TheExecuter said:
T-H, I'm curious which British government personalities you think would be most likely to support the kind of interventionism you are proposing.
Clearly it would be Field Marshall Perfect Foresight and Minister for Event Files, Herbet Knows-Whats-Going-To-Happen-In-The-Future-Smythes.
As for everyone else;
Jalex - It's April 25th (ish). So Hitler is about 2 months late. Italy will get mentioned when it needs to get mentioned, peace talks do take a while to set up.
Karelian - That is indeed Hitler's plan, particularly after the ANGA talks which forced him to uprate his opinion of British opposition.
Vann the Red - Italy is not yet crushed, as senor T-H will doubtless bang on about, but certainly reduced. Certainly no longer a threat to the Med or British interests in the Middle East, which is the main thing.
Judas Maccabeus - Indeed a outright rebellion in South Africa would have been very messy, a third Boer War perhaps, something no-one who experienced the first two would ever want to seriously contemplate.
Glad I expressed Smut's rush home well, I can imagine that would be a hell of a journey.
GeneralHannibal's - Smuts was always very pro-British, pro-global co-operation, as long as he stays in power (tricky as the more pro-Brit you are the more certain Boers will hate you) South Africa will be fine.
Sir Humphrey - Too many ways to say, the future is.... uncertain to say the least.
RAFspeak - I believe Churchill will still be needed in Westminster, while Barry H really should take a pistol and a bottle of whisky and do the honourable thing. Of course he won't because he's a dishonourable self serving git, but that's what he
should do.
caffran - France will have to take the lead over the Rhineland, as Lord Lothian said (historically) it's just the "Germans walking into their own backyard". He wasn't alone in thinking that, however wrong you may think he was, and that body of opinion has to be a factor in Austen's thinking.
TheExecuter - Now you mention it, the last update has something of the 'Bond cutting the wire' about it. Only problem is the bomb is in fact somewhere else.
Dr. Gonzo - I think Smut's goes down as liberalish, so things aren't going to get any worse for the black minority, but I can't see them getting a great deal better. The plain fact is though that universal suffrage means a black government and the end of white rule. That really isn't on the cards in the short term so it's down to who Hertzog's successor is and what line the wounded National Party takes as it rebuilds itself (I can't see Smuts and the SAPP in power for ever, if the Nats get in unreformed they would push for Hertzog's 'legacy' to be fulfilled).
madsb - See what you've done now? Set off his obsession. You know what he's like if he hasn't had his medication.
Glad you like the updates though.
Funkatronica - I fear his sleeves are worryingly empty, as opposed to his plate which is overflowing with issues and problems. Britain will have to let other's take the lead over the Rhineland crisis.
TheExecuter - Again - As you say Italy saw herself as the protector of Austria, that only change when Il Duce 'sacrificed' Italy for a German Alliance. I would imagine a humbled Italy to be even more keen on preserving what remains of her sphere of influence, if only through pride.
I remained to be convinced that stopping Hitler at the Rhineland would have been as decisive as it's portrayed. It does, of course, depend how it happens but assuming it's a Entente show of force and a German withdrawal at worst it's a humiliation for Germany who have to be more circumspect in their actions, being less overtly aggressive and a bit more cunning. It also removes a great deal of the case for Anglo-French rearmament, possibly lulling people into even more false senses of security. I suspect all it would of done it delay, not avert, the coming war. But there are so many unknowns frankly anything could of happened.
Tortoise Herder - All your arguments are based on justifying and helping an invasion of Italy. That is still not going to happen as it's still a massive and disproportionate over-reaction, there's still no historic figure in the British government who would even contemplate it, let along suggest it in cabinet and it would still be massively unpopular.
On top of all that it feels too gamey and needs too much perfect foresight from too many people in power, none of whom are to to do anything but the "correct" decisions (again correct in hindsight) or to make any mistakes, or to miss things, or to be politicians and thus concerned about being elected or the will of the people.
In fact they must deliberately over-ride the will of the people, send their sons and husbands to die against their wishes and in general behave as dictators, in order that they can remove a dictatorship from somewhere else, which you have to admit is fairly ironic.