Letter:When German threat loomed

Sir: By 1906, William le Queux may have been writing about an imagined German invasion in 1910 (letter by Kevin Brownlow, 22 June), but only 10 years earlier he had written The Great War of 1897. In this, Britain is rescued by her brave German and Austrian allies after being attacked by Russia and France. The book is a splendid period piece; illustrations show Cossacks attacking the town hall, Birmingham, and other equally alarming possibilities.

Most would accept that serious anti-German feeling in Britain goes back only to the sudden expansion of the German navy in 1896-1899 - certainly not to the Prussian defeat of France in 1871.

STEPHEN BARCROFT

Dublin