The 1939 Royal Navy command map places River Plate in a wider pattern of operations across the oceans. It links the South Atlantic with an earlier discussion of Tsingtao and the threat of war involving Japan, then turns toward incidents in East Asia and the East Indies. These widely separated cases share a global naval setting. The map challenges the idea that a globally connected era began only recently.
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The Royal Navy's worldwide command map in 1939
A map of Royal Navy commands links River Plate with Tsingtao, East Asia, and the East Indies, showing how global its responsibilities already were in 1939.