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Phillips sailed because:- (a) He was assured of air cover by the RAF, and (b) The Battleships were all he had and it was his plain duty to try to find and destroy the Japanese invasion fleet (which had already been sighted by an RAF Catalina.) If the Indomitable were there, he may well have...

Most of the sepoys, lacking any firm political head, gravitated to serving a local prince, usually some hangover satrap from the Mogul Empire. Most of these were of very dubious character. After such atrocities as the massacre at Cawnpore, where women and children were murdered, I doubt any...

I wonder how effective Mosquitos would have been. Bombing railway tracks was by and large no good, as they could be repaired quickly, within hours or days. The best tactic against the railways is against marshalling yards, which needs a certain amount of area bombing. As for bridges, I cite...

Actually there was an invasion in 1997. My stepmother lives near Ashford, in Kent, and tells me there are thousands of French there still. Apparently they get more left in a British pay packet (after tax) than they would do in a French pay packet (after tax.) So Nap's solution is obvious:-...

The more I chew at this problem, the less I can see a way of Nap getting rid of the British fleet (save for a major mutiny):- (a) A great storm would sink and scatter more invasion barges than it would RN ships. (b) Villeneuve would have to "tie up" Nelson, not engage him. If he fought Nelson...

I cannot agree with David. Buddhism would only take in California, where they're always looking for something new. As an inhabitant of godless England, I am always struck, whenever I am in the USA, by the numbers of people going out to church on Sunday mornings. Its a very religious country...

For a terror weapon, the V1 was much, much, much cheaper than the V2, hence much more effective. The British clearly realised the danger of mass launches of V1s, which is why they put so much effort into bombing the "ski sites." The V2 was highly uneconomic. It cost as much as a Lancaster...

By and large I agree with Riain but 3 points:- (a) The reason the pz divs first halted was simply they ran out of fuel and ammunition. They were resupplied but by that time the Halt order was in effect. (b) Many records of gas production were destroyed by the German chemical companies, for...

Ghandi was not driving Indian national policy by that time. The country was run by Nehru and the Congress Party. Nehru's own comment about Ghandi at that stage was "It costs the state a fortune to keep the old man in poverty." He was referring to the discreet bodyguarding, the fact that every...

Max is right. Cavour was the real moving spirit behind unifying Italy, not Garibaldi although Garibaldi got all the publicity. Garibaldi's early death wouldn't have stopped either Cavour's machinations or the appeal of Mazzini's philosophies. In fact it would probably have speeded the...

Why on earth should Sicily have gone to (civil) war over the Val d'Aosta? The north and south of Italy loathe and despise each other. If France seised Aosta, the Sicilians wouldn't be inclined to lift a finger. The real effect of such adventurism by the French would be the USA refusing to...

I hate to repeat myself but no-one seems to have got it the first time. If the Italians didn't have enough oil fuel in 1941, then there's no way Vichy would have. Also, big ships have to maintained. The only base Vichy had left was Toulon. A battleship marooned at Dakar would probably break...

The Americans like people who are practical and people who are honest. It is in their nature. They equate good-looking with honesty. There is nothing wrong with this. Most nations do it. It may be incorrect but what you gonna do? Harrison Ford was good-looking. He was also practical (he was...

I go along with Mysterius. Let us suppose the crash at the UN was accidental. As I understand it the UN Building is not US territory. From a jurisdictional point of view, it follows that the UN could not demand release of any prisoners from Gitmo. Contrariwise, if terrorists fell into the...

Whats all this stuff about the Keralan Empire and the Bengali Peoples Republic? We're talking about original timelines here. You know, the Roman Empire survives for ever, Constantinople doesn't fall, things like that. At least Glen mentioned Napoleon's victory at Waterloo, but was that...

The usual terrorist suspects would never attack the UN. Some of their senior people have relatives who are diplomats working there.

I suspect they would have been withdrawn anyway, because of the problems of supplying them across the North Sea. During 1940 and 1941 the Germans would have had the advantage in the air, in that area.

I don't think lack of guts is the right thing to accuse Pound of here. There was never any intention of bringing the Home Fleet into southern waters. That would have meant exposing modern and valuable capital ships to the vagaries of weather, shoals, minefields, U-Boats and the Luftwaffe. Even...

Sorry, I meant run from Berlin, didn't I?

The smaller ships, destroyers, subs and so forth would be very useful. But the majority of the big units were in North Africa. To be useful, they would have to be moved to the engineering assets of their main bases, which were in France. This means a contested crossing of the Mediterranean...