Quote:
Originally Posted by Michele
This. I wouldn't even call it a proper civil war, more like some serious unrest and rioting. In 1936, not only the Nazis aren't a monolith as you mentioned, but there's still plenty of other actors that haven't been as marginalized as they'll be in a few years, yet - and in particular, yes, the Wehrmacht does take control. In a short time.
|
Quote:
|
Yes, but not with the final 1938-39 acceleration of our history. The German generals will want to rearm, and they will have a general agenda of "righting Versailles", but they will definitely lack Hitler's brinkmanship.
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Anders
I think the military will support Goering. Not only is he a military man, he is also sufficiently guidable.
|
Likely rule by the head of the German general staff as about half the real power, and Goering as the other half and head. The military will fight as a block, and what they say goes, because they're the army and they have the guns. Before Hitler, they weren't even completely loyal to the German Republic!
Also, messed up formatting in the post, so apologies for who's quote isn't attributed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Michele
Yes, but not with the final 1938-39 acceleration of our history. The German generals will want to rearm, and they will have a general agenda of "righting Versailles", but they will definitely lack Hitler's brinkmanship.
|
Which is pretty much exactly what I would guess would happen. They might want a "rematch" with Britain and France, at some point in the future, and are rearming for that. And pretty much exactly what I'm looking for.
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Colonel
A big question being do the Western Allies re-arm at all if the Anschluss and Sudentenland Crisis are averted, or do the non-interventionist factions win out? Has Britain bothered with the Spitfire without the lessons of 1939 to show the limitations of the Hurricane (let alone of clown-planes like the Defiant) Without mad Uncle Adolph's big tank big gun obsession, does the PzIII arm above 37mm? (IIRC it was his personal intervention that brought the 50mm gun on as early as it was). Without fighting Matildas and some of the nastier French tanks, have the Germans worked up HEAT and APCR to the degree that they did? Is the Reich as feudal as it was in our timeline, with all the duplicated effort and wacky special projects? Is whoever has taken over also a rabid anti-Semite or are some of the very talented Jews who fled Germany in our timeline still at home doing their bit?
|
The western allies rearm because Germany is rearming.
The Panzer III still has the 37mm gun it had in 1940. The Germans don't have panzerfusts, and the allies to have bazookas. They didn't work on APCR as much, but it wasn't exactly all that important IRL, IIRC. Tigers and Panthers and the like didn't really need it, since regular AP with a bursting charge went straight though pretty much everything at any range anyway. It was facing T-34's and KV-1's that drove the Germans to develop Tigers and such. Still likely just as much duplicated effort. The Spitfire and the Hurricane were both ordered at the same time IRL, and before the war started. Basically everybody gets the military they
wanted in 1939 or 1940, not what they actually
had. It pretty much stays close to there, the armies of 1940 being based on prewar doctrine and ideas.
The US Navy gets most of the US defense budget, and the army and army air force are a laughable as they were before the war started on pretty much the same budget, although the air force gets better planes, but not anything much past the P-40 and B-17.
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Colonel
As to the US, I suspect with even less excitement in Europe, whatever they are up to is likely to be based mostly on what the Japanese are doing ... an alt-history Pacific War with duelling BBs might be quite impressive... but if the Russians drew first, perhaps the Japanese end up fighting them instead, going after Siberia rather than southeast Asia...
|
There's a huge alt-history genre, mostly in wargaming, about a "War Plan Orange" scenario, what the Japs and the US go to war in the Pacific. Anytime from the mid-20's to when it actually happened. Both the US and Japan, and their navies, saw each other likely opponents, and it's great for wargaming.