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Originally Posted by spidge  I reserve my judgement on the Swiss however the Swedes were in a no win situation. With Germans troops in Norway, Finland & Denmark, their people would have virtually been starved into submission. |
Finland's position in the equation isn't so clear cut. Whilst Germany and Russia were still sticking to their accord, Finland was fighting for its survival against Russia. At that time Finland was no friend of Germanys. So if Germany had decided to invade Sweden, Finlands reaction is hard to predict. It would certainly have antagonised them. And though Germany wasn't at war with Russia at this time, they certainly wouldn't hav wanted either the responsibility of allowing for a Soviet win over Finland, nor have to taken on the additional burden of propping up, or occupying, Finland too.
It all becomes a terrible dilemma of the the domino effect - which way will each piece fall?
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Good point however there were political discussions with Norway by the British as to the possibility of action against them by Germany. Chamberlain and more importantly Halifax at this early stage were still looking for a way out and were not prepared to be pro active in Scandinavia.
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The positions of all the neutral countries in 19398, and pre-May 1940 were tricky. They could all see the threats coming from one or more directions, but they all hoped and prayed that international neutrality laws may protect. As we can see, they didn't for Norway etc. But whatever the politicians may have been discussing behind the scenes, the Norwegians then would have had to sell the idea to the people (and the right wing under people like Quisling wasn't exactly dormant)
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Churchill admittedly would think things through to the end before worrying about the middle however his objective planning could be said to be sound.
The later attempts to secure Norway were flawed by Germany knowing of their intentions.
His Greek campaign was credible on paper however he did not have sufficient forces to do it at the time. Result: Greece = Loss, Crete = Loss, North Africa a debacle.
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That was the problem - Churchill sometimes suffered from the same disease as Hitler - what looked good on paper doesn't equate to reality
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I don't think it is as simplistic as that. Thailand had embarked on a land grab by taking advantage of the European situation. Japan was most definitely involved politically with Thailand Prime Minister Lang Pipul before December 8th 1941, as he saw the Japanese as the eventual winners of the conflict. The Thai people may not have wanted war however after Lang Pipul took dictatorial control of Thailand he wanted to be part of the spoils and his people did not have a choice.
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I agree Spidge but what I meant was that
my reply was probably being simplistic