Dole Institute of Politics Ft. Leavenworth Series: Dr. Jonathan Abel: “The Invasions that Weren’t: French Efforts to Invade England 1740-1805”

The Ft. Leavenworth Series is an annual roster of lectures focusing on significant historical events, usually with an emphasis on military history. Each lecture is presented by faculty from the United States Army Command and General Staff College in Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. Established by General William Tecumseh Sherman in 1881, the CGSC is the graduate college for U.S. Army and sister service officers. The esteemed faculty and guests of the CGSC provide unique and captivating insights into the history of military conflict from the ancient to the modern ages at the Dole Institute of Politics.

Between 1740 and 1815, France and England fought a Second Hundred Year War for hegemony in Europe and colonial spaces. During that period, France tried repeatedly to invade England, but its military could never manage to land troops in large numbers. Dr. Abel will discuss why this did not happen and its immense effects on European affairs.

Dr. Jonathan Abel is an Associate Professor of Military History at the US Army Command and General Staff College, where he teaches courses on French history as well as Greece and Rome, and wargaming. He received his PhD from the Military History Center at the University of North Texas in 2014, and he is the author of several works on the eighteenth-century French army.