World War Two, the largest and most costly war in all of human history, is still within
living memory of some of us around the world, and the fallout of this massive conflict is
still visible 70 years after the event.
The aftermath of the war gave rise to a massive displacement and migration of citizens in
Europe.
In a modern world where it’s difficult to establish just who are the good guys and who
are the bad guys, the Second World War leaves little in the way of ambiguity.
A mad man set to take over the world had to be stopped by a morally responsible world
stage.
Fortunately, Germany was stopped, but in today’s episode of the Infographics Show, we ask – What
if Hitler had Won World War 2?
This must be one of the biggest ‘what ifs’ in history, and had Germany not made the double
error of first invading the Soviet Union and then declaring war on the USA, we might have
been living in a world where the Nazis had been the victors.
The citizens of the Soviet Union were the ones who paid the dearest for the allied victory,
and if were not for their determination and resistance, we may well be speaking German
and chomping on bratwurst right now.
But for this to have happened, we need to factor in a number of variables, and reverse
engineer a scenario that gives Hitler and Germany a good fighting chance of winning
the war.
For Hitler to have declared victory, he would have had to have gained a lot more land than
he had.
The likelihood of Great Britain and the United States ceding their territory is very slim.
Yet it is possible that some kind of cease-fire would have occurred whereby Germany would
have temporary control over the allied nations.
Hitler was by some accounts terrified of the United States becoming part of the allied
forces, having as they did large resources, and being as far away as they were.
Capturing land across the oceans would have been unlikely.
Instead the USA would have had to agree to become passive in the conflict, leaving Germany
to have its way with Europe.
It would have had to have made economic sense for the USA to continue to do deals with a
German led Europe, rather than the individual countries.
Germany would keep the countries it conquered, including France and Poland, and Italy would
continue to be a German ally.
Spain and Portugal would find themselves aligned with Germany, and Switzerland would remain
neutral.
For Germany to have won the second world war, they would have had to have given up their
ambitions to take the Soviet Union.
However Stalin was not going to stay quiet, so some kind of peace deal would have had
to be brokered between the Soviets and Germany if Hitler were to win the war.
Likewise, Germany would have to abandon its plans to take Japan, and being so far away,
there would be no real reason to pursue the East once they’d taken the lion’s share
of Europe.
In short, a lot of the bigger players on the world stage would have to have a reason to
let Germany carry on with its ambitions.
This lack of interference would itself be morally wrong, considering the Nazi’s attempt
to exterminate entire sections of the population such as Jews and other so called undesirables,
like gay people, the mentally ill, Romani, etc.
So if the Germans had won the Second World War, and were allowed to continue their ethnic
cleansing, we would now be living in a world where inside the Greater German Reich these
people would have been eliminated.
American Science Fiction writer Philip K. Dick in 1962 wrote one of the first alternate
history novels to look at what would happen.
In his book, Nazi Germany, Italy and Japan have won the war and the world is divided
between them in blocks.
The Empire of Japan includes all of Greater East Asia, with the United States divided
between the Japanese puppet Pacific States of America, and the Rocky Mountain States
(A Nazi puppet state of the USA).
Canada avoids occupation in this scenario, despite being part of the British Empire and
being at war with the Nazis from the start.
With the USA having obtained nuclear capability by 1945, Nazi Germany would have been desperate
to find their own weapons of mass destruction.
Nazism may have been discovered by its own people to be inherently evil and be overthrown
from within.
The truth is we will never know just how the world would have panned out, as there are
simply too many variables to take into consideration.
It is safe to say that the victory would probably be short lived, as the allies decided once
again that the right thing to do would have been to remove Hitler from the world stage
once and for all.
So what do you think would have happened if Hitler and Germany won the Second World War?
Let us know in the comments!
Also, be sure to watch our other video called, the Top Ten Dumbest Reasons People Were Arrested
and Thrown in Jail.
Thanks for watching, and as always, don't forget to like, share and subscribe.
See you next time!