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Draft:Hypothetical central powers victory in World War I

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Draft:Hypothetical Central powers victory in World War I

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Possible (not certain) outcome of German war aims in September 1914 (Septemberprogramm) if Schlieffen Plan succeeds.

Hypothetical Central powers victory in World War I also referred to by the term Pax Germanica is a theme in speculative fiction. Works of alternative history (fiction) and of counterfactual history (non-fiction) include stories, novels, performances, and mixed media that explore speculative public and private life in lands conquered by the coalition, whose principal powers were Germany Empire, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire and Tsardom of Bulgaria.[a][1]

Early depictions

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The first of this kind was When William Came (full name: When William Came: A Story of London Under the Hohenzollerns) written by British writer Saki (Pseudonym Hector Hugh Munro) and published in November 1913. The book that correctly predicts the war between Britain and Germany (in which Saki will be killed) assumes that Germany will win and impose a hard occupation regime on the defeated Britain[2][3]

Later depictions

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In Keith Laumer's Worlds of the Imperium, a paraler world called BI-2 invades world BI-1. In the world of BI-2, Imperial Germany won the First World War but failed to consolidate its victory, and so began a chaotic and highly destructive war and eventually, a nuclear war, continuing to sweep the planet for generations. The world is led by the dictator Brion Bayard, whose alternate version from the BI-3 world is the main character of the book.[4]

Philip José Farmer's The Gate of Time mentions, but does not describe in detail, an alternate timeline in which Kaiser Wilhelm IV (rather than Adolf Hitler) controls an expansionist, imperialist Germany in this world's Second World War.

Harry Turtledove's books

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Harry Turtledove is a great writer of alternate history books and has written many books describing worlds where the Cenral Powers won WW1. Since the late 1990s, Harry Turtledove has been the most prolific practitioner of alternative history, and some have given him the title "Master of Alternative History".[5]

  • In the late 1990s, Harry Turtledove wrote his Southern Victory Series, also known as Timeline-191,[6] consisting of eleven books.[7][8] The series begins with How Few Remain (1997) where the Confederate States defeat the United States of America in 1862 and successfully secede and become an independent nation. The Union (USA) joins the Central Powers in the series during World War I and fights on the so-called American Front against the Confederacy and Britain. Finally, Brazil, Chile and Paraguay join the side of Germany and America against Argentina. In the series, Italy never enters the war, Russia destroys the revolution, and Britain capitulates, making the Central Powers win the war.
    World map with participants of the Great War in the history of the Southern Victory. The "Entente" (sometimes referred to as the "Allies") are shown in green, the "Central Powers" in orange, and neutral countries in gray. The states that joined the Central Powers in this axis are the USA, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Liberia and Haiti.
  • Short story Uncle Alf is set in a timeline where Alfred von Schlieffen, who died in 1913, survived to personally oversee the successful implementation of his famous plan for a two-front war against France and Russia. Germany wins the Great War in 1914 and fully occupies France and Belgium. Then in 1916 the Bolshevik revolution (really in 1917) breaks out in Russia, Emperor Wilhelm II. he helps his cousin and former enemy Tsar Nicholas II.
  • The book Curious Notions describing the world dominated by the descendants of Emperor Wilhelm, promoting monarchies everywhere and maintaining the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire as German satellite states. In the book, the inhabitants of the occupied United States and the rest of the world are difficult to oppress the German secret police, having a similar role as the Gestapo in the scenarios of the Nazi victory, but without the Nazi murderous anti-Semitism.
  • In the novel The Disunited States of America, describing a world where the united states failed to unite and in their place there are many more smaller states, he mentions the "Great War" in which Britain and Prussia stand against each other. North American states must choose which side to join. It is not clear who won the conflict, but the book further mentions that Prussia remained the most powerful of the German states at the end of the 21st century and was one of several "great powers" in the world. And also that Prussia and California were the only two countries to send manned missions to Mars by 2097. Therefore, it is likely that the Prussians are winning the Great War.

Non-fiction

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Main article: Niall Ferguson § World War I

In 1998, Niall Ferguson's book The Pity of War: Explaining World War I was published, which was essentially an analytical account of what Ferguson considered to be the ten great myths of the Great War. The book caused much controversy, particularly Ferguson's suggestion that it might have proved more beneficial for Europe if Britain had stayed out of the First World War in 1914, allowing Germany to win.[9] Ferguson also disagreed with historians such as Fritz Fischer (Germany's Aims in the First World War), Hans-Ulrich Wehler, and Wolfgang Mommsen who advocated that Germany started an aggressive war in 1914. The book contained the use of speculative history. In the book, Ferguson presents a hypothetical version of Europe that is, under imperial German rule, a peaceful, prosperous, democratic continent without ideologies such as communism or Italian fascism.[10] According to Ferguson, if Germany had won the First World War, then millions of lives would have been saved, something like the European Union would have been established in 1914, and Britain would have remained both an empire and the world's dominant financial power.[10][1]

Other works

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In 2001, Jon Courtenay Grimwood wrote the Arabesk trilogy, which takes place in a world where the First World War has not spread beyond the Balkans, the Ottoman Empire still exists and Germany is still a great power. The trilogy consists of the books Pashazade, Effendi and Felaheen.

The basis of the events in game Enigma: Rising Tide is that the British passenger ship Lusitania was not sunk but instead completed its voyage without incident. This event, or lack thereof, essentially prevented the United States from entering the war on the side of the Allies, thus dooming the French and the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) to defeat from the German offensives in 1918. With complete victory in France, the German Reich formally annexes France and Britain (which was occupied as a result of the treaty that ended the war)[11] and becomes the German Weltreich (World Empire).[12] After the occupation of Britain, Winston Churchill - then Britain's chief naval strategist - flees to Hong Kong with the rest of the British government on the flagship of the fleet, the new battlecruiser HMS Hood.[13]

1920: America's Great War is a book from 2013 by Michigan economics professor Robert Conroy. The book describes a world where Germany wins the First Battle of the Marne and wins already in 1914. Later in 1920, Germany launches a surprise invasion of the United States (Similar to the planned invasions of 1898, 1899 and 1903).

Map of German coalition in Kaiserreich: Dark Red: Germany Red: Member of Mitteleuropa and Reichspakt Light red: Only member of Mitteleuropa

Kaiserreich

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The alternate history mod Kaiserreich: Legacy of the Weltkrieg of the video game Hearts of Iron IV[3] also covers a world where Germany won World War I, as the United States never joins the Entente. Causing Germany to gain territory in Central Africa and Eastern Europe, securing their gains under the Reichspakt military alliance and the Mitteleuropa economic alliance. The British and French mainlands were taken over by syndicalist revolutionaries, while their governments remain in exile in Canada and Algeria respectively. Italy is divided between a syndicalist government in the north, the Two Sicilies in the south, the Papal State in Rome, and the Austrian-supported Italian Republic in Lombardy and Venetia. Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire survive the war and Bulgaria gains territory from Serbia and Greece. The Russian Civil War still occurs, but ends in the victory of the White movement. The United States continues to be in an economic depression by 1936.[14]

The list of works describes this version of history:

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The title of the work Type of work Series Year of publication Name of the author Publisher Original Language
When William Came book none 1913 Saki John Lane English
Worlds of the Imperium book none 1962 Keith Laumer Ace Books English
The Pity of War: Explaining World War I book (Non-fiction) none 1998 Niall Ferguson Basic Books English
The Great War: American Front book Southern victory 1998 Harry Turtledove Del Rey English
The Great War: Walk in Hell book Southern victory 1999 Harry Turtledove Ballantine English
The Great War: Breakthroughs book Southern victory 2000 Harry Turtledove Del Rey English
Pashazade book Arabesk triology 2001 Jon Courtenay Grimwood various English
Effendi book Arabesk triology 2002 Jon Courtenay Grimwood various English
Uncle Alf Short story none 2002 Harry Turtledove Baen Books English
Enigma: Rising Tide video game none 2003 Tesseraction Games NA: Dreamcatcher Interactive

EU: GMX Media

Felaheen book Arabesk triology 2003 Jon Courtenay Grimwood various English
Settling Accounts: Return Engagement book Southern victory 2004 Harry Turtledove Del Rey English
Curious Notions book Crosstime Traffic 2004 Harry Turtledove Tor Books English
Settling Accounts: Drive to the East book Southern victory 2005 Harry Turtledove Del Rey English
Settling Accounts: The Grapple book Southern victory 2006 Harry Turtledove Del rey English
The Disunited States of America[b] book Crosstime Traffic 2006 Harry Turtledove Tor Books English
Settling Accounts: In at the Death book Southern victory 2007 Harry Turtledove Del Rey English
1920: America's Great War book none 2013 Robert Conroy Baen Books English
Kaiserreich, Legacy of the Weltkrieg mod of the video game Hearts of Iron IV none 2016 The Kaiserreich Team

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Some works modify history to the extent that the coalition of forces may differ. To distinguish between the Central Powers and the Entente in case of larger differences, we will consider the Central Powers to be mostly a coalition led by Germany or another Germanic nation if none of the factions are called central powers.
  2. ^ Very likely

References

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  1. ^ a b Kettle, Martin (2013-12-25). "What if the Germans had won the first world war?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-09-18.
  2. ^ Gibson, Brian (23 June 2014). Reading Saki: The Fiction of H.H. Munro. McFarland. p. 203. ISBN 9781476615325.
  3. ^ a b Gibson, Brian (31 May 2012). "'The Unrest-Cure' and Saki's Uneasy Anti-Semitism". Jewish Culture and History. 9 (1): 27–50. doi:10.1080/1462169X.2007.10512065. S2CID 162284702.
  4. ^ Laumer, Keith (1962). Worlds of the Imperium. United States: Ace Books. ISBN 9780486808666.
  5. ^ » MORE. "Master of Alternate History - 4/7/2008 - Publishers Weekly". Archived from the original on 18 May 2008. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  6. ^ ELHEFNAWY, NADER (1 October 2007). "SETTLING ACCOUNTS: IN AT THE DEATH BY HARRY TURTLEDOVE". Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  7. ^ RAGHUNATH, Riyukta (2017). "Alternative realities: Counterfactual historical fiction and possible worlds theory" (PDF). Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive (SHURA): 14. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  8. ^ "Uchronia: Great War Multi-Series (Southern Victory)". www.uchronia.net.
  9. ^ Ferguson, Niall The Pity of War, Basic Books: New York, 1998, 1999 pp. 460–461.
  10. ^ a b Ferguson, The Pity of War (1998, 1999), pp. 168–173, 460–461.
  11. ^ "Enigma: Rising Tide (Game)". Giant Bomb. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
  12. ^ "Game Chronicles - Review". www.gamechronicles.com. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
  13. ^ Enigma: Rising Tide
  14. ^ "Hearts of Iron 4's Kaiserreich mod is the best historical strategy sandbox". 30 December 2021.
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