I'm really looking forward to the new Harry Turtledove alternate history novel. My understanding is that in it, France and Britain went to war against Nazi Germany in 1938, rather than allow Hitler to conquer Czechoslovakia. Thus Hitler was not as prepared as he would have been a year later.Here are some other alternate WWII scenarios that I'd like to see:
1. US/UK and USSR go to war in June, 1945.
2. Germany invades Sweden in 1941.
3. Germany invades Switzerland in 1941/2.
4. Germany gains the upper hand in the Battle of Britain and launches Operation Sea Lion -- the invasion of Britain.
How about you? What alternate history scenarios (WWII or otherwise) would you like to see novelized?
10 comments:
It would start with President Woodrow Wilson at Versailles, choosing to aid a young Vietnamese waiter living in Paris (the young Ho Chi Minh), instead of ignoring him*. This decision leads to a peaceful solution to the decolonization of French Indochina.
The novel would then be mostly about the resulting impact on US-Chinese relations and a Khmer Rouge-free Cambodia.
*For more on Wilson and Ho Chi Minh, see Kenneth Davis' Don't Know Much About History.
I think a novel where Germany keeps it's scientists and therefore they are first to get the atomic bomb would be interesting.
How about the following scenario. Hitler invades Poland. France and England declare war. The United States refuses to become embroiled in Europe and refuses to sell any materials or offer any aid to the combatants. Following the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States launches a full-scale war against Japan, unhindered by commitments to helping England and the European nations. Let it explore the consequences of German dominance of Europe and Russia. Let it explore the consequences of the United States controlling the post-war Pacific. Let is explore the dynamics that would then be played out in developing Middle Eastern oil, etc.
I think I mentioned this in a comment some while ago, but I would be interested in an alternate history in which Constantine loses the battle of the Milvian Bridge in AD 312 (or some prior battle during his march on Rome), but of course that particular battle has the legendary connection between Constantine and Christianity.
Ah, but see, every time I notice an alternative history book in the science fiction section I think, "What a waste of space that would have been better used for space opera." ;)
There are some books in which the U.S. does not enter the European war, or pulls out early. Fatherland describes the American withdraw after the disasterous landings at Normandy. I think that In the Presence of Mine Enemies has the U.S. never entering the European war at all.
There's a Harry Turtledove short story in which the Muslims win at the Battle of Tours and proceed to convert and/or conquer most of Europe.
heaps of aussies were worried japan was going to invade and take over. apart from darwin, the mini-subs in sydney and a few errant raids in FNQ, they never made it.
so the battle for australia would be interesting, let alone if they had've taken over here
of course, the whole us-japan thing would've had to be different maybe, perhaps if germany never turned on ussr, so usa would've needed to commit more there and couldn't help out so much in the pacific.
or something like that!
There was a book published in 1985 called "The Proteus Operation" (by James Hogan) that had several interesting twists.
First, Nazi Germany had won WWII with the aid of the atomic bomb.
Second, time travel was involved and agents from the post-war era were sent back in time to prevent the Nazis from getting the weapon (which, it turned out they were getting from time travelers from a much later date).
In the end, some of the older time travelers meet younger versions of themselves and a third time line is created.
It was interesting when I got the book and I kept it. But I had to hunt for it in order to post this.
Germany did not declare war on the United States after Pearl Harbor.
I though there was one out there called 1941 but I can't find it.
Let me rephrase that. I thought that a fiction book was published several years ago where Germany did not declare war on the United States after Pearl Harbor.
Does any one else remember this book.
I thought it was called 1941 to be followed by a sequal called 1942 that I never found.
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