Re: Were the Japanese trying to surrender for months before Hiroshima?

In article <0001HW.C09675C00062E494F058A530@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
the auroran sunset <upm@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
indeed.. it is strongly suggested that hannibal would have won if he had just
plucked up the courage to march on rome, rather than waiting around in the
italian countryside for another decisive battle or a voluntary surrender..

Possibly. But Rome was a strongly-defended city, and I think
it's doubtful whether Hannibal had the men or supplies to mount a long
siege. Even after Cannae, Rome was not short of troops, it just had
them in the wrong places; and it still had control of the sea. It's
just conceivable that an instant march on Rome might have found the
defences so undermanned that a straight frontal assault would have
worked; but more likely that it would have been repulsed. It's
worth remembering that an army in hostile territory moves at the
speed of its slowest units; there's no point the cavalry arriving
one day, the infantry two weeks later, with any stragglers being
picked off en route. By contrast, any Roman cavalry or detached
units that manage to work their way back to Rome are instantly
available for the defence.

meanwhile fabia using eponymous fabian tactics and scipio outflanking him by
sailing off to africa and marching on carthage, meant he lost the opportunity
created by his march and defeats of the major roman armies in italy.

He was hoping, of course, that the rest of Italy would flock
to his support. But they didn't; and Hannibal spent over a decade
wandering around wherever he chose [as long as he kept away from the
major cities], desperately trying to keep his dwindling army fed and
watered while the Romans just watched and waited. The big "What If"
is what if Carthage had actually supported him and sent men and
supplies instead of leaving him swinging in the wind.

[...]
the parallels are quite interesting!

The more interesting WW2 parallel is not USA vs Japan, but
Germany vs the UK immediately after the fall of France. Could or
should Germany have invaded immediately? The RN and RAF still had
command of the Channel, so the invasion would have been costly.
But our recovery from Dunkirk was much faster than the German
build-up, so that by the end of the Battle of Britain, there was
no serious doubt that an invasion would fail. Earlier, it would
probably have failed; but it was still the only chance. But
the Austrian painter, like Hannibal, hoped that the opposition
would roll over and surrender.

--
Andy Walker, School of MathSci., Univ. of Nott'm, UK.
anw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Day of Decision: Teutoburg Forest
    ... If Rome forever lost Germany, ... Rhine chose to freeze over, which means that we suddenly had crop ...
    (soc.history.ancient)
  • Re: Day of Decision: Teutoburg Forest
    ... If Rome forever lost Germany, ... Rhine chose to freeze over, which means that we suddenly had crop ...
    (soc.history.ancient)
  • Re: Where will you Watch the Final?
    ... best thing about being in Germany. ... Rome or in the hotel terrace bar. ... both being medium sized beer gardens ... About 5 km or so from Marienplatz. ...
    (rec.sport.soccer)
  • Re: Where will you Watch the Final?
    ... Yeah, although an IRC'er who just came back said it was the single ... best thing about being in Germany. ... Mind you, you actually live there, so perhaps the bloom has worn off ... Rome or in the hotel terrace bar. ...
    (rec.sport.soccer)
  • Re: Is Hamburg an irrelevance?
    ... the conditions are so different from R.G that it cant ... Hamburg has higher attemdances than Monte Carlo or Rome. ... Hamburg is important because it is the only MS in Germany and Germany ...
    (rec.sport.tennis)