World War Two marked the last time the world engaged in hot war on a vast scale.
Between the years of 1939 and 1945, between 50-80 million people died as a result of fighting
and the aftermath.
The war ended amid some of the worst atrocities of all time being committed, including concentration
camps and the first ever nuclear bomb drop.
We are still feeling the effects of this devastating event in human history, but what if it was
still going on today?
Hello and welcome back to Life’s Biggest Questions – the channel that likes to talk
about anything and everything from politics to economics, history to science, pop-culture,
to simulated realities.
I am your host Rebecca Felgate and today I am asking What if World War 2 Never Ended.
Before we get into this video, I want to ask your opinion – what do you think the world
would be like if we were still at war?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments section down below…also make sure you click
on that notification bell to stay up to date with big answers.
okay so if the world war never ended we would have been on war on coming on 80 years
if the aftermath of 6 years of fighting killed 80 million, imagine how many could have died
in 80 years.
If my at times slightly dodgy mathematics serves me correctly, if the death rate had
remained consistent, one billion and 64 million people would have died by now – but of course
that isn’t factoring in increased death rates from higher powered weapons, which we surely would have created.
The death of over a billion people wouldn’t be the only thing affecting the population
of the earth - after world war 2 came the Baby Boom years in which birth rates accelerated
massively.
This wouldn’t have happened.
Had the war continued, with the higher death rate and lower birth rate, it would have taken
us much longer to reach population 3 billion, which we did hit in 1960.
Perhaps now we would have 4 or so billion people on the planet – so, 3.7 billion less
than now…which is pretty insane.
It is not just the fighting that would have kept us down… but the nasty diseases that
came along with the carnage.
If World War Two never ended then it is likely that all the important social movements that
have come around since the ceasefire would have either never emerged or taken much longer.
Civil rights, for example.
Would people have had the energy to fight civil race wars when there was inter country
hot war on the go?
After the war came key social eras like the swinging 60s and flower power 70s during which
Western humans became a lot less socially uptight.
Had the war never ended, perhaps these movements would never have got started and the world
world have remained socially uninclusive.
Or, perhaps it would have had the opposite effect’; women in the workplace became common
during the second world war because the men were busy fighting.
If more and more healthy males were sent away, perhaps women would start enlisting, too.
Perhaps when people saw that we all died just the same way, social hierarchy would have
been broken down.
World War Two caused an insane amount of damage, especially in Europe and Japan.
Had it continued, I have no doubt the devastation would have spread to countries not yet drawn
into the fray.
Many European cities were reduced to rubble in World War Two, with London, Paris and Berlin
sustaining a lot of damage not to mention Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The rebuild of societies only came after the war; if we continued, much more would have
been destroyed, and our history as settlers along with it.
Aside from Pearl Harbour, the USA didn’t see any fighting on home soil, but if the
war had continued on for over 80 years, that would have changed.
This would have a huge effect on infrastructure and our economies.
If World War Two had never ended, we would likely still be living with food rations…
that's if we were lucky…and if we were unlucky, there would be full scale famines.
Countries like Russia, who were already struggling, would have been worst affected.
And yes, there would be no bananas.
Or anything particularly crazy we love to day – do you think they would have had time
and money to invent poptarts? Cuz they wouldn't.
Like social movements would not have happened, neither would environmental.
It is hard to worry about what we are doing to the ozone layer when countries are bombing
the living day lights out of one another.
The 1970s saw the rise of environmentalism, but if war was still raging, would we be worried
about our polar ice caps?
How quickly would it be until we destroyed our planet… and I haven’t event mentioned
the nukes yet.
We’ll get there.
Almost everything synonymous with modern day culture – computers, the internet, cell
phones, social media, Netflix… none of that could have happened if World War Two was still
raging.
Why?
Well who is focusing on technology for entertainment when all resources are being pooled into paying
for ongoing war.
While computers and perhaps the internet may have been invented, they would have been crafted
as alternative weapons for war – for internal communications.
The television, computer and internet boom we have seen simply wouldn’t have happened,
and even if it had, nobody could afford to pay for these luxury items.
We would likely still be living in the era of one black and white television in the household,
if we were lucky, and going to the movies to see a film as a special treat.
There wouldn’t be any high budget fantastical Hollywood films, either – mostly government
made propaganda to keep people pro war.
You know what else probably wouldn’t have happened when it did?
The Moon Landings.
I understand that the United States were in competition with Russia when they finally
managed to make it to the moon, but at the time the pair were not in active hot war.
Even if we were trying to focus our energies on getting to space, it may have been in order
to generate some kind of intergalactic weapon.
The moon landings were such an important time for the world that it couldn’t help but
bring us together….if world war two was still ongoing today, we can only assume that
just didn’t happen.
No Saturn Cassini mission, no Mars mission, no Virgin Galactic. Who on Earth would Elon Musk be anyway
We would be much further away than we are now when it comes to unlocking the secrets
of our universe.
Perhaps it goes without saying, but of course if there had been no end to world war two,
there would be no NATO.
Where would the war crimes end and who would countries have to answer to?
The main countries involved with fighting in World War Two on the one side were The
United Kingdom, France, the USA, The Soviet Union..so former Russia and China.
Interesting they all fought on the same side.
On the other side, the Axis of power was formed of Germany, Japan and Italy.
If the War had of continued, would the United States, China and Russia stayed on the same side or
would they have turned against one another like the USSR and the USA did after the war?
If it was still going on, who would be the modern day superpower?
Would the Middle East and some African Nations used the fray as way to level up the playing
field and used the opportunity to rise?
Probably.
Had World War Two not ended, perhaps the richest and most productive country in the world would
be Saudi Arabia.
Does it even matter who the superpower is, anyway?
How could any country have managed to stay out of things for this long?
Lest we forget World War Two ended with the detonation of two atomic bombs…
If this wasn’t enough to end the war then how many more would have been dropped?
Would we be living in a nuclear winter right now, would we all have moved under ground?
What would have happened to our wildlife?
Would we recognize the earth after 75 years of nuclear hits?
Probably not.
Thankfully the fighting of world war two has ended and all of the positive things that
came in its aftermath have come… but in some ways, some of the issues that ignited the
war are still prevalent.
Beneath the fighting, the argument was between two separate ideologies – an anti-enlightenment
totalitarian rule, or humanitarianism and democracy.
These two ideologies still exist today, and are still causing friction and threatening
sparks that could ignite the whole thing once again.
If there was an easy resolution, this would have been resolved already.
The ability to move forward without forcing the way we believe and live on other people,
and without resorting to anger in a break down of communication is probably the greatest
challenge humanity will ever face.
I think you guys should look up the Great Filter Theory, and then you tell me if you think we are teetering on the edge.
So guys, I think we will leave that there – obviously this is a far reaching and loaded question
and we have only discussed a few of the many ways in which life as we know it would be
different.
What do you guys think?
How do you think your life would be different if we were in war?
I always enjoy reading your comments.
So please, if you like this style of video, why don’t you leave a thumbs up, and click on that notification
bell to be the first to hear a big answer.
For now, I am your host Rebecca Felgate, I will catch you in the next video… but until
then…stay curious, stay alert and never ever stop questioning.
[Music]