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Let's just assume it's captured intact and not get bogged down by how it's captured. The fleet at Mers-el-Kebir comprised 4 battleships and 5 destroyers. Combined with the Kriegmarine's 4 battleships, this gives Germany 8 battleships. The Royal Navy in 1940 has 14 battleships. Italy has 7...

The Admiralty's strategy relied on inflicting a distant blockade on Japan. As an island nation dependent on imports for food and fuel yes I do think blockade would have been effectie.

There aren't enough ships to adequately defend home waters, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean as well as the far east. 'Main Fleet to Singapore' was a myth. After the 1921 and 1930 Naval agreement, there was no way a fleet could ever be sent to the far east whilst Britain was at war in Europe. The...

If Britain is not at war in Europe and there's no Abyssinian crisis then the RN aboslutely swats the IJN and blockaded Japan's main ports. 12 months later, British and Empire troops march triumphantly through the streets of Tokyo and the Jack flies over the emperor's palace. God Bless Britain!

What were some of these coincidences? I saw the movie twice and I can't recall any such occasions.

Even after the war, Churchill stood by his decision to prioritise arms shipments to the Soviets over Malaya. The Far East just wasn't that important to him.

Impossible. Britain relied on the french Navy to guard the Mediterranean throughout the 1930s. There was no way there was going to be a confrontation.

Singapore had near inexhaustible reserves of food, fuel and ammunition and could have held out for months until a relief attempt by the US Pacific Fleet.

A bigger question is how to prevent Singapore from falling. To prevent Singapore falling you have to go back over 2 decades to the 1921 naval agreement. Prevent limits being placed on the total tonnage of the RN. You also need to prevent McDonald becoming PM for a 2nd term. He was, quite...

Personally, I prefer the Plageuis theory.

First I've ever seen or heard anyone praise the prequels to the detriment of TFA. You make an interesting point though.

I'm not sure if this has been done yet. In any case, enough time has passed for a spoiler laden discussion to be acceptable. I very much enjoyed the movie as did most of my friends. Just of the top of my head, I can't really think of any way to make the movie any better. It did what it needed to...

Britain had to go the the IMF during and after the Suez Crisis.

1947 was the year Britain pulled out of Greece because it couldn't afford the upkeep of 70,000 troops. How many Red Army soldiers were in Eastern Europe at the same time? Also the Soviets didn't need an American loan like Britain did in 1946 and they also Marshall aid so they clearly weren't in...

Britain finished the war bankrupt and needed an American and Canadian loan in 1946 just to survive. In the ensuing decades Britain repeatedly had to go to the IMF for loan after loan. The same can't be said for the Soviets.

Britain came off worse in the sense that it no longer had the economic clout to be a superpower after the war and quickly became a 2nd rate power. Britain couldn't afford to have a nuclear arsenal as big as America's but the Soviets achieved rough parity in the 70s whilst maintaing a massive...

The Soviets had almost all of European USSR destroyed 1st by scorching the earth as the red army withdrew, secondly by German bombardment, 3rd by scorched earth as the Wehrmacht withdrew and 4th by Soviet bombardment. The USSR also lost at least 20 million of its people. In the struggle...

Also once Britain agreed to a ceasefire it was game over for France as well. Musketeer was a British led operation and relied quite signficantly on Cyprus and Malta to an extent as well.

Page 279-781 cover the Anlgo - French - IMF relationship during the crisis succingtly. It, however, ignores the fact that America blocked a British loan until all troops were withdrawn.

The Sterling bloc was made up of Britain, the dominions besides Canada and the colonies as well as newly decolonized states. There was a much smaller franc bloc made up of France's colonies but AFAIK, none of those were oil producing. France, like Britain procured most of its oil from the...