Delenda Est Britannia - Being a Prologue and Epilogue to “The Vampire of the Continent”

Aug 27, 2026

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Delenda Est Britannia offers a prologue and epilogue framing to Aleister Crowley’s analysis of Count Ernst zu Reventlow’s work on historic English policy. It argues that England’s “piracy” can be explained through geographic necessity: mountains breed brigandage, islands foster sea-based predation, and continental powers ultimately respond by building navies and pursuing annexation or suppression. The text extends this reasoning through examples across Scotland, Spain, India, Venice, Holland, Vikings, Gibraltar, and England’s wider imperial anxieties.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time9 min

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Delenda Est Britannia

Prologue and framing commentary

Geographic necessity: mountaineers and brigands

Island powers and the origins of piracy

Sea power, annexation, and policing

Case studies across history and empires

Delenda Est Britannia (Being a prologue and epilogue to“The Vampire of the Continent”) Originally published in the January 3, 1917 edition of The Fatherland. (In previous issues of THE FATHERLAND we have commented upon Count Ernst zu Reventlow’s masterpiece, “The Vampire of the Continent.” Our comments represented the opinion of Americans on this remarkable work. We herewith publish Aleister Crowley’s analysis of the book. Mr. Crowley is an Irishman, a member of Cambridge University and a poet of fine distinction. Frederic Harrison, Editor of the“English Review,” stated some time ago that Mr. Crowley was the first metrical artist in the English language since Swinburne.) Count Ernst zu Reventlow’s extraordinarily lucid and cogent work on historic English policy has one fault from the point of view of the philosopher — he does not begin his history early enough, or derive the piracy of England from necessity. Will the distinguished publicist pardon us if we attempt to fill the gap? It is notorious that mountaineers are necessarily brigands. In their rocky fastnesses wheat will not grow, sheep will not grow fat. They are condemned to rough cereals like oats, to small and stringy sheep and goats. The dwellers of the plain care nothing for the products of the mountain, and will not surrender their goods except by force. The highlander consequently becomes acateran or brigand. The mountain districts of every country in the world — Scotland, Spain, India, China, or America—prove the correctness of the theory. A similar proposition may be made with regard to islanders, as opposed to continental powers. The natural first industry of islands is fishing, in itself a piratical occupation. Just as mountaineers become hardy and desperate through the necessity of battling with the elemental forces of nature, so do fishermen. And when continental settlements begin to ship their merchandise by sea, they soon excite the envy of the fishermen, whose hardihood and desperate poverty emboldens them to become pirates. In course of time the continental powers find it necessary to build a navy, to wreck these nests of pirates in self-protection, and the usual result is, that the island is annexed to the continent, and its people properly policed, become tranquil, they may even be turned into excellent citizens, since they possess the material of courage and energy in that degree which originally started them on their piratical career. But where the island, while retaining in the full its insular characteristics, is large enough and strong enough to develop into a sovereign state, the sporadic piracies of its aborigines become incorporated in the policy of the nation. A nucleus is formed, usually upon the banks of some great river, and the central authority is not slow to perceive that the welfare of its increasing population depends upon sea-power. The history of all island nations illustrates this view. Islands form the natural stronghold of every lawless race. However extended a sea coast may be, it may yet be turned; if a hinterland exists, the pirates can be suppressed by overland attack. Thus we see that the Vikings soon lost their power, the Danish ships of war were ultimately conquered, not upon the sea, but by attacks upon their base. Venice was destroyed from the rear. The sea power of Holland fell, not so much because of British victories on the North Sea, but because the country itself was unable to resist internal pressure. We know how easily England herself was turned out of France; and to this day she has never been able to make good her footing in any country requiring an army to defend it. India is practically an island, owing to the impossibility of invasion from the north. Yet India has always been understood by England as her weak point. Egypt, by reason of deserts, is almost an island, yet there again is a weak point. Canada is politically an island, owing to the inveterate pacificism of the inhabitants of the

FAQs

What central argument does Delenda Est Britannia make about English “piracies”?

It claims England’s piratical actions are not to be blamed as choices but are compelled by geography and necessity, especially the strategic logic of sea power and island/continental dynamics.

How does the text connect mountains and brigandage?

It argues that mountainous regions cannot support rich agriculture or livestock, so highland inhabitants develop into desperate brigands through hardship and resistance to plain-dwellers’ demands.

Why does the document emphasize island nations and sea power?

It states that islands naturally incline toward maritime livelihoods like fishing, which then evolves toward piracy when continental trade by sea provokes envy; later, sea powers respond with navies and control.

Aug 27, 2026

Upload by Maeve