Britain First

In the 18th century five men created the biggest industrial city civilization had ever seen. They were the Iron Masters, masters of metal and men. Their cannons saved a kingdom, forged the greatest empire in the world and changed the history of the human race. Intrigue, bribery, adultery, and murder were common in Merthyr Tydfil, a town where the furnaces burned day and night, the sun seldom pierced the sky, and the Iron Masters ruled without pity. Nye Vaughn, a humble farm boy, walked to Merthyr to find his destiny, unaware that a war was coming that would engulf the world.

Throughout the centuries, the castles of Dover, Deal and Walmer, in Kent, have been of prime strategic importance to England, protecting the south-east tip of the country from invasion. This is an authoritative account of their British importance and includes fascinating stories of historical characters associated with them, from King Henry VIII through to the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

While some might think of the war as being a continuation of the feudal tradition of knights and peasants, the Hundred Years’ War revolutionized Western European warfare, and it truly helped to usher in the concept of nationalism on the continent. In England, it is remembered as a period of grandeur and success, even though the English lost the war and huge swathes of territory with it, while the French remember it as a strategic victory that ensured the continued independence of France and the denial of English hegemony.