Miscellaneous: 1900 (Alternate) History Thread

[Otto Kretschmer]

WI: Wilhelm II continued Bismarck's Realpolitik approach to foreign policy

[stevep]

Aug 4, 2024 9:00:41 GMT Otto Kretschmer said:

WI: Wilhelm II continued Bismarck's Realpolitik approach to foreign policy

  Difficult to tell but no WWI for at least a decade or more beyond OTL I would say.  France would stay isolated and Germany wouldn't be too aggressive to it or to other neighbours, specifically Britain and Russia.  Likely to be tensions over the Balkans and probably the collapse of the Ottoman empire, especially if there's an attempt at the OTL Armenian genocide.  However hopefully it could all be managed.

  Britain would have to change its economic policies sooner or later as they simply weren't fit for the modern industrial world.  Also even if Germany stays logical sooner or later there will be a naval challenge from the US, either directly or possibly initially indirectly via a race with Japan.

  Not sure what would happen in Germany, Russia or Austria-Hungary.

[Otto Kretschmer]

WI: Otto von Bismarck born a girl.

[575]

Aug 4, 2024 14:32:48 GMT Otto Kretschmer said:

WI: Otto von Bismarck born a girl.

What a bitch!

[Max Sinister]

*groan*

This will have huge repercussions in the long run, unnecessary to say that. Until he came, many considered Prussia a medium power which just was so lucky to have had a Frederick the Great once and never again. (They forgot the reformers after 1806!) Maybe it'll stay like that ITTL?

(Hm, some eccentric German guy - not me - wrote a wiki TL about Hitler being born as a girl, Josephine. She marries a guy named Rodler and radicalizes after he dies in 1917. Joins the DAP which becomes ITTL the Nationalstaatliche (-stately) DAP and uses a swastika with round hooks. ITTL the putsch lead by Ludendorff is successful, Ebert is murdered by an NS sympathizer, so they can take over Germany. In 1930, Wilhelm gets his throne back. Göring is head of government, but Himmler has a lot of influence and fights Christianity. After Pearl Harbor, Germany joins the war. Rommel overruns France with his panzers, Germany has aircraft carriers. In 1943, Germans and Soviets divide Poland. In 1944, Britain has to capitulate. The US defeat Japan in 1945, but Germany now has nukes as well. Crazy, isn't it? Fräulein Josefines Welt)

[Max Sinister]

WI FDR and Churchill had attended (the whole) Potsdam Conference? It's not impossible - FDR lives a bit longer, Churchill wins the election 1945. How would Germany and Europe be divided?

[stevep]

Aug 13, 2024 16:53:02 GMT Max Sinister said:

WI FDR and Churchill had attended (the whole) Potsdam Conference? It's not impossible - FDR lives a bit longer, Churchill wins the election 1945. How would Germany and Europe be divided?

  Probably not a lot.  As I understand it the partition of Germany and most of Europe had been agreed at Yalta or before.  Hence the Americans withdrawing from parts of upper Saxony and Bohemia that they had reached before the Soviets.  Also FDR seemed especially chummy with Stalin.

[mspence]

WI Tom Bradley won the 1982 California governor's race?

[mspence]

WI the Republicans had won the Spanish Civil War?

[stevep]

Aug 18, 2024 0:30:02 GMT mspence said:

WI the Republicans had won the Spanish Civil War?

  Well their likely to be invaded either when France is defeated or when Hitler attacks the USSR depending on what Hitler decides and how left wing or not the republicans are.  If the fascists are defeated prior to the M-R pact - which would seem likely - then Stalin could well seek to have them under Soviet protection to a degree.

[575]

Aug 18, 2024 15:10:18 GMT stevep said:

Aug 18, 2024 0:30:02 GMT mspence said:

WI the Republicans had won the Spanish Civil War?

  Well their likely to be invaded either when France is defeated or when Hitler attacks the USSR depending on what Hitler decides and how left wing or not the republicans are.  If the fascists are defeated prior to the M-R pact - which would seem likely - then Stalin could well seek to have them under Soviet protection to a degree.

Agree - the "how left wing" the Republicans are will decide not only for when Hitler decide to attack Gibraltar though Spain and if anybody would care to help the Spanish Republic! Though the British might direct such through Portugal - if they percieve a threat to Gibraltar.

Soviet protection might also be an odd affair - the Italian fascist regime kept dealing with the Soviets in warship tech even if technically at conflict with them in Spain and also supplied warplanes to Finland during the Winter War even if Hitler wouldn't due to M-R Pact. Though if Italy is at war when German attack Spain it  may change the situation.

Soviet protection would be difficult to uphold due to distance and unfriendly states on the route to Spain - going through the Dardanelles, Danish Straits or around North Cape.

Soviet protection at this late state of the 1930's may well end up a major problem as the Soviets will keep up the Red Terror going.. as there was occasional infighting on the Republican side.

[stevep]

Aug 19, 2024 9:04:02 GMT 575 said:

Aug 18, 2024 15:10:18 GMT stevep said:

  Well their likely to be invaded either when France is defeated or when Hitler attacks the USSR depending on what Hitler decides and how left wing or not the republicans are.  If the fascists are defeated prior to the M-R pact - which would seem likely - then Stalin could well seek to have them under Soviet protection to a degree.

Agree - the "how left wing" the Republicans are will decide not only for when Hitler decide to attack Gibraltar though Spain and if anybody would care to help the Spanish Republic! Though the British might direct such through Portugal - if they percieve a threat to Gibraltar.

Soviet protection might also be an odd affair - the Italian fascist regime kept dealing with the Soviets in warship tech even if technically at conflict with them in Spain and also supplied warplanes to Finland during the Winter War even if Hitler wouldn't due to M-R Pact. Though if Italy is at war when German attack Spain it  may change the situation.

Soviet protection would be difficult to uphold due to distance and unfriendly states on the route to Spain - going through the Dardanelles, Danish Straits or around North Cape.

Soviet protection at this late state of the 1930's may well end up a major problem as the Soviets will keep up the Red Terror going.. as there was occasional infighting on the Republican side.

  That's why I said to a degree.  Thinking that Stalin might claim Spain as part of his sphere of influence if its under communist control and Hitler probably would accept that as its outside his reach with France in the way plus he expects to betray the pact sooner or later.  However it might mean that the Axis decide they can't invade Spain immediately after the fall of France because it would mean a major breach if not war with Stalin.  Even if he didn't go to war, which Hitler wouldn't be sure and there is the chance of Soviet supplies being cut off.

[mspence]

WI Mark Twain had lived to be 100 years old? Assuming his faculties stay intact, how does he react to World War One, Prohibition, the Great Depression, and Communism and Fascism?

[Max Sinister]

Aug 26, 2024 10:25:48 GMT mspence said:

WI Mark Twain had lived to be 100 years old? Assuming his faculties stay intact, how does he react to World War One, Prohibition, the Great Depression, and Communism and Fascism?

I'd like very much to read what he'll write about those. But maybe he'd be too frustrated how stupid mankind keeps acting.

[kasumigenx]

I think the alternative way for Japan and Germany to lose the World War 2 is for the antiwar faction in Japan and the christians in Japan to actively and successfully collaborate with the Allied forces and for the Opposition of Hitler like Erwin Rommel to successfully collaborate with the Allied forces, I think that scenario would prevent the need for nuclear bombs and prevent the fatalities in World War 2.