All,
The disaster at Singapore was evidently started a bit earlier than 1942.
Bad leadership, bad ideas, bad .. nearly everything, but what was the alternative?
We probably need to go back to the early 30's (?).
UK to admit it cannot afford to be a super power
- Give Singapore away to the US?
- Let Japan do whatever they want
-> in essence: go home and leave Asia
UK to try to stay as a super power
- Build more ships, put a decent command in place, more troops in general
- Starve European waters of ships (Germany on the rise?)
-> UK bankrupt before 1939
UK try to bluff its way through it - OTL
In essence: was there any realistic options for UK when Asia had got out of hand from 1936 and onwards?
... and how would that have played out?
Ivan
The disaster at Singapore was evidently started a bit earlier than 1942.
Bad leadership, bad ideas, bad .. nearly everything, but what was the alternative?
We probably need to go back to the early 30's (?).
UK to admit it cannot afford to be a super power
- Give Singapore away to the US?
- Let Japan do whatever they want
-> in essence: go home and leave Asia
UK to try to stay as a super power
- Build more ships, put a decent command in place, more troops in general
- Starve European waters of ships (Germany on the rise?)
-> UK bankrupt before 1939
UK try to bluff its way through it - OTL
In essence: was there any realistic options for UK when Asia had got out of hand from 1936 and onwards?
... and how would that have played out?
Ivan