What if WWII didn't happen

[Undertow]

**************
Actually China is currently building aircraft carriers and subs at a great rate so they can be the ultimate projection of power in the Pacific very soon. I believe they still have the largest standing army in the world and subscribe to the superior in numbers over tech ideal that the Russians had.

I was not aware of their navy development. That's troubling indeed. AND fftopic: I totally don't agree with their choice to continue developing a navy. Not just because I subscribe to the "Don't mess with the US" doctrine, but because I believe any mass building of military is foolish. Especially in this day and age.

 

[John in Covina]

Even an ant eater can be overwhelmed by ants.

 

[RIOT]

I hate "What If's". Anyway..

Millions of war related deaths would have been prevented and would have changed the present.

No WWII or movies thread to talk about on the FL

 

[carebear]

Even an ant eater can be overwhelmed by ants.

At some point maybe.

For the next few decades though all they're building are future sea life habitat if they decide to get froggy.

 

[Diamondback]

Matt, it depends--if I was them I'd be buiding amphibs disguised as merchies and even capable of use as such, so as to pull a variation on the "Trojan Horse" the Germans pulled in their invasion of Norway.

I'm not worried about their carriers or subs, but rather their massive buildup of amphibious-warfare capability. Carriers and subs can be used defensively, but 'phibs have only one purpose in life, to go kick somebody else's door in.

As for the original topic, much depends on the "point of divergence" from our timeline, but WWII had to happen. Even if we "retroactively abort" Hitler, even if we get forgiving terms at Versailles, we still have to deal with the aftermath of the October Revolution--if it wasn't one murderous psychopath's (Hitler) jackboots marching west, it would've been the other's (Stalin). Unless we alter WWI so the Czar never leaves power, or the Kerensky government doesn't fall, or trhe counterrevolution succeeds, we still have to account for "Uncle Joe" in play.

I'm actually writing a WWII-miniatures "what-if?" scenario right now that's based on the premise of "what if the Germans flip, mass uprising against the Nazis led by Rommel, and Stalin decides to head west?"...

 

[Flivver]

I'v often wondered how car design would have evolved if the U.S. had not been envolved in WWII. Designs in 1941-2 were becoming rather flamboyant.

But when production resumed for the 1946 model year, the old consevatism of design had returned. The more expressive designs didn't come back until around 1954.

 

[Twitch]

I think the "bathtub" look that was starting in 42 and actually went into the late 40s and even early 50s in some makes, would have ended sooner making way for more step-down body styles by 1946.

I really don't see any dramatic difference other than what evolved but it would have been earlier.[huh]

 

[Flivver]

I think you're probably right Twitch; car design would have evolved in the same direction but faster.

But there is always an interplay between car design, package goods design and fashion.

I'll throw this one out to the ladies...would the "New Look" fashions of 1947 have happened in 1943 if the war had not occurred?

 

[dahliaoleander]

Here's a scary one to me.


NO ROLLING STONES!

or is that even a possibility?

Without WWII we might still have Carole Lombard & Leslie Howard!