- 16 Mar 2009 21:28
#1835811
Suppose von Bulow had support at the Marne --- he was over 70 years old and he could not get the other generals supposedly coordinating to support his troops at First Marne. So he pulled back.......................and all the rest followed.
But the Germans EXPECTED to win, and quickly, as they had in 1871 at Sedan. And did after, in 1940.
If the Germans had won quickly, I see a big transfer of colonies from France (and Belgium) to Germany: it explicitly wanted its "Place in the sun," as the Kaiser said.
No Hitler. No Nazism. No excessive hatred of Jews --- because no riots and leftist threat of revolution at home. Remember that Germany had the most liberal laws favoring Jews in all of Europe before WWI!! And there were only 0.5% Jews in Germany even in the '30s. The war did drive them crazy: Hitler believed fervently that Germany was never defeated, but "stabbed in the back by Jews and Communists," as he famously said. Over and over till everyone believed it.
No atom bomb! We probably still would not have nuclear power, to this day. As we are likely to see nukes normalized as weapons soon, since we've lost nuclear nonproliferation, that could be important.
On the other hand, Germany certainly intended to take over Russia for fear they would become powerful enough to make and win war with Germany. Would Germany under the Kaiser have gone for world domination through war? That is, certainly it would have gone after Russia, but also full control of France and then with French manpower, attempting the conquest of Britain, and then eventually America?
I'm thinking not America, at any rate. A bridge too far, or rather, no bridge. The Kaiser was certainly nuts, but not as nuts as Hitler, who did declare war on us.
No immigrants in Europe, I'm guessing. Lots and lots of differences, and much more order in the world. If the Germans could have held onto Africa, rather than all powers withdrawing after WWII, things would be a lot better there than the social devastation that exists now.