History Sec 2
Name: __________________________ ( ) Class:________ Date: ____________________
Essential Information sheet for SEQ Chapter 6 – How did World War 2 Affect Singapore?
EQ1: What were the efforts made by the British to defend Singapore?
All military planning and deployment of military resources towards the defence of Singapore and Malaya centered around a key strategy known as the Main Fleet to Singapore Strategy .
Why did the military planners come up with this strategy of sending a battle fleet to Singapore instead of basing it in Singapore?
The main reason was due to economic reason. After the Great Depression and in the period leading to the war, many governments like the British government was financially drained and could no longer maintain a strong naval fleet outside of Europe. It was believed that in the event of an attack on Singapore, the British would be able to deploy a sizeable force to defend it’s colonies. This ensured that there was no need to spend extra money to maintain a naval fleet if there was no threat at all. Secondly, the British had a strong stereotypical bias view of the Japanese as being a weak enemy that would be beaten soundly by British forces. Thus, the British were confident that the main fleet would have enough time to arrive at Singapore and would not be too late to make a valid contribution to the defence effort since they believe that British defences at Singapore would be able to hold off the Japanese. Lastly it was believed that the war in Singapore would be one where the enemy would attack from the seas and that the main fleet would be the solution.
EQ2: What were the three main ideas behind this strategy?
The first idea was that the British would continue to base their naval fleet in Britain until there was an imminent threat. The main fleet would then be deployed to defend Singapore only when a threat appeared. The British believed that the Japanese would only attack from the sea due to the
Essential Information sheet for SEQ Chapter 6 – How did World War 2 Affect Singapore?
EQ1: What were the efforts made by the British to defend Singapore?
All military planning and deployment of military resources towards the defence of Singapore and Malaya centered around a key strategy known as the Main Fleet to Singapore Strategy .
Why did the military planners come up with this strategy of sending a battle fleet to Singapore instead of basing it in Singapore?
The main reason was due to economic reason. After the Great Depression and in the period leading to the war, many governments like the British government was financially drained and could no longer maintain a strong naval fleet outside of Europe. It was believed that in the event of an attack on Singapore, the British would be able to deploy a sizeable force to defend it’s colonies. This ensured that there was no need to spend extra money to maintain a naval fleet if there was no threat at all. Secondly, the British had a strong stereotypical bias view of the Japanese as being a weak enemy that would be beaten soundly by British forces. Thus, the British were confident that the main fleet would have enough time to arrive at Singapore and would not be too late to make a valid contribution to the defence effort since they believe that British defences at Singapore would be able to hold off the Japanese. Lastly it was believed that the war in Singapore would be one where the enemy would attack from the seas and that the main fleet would be the solution.
EQ2: What were the three main ideas behind this strategy?
The first idea was that the British would continue to base their naval fleet in Britain until there was an imminent threat. The main fleet would then be deployed to defend Singapore only when a threat appeared. The British believed that the Japanese would only attack from the sea due to the