Alternative Scenarios for the End of World War II

Failed Allied Invasion of France and Its Consequences

This is what happened. In June 1944, Allied forces landed on beaches in northern France and began the successful liberation of Europe from Nazi Germany. By the summer of 1945, Germany surrendered as US and USSR forces converged on Berlin. Adolf Hitler lay dead in his bunker. In August 1945, the USA dropped atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, forcing Japan to surrender, too. By September, World War II was finally over.

Things might have turned out differently. Please read, consider and answer the following THREE (3) questions, each based on alternative scenarios to what actually happened. Question (1) is worth 4 possible marks; questions (2) and (3) are each worth 3 possible marks. Each question requires you to imagine an alternative outcome in history: marks will be awarded on the basis of your creative imagination and demonstration of historical knowledge. Good luck!

1. It’s June 1944. The Allied forces have failed in their attempt to land forces in northern France and to liberate Europe from Nazi control. Hitler’s regime appears to be on the verge of achieving its longstanding aims of securing control over European territory and eradicating European Jews.

Question:  In this scenario, describe in detail how World War II comes to an end. Do the Allies mount another attempt to liberate France? Do they cut their losses and seek a peace treaty with Hitler? Or do they persuade the USA to use its newly acquired nuclear weapons on Germany? Or is there an alternative? In your own words, and using your historical knowledge, describe a likely outcome to World War II in these circumstances, saying why you think it is the most plausible scenario following the failure of D-Day. (4 marks)

2. It’s December 1950. Five years after Hitler’s victory in World War II, the world has moved on.  The German Reich now extends from the USSR in the east to Spain in the West, from the Scandinavian nations in the north down to the Mediterranean. Since Germany’s acquisition of nuclear weapons in 1946, both the USA and USSR have accepted it as a legitimate power. The USA has retreated to its western Atlantic interests, while the USSR has returned to an eastward-facing policy of isolationism.  Britain has dismantled its empire and is now of no international significance.

Question: Under this scenario, what are the major global themes and developments between 1945 and 1950? For example, there would be no independent state of Israel, no United Nations, and Germany might even have allowed Britain to keep the remnants of its empire (e.g. India). So, how might events have turned out differently under this scenario, and why? Give examples to support your answer. (3 marks)

3. It’s November 2019.Germany has recently celebrated the 86^th anniversary of the Third Reich, even though its founder – Adolf Hitler -- has been dead since 1980. Indeed, having fulfilled his original aims, namely the dismantling of the Versailles Treaty, the unification of all European Germans within a single empire, and the extermination of all European Jews, the Nazi regime has long moderated its policies and is now a respectable and internationally respected leader of a united and strong Europe,  the single most powerful political union on the planet since the economic collapse of the USA in 2012 and the new Cold War between China and India that resulted in the devastating nuclear exchange of November 2013.

Question: As a teacher, you stand before a class of eager Canadian 12-year olds, about to teach a class on World War II.  None of them has any direct knowledge or memory of World War II or Hitler. The world has always been the way it is, as far as they’re concerned. As you stand up to lecture on how the war ended, how do you explain to them that things might have turned out another way – that, for example, had the Allies succeeded in June 1944, the world of 2019 would be very different to the one they know? (3 marks)