re: #331 Dr Lizardo

I was just reading this, as I do enjoy alternative history - I enjoy those ‘What If’s’ of history. This is one I could see developing; it has a certain logic to it.

laphamsquarterly.org

Me, I hit the disbelief button on the British agreeing to bottle their navy. The thing to keep in mind is that Britain was a NAVAL power.

Losing the BEF at Dunkirk would hurt and would be a morale dampener, but the armies in North Africa and India (not to mention the rest of the colonies and subjugates) still outnumbered what was lost.

It also makes defeat of Russia/Soviet Union too easy. Oh, and I notice the Japanese attack just happened to ignore the Philippines and a couple of other places US forces were stationed.

This isn’t to say pursuing the BEF at Dunkirk wouldn’t have eventually ended with an Axis victory, but it would have been far from the relative cake-walk Lapham envisions.