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Interesting observations, toolbox. it does come across as though nobody thought that the whole of France could fall - at all. Was it even a surprise for the German generals? probably to some extent. Spain is interesting. Battle of Ebro saw both trench warfare and also highly mobile force...

Thanks Carl. Always worth reading your comments. In many ways the French were in a pickle from the very beginning. When France realized that they would never be able to defeat Germany alone and only an alliance with the uk was sound, the Maginot line was probably the solution as France also...

Carl: Sorry. I was reading off Wiki (sic!). "The Maginot Line was intended to block the main German blow, if it should come via eastern France, and to divert the main blow through Belgium, where French forces would meet and stop the Germans." Source: Young, Robert (2005). An Uncertain Idea of...

True that if Germany should have been faced with a defence without the Maginot line, they would have had to change tack. Is there any comparison we can use between France 1940 (without the Maginot Line) and Manstein's fluid defense from February 1943 (after Stalingrad)? That worked pretty well...

The idea of channeling a german attack through Belgium was probably fine. However, were there not some build-in discrepancies? French doctrine ( I believe) was still very much about attack and attack again. It is said (wiki!) that France wanted to be in a position to show Britain that they...

All, The Maginot line somehow had (also) the purpose of channeling a German invasion through Belgium. That would then be met by France and a long slogging match would evolve before France would attack and win the war (according to French war perceptions). In essence: The Maginot line would...

maybe if Alaska had stayed a part of Russia? or even if Russia had kept its control even of northern California?

Amazing. This is the scenario that will surely have a few Europeans up in arms. Why stop with only three bombs if you have a few extra. … and if the Russians should cross the Rhine, then we will use even more bombs . Very few people to liberate after that. Ivan

Tibi is spot on. It is not an easy decision to start chucking nuclear bombs around. In an actual shooting war, we should maybe also look at where the bombers would start from? If they should be stored in Germany, it would take a few conventional raids to bomb the airfields and set of a few...

Carl: our posts just crossed. It was also a matter of getting enough Uranium. Congo was the place to go for that. Wiki says: " In May 1944, Sir John Anderson and US Ambassador John Winant negotiated a deal with the Belgian government in exile and Edgar Sengier, the director of Union Minière...

It is actually a very interesting thought. If I may stretch this a little bit? Enola Gay dropped the 'Little Boy' which was Uranium based. It was pretty clear it would work, so no testing was necessary. HOWEVER, it used up nearly all Uranium available. Bokscar dropped 'Fat Man'. This was the...

Schock: Sorry for having confused myself. I was convinced that you meant the immediate ramifications if Bokscar had been downed. I do not think there would have been any major differences. My comment that even if Enola Gay had gone down would not have caused major differences is based on: 1)...

It probably wouldn't mean a lot after all. Even if Enola Gay had been shot down. US planned to have another 7 bombs ready for Olympic for November anyway. The only thing that could be in doubt is if the planning for Coronet/Olympic would be speeded up. Even that might not be possible. It still...

Interesting thought. If you should have the CP win in 1918/19, A lot of blood has been spilled and it is difficult to argue for a peace in any country that does not have the flavor of victory, somehow. Let us try to define 'win' a little bit: US stays neutral French army mutinies must cripple...

It really seems as it was just a matter of going with the flow. When Wilson asked the powers to come up with their war aims in December 1916, it came across as a slap in the face to Wilson. What is still to be looked at is if at least the start of WWI was just another war - It had not evolved...

All, We probably have had this before. What is rather confusing is the war goals of the combatants prior to the outbreak and for the 1914 months. There are a few explanations to this of course. The lack of stated war goals could easily be as WWI might have been seen as a continuation of the...

Some pics to look at: https://www.google.co.za/search?q=head-on+collisions+ships&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiOmtLD24XgAhXn0eAKHUOzDkkQ_AUIDigB&biw=1366&bih=619#imgrc=yqXVDVMfuTT0gM...

Well, remember one thing. The ship will crumble. so it is a measured deceleration. Probably very uncomfortable after all. Not so sure if the boilers would rip loose as we are talking a crumble zone of many meters. The deceleration should not affect heavy machinery bolted to the 'floor'. That...

It is a calculation of the kinetic energy of the collision: """""Here's my calculation. From Wikipedia, the Titanic displaced 52,310 long tons, which is 5.315x107 kg. I couldn't find the impact speed, but taking your 20 mph, it's 8.941 m/s. Kinetic energy is 1/2 m v2 = 2.124x109 J. That...

As far as I remember, the last thread on this had a few conclusions: One here had calculated amount of energy hitting nose first. As I recall it, it just might have been enough to crumble right into compartment 2-3. That would be the crumble zone. More serious would be energy transferred into...