The idea of a civil war or a coup d’etat taking place across Great Britain is something I have been playing with over many years.
A few decades back I wrote an article about a modern era English Civil War that was published in Issue #43 of Wargames Illustrated in April 1991.
” … its six o’clock, on Tuesday the 27th October 1998. This is the Royal Somerset Broadcasting Service, and now the news from Wessex and around the world. The headlines: Scotland has seceded from the British Republic, fighting has broken out along the border. Royalist army and volunteer militia units have pushed back across the border an armed incursion by Democratic Guards into south-west Dorset last night. Bristol Docks were once again the target of bombing over the night, but damage has been minimal. The United States has once again confirmed its commitment to the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Wessex and Duchy of Cornwall.”
The main inspiration for the background was the breakup of the former Yugoslavia and wondering if a similar scenario could play out in a disunited broken Great Britain. It was also an opportunity to bring in modern armoured trains as well.
Another idea is revolution, the start of which is usually a coup d’etat. Was there going to be a coup d’etat against the Labour government in 1974? Or more specifically was there going to be a coup against Harold Wilson? In this opinion piece from 2006 in The Guardian, the view was that yes there was some planning for one.
The great and the good feared that the country was out of control, and that Wilson lacked either the will or the desire to stand firm. Retired intelligence officers gathered with military brass and plotted a coup d’etat. They would seize Heathrow airport, the BBC and Buckingham Palace. Lord Mountbatten would be the strongman, acting as interim prime minister. The Queen would read a statement urging the public to support the armed forces, because the government was no longer able to keep order.
It sounds fantastic, almost comic. But watch Greenwood talk of setting up his own private army in 1974-75. Listen to the former intelligence officer Brian Crozier admit his lobbying of the army, how they “seriously considered the possibility of a military takeover”. Watch the archive footage of troop manoeuvres at Heathrow, billed as a routine exercise but about which Wilson was never informed – and which he interpreted as a show of strength, a warning, even a rehearsal for a coup.
Then there was that episode of Netflix’s The Crown. The fifth episode of the third season, Coup, covered this as well.
While the Queen travels abroad to learn about horse training, unhappiness among the British elite with the devaluation of the pound involves Lord Mountbatten in a plan to oust Harold Wilson.
Regardless of the reality, the idea of an attempted (or even successful) coup in the UK in the 1970s provides an interesting background for scenarios and games. There is an assumption often made that regular British forces would always obey orders given by senior officers. However as was seen in 1919 following the end of the Great War there were many occasions when soldiers would not only ignore orders, but would act in their own interest. The book 1919: Britain’s Year of Revolution provides an insight into the revolutionary troubles that faced Great Britain.
So here are some ideas for scenarios if there had been a coup in 1974.
Dockside Battles
Royal Navy ships arrive in the Liverpool docks after unionised dockers seized the port. Royal Marines disembark to secure the docks. There are clashes between the regular army and local workers.
This is the BBC
After a radical armed militia seizes Television Centre in Shepherd’s Bush, the government appear to be doing nothing. The army decides to take action and storm the centre.
Show of strength
The army undertakes troop manoeuvres at Heathrow Airport as a show of strength.
In 1974 the army occupied Heathrow Airport on the grounds of training for possible IRA terrorist action at the airport. Although the military stated that this was a planned military exercise, Downing Street was not informed in advance, and Wilson himself interpreted it as a show of strength, or warning, being made by the army.
The government orders forces loyal to the government to remove the troops.
Defending Buckingham Palace
At the height of the coup, the army has taken over many of the buildings in Whitehall, they have stormed Broadcasting House, and across the capital, the army is in control of major transport hubs, such as Paddington Station and Heathrow Airport.
There was an expectation that the Queen would recognise and support the new government, but she refuses to. The army decides to march on Buckingham Palace and remove the Queen. However troops loyal to the crown make the choice to defend the palace from attack.
Mutiny in the barracks
After being ordered to mobilise and take part in the coup, across the barracks in the UK, troops mutiny and decide to fight against the coup. However, it wasn’t the case that all soldiers obeyed orders, or disobeyed them. In many barracks fighting broke out between those troops loyal to the government, and those who wanted to participate in the coup.
