Quote:
Originally Posted by Sloniksp
Ha! In that case Turkey would have been better off siding with the Soviets!  |
Unfortuantly a Soviet - Russia alliance was and is never possible for the following reasons:
The violent and constant warfare between the two countrys from Ivan to the Civil war or 1917-1924 ( you can count on your hands the number of days these to Empires were NOT at war for one reason or another)
The Soviet Union was a communist atheist state and the Ottoman Empire / Turkey a deeply religious but emerging secular state.
I think the chances of a Soviet Turkey over an Axis Turkey are VERy slim indeed.
As for the Suez Canal... Egypt was the prize, the link between Brithsh Africa and the middle east. A supply and shipping center for not only the Med but the Indian ocean and the middle east also. Its loss would be a huge blow to the stuggleing British and allowed German Italian (and Turkish) access to the Indian ocean and exposed shipping lanes of the British Empire. I agree the supply into the Med via ship was negligable, however all supplies for the armies of Egypt/ the holy land and the Med came into the Red Sea and Suez shipping center.