I am reading Mahan’s Life of Nelson. Reading of the efforts to protect England from a French invasion, the question occurred to me, how did Britain manage to hold onto the Channel Islands during the Napoleonic Wars?
The islands were heavily populated by French rich fleeing the revolution. The British fortified Guernsey in preparation for an invasion, but nothing ever came of it. I suppose nobody really cared about the islands too much. It’s not like they have any strategic significance.
This. The British government didn’t even bother to defend them during WWII. They just evacuated the children and let the Germans have them.