What happens if Germany won World War I (ONE)?

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

Germans win The Great War, Hitler doesn't rise to power. No Hitler, no Holocaust. No Holocaust, no Israel. No Israel, who knows what the Middle-East looks like. Does WWII ever happen? What of Albert Einstein? Does he stay in Germany and they get the first nukes? What does Germany do with those nukes?

And what happens with Russia? Do the Soviets ever rise to power? Does communism never rise and Russia stays out of the Middle-East? With no cold war, then we don't give Middle-East Guerrillas money and weapons; does that region still hate us?

Another question to ponder: What if the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand never takes place and the war never happens in the first place?

Well the Bolsheviks had already taken power before the end of WWI. That's why I used the Spring Offensive as the starting off point. Everything up to that remains the same. And the Spring Offensive was possible because the Bolsheviks made peace with Germany, ended the Eastern Front and allowed Germany to move manpower to the Western Front.

For the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. I think if he lives the War is delayed but still eventually happens. Maybe a year later, maybe two. All of Europe was just too geared up for a showdown at that point. The Archduke's assassination just gave them the excuse to get it going.

---------- Post added May-16th-2012 at 10:07 AM ----------

Cant happen. As soon as Hitler marches on Stalingrad the war is as good as over...USA comes in to protect Western Europe, in every case.

I think we might be talking about a different war buddy.

[Thiebear]

Bush would have gotten a third term?

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

The only decently detailed mockumentary I've seen in the last few years was about how the world would be if the Confederacy won the Civil War.

It's pretty racist at points, but I suppose that's how the world would be.

Interesting watch, if not a bit too goofy for my tastes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.S.A.:_The_Confederate_States_of_America

Now that I think about it, someone else must've pitched your idea..but they didn't do the premise justice. Anyways it was on the history channel not long ago, was about Germany winning WWII....but it was only an hour long...and the end result of society wasn't far off from where we are today, aside from the way it was framed in a very pro-western mockumentary.

Government controlled business compared to business controlled government? Pretty much a potato pototto situation lol..

It'd be interesting to see a WWI based one though. Let me know if you find one, I'm a fan of mockumentaries like this ;p

Yeah I've seen bits and pieces. Always seemed kinda boring to me (not the premise, just the way they did it) so I haven't finished it. Definitely something I need to do. Also...

You ever heard of this guy? This is basically what he does; write alternative history novels. My stepmother loves him, I never had much time for it myself.

This. Harry Turtledove has a TON of alt-history novels. I've read one. I don't think he does much with WWI though. And most of his books start under the premise that the South won the Civil War. That was his first one and he just continued it from there. I'd like to see something where each case gets it's own alt-history view, individually.

My FAVORITE alt-history novel though is by Phillip Dick. He's probably most famous for "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep", which is what the movie "Blade Runner" is based on. Other movies that have been made out of his books/short stories are "Total Recall", "Minority Report". and "Screamers"--among others.

My favorite though is his first Hugo Award-winning novel "The Man in the High Castle". Basically Zangara was successful in his assassination of FDR in '33 and that set into motion Germany and Japan winning WWII. The two winning powers split the US down the middle--Germany gets the East Coast and Japan the West. There's weird subplots all along. Basically, it was better living in the Japan-half of the US (and I like that Japanese people were still thought of as weird as hell 50 years ago when the book was written). Also, he didn't get into details, but Nazi Germany did take Africa and people talk under their breath about what then happened there. That even the Nazi's know they went to far. It's a really, really great book.

EDIT: Oops, forgot a link for it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_in_the_High_Castle

---------- Post added May-16th-2012 at 10:19 AM ----------

This is a good question... One could fairly easily make the argument that the world would be better off

I've been wondering if anyone was going to argue that. I think Nazi Germany and WWII have so dirtied the idea of a German victory, even in WWI. But I do wonder if the world would've turned out better if they had indeed won in 1918.

---------- Post added May-16th-2012 at 10:20 AM ----------

What of Albert Einstein? Does he stay in Germany and they get the first nukes? What does Germany do with those nukes?

Back to your post, with a German victory, I wonder if poison gas becomes an accepted form of warfare.

[PokerPacker]

Back to your post, with a German victory, I wonder if poison gas becomes an accepted form of warfare.

you mean remains? Wasn't Mustard Gas used in the trench warfare?

[SWFLSkins]

Another thing: Since Germany doesn't embrace Nazism, the Jews aren't purged out of mathematics and the sciences. So the Germans get to keep ALL of their physicists.

And various other engineers that would have affected space, air and energy technologies, let alone the N word.

[MartinC]

you mean remains? Wasn't Mustard Gas used in the trench warfare?

Yep, by both sides and with marginal success. The Germans used it first though.

[SWFLSkins]

Bush would have gotten a third term?

[MartinC]

And various other engineers that would have affected space, air and energy technologies, let alone the N word.

But without the military imperative of WWII - which we will assume did not happen if the Germans win WWI - would the pace of development of these technologies have been the same or even at all?

[SWFLSkins]

But without the military imperative of WWII - which we will assume did not happen if the Germans win WWII - would the pace of development of these technologies have been the same or even at all?

Exactly, might have altered the course of so many things and technologies it is hardly something to comprehend .

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

you mean remains? Wasn't Mustard Gas used in the trench warfare?

Yep, by both sides and with marginal success. The Germans used it first though.

Yeah the Germans were much more into the whole poison gas thing. And yes, I meant remains. Instead of poison gas being phased out completely after WWI (always surprised Hitler didn't eventually go that route though), if Germany wins, does it continue to be an accepted form of warfare?

[RichmondRedskin88]

USA would care about a different football.

[Old Bay]

For those talking about Turtledove, his stuff is interesting. I've not read all of his stuff, and I stopped halfway through his Timeline 191 series (South won the Civil War). Some of his stuff has to do with time travel and all sorts of other stuff.

With his timeline 191 series he goes into WW1 and WW2 alternate history. And spoiler alert:

Nothing really changes it seems. Major events in history happen in different places, though the reasoning for that is pretty logical. So I think his idea is that some events were already set in motion so long ago that one blip would change a lot but not enough.