors.]
[Sidenote: 34. Wellington at Waterloo.]
[Sidenote: 35. Battle of Waterloo, British squares prepared to resist
cavalry.]
[Sidenote: 36. South African Battlefield--soldiers taking cover on
the Veldt.]
[Sidenote: 37. South African Light Horse crossing a River.]
[Sidenote: 38. A Field Battery fording a River.]
[Sidenote: 39. Royal Engineers building a Bridge.]
[Sidenote: 40. Night-Signalling from an Armoured Train.]
[Sidenote: 41. Armoured Train under Fire.]
Let us look for a moment at the kind of Navy and Army which won
these victories. Here is an old print of the Battle of Trafalgar,
showing the sailing ships, and the many guns in their sides. Here
is the copy of a picture of the death of the great Admiral Nelson,
who fell in the moment of victory at Trafalgar, giving his life
for his King. Here next is a picture of Wellington at the battle of
Waterloo. The battles of those days were strangely different from
the battles of our time, for rifles and guns had not then a precise
aim. Here, for instance, are the close ranks of the British infantry,
formed in square at Waterloo. That is Wellington, on horseback,
speaking to them. Now look at the next picture. It is a battle-field
in South Africa. The men do not even stand up; they lie apart from
one another, each taking shelter behind some convenient obstacle. In
this particular case the obstacles are ant-hills, which are frequent
in the veldt of South Africa. Here are other scenes in the South
African War. First we have South African Light Horse crossing a
river; then a field battery fording a river. The uniforms of the men
are not red, as we saw them at Waterloo, but “khaki,” that they may
be indistinguishable from the ground, and may not present a target
for the hostile marksmen. Here are Royal Engineers building a bridge,
with floating pontoons, in the case of a river which is too deep to
be forded. And so we come to scenes in which greater and greater
skill and science are needed and not courage alone. It is for this
reason that preparation is needful, and that the Army must be trained
and maintained during peace. We have, for instance, here an armoured
train on the railway, bearing an electric light, wherewith in the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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