Going back to this matter of Army and Navy, yes, Sumalsn is quite right, we
(the British) never liked the 'Continental' idea of large and costly armies
and generally speaking we needed a strong Navy to protect our commercial
sea-lanes (and keep out competitors!). As an island, with a particular
tradition of fishing in the dangerous conditions of the North Sea and the
Atlantic, the Royal Navy had a steady supply of excellent seamen from the
fishing industry.
This reliance of an island nation on its Navy has overall been sensible but
of course the lack of a strong Army showed up when World War Two commenced
and we were quickly pushed out of the continent by Hitler. Indeed, if he
had invaded quickly, Britain could probably not have fought off the German
Military. Only by a high degree of luck did we sustain reasonable air
equality over Britain in 1940 (the so-called Battle of Britain) and that
convinced Hitler an invasion could be risky, and it was not long before he
turned his attention to the Soviet Union, thereby starting the process that
brought his '1000 Year Reich' crashing to the ground.

ACD and the British never really imagined Russia as a powerful military
nation and at the time in Britain everyone was worried about Berlin's
intentions when the Kaiser ordered the construction of the Kiel Canal. That
was probably the first real sign that war between Germany and Britain was
becoming inevitable.

-----Original Message-----
From: SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia@...
[mailto:SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia@...] On Behalf Of sumalsn
Sent: 24 March 2006 15:45
To: SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia@...
Subject: [sherlock holmes society of india] His Last Bow

Dear Holmesians,
I chanced upon an interesting point . All the espionage adventures
which SH embarks upon concern only the Navy. " Naval Treaty", "Last
Bow" are examples , why is it so? Why did Sir ACD underestimate the
importance of the Army?or was it because England was the predominant
sea power at that time
Sumalsn






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