re: OT History "What If" Discussion: Germany Wins WWI in 1914

quote:

---

Keep in mind, WW1 thrusted us to tWorld power. If the Germans would have one, who knows how we would've ended up.

---

It's true that WWI completed the process of making the US a world power (a process that had been going on since the middle of the 19th century BTW). But if WWI had ended in the summer of 1914 the role of the US in world affairs would have been completely altered. For starters, a quick war would have not forced the belligerents to spend years hemorrhaging funds in their war efforts and going deep into debt to the US. It was the fact that the US came out of WWI as the richest country on the globe, thanks to huge debts owed to it by countries like GB & France, that was the main factor in allowing the US to supplant GB as the premier world power.

Now this, like everything else in this thread is pure supposition, but I'd imagine that had WWI ended in the summer of 1914 the US would continue to be a growing economic & naval power that by the 1920's or perhaps 1930's would become big enough to be seen as a potential threat by either Germany or GB, or perhaps even both. How would that triangle of power work out? Would Germany seek an alliance with the US against a still potent GB? Or would it be the other way around? And then there are other peripheral powers like Russia, Austria, the Ottomans, & Japan to consider. All these powers would have their roles to play on the world stage as well. Perhaps the alliance system seen prior to WWI would still be around with some of the players shuffled due to the quick German victory in WWI. If this were the case, I'd imagine that war between the two rival alliances would eventually become unavoidable. Imagine WWII breaking out in about 1950 with Germany, Austria, Italy, the Ottomans, and the US on one side with GB, Russia, Japan, and whatever form unoccupied France was at the time on the other. Wounder how that war would play out?