How A Management Strategy Saved England From Invasion
The entrepreneurs of battle
“Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.”
— Napoleon Bonaparte
A dictator once threatened to cross the English Channel and invade Britain.
I’m sure you’re familiar with this narrative. At some point you’d expect me to mention Adolph Hitler’s name or Winston S. Churchill. However, they weren’t born for about 70 years or so.
There was another dictator in the early 1800’s though carving up Europe, and he had plans to conquer the world. Like the future dictator, England had to be dealt with before these plans could materialize. While he didn’t have an air force, he did have a sizable fleet at this time.
I’m sure the quote above gave it away, but this dictator was Napoleon Bonaparte. In the early 1800’s he had control over most of Continental Europe. Again, as in Hitler’s time, England stood behind the protective wall of its fleet. It was much harder prey than the rest of the continent.
An infusion of money from the sale of his territories in North America had bolstered Bonaparte’s coffers. He invested this money into his army and navy. A coalition between France and Spain now gathered a fleet bigger than England’s.
