The Strategic Geography Of Southeastern England: THE STRATEGIC GEOGRAPHY OF SOUTHEASTERN ENGLAND

On the two following pages TIME presents a map of Southeastern England. For centuries men have been accustomed to describe it as the political, financial and cultural centre of the British Empire. Its military geography was generally dismissed with one word, invulnerable. Across its wind-whipped moat—the English Channel—no invader passed to establish a position on British soil in nearly 900 years, except with the consent of feuding Britons. Yet in this area, at Pevensey in 1066, William and his mailed Norman horsemen beached the open boats in which they had crossed from the estuary of the Somme and marched inland...