The Maltese Fulcrum: Strategy and Fantasy in the Early Nineteenth-century British Mediterranean

This article explores the fantasies of untold gains British strategists (especially those at some remove from political power) developed about Malta in its first decades as a British colony. Located at the centre of a region positioned almost exactly between India and the Americas, Malta was conceived by a diverse set of thinkers as an imperial lynchpin: central to anticipated regional military dominance, revivified trade with the Ottoman Empire, new transportation projects, and ambitious missionary efforts. The disparate nature of these ambitions helps us understand the ways in which expanded British power in the Mediterranean could be seen as a source of excitement in its own right, not simply important in terms balance of power calculations, as much of the historiography assumes. Given that its position was considered to be key to the many benefits strategists hoped to derive from Malta, this article explores how the tiny island colony came to be seen as a ‘fulcrum’ from which outsized gains could be realised. Focusing on the period roughly between 1801 and 1840, I explore recurrent patterns of extreme optimism about what control of Malta could help achieve (often followed by recurrent disappointment). Following these cycles helps demonstrate how various British strategists imagined power in the Mediterranean could serve as an adhesive force for the broader empire during a period of imperial reconfiguration.