AFAICT, the Japanese considered the Dutch and Britons to be fully allied, and war against Britain would mean war against the US would be guaranteed at some point. In reality, the British government had given up any dreams of a defense of the DEI against the Japanese and categorically refused to...
If the British let Japan seize Sumatra, they could just as well evacuate Singapore, as it has become untenable at that point.
I'm convinced that Japan lost a fantastic opportunity by not seizing the DEI in August-December 1940. The British were not going to intervene, the Americans were not...
Van Mook was luitenant-Governor General and minister of colonial affairs. A politician and not a officer. Very much unsuited for the job. Helfrich or Ten Poorten (or Van Beerenschot in a TL where he doesn't die in a crash) would be the top Dutch military officers in the DEI. Neither of them was...
In my opinion ABDACOM was another problem for allied forces in SEA, instead of a solution. Its headquarters and command arrangements - though they improved in time - were a chaos and with the British under Wavell in the drivers seat the whole organization was infected by their Singaporitis...
In Masters and Commanders, Andrew Roberts writes that newly appointed Chief of the Imperial General Staff Alan Brooke disliked the fact that Churchill didn't bring him along for the ARCADIA conference with the Americans. What if John Dill get's ill (or maybe even die?) and Brooke goes along...
Not really anything catastrophic immediately though the ecology of the IJsselmeer would be screwed pretty quickly. If the Afsluitdijk is completely destroyed and followed up by a big storm there could be big problems but don't forget that the IJsselmeer is ringed by dykes as well and there is...
ATL Philip II will (presumably) be raised in the economic heavyweight of Charles C's possessions: the Netherlands. This will do a lot to counter rebellious feelings in those lands.
Great idea! I think if people would start a TL by making clear what they objective is in terms of 'hardness' (frasing) there would be a lot less conflicts in threads (talking about ah.com). I think this scale would be better though if there would be no mention of the level of research as it...