[Closed] What would happen if the UK had no armed forces?

The Falklands was a war of political choice. We had nukes then, we didn't use them. just a thought for the debate

Not quite true, allegedly the UK used them as leverage to persuade France to give them the technical data for the Exocet missile.

IDF Active personnel 9,127 invasions 0

[quote=ton ]why would any country with a ounce of sense invade this shit hole.

with a statement like that, you clearly haven't been to any of the real shit holes of the world...

There would be nothing to gain and pretty much everything to lose for any state to invade the UK with or without an Army.

our former cold war foes i.e. China and USSR now own huge swathes of the UK (mostly London) including our football teams. Our Universities are full of Chinese students. They wouldn't invade - they're doing just fine thanks.

@dragon I take your point, but we didn't use them.

ninfan no one can predict those events. That is the point no? I am fairly sure after WW1 we had a very small army, and we rearmed as it became clear war was coming. We could do that again?

I think we keep a very small force for border control and to remain in the UN , but thats about it.

I think the days of nations completely conquering other nations is a thing of the past - in europe anyway

About 40 million Ukrainians, the Baltics, and Poland would disagree.

costa rica manages without a military IIRC

Technically yes, but there is a SF paramilitary unit and armed police: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Forces_of_Costa_Rica

jam bo - Member

ton » why would any country with a ounce of sense invade this shit hole.

with a statement like that, you clearly haven't been to any of the real shit holes of the world...

err wrong

London, Cardiff, Glasgow, Barnsley, Doncaster, barrow, Newcastle, Workington, sunderland, Featherstone, Rotherham, Peterborough, Lincoln, leeds, Walsall, Birmingham,.............................
shall I go on?

we could say we've planted a small nuclear device in every capital we've had an embassy any trouble and it's bye bye paris.

jam bo - Member
ton » why would any country with a ounce of sense invade this shit hole.
with a statement like that, you clearly haven't been to any of the real shit holes of the world

Wow.
An STW shit-hole dick war...

ton - Member

why would any country with a ounce of sense invade this shit hole.

It's less than 80 miles to leave this island, what are you waiting for, a bus pass?

@Perchypanther Ringograd sounds better

Wow.
An STW shit-hole dick war...

hardly. the UK is many things but its also the 5th richest country in the world that people regularly die attempting to get to in search of a better life.

some people may be a little blind to this...

costa rica manages without a military IIRC

https://medium.com/war-is-boring/costa-rica-doesnt-have-a-military-not-so-fast-499b5d67e160

I'm also remembering something about them generally piggy backing of the US military which if the case would mean having to be in line with US wishes. Not sure about that bit tbh!?

ton - member
err wrong

London, Cardiff, Glasgow, Barnsley, Doncaster, barrow, Newcastle, Workington, sunderland, Featherstone, Rotherham, Peterborough, Lincoln, leeds, Walsall, Birmingham,.............................
shall I go on?

Seriously?

Life expectancy in Glasgow for men is about 72 years.

In Russia it's about 65 years!

I've been to some pretty grim places in India and China as well.

err wrong

London, Cardiff, Glasgow, Barnsley, Doncaster, barrow, Newcastle, Workington, sunderland, Featherstone, Rotherham, Peterborough, Lincoln, leeds, Walsall, Birmingham,.............................
shall I go on?

Well, I'd say you start by listing places that fall into the poo hole category in a global context. But I suspect you just need to stretch your legs after emerging from underneath that bridge. 😛

it would be good for some other country to invade us, steal what little value we have and leave us ****ed up.............just like we have done through the years to other countries.

I think Canada has a relatively small army compared to America and its size due to America having a huge army that keeps it safe.

it would be good for some other country to invade us, steal what little value we have and leave us **** up.............just like we have done through the years to other countries.

Well it wouldn't though, really, would it.

I think the days of nations completely conquering other nations is a thing of the past

China and USSR now own huge swathes of the UK (mostly London) including our football teams. Our Universities are full of Chinese students. They wouldn't invade - they're doing just fine thanks.

This,most assets are owned and/or exploited by international banks/financiers ,corporations,pension and hedge funds and a handful of extremely wealthy individuals and corrupt heads of state, there's no need for an invasion as they probably already own the valuable stuff.Germany and Japan waged WW2 for not just ideological reasons but for access to energy and raw materials.Post WW2 they became the world's leading economic and industrial powerhouses yet they had less resources than earlier.Africa is potentially the richest continent when it comes to natural resources yet it is actually the poorest.Discovering vast mineral/energy resources instead of increasing the standard of living for the many usually just lines the pockets of the few and causes misery for millions,Nigeria for example.
Do Nomura own Greggs btw?

What would happen if the UK had no armed forces?

1. Take all your smaller islands. Oversea territories first.
2. Take all your fish.
3. Take all your natural resources.
4. Divide your land up.
5. Set up sweatshops for cheap labour.
6. Set up penal colony to support No.5.
7. Spain, France, Germany and Italy will be the first to conquer on the pretext of "helping" the people ...

😆

ton - Member

it would be good for some other country to invade us, steal what little value we have and leave us **** up...........

You're grumpy this morning. Did the zookeeper fail to flush all the sand out of your mangina or something?

the 5th richest country

1920's, after the war to end all wars, who would have predicted the likelihood of another major European conflict?

Most people in the know at the time.

So we need nukes in case of aggression from Spain which doesnt have nukes?

Agentina might invade the falklands but I doubt it - after all we no longer have the capability to send a task force / defend them as we did before so what is stopping Argentina doing this now?

they can't afford to let their air force take off at the moment, and the planes are the same as those used in 1982. Our deployment is substantially larger and a hole in the runway will only delay not prevent operations as they simply get filled in

London, Cardiff, Glasgow, Barnsley, Doncaster, barrow, Newcastle, Workington, sunderland, Featherstone, Rotherham, Peterborough, Lincoln, leeds, Walsall, Birmingham,.............................

The Russians mapped all these places with precision in the cold war up to the late 1980's, they probably still are mapping them, don't believe they didn't have an invasion plan

it would be good for some other country to invade us, steal what little value we have and leave us **** up.............just like we have done through the years to other countries.

the history of invasions we have experienced means that all property goes to the invader..........

And yet Spain never did attempt to invade...

Cos Wobbliscott's mate was there silly.

we'd have to work out what to do with the tens of thousands of people that are willing to kill for the Queen and country.

"IDF Active personnel 9,127 invasions 0"

Large reserve force and a very proactive approach to ensuring the latter, plus a nuclear deterrent of course!

There hasn't been a major crash at Heathrow airport for years - perhaps we they don't really need their own fire engines? No terrorist attacks there either? Perhaps we don't need any armed police and metal detectors?

wilburt - Member
So we need nukes in case of aggression from Spain which doesnt have nukes?

Then we do this to them:

1. Take all their smaller islands. Oversea territories first.
2. Take all their fish.
3. Take all their natural resources.
4. Divide their land up.
5. Set up sweatshops for cheap labour.
6. Set up penal colony to support No.5.
7. Prevent France, Germany and Italy from joining the party on the pretext that we are protecting Spain from other aggressors ...

😆

Budget for Military - 45bn
Combined population of Falklands and Gibraltor - 35,057 (32217 + 2840)

So why don't we just ask them all to move back here in exchange for 1,283,623 million each and save all future military payments?

bargain.

There hasn't been a major crash at Heathrow airport for years - perhaps we they don't really need their own fire engines? No terrorist attacks there either? Perhaps we don't need any armed police and metal detectors?

why is that relevant to the discussion?

Budget for Military - 45bn
Combined population of Falklands and Gibraltor - 35,057 (32217 + 2840)

So why don't we just ask them all to move back here in exchange for 1,283,623 million each and save all future military payments?

bargain.

There's shit-loads of oil in the Falklands now.

airtragic - Member
1. There are 2.
2. They don't have any!
Pedant, a drone from Amazon and some hand grenades then

Appreciate this is probably tongue in cheek, but I'm always amazed/amused by armchair generals who reckon they've got something the military planners on both sides have missed!
These drones; what's their range and payload? How much damage will the grenades do? How quick can it be fixed? Assuming success, what next? What are your chances of success? Given that, do the rewards justify the risk and drawbacks?

Our posture down there is intelligence led and the idea is that we can change that quicker than the other team can change their capability.

1 cruise missile into the only fast jet runway on the islands and you can land all the troops you like.

Not really, it would be concreted over again within hours unless someone dropped a lot of specific runway denial bombs on it. There wouldnt be enough holes - unless you throw dozens at it.

Not to mention tbe Tiffie technically has tough airstrip capability.

Cruise missiles would be used to hit the aircraft hangers, radar, munitions dump and cotrol tower - I suspect that tbe Falklands radar coverage would be able to see such an attack and give enough of a warning to scramble some of the tiffies into the air before they got goosed.2

So, the UK would continue to build Nukes and Weapons for potential invaders ? So Saudi Arabia is a potential hostility ?

Innnneteresting.

As for the Forces that would have nothing to do, the Government could put them to work on resurfacing roads, pipeline fixes, water and electricity infrastructure and telecoms. I kinda like that idea, save all the "rattatattat" firing at cardboard cutouts they do over Kimmeridge .. be lovely and quiet then.

jimdubleyou

there always was - thats what the Falklands war was about. Otherwise they would have been given back to Argentina like we did with Hong Kong -or treated like the Chagos islanders

I think Canada has a relatively small army compared to America and its size due to America having a huge army that keeps it safe.

This is partly true, but...

1. Canada is still required, by virtue of its NATO membership and its close friendship with the US to maintain a certain level of funding and defence procurement.

2. Canada is conscious of the need to defend the Arctic, lest it be used as a highway for hostile countries (read: Russia). This was at least one of the arguments given for Canada's purchase and deployment of an entire fleet of new frigates, and submarines.

3. Canada's forces are small in number, but very effectively-deployed, and able to expand fairly rapidly if necessary.

4. Canada has always been able to meet her commitments globally, including significant contributions to a number of peacekeeping missions, and the war in Afghanistan.

There's shit-loads of oil in the Falklands now.

Not confirmed yet.

Also, it's very expensive to extract, water depth, weather and remoteness mean it would cost more to get it out than it's currently worth.

1 cruise missile into the only fast jet runway on the islands and you can land all the troops you like.

Rachel

Have you seen how much runway a typhoon needs to take off on max reheat.... its not a lot.

I imagine UKIP's fine body of yeomen would keep us safe.

No chance the Queen has lots of armies.

I'm also remembering something about them generally piggy backing of the US military which if the case would mean having to be in line with US wishes. Not sure about that bit tbh!?

The US has a history is getting involved in Central American wars, and a history of disliking anyone that dislikes the US getting a foothold that close to the border. I suspect it would help out Costa Rica, or the incumbent/prospective government of its choosing.