Interesting "What if" scenarios in history

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GophersInIowa

GophersInIowa

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A rabbit hole I've gone down a lot of lately is related to historical "what ifs" (mostly related to WWII). What if Japan doesn't attack Pearl Harbor? What if Germany is successful at invading Britain?

One scenario that doesn't get much attention that I find interesting is related to Malta. If Hitler listens to his staff and focusses on controlling Malta (the "unsinkable aircraft carrier"), they likely secure the Mediterranean, Egypt, the Suez and Mideast oil fields. That would have resulted in them not needing resources from the Soviet Union.

Any lesser known and/or impactful "what if" scenarios in history that you've come across?
 
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GophersInIowa said:
A rabbit hole I've gone down a lot of lately is related to historical "what ifs" (mostly related to WWII). What if Japan doesn't attack Pearl Harbor? What if Germany is successful at invading Britain?

One scenario that doesn't get much attention that I find interesting is related to Malta. If Hitler listens to his staff and focusses on controlling Malta (the "unsinkable aircraft carrier"), they likely secure the Mediterranean, Egypt, the Suez and Mideast oil fields. That would have resulted in them not needing resources from the Soviet Union.

Any lesser known "what if" scenarios in history that you've come across?
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A very interesting topic, but does this really belong in the Pop Culture forum?
 

Ope3 said:
A very interesting topic, but does this really belong in the Pop Culture forum?
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Well it doesn't fit into politics or current events. And I haven't gone on that forum for months. There's other history related topics on this forum so figured this was the best place for it.
 


It doesn't matter. Hitler could have taken Moscow, and it wouldn't have mattered.

The Russians would have been safe behind the Urals with much of their industry. By themselves, they would have eventually defeated Germany either after Moscow fell or as it played out in reality just without the U.S. pushing from the West.

You could play the "what if" scenario a lot of different ways, but Germany never would have won. Hitler was too erratic, their army wasn't fully mechanized, and the Russians were too strong.

The best question to ask is what size would the Soviet Union have been if the United States didn't go after Germany as well.

The U.S. prevented the Soviets from controlling all of Europe.
 


GophersInIowa said:
Well it doesn't fit into politics or current events. And I haven't gone on that forum for months. There's other history related topics on this forum so figured this was the best place for it.
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OK, hopefully it works out.
 


TruthSeeker said:
It doesn't matter. Hitler could have taken Moscow, and it wouldn't have mattered.

The Russians would have been safe behind the Urals with much of their industry. By themselves, they would have eventually defeated Germany either after Moscow fell or as it played out in reality just without the U.S. pushing from the West.

You could play the "what if" scenario a lot of different ways, but Germany never would have won. Hitler was too erratic, their army wasn't fully mechanized, and the Russians were too strong.

The best question to ask is what size would the Soviet Union have been if the United States didn't go after Germany as well.

The U.S. prevented the Soviets from controlling all of Europe.
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Most likely right.

There is the scenario in that Japan doesn't attack Pearl Harbor and the US doesn't get involved that most likely would have changed things. Although I still don't know if the US would have just let the Soviets take over much of Europe either. I've seen it suggested that Japan would attack the Soviets instead but I can't see that ever happening.
 





GophersInIowa said:
A rabbit hole I've gone down a lot of lately is related to historical "what ifs" (mostly related to WWII). What if Japan doesn't attack Pearl Harbor? What if Germany is successful at invading Britain?

One scenario that doesn't get much attention that I find interesting is related to Malta. If Hitler listens to his staff and focusses on controlling Malta (the "unsinkable aircraft carrier"), they likely secure the Mediterranean, Egypt, the Suez and Mideast oil fields. That would have resulted in them not needing resources from the Soviet Union.

Any lesser known and/or impactful "what if" scenarios in history that you've come across?
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What if Neville Chamberlain didn’t appease Hitler.

This one often is a pop history target. Chamberlain is cited as weak, stupid. Churchill as prescient for recognizing the danger.

I’d submit a possibility that If Chamberlain doesn’t, then Britain loses the early stages of WW2 making it much more difficult.

I base this off Chamberlain was likely doing this not as actual appeasement but cover for a necessary delay, because the British did not have the capacity yet to withstand Hitler’s forces.

And there is some evidence that this is true as Britain substantially upped it’s defense and prepared for war during the 1 year delay between 1938 and 1939.
 

How about if the Soviets got to the moon first? The show For All Mankind is about this alternate timeline. In that scenario the Space Race is pretty even which results in significant more resources for the space programs which also results in much greater advances.
 




GophersInIowa said:
A rabbit hole I've gone down a lot of lately is related to historical "what ifs" (mostly related to WWII). What if Japan doesn't attack Pearl Harbor? What if Germany is successful at invading Britain?

One scenario that doesn't get much attention that I find interesting is related to Malta. If Hitler listens to his staff and focusses on controlling Malta (the "unsinkable aircraft carrier"), they likely secure the Mediterranean, Egypt, the Suez and Mideast oil fields. That would have resulted in them not needing resources from the Soviet Union.

Any lesser known and/or impactful "what if" scenarios in history that you've come across?
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These are all interesting. I contend that Hitler would’ve done something dumb even if he didn’t need to. His insanity drove his success and failure.




What if Eisenhower ran as a Democrat instead of a Republican?
 

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