The Modernist World

[jetfx]

The article Mars Attacked (thanks baron_waste) about the astounding world of 1963 got me thinking, particularly since the first response to the setting was "Huh? 1963? Well, yes, the year is 1963, but this is 1963 as imagined in the science fiction of, say, 1936."So I created an alternate history scenario, which I will later expand into a story, to look at

Comments

[chris_gerrib]

A couple of random thoughts:

1) The bloodshed of WWI created a great pacifist movement. A longer war followed by revolution would only agravate that.
2) The USA's late entry into the war helped accelerate the collapse of the Germans. Continuing their intervention into 1919 would have only made things worse for the Germans.
3) Centralized planning has serious drawbacks for the long-term running of any economy.

[jetfx]

1)The pacifist movement following the war wasn't that powerful. Certainly there was little public desire for another war of similar magnitude, but the interwar period was a considerably more violent than the prewar period precisely because of those revolutions. Also, in this setting these revolutions were to end the war, and to establish governments that would not start a war like it again, and to make extra sure, Europe was unified. However I have not taken into account nationalist sentiment that had a big part in starting the war in the first place

[chris_gerrib]

Re point #2 - the American intervention in 1918 forced a panic offensive. Had the war gone on to 1919, the American intervention would have resulted in a massive offensive.

Either way, the German goose was cooked.

[jetfx]

I think both of us agree that the Germans would have lasted longer had they not launched that Spring offensive, but we differ on how long. For all their fresh morale and numerous troops, the Americans had no experience in fighting a large modern war, and I think the Germans could have held them off till about 1920.

[karenjeane]

My only hesitation is that you will turn into baron. It'll make for an even more interesting journal though. ;)

Hugo Gensback

[anonymous]

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Re: Hugo Gensback

[jetfx]

Neato! I'll give it a look see.