Quote:
Originally Posted by Sailor Steve
Which population was that?
|
I generally meant the idea of landing on territories at whatever location, and just declare it one's property, with a present population or not.
A population obviously did not prevent nations of declaring the ground "their" property, which is true for all colonial nations, of course.
Not much population at those special islands back then, i agree.
Quote:
|
The Argentinians formed their first garrison that year, but were forced out by the the British in 1832. I'm not sure why, but the British have been in charge since then, and the dispute continues.
|
I guess the British were superior, weapon-wise. So they did it because they could.
Quote:
|
"Count von Spee's plan was to raid Port Stanley for coal, a plan opposed by the captain of his second Armored Cruiser, Gneisenau. Spee sent Gneisenau ahead to scout, and when he saw tripod masts that could only belong to British battlecruisers, and his ship was straddled by a salvo from the battlship HMS Canopus, the German squadron ran for their lives."
|
As far as i read and understand, coaling ships anchored aside in a harbour with the crew being ashore are sitting ducks. And I did not read that the british fleet in the harbour fired even one shot (?). This is also not mentioned in the german record.
Whatever the reason Spee decided not to attack. The coaling ships were in no shape to follow the german fleet immediately, it took at least eight hours to build up steam, get the crews back and prepare for battle.
The british fleet was then searching for Spee, and as we know they soon found them. Boats from the islands wanted to warn Spee, but they did not reach him, and he may also have underrated the british fleet. He was also in awe because he heard he had killed a good pre-war friend of his at Coronel, Admiral Cradock, with whom he fought shoulder to shoulder in China.
"
On 3 November, Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Nürnberg entered Valparaiso harbour and were welcomed as heroes by the German population. Von Spee refused to join in the celebrations: presented with a bunch of flowers he commented, "these will do nicely for my grave".