Comments by "" (@VersusARCH) on "Drachinifel"
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Fluyt, Corvette, Merchant, Frigate, East Indianman, Fourth Rate, Third Rate, Second Rate, First Rate, Fifth Rate, Sixth Rate, Caravel, Carrack, Barque, Galleon, Galleas, Yacht, Sloop, Brig, Clipper, Pram, Retourn Ship, Pinnace, Brigantine, Junk, Sampan, Ketch...
I am of confuse...
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Drach, had Gensoul sailed to join the British or sailed to Martinique to be blockaded by them there - it would have amounted to treason to France, effective breaking of Franco-German Armistice provisions and led to German-Italian attack on Zone Libre as well as Algeria and Morocco then and there (instead of in 1942. after operation Torch). British seizure of French vessels in their harbors, their media promotion of De Gaulle and finally the attempt to force the French warships in Oran and Dakar to join them were certainly done with hope of provoking the Germans to attack the French again thereby forcing the French to defend themselves no matter how hopeless that defense might be. Such intent can be clearly seen in their subsequent attempt to create a forlorn hope Balkan front with Greece and Yugoslavia, their reasoning being that even if (I might as well say "when") those countries were defeated and occupied they would further stretch the German forces and expose them to guerilla warfare. You are hugely overestimating the importance of Gensoul's omission of relaying to Vichy of the "sail to Martinique" option. I have some doubts that it is even true, but even if it was - Vichy would certainly not have taken that option, but ordered Gensoul to sail to Toulon as he did.
Reasoning that "Hitler breaks agreements, therefore one should do whatever the Allies demand" does not hold water. EVERYONE breaks agreements (or at least renegotiates them in force) when the balance of forces guaranteeing the said agreements shifts and there is sufficient need. Allies broke agreements too (the very attack on Mers El Kebir is a prime example). And there were quite a few agreements that Hitler did not break (he respected Swiss, Swedish, Spanish and Turkis neutrality just to name a few).
Gensoul might be guilty of insufficient scouting (although the French did not have radar and the British sneaked up from nearby Gibraltar during the night, so it would have hardly helped anyway). He might be guilty of not mining the sh1t of the approaches to Mers El Kebir (a risky move internationally), or making sure sufficient force of Aeronavale aircraft is nearby to threaten to attack the British if they attacked (or coordinated with L'Armee de l'Air commanders to make sure they had such a force at hand if Aeronavale was depleted). But he was not wrong to reject the British ultimatum. He did his duty to his country. He got caught with his pants down (which was not all his fault) but did make the best out of a bad situation (bought time to raise steam and escaped the British with Strasbourg and all destroyers except the Mogador).
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No country ever went to war due to "public opinion", USA included. It has always been a high level political descision based on strategic interests. Once the descision has already been made, the subordinate media would gear up and shape the public opinion to support the war in order to make the prosecution of the war less costly (for example in the price of cannon fodder).
USA entered WW1 when Russia began faltering (after the February Revolution) and a threat of a Central Power's victory became real. Of the two warring sides the Entente borrowed vastly more from the US - courtesy of the Entente navies' blockade that wasn't letting anything through to the Central Powers, the cargo being immediately purchased by the Entente thereby adding to their debts, and US otherwise also had far more business ties with the Entente Powers, particularly UK than with the Central Powers. Hence a Central powers' victory would both create massive problems for the Entente to pay its debt to the US and damage US economy. The Entente victory had an added benefit of damaging the competing, rather than cooperating, German economy. The Zimmermann Telegram and its acknowledgement, rather than being a major German blunder, was obviously a desperate attempt by Germany, which was aware that the Americans are about to join the war on the opposing side, to try to scare them away from it and reassure Mexico that they meant what they promised in the telegram. It just didn't work, but had it never been sent nothing would have been different, other than the declared pretext for the US entry to WW1 on the Entente side.
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