Quote:
Originally Posted by Gedrin
WWII Variant: Isolationists win a bigger presence in the US, enough to derail entry into the European war, but not enough to derail lend-lease. The Brits, retain all of their MAUD (Military Application of Uranium Detonation) research, and use Canada as their primary research base. First nuclear detonation is an act of desperation during the 1946 cross channel invasion of England, annihilating the Nazi beachead.
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I think that this strikes me as bit of non-starter, shifting the first successful nuclear weapons program to the UK is potentially interesting as is a world without direct US participation in the war but I don't think that the second half of this scenario would fly.
Even without a formal US entry into the war, operation Sea Lion (assuming that it was ever credible) or any possible successor is likely to be out of the question after mid 1941. Once the Germans switch their emphasis to the Soviet Union without further divergences they will rapidly become overextended and bogged down and will probably remain that way for a significant period of time.
Depending upon the course of the war after this you are going to see a variety of possible scenarios but (assuming Allied strategy in Europe follows a similar course to actual history, probably over a longer timescale and that there is no Pacific theatre to worry about) I would be willing to bet that the deployment of the MAUD devices possibly in combination with gas would likely be in an offensive role, either neutralising a potential counter attack against commonwealth forces in southern Europe or as an attempt to prevent a prolonged stalemate on a German defensive line.
Depending upon how things play out I could also see MAUD deployment, post war perhaps c1965 or even later as part of a Commonwealth/ Soviet cold war scenario possibly during a proxy conflict in Burma or northern India.
One interesting point to this scenario would be how the British come to address their manpower shortages (which are not particularly big, although certainly are not trivial either) without US troops. This may well have major effects on the post war evolution of the Empire and Commonwealth.