What would the world be like if WW1 hadn't happened?

FBHthelizardmage · Post by **FBHthelizardmage** » 2003-02-14 01:12pm

what would the world be like today if there had been no world war one?

Frank Hipper · Post by **Frank Hipper** » 2003-02-14 01:19pm

Technology would not have advanced as fast as it did in the early tentieth century.
Germany would be a superpower today.
The U.S. and Japan would have went to war @1916-1920.
Nuclear arms may not have been developed.
Germany and Great Britain would have went to war before 1930.
The Russian revolution would have happened, but in a completely different, and probably less bolshevist manner.
Blatant colonialism would probably still be alive and well.
And a whole lot more.

Dahak · Post by **Dahak** » 2003-02-14 01:36pm

We may still have the Deutsche Kaiserreich!!

*Mwahahahahahaha*

*Outs himself as shameless monarchist*

TrailerParkJawa · Post by **TrailerParkJawa** » 2003-02-14 01:38pm

Well, Hitler very well might not have rised to power. I think the US and Japan would eventually fight in the Pacific even without WW1. The pace of technological and social improvements might have unfolded at a slower pace than was otherwise true.

Frank Hipper · Post by **Frank Hipper** » 2003-02-14 01:49pm

Dahak wrote:We may still have the Deutsche Kaiserreich!!

*Mwahahahahahaha*

*Outs himself as shameless monarchist*

Ah, the spirit of '72. "Gott mit uns" and all that. What's Kronprinz Peter's e-mail, BTW?

Typhonis 1 · Post by **Typhonis 1** » 2003-02-14 02:05pm

Would Tanks even be developed?? or Radar?

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-02-14 02:09pm

Of course radar would be developed, along with nuclear technology, because they're both useful for civilian applications too. War accelerates the application of scientific principles in military matters (ie- engineering), but it does not accelerate the pace of scientific discovery.

Did you know that nuclear fusion was first achieved under laboratory conditions in 1919? And that controlled nuclear fission was achieved long before the first uncontrolled nuclear explosion was created? The notion that a bunch of soldiers crack the whips and tell scientists to "get discoverin'!" is ridiculous.

The Great Unbearded One · Post by **The Great Unbearded One** » 2003-02-14 02:26pm

And dont forget, without the first World War there would be no Second World War and America wouldnt be what it is today (good or bad I'll let you decide) and England VS Germany football games would be no where near as fun. If England have a war with someone, it's always more fun to beat them at football. Top of the league - Germany and Argentina!

Crazy_Vasey · Post by **Crazy_Vasey** » 2003-02-14 02:35pm

There would have been a European war eventually. There was just too much aggression and competition going on there for everyone to coexist peacefully.

Frank Hipper · Post by **Frank Hipper** » 2003-02-14 03:30pm

Darth Wong spake thusly

Did you know that nuclear fusion was first achieved under laboratory conditions in 1919?

I did not know that. Where? Who? Point me in a general direction, I'd like to know more.

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2003-02-14 03:32pm

no ww2 or cold war. I have no idea what would have happened.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-02-14 03:52pm

A war we'd call the Great War happens a few years later. Seriously, Europe couldn't have gone much longer without a major war.

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2003-02-14 03:59pm

true. any bets on how the cards would fall there?

Pablo Sanchez · Post by **Pablo Sanchez** » 2003-02-14 04:00pm

Assuming that there's no Great War at all:

Great Britain:
Would lose her colonies sooner or later. Pretty much as she is now.

France:
Major power on the continent. Minor player elsewhere.

Germany:
As France.

Italy:
Mid-level player in Europe.

United States & Japan:
Would certainly go to war at some stage. Japan would be trounced, naturally.

Russia:
Liberalizing reforms would be impossible to avoid, and industrialization would progress to a point where Russia would be second to the USA.

These are rough guesses, because my expertise is incomplete, and it's just too hard to tell when you're dealing with a scenario as divergent as this.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2003-02-14 04:01pm

The Great Unbearded One wrote:And dont forget, without the first World War there would be no Second World War and America wouldnt be what it is today (good or bad I'll let you decide) and England VS Germany football games would be no where near as fun. If England have a war with someone, it's always more fun to beat them at football. Top of the league - Germany and Argentina!

War would still have erupted in the pacific between the United States and Japan. Also, with the US able to focus it's entire might on one theatre of operations, the pacific war would have gone much more favorably for the US, Possibly resulting in a much more dominant presence in the Pacific rim after the war. In 1941 the US pretty much had to take on the Japanese with 'one hand tied behind her back'...the other hand being tied up in the allies 'Europe First' strategy.

Another positive side effect of that would have been that there would have been no angry, hungry masses of war weary Germans looking for salvation in the Nazi party...and Adolf Hitler would be known (or not) as a crappy artist with a one ball sack.

Still another would be at least a partial presevation of the British Empire, the war cost the Brit's greatly.

I still think Mousolini would have caused some shit, but with the way the Ethiopians kicked the Italian army's across Africa, he would have been little more than an annoyance.

Pablo Sanchez · Post by **Pablo Sanchez** » 2003-02-14 04:02pm

Enforcer Talen wrote:true. any bets on how the cards would fall there?

Much the same as it happened. Maybe Russia would perform better, Austro-Hungarians worse.

Pablo Sanchez · Post by **Pablo Sanchez** » 2003-02-14 04:06pm

Col. Crackpot wrote:Another positive side effect of that would have been that there would have been no angry, hungry masses of war weary Germans looking for salvation in the Nazi party...and Adolf Hitler would be known (or not) as a crappy artist with a one ball sack.

I enjoyed a little line I read about Stalin in a WWI alternate history. It just said that he was known as the highly effective and dedicated director of the Russian Federation's secret police

ArmorPierce · Post by **ArmorPierce** » 2003-02-14 04:18pm

there hasn't seemed to have been any posts here about what would have happened to other countries, like the Austrian-Hungarian empire and the Ottomon Empire.

Frank Hipper · Post by **Frank Hipper** » 2003-02-14 04:35pm

ArmorPierce wrote:there hasn't seemed to have been any posts here about what would have happened to other countries, like the Austrian-Hungarian empire and the Ottomon Empire.

Good point. The Ottoman Empire was in it's sundown phase for sure. How long it would have lingered is anyones guess, though. Would Attaturk have been provided with the motivation to achieve what he did without a defeat?
The Austro-Hungarians were also in a state of decline in 1914. Assuming that Archduke Franz Ferdinand never got assassinated, he had plans to offer greater freedoms to the non-Magyar and non-German peoples of the Empire during his reign. Again, what effect this would have had is open to speculation.

FBHthelizardmage · Post by **FBHthelizardmage** » 2003-02-14 05:39pm

nuclear power would be a lot more excepted as it wasn't primarly associated with a weapon of war.

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2003-02-14 07:55pm

Germany might not have suffered as much, and Hitler might not have rose to power, and there might not have been a WWII because of that. I'm guessing that would be the most significant thing that might have happened.

Frank Hipper · Post by **Frank Hipper** » 2003-02-14 08:05pm

I'm willing to say that Hitler definitely would not come to power. If he never served in the German army, and never felt betrayed by the German surrender, and Germany never felt the effects of a Versailles Treaty, then why would Hitler become anything but a crazy unemployed artist?