This last week I took the opportunity to read the starter volume for the Very British Civil War. It has taken me a very long time to get round to this, and my interest is not because I have any particular wish to play the game; I just have a great fondness for what-ifs, how history might have been if the wind had blown the other way. What prompted my renewed interest was some other reading about the 1930s in Europe and (all right, I'll admit it) my watching, also after a very long delay, the movie The King's Speech.
Right on cue, in the last few days, one Mr Huckabee, a man described without apparent irony as a diplomat, former Fox News host and current US ambassador to Israel, voiced his opinion that if Sir Keir Starmer had been the British leader during WW2, the United Kingdom would be German-speaking now.
Maybe that's true, I have no idea; interesting. More alternative history. If we're playing this game, it also seems to me that if the present US Administration had been in charge in Washington in 1939, they would have been solidly aligned with the Axis, so WW2, if it had happened, would have been a walkover. Which means that Huckabee's current gig in Israel wouldn't have existed either; interesting.
Möge sein Arsch eitern, as Anton Drexler used to say.
Total idiots!
ReplyDeleteTrump has replaced all his advisors and representatives with people who don't know anything, so as you would notice. It's hard to see that as a position of strength. Maybe the non-US news services should stop being so ****ing polite?
DeleteThe VBCW thing has some nice ideas; I think there was a move to make it all local campaigns and that seems to have degenerated into armed Morris Dancers and lots of silly 28mm units....
ReplyDeleteI must admit the bigger picture was of more interest and (dare I say it) a more serious approach. I rather like Interwar British armour and the transition to early WW2.....
The other day I discovered a Spanish wargamer doing VBCW.....
I presume it was less serious than the Spanish one and possibly more exotic for a Spanish wargamer? It did quite tickle me though...
Alternative WW2; a lot of people do talk nonsense!
Comparing Starmer to the incumbents in power in 1939 is hardly likely to result in a German victory. Chamberlain was not exactly a great leader and Churchill (whom these people no doubt worship) was ready to declare war on the USSR (when they were still in a non-aggression pact with Germany!) was a man who thought he knew best when he clearly didn't, but interfered in decisions by generals who often did know better - take Greece for example.
Look at the paragons who admire him - Boris and Trump! He probably got as many British killed as some of the Germans - Dardanelles anyone?
As for the current US administration; I suspect the rather wealthy Jewish lobby in the US may not have favoured an alliance with Hitler; perhaps it would have been a bromance with Uncle Joe, after all President T seems quite keen on brutal dictators....
Neil
I guess I can probably be listed among the people who talk nonsense, but having the nitwits in positions of influence and authority is very scary indeed. These guys can only possibly be there for personal gain - racism alone cannot generate such apparent loyalty.
DeleteCertainly wasn't suggesting you talk nonsense.....
DeleteNeil
No, that was my own suggestion - you maybe overdid the denial, though...
DeleteBritish Civil Wars, ECWs and, dare I say, 'Wars in the Three Kingdoms' seem to be inspired by populist agendas, outre radical political and social movements, advocates for political change and a direct, well informed, challenge to the political and social establishment... like that would ever happen in the UK.
DeleteWe should be fine then...so long as the Levellers don't make a comeback.
(I never liked their songs anyway, but I can never find their lyric that refers to: 'significant constitutional changes, though it excluded household servants and those dependent on charity from voting, reflecting concerns about manipulation by masters'. Must be a different band...)
;)
There does seem to be a recurring theme of the odd ill-advised monarch, over and above these.
DeleteWhen I first emigrated to Scotland there was a big folk-boom going in the pubs, singing nationalist songs; it took me a while to realise that most of these were Irish nationalist songs (and I wasn't in Glasgow!). Maybe it was about not being English - who knows? As for the Levellers, I am substantially unmoved, I fear, though I am told I should like them (or else). Maybe the re-enactment boys are a further cultural evolution.
Bless them. Meanwhile the US military authorities are busy celebrating Confederate history. Not sure that will look too good on their CVs when it all turns to rat-droppings. I am still sort of half-hoping that I imagined all this.
Good to see you got the book in the end. Some of the add on scene setting stuff might be of interest if it covers your location. I only found the midlands one mildly interesting because I could relate to the personalities and the geography.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the original heads-up on the "Sally 4th" source. The starter book is a pretty inspirational effort - I have been looking sideways at a couple of the detail titles. Have a faintly nervous feeling that I need to write my name and address on my slippers before I disappear. I'm interested to see how you get on with your own project.
DeleteTo get off-topic a little, I received a Google-free email from the Professor, who makes the point (and I didn't really intend to get into this) that if you read about the Munich Agreement of 1938 it is noticeable that that meeting, which ceded the Sudetenland to Germany, did not involve representatives of the Czech government. Draw your own parallels with what might happen in Alaska on Friday.
ReplyDeleteUnusually, I can see it is just possible that Trump may have heard of the Munich Agreement, though I am not sure if he realises that he falls naturally into the role of Chamberlain and Daladier rather than that of his great icon. Putin will eat him alive; I'll be in the bunker. Let me know how it goes.
What if Trump gets confused and hands over Alaska too? I guess Canada will just have to be targeted as the 50th State, not the 51st.
Test Comment...
ReplyDeleteI bought the VBCW sourcebook when it came out…
ReplyDeleteI also thought it was an entertaining read… I quite like “What if’s “
The Morris Men ( And I think there are some Trumpton like militia available)… They put me in mind of all the crazy volunteers and militia that were around at the beginning of the ACW…
I’m surprised the no one has transposed the idea/scenario to America in the Thirties…
I think someone out in the blogosphere has set it in Australia.
All the best. Aly
This is the Blog…
ReplyDeletehttp://toysoldiersforoldgits.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Great%20Antipodean%20Adventure