The Singapore strategy was a strategy of the British Empire between 1919
and 1941. It was a series of war plans that evolved over a twenty-year
period to deter or defeat aggression by the Empire of Japan by basing a
fleet of the Royal Navy in the Far East. Ideally, this fleet would be
able to intercept and defeat a Japanese force heading south towards
India or Australia. To be effective, it required a well-equipped base,
and Singapore was chosen as the most suitable location in 1919. Work
continued on a naval base and its defences over the next two decades.
The Singapore strategy was the cornerstone of British Imperial defence
policy in the Far East during the 1920s and 1930s. A combination of
financial, political and practical difficulties ensured that it could
not be implemented. The strategy ultimately led to the despatch of Force
Z to Singapore and the sinking of the Prince of Wales and Repulse by
Japanese air attack on 10 December 1941. The subsequent ignominious fall
of Singapore was described by Winston Churchill as "the worst disaster
and largest capitulation in British history".
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_strategy>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1898:
Organized cheerleading was born at the University of Minnesota
when student Johnny Campbell directed a crowd attending an American
college football game to cheer on their team.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheerleading>
1932:
The Australian military began a "war against emus", a
flightless native bird blamed for widespread damage to crops in Western
Australia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu_War>
1964:
King Saud of Saudi Arabia was deposed by his half-brother
Faisal over concerns of the former's profligacy and his inability to
deal with the socialism of Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saud_of_Saudi_Arabia>
1995:
Former South African Minister of Defence Magnus Malan and 10
other former senior military officers were arrested and charged with 13
murders in the KwaMakhutha massacre of 1987.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Malan>
2004:
Dutch film director Theo van Gogh, whose film Submission was
critical of the treatment of women in Islam, was assassinated by
Mohammed Bouyeri.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_van_Gogh_(film_director)>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
bone-eating snot flower worm:
(biology) A worm-like creature, Osedax mucofloris, that feeds on the
carcasses of minke whales in the North Sea.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bone-eating_snot_flower_worm>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Tests are a gift. And great tests are a great gift. To fail the test is
a misfortune. But to refuse the test is to refuse the gift, and
something worse, more irrevocable, than misfortune.
--Lois McMaster Bujold
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lois_McMaster_Bujold>