>From Jed: ...
> Honestly, they [Japan] should have had enough sense to attack the Dutch only, > instead of Pearl Harbor. I doubt the U.S. would have declared war on Japan > over > colonies of an occupied European country. Interesting conjecture, Jed. I recommend you send your hypothesis to Harry Turtledove. Harry's a renowned S.F. writer who has explored numerous alternative historical events. It might give him something to ponder, for a future novel. ;-) Personally, I'm not convinced it would have panned out as you have speculated. Keep in mind Germany at the same time was fast becoming an ugly tinderbox that would eventually explode across the geopolitical map. Seems to me a global bar fight was fast approaching. IMO, had Japan attacked the Dutch East Indies and secured its desperately needed oil reserves I think it's very likely that the rest of the world (U.S. included) would have become increasingly more concerned about Japan's future intentions. In any case, it is probably extremely lucky that Japan "chose poorly" and attacked PH when it did. The infamous event forced our hand. Had Japan gone after DEI instead of PH, we would have, first of all, probably hemmed and hawed for several more years, and in the meantime who knows how much stronger Japan's military strength might have increased by. Jed, you're a historical scholar of sorts. And you know a lot about Japan. I'm curious, and I really don't know the answer to this question. In your opinion, do you think Japan would have stopped their expansionist plans after securing DEI? If not, things could have turned out to have been much more bloody for both sides. Regards Steven Vincent Johnson www.OrionWorks.com www.zazzle.com/orionworks
