Going back in time....

[DrFaroohk]

So you time travel back to the early 1920's or so and manage to, whether intentionally or accidently, kill a young adolf hitler.

Speculate - what's different about WWII and the immediate aftermath? What's different about today?

[Kheldarson]

Read a short story on that once.

People had to go back and save Hitler from being killed. Or accepted to art school. Or put on any other path but the one where he participates in WW2.

Reason? The event's too huge. One, without Hitler's drive, the Nazi party probably wouldn't have launched the way it did to get enough power to start a war. So WWII wouldn't have happened for the currently known reasons, if at all. Chances are that it wouldn't have, seeing as it was a war of aggression by the Germans against everyone else at its roots. Japan probably would have taken over Asia with nobody but Russia really caring; it wasn't until Germany started conquering that the West got concerned, and we weren't concerned until he moved out of the "German" nations.

Frankly, without WWII happening when it did, we'd probably have an entirely different society today with potentially new countries seeing as the entire world was on verge of economic collapse (Europe was pretty much dead in the water, the US was mostly holding on by virtue of an incredibly strong economy going in to the depression but without Europe and Asia was fading fast).

Edit: Found the short story: http://www.abyssandapex.com/200710-wikihistory.html

[Andara Bledin]

This subject is a very popular one for alternate history.

Honestly, with all of the bad he did, the world would likely be worse off for there not having been a war.

At the very least, it advanced women's rights quite a long way. And that's to say nothing of the technological advances made.

^-.-^

[HYHYBT]

I think the war would have happened anyway. Germany, as I understand it, was overripe for something *like* that to happen; if Hitler hadn't been there, someone else probably would have taken his place.

[Hyena Dandy]

There would definitely have been a war. It might even have been on the same scale. Either the Nazis would have risen in Germany, or the Communists. Either way, I expect the war, and a lot of its effects, would have happened anyway. Though I'm not as sure about it being AS bad, so losing Hitler could very well have turned out alright. The world WOULD be very different, though. I still think WWII would have happened.

[jackfaire]

Would there have been hatred of Jews without Hitler?

Would Germany have had nukes before us?

Good questions and important questions because understanding the past will help us in the future.

[Ginger Tea]

I didn't see it, but a few days before I left my brothers, there was an advert for an expose on a war America had planed to wage against England (and by default the rest of the UK), had Hitler not done his thang this war would have probably occured.

Regarding the hatred of the Jews, if Hitler or whomever was in charge persecuted another religion I don't think we would have had 9/11 as modern Israel would not have been founded out of guilt, thus the instability of the Middle East would have not occured, or atleast from the same catalist.

[HYHYBT]

War with *England*? As in, actual, real-world, intended-to-be-carried-out plans for a war between the US and the UK? Do you have anything at all that might be used to find out more on this, especially who was making such a claim and how trustworthy they might be?

[Ginger Tea]

sorry no, just a TV advert for a program that aired after I left my brothers, could have been on any of the channels, I have no other info to offer save for that it ran late september.

[Gravekeeper]

A-hem, we already know full well what would happen.

And it would have a bitchin' soundtrack.

[lordlundar]

A-hem, we already know full well what would happen.

And it would have a bitchin' soundtrack.

Oddly enough, political analysts would have painted a similar picture. Not with the bizarre weapons mind you, but the concept of a sweeping Soviet offensive.

You see it was known that after the fall of the Czar nobility when the Soviet Union was formed, that one of the major aspects of Soviet production was military equipment and a massive conscription drive. It was also known that Stalin was power crazed and would easily have went on the offensive the moment he was able to. Had Hitler or the Nazi Party not risen to power and started their military campaign first, it's theorized that the Soviets would steamroll across a weakened Europe and planted agents in various countries around the world to take control indirectly. Only certain areas like North America (which was largely isolationist and paranoid) would have resisted, but for how long was the question.

As much as the idea of going back in time and assassinating Hitler pops up, he really was the only thing keeping the Soviets in check. And that doesn't even begin to account for the loss of advances in science and technology that came from military actions. A lot of us probably wouldn't be alive as a result.

Now I'm not defending Hitler. He was a monster and I feel joy that I never have to live under his regime. But he was a vital point in how the world is today, for better or worse.

[jackfaire]

Here is something no one ever thinks of. What if you go back and just stop Hitler from being a monster?

Keep him as the leader keep WW2 but make it so he never thinks concentration camps or anything like that is a good idea and just wants to restore his nation to the level it was at prior to WW1.

He was a good military leader brilliant even imagine redirecting that. Not stopping it but putting along more beneficial lines.

[AdminAssistant]

Blaming non-Aryans for Germany's political and economic problems was a big part of Hitler's success. Don't forget....it's not just Hitler you have to worry about. Goering, Goebbels, etc. were just as bad as he was. You want to significantly change the events of WWII? You have to take care of all of the assholes, not just the one in charge.

[protege]

Blaming non-Aryans for Germany's political and economic problems was a big part of Hitler's success. Don't forget....it's not just Hitler you have to worry about. Goering, Goebbels, etc. were just as bad as he was. You want to significantly change the events of WWII? You have to take care of all of the assholes, not just the one in charge.

That's exactly it. Hitler rose to power...simply because he told the German people what they wanted to hear. That they weren't responsible for getting their asses kicked during WWI, and having their economy implode immediately after the war. Even though Germany was a *major* player, it somehow wasn't their fault.

Of course, we cannot blame Hitler alone for his actions. He got away with some shit--seizing parts of other countries where many Germans lived--because the rest of Europe didn't want to deal with him. They didn't want another war, and thought "hey, if we give him that piece of Czechoslovakia, he'll just go away..." Instead, it emboldened him, and he kept taking more and more...going so far as to enact a treaty (which he later broke) with Stalin about dividing up Europe.

I will give the guy credit though. He turned a near-bankrupt Germany into one of the most powerful, technologically advanced countries in only a few years. Volkswagen, the autobahns, jets, blood transfusions, organ swaps, etc. were all possible with state backing before and during the war. Many of those things are taken for granted now. Hell, the *US* highway system was heavily influenced by the autobahn system.

But then Hitler had a little too much heroin, and went on a crusade to rid the world of Jews and other political "enemies." Had he been stopped in '39 (before war broke out) things might have been different. 6 million might not have been gassed, nor would history have changed forever.

The only problem with that idea, is that someone else could have easily stepped in to replace him. Plus, would Stalin have behaved himself?

[christopher]

Without hitler communism would have taken over europe much sooner than it did. Stalin probably would have nukes before the US forcing us to fight a much more terrible enemy than hitler could have ever dreamed. Israel would not exist. The middle east would still be a shithole except that it would be a much poorer one because without our need for oil during ww2 we would never have went to the arabs paying top dollar for their oil.