the what ifs of history: preventing WW2
Mar. 3rd, 2025 11:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
archersangelpeople ask the question of would you go back in time to kill hitler as a baby to prevent WW2? But i am not sure that killing him (or even encouraging him to just be an artist) would prevent the war. that idea supposes that there is no other man (or group of men) who was 1.mad about losing WW1, 2. angry about gemany having to pay reparations to the winners of that war. which lead to 3. an economic depression years before the one in the 1930s. any of his top officials, or generals; himmler, gobbeles, rommel, or goring could’ve been “der fuhrer” (which means the leader, if you didn’t know).
i go back & forth on if the holocaust would be a part of an alternate version of WW2. because a lot of hitler’s top men shared his beliefs, but who knows what would’ve happened if they didn’t have someone encouraging their hate.
most likely in order to prevent WW2, you have to prevent WW1. also in this situation, it’s not just about one man; the assassination of archduke franz ferdinand was just the catalyst, or excuse, to start the war. there were people chafing under austro-hungarian rule. kaiser wilhelm II was jealous of the british empire, angry about his messed up left arm & not being as tall as he wanted to be. not to mention how his father, frederick III, might have handled things if he lived longer. princesses of denmark, alexandra & dagmar (maria feodoravna), telling their husbands, edward VII & tsar alexander III respectively, not to trust prussia/germany. which influenced what their sons, king george VI & tsar nicholas II did. because of a war the prussians/germans pursued to get some disputed territory in denmark, a war they won & had denmark pay reparations for*. sound familiar?
and in order to prevent WW1, you probably have to prevent a dozen, or more, wars and conflicts going back at least 100 years before that. of course preventing WW1 would leave the map of europe looking very different, not to mention all of those royal houses staying intact. speaking of royalty; would there have been a russian revolution which lead to the tsar and his family being arrested and executed? and if there was a revolution, could the royal family have found refuge with some other royal house in europe? or would they have been afraid of backlash like king george VI was?
*i probably only have like 50% of all of this correct.
i go back & forth on if the holocaust would be a part of an alternate version of WW2. because a lot of hitler’s top men shared his beliefs, but who knows what would’ve happened if they didn’t have someone encouraging their hate.
most likely in order to prevent WW2, you have to prevent WW1. also in this situation, it’s not just about one man; the assassination of archduke franz ferdinand was just the catalyst, or excuse, to start the war. there were people chafing under austro-hungarian rule. kaiser wilhelm II was jealous of the british empire, angry about his messed up left arm & not being as tall as he wanted to be. not to mention how his father, frederick III, might have handled things if he lived longer. princesses of denmark, alexandra & dagmar (maria feodoravna), telling their husbands, edward VII & tsar alexander III respectively, not to trust prussia/germany. which influenced what their sons, king george VI & tsar nicholas II did. because of a war the prussians/germans pursued to get some disputed territory in denmark, a war they won & had denmark pay reparations for*. sound familiar?
and in order to prevent WW1, you probably have to prevent a dozen, or more, wars and conflicts going back at least 100 years before that. of course preventing WW1 would leave the map of europe looking very different, not to mention all of those royal houses staying intact. speaking of royalty; would there have been a russian revolution which lead to the tsar and his family being arrested and executed? and if there was a revolution, could the royal family have found refuge with some other royal house in europe? or would they have been afraid of backlash like king george VI was?
*i probably only have like 50% of all of this correct.
