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I believe Trek's issue with the Vanguard is less about the practical allocation of resources and more about her ah... aesthetic qualities and overall design.

Fantastic update. Though given how relatively few nations were involved and the inevitability of a withdrawal (despite not all parties knowing this), I imagine once the conference moves on to Spain it will make the Rhineland look trivial in comparison.

Also, can you elaborate on Britain's policy for ingame effects? Stronger trade with South America? Infrastructure in the colonies? Or just being seen to be doing something without actually doing anything?
 
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I believe Trek's issue with the Vanguard is less about the practical allocation of resources and more about her ah... aesthetic qualities and overall design.

Or rather the lack thereof. :(
 
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What's so bad about the Vanguard? According to wiki she was an excellent seaboat and the battleship was well on the way out by this point...

EDIT: And I'm not exactly looking for a warship to be pretty :p
 
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What's so bad about the Vanguard? According to wiki she was an excellent seaboat and the battleship was well on the way out by this point...

EDIT: And I'm not exactly looking for a warship to be pretty :p

Warships need some sense of style, a certain look about them, and that out of proportion sh*tbucked lacks all of that.
 
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Hey Trekky, tell us what you really think! :eek:

Nice update El Pip but as others have said, the hard part for the conferencees is yet to come...

Reopening the Versailles treaty... boy, what a job!

As such I can't wait for the Italians to reopen the Pola/Dalmatian coast arguement, Bulgarian demands for western Thracia and Macedonia, the Hungarians to raise Transylvannia, Armenian claims over genocide by the Turks, the list goes on... oh, and Billy Hughes is still upset with Pacific mandates going to Japan. ;)

Good luck to the Foreign Office... they're gonna need it!

Cheers,
Dury.
 
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I'd disagree, with the assessment: While the british have arguably lost some prestige, their position in real terms is pretty good. Germany is far weaker than OTL (which can only be a good thing) and is to some degree hemmed in by France and Italy, the RM is gone which frees up british and french resources for other tasks.

I'd say that while the british might not be too fond of not being the ones to call the moves, everything is still proceeding in accordance with british interests, at least thus far.
 
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I think one interesting thing, is that with a weakened Germany, who is there to offset the eventual onslaught of the SU. Presumably if Germany can't beat France, they certainly won't be able to turn east... Also, Where do items like Danzig and Poland come in? Are there still GOI's for Poland?
 
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I think one interesting thing, is that with a weakened Germany, who is there to offset the eventual onslaught of the SU. Presumably if Germany can't beat France, they certainly won't be able to turn east... Also, Where do items like Danzig and Poland come in? Are there still GOI's for Poland?

Germany can beat France, it is only weaker diplomatically. With double population and triple industry any advantage France (alone) has is only temporary.
 
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Hmm...interesting. The possibilities of a Europe-wide war in the next 3 years are starting to diminish...unless Germany presses hard over the Anschluss, but does Hitler have enough capital to push for that over the objections of the OKW/OKH staff?

Germany still looks weak.

France looks strong but is still weak...alliances not-withstanding...in fact, she may be the one to start a 1914 style war, what with all the alliances.

Italy is recovering, and needs friends to help with her aspirations, voila...France.

Britain...ah, Britain. Are they strong or weak? Strong enough to topple Italy in a colonial war. But can they take France on and win quickly? It seems to me that the RN biggest threat is now the French fleet and Japanese fleet. It doesn't make sense for the French to concentrate in the Atlantic, since the etente cordial is dead, they will need to protect their link to north africa from the British.

TheExecuter
 
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I agree with Arilou's assessment. Through no effort of their own, the British are in the box seat.

They have no Continental allies which, in the circumstances, is no big deal because they have no real Continental threats. They have therefore preservedfreedom to maneuvre to meet future developments.

Yes, Italy has surprisingly moved in with France (that whacky Benito and his opportunism) but as Paul Kennedy once remarked, the entry of Fascist Italy into the Second World War was the singular instance where the addition of an ally actually materially weakened the alliance's position in every aspect. A relocation of the French Fleet to the north coast ports would expose the underbelly of Provence and the entire Italian coastline (since the RM is now effectively defunct) in the event of a renewal of Anglo-French hostilities.

A Germany which can be cowed by France alone isn't going to have the guts to take on the Royal Navy, and Great Britain would not waste the bones of 1 Grenadier Guard for the Dalmatian coast.

BTW I loved the v. Neurath/v. Ribbentrop double act. Very well executed plot development.
 
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Vanguard, I shall defend her! Nobody slags her off!
 
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I agree with Arilou's assessment. Through no effort of their own, the British are in the box seat.

Maybe it is for best. I mean, if the British can't get tied down to anything right now, they might not be obligated to deal with it later.

Really, there's no real reason for the British to get involved if war does break out. Yeah, there is the balance of power...but that seems to be overrated.

Vanguard, I shall defend her! Nobody slags her off!

If Vanguard is a girl, what would be a boy?
 
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http://www.boatsafe.com/kids/kidsquesshe.htm
According to Yarns of the Sea, Legends, Myths, and Superstitions: Although women were considered to bring bad luck at sea, mariners always use the pronoun "she" when referring to their ships. Whether its proper name is masculine, or whether it is a man o'war, a battleship, or a nuclear submarine, a ship is always referred to as "she."

This old tradition is thought to stem from the fact that in the Romance languages, the word for "ship" is always in the feminine. For this reason, Mediterranean sailors always referred to their ship as "she", and the practice was adopted over the centuries by their English-speaking counterparts.

One source suggests that a ship "was nearer and dearer to the sailor than anyone except his mother." What better reason to call his ship "she"?
jaby2.gif
 
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The Entente Cordial...

...May be suffering, but don't call it dead yet - not by a loong chalk. The movers and shakers in both Britain and La Belle France; political, financial, military and all, have grown up with it, and it will take more than a spat over Spain and a few politically divisive events to set them at each other's throats.

Germany was the enemy less than a generation ago, and unless Herr Hitler is removed or neutered :eek:, Germany will unite them to arms again, mark my words... :cool:
 
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Pierre-Etienne Flandin is indeed an interesting character. He was in the 1930s the chairman of the Democratic Alliance, the political center-right party that the rather forgettable President of the French Republic Albert Lebrun, the more assertive Paul Reynaud and the late reformist André Tardieu all belonged to.

In OTL Flandin represented the Pacifist wing of the DA, which led him first to applaud Münich and then, when the fortunes of war deserted France, to side with Pétain.

I think Flandin embodied pretty well the ambiguities and contradictions of the DA : tough on defense but wanting to avoid war at all cost, a centrist who nevertheless thought there was much to be admired in Fascist regimes, tough on defense of Republican institutions but nevertheless ready to give Pétain Caesar-like powers.
 
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Warships need some sense of style, a certain look about them, and that out of proportion sh*tbucked lacks all of that.

It as pretty or ugly as any of the British battleships from ww1-ww2.
 
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It as pretty or ugly as any of the British battleships from ww1-ww2.

Wrong. It is out of proportion. The turrets are too small for a ship of that size. It was the first British warship to be longer than Hood!
 
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