“Our Island Fortress” and the Sea: The threat of a cross-Channel Nazi invasion and the maritime traditions that helped save Britain, 1940–1941

Abstract

Britain’s wartime ‘Island Fortress’ propaganda campaign of 1940-1941 projected the language and imagery of a united British people ready to defend their island nation against the threat of a cross-Channel Nazi invasion. Embedded in this patriotic, belligerent, propaganda construct was the insularity and protracted position of ‘Deep England’ that celebrated the rolling hills and British countryside and inspired resistance against advancing Nazi forces. This study shows that the ‘Island Fortress’ propaganda campaign was equally grounded in the language and imagery of Britain’s relationship with the sea, and its long-standing maritime traditions and institutions that commanded its power. However, it does not assume that one or other forces had a particular effect; rather it examines how these factors show a cumulative picture.