Invasion literature

"Future war" redirects here. For the 1997 direct-to-video film, see Future War.
The Battle of Dorking (1871) established the genre of invasion literature. (Cover of the 1914 edition)

Invasion literature (also the invasion novel or the future war genre[1]) is a literary genre that was popular in the period between 1871 and the First World War (1914–1918). The invasion novel was first recognised as a literary genre in the UK, with the novella The Battle of Dorking: Reminiscences of a Volunteer (1871), an account of a German 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 over 400 novels and stories.[2]

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.[3]

  1. ^ Stableford, Brian (2022). "Future War". In Clute, John; Langford, David; Sleight, Graham (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (4th ed.). Retrieved 2023-08-26.
  2. ^ Reiss 2005.
  3. ^ Echevarria, Antonio J. (2007). Imagining Future War: The West's Technological Revolution and Visions of Wars to Come 1880–1914. Prager Institute. ISBN 9780313051104.