Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Desdichado" data-source="post: 472021" data-attributes="member: 2205">The more I think about it, now, the more the idea of a non-superpower USA seems to be difficult.&nbsp; Defections to the US were rampant from both the Soviets and the Nazis, so the US getting the technological capability to go atomic (probably after Germany, though, in this scenario) is very easy.&nbsp; With three superpowers stomping around, it's hard to believe that someone else wouldn't trigger the equivalent of a Pearl Harbor and &quot;awaken the sleeping giant&quot; although the scenario has to balance this carefully so that one of the superpowers isn't eliminated by this course of action.&nbsp; And finally, even with the neutrality and isolationism, the US was really slowly moving towards war before even Pearl Harbor.&nbsp; I find it hard to believe that the US would simply watch Britain be completely plowed over by the Nazis and not do anything about it.&nbsp; YMMV, but I have a harder and harder time justifying the US as not a superpower in this setting.&nbsp; They had all the right ingredients before WWII -- they just needed a nudge to get out of isolationism.&nbsp; Whether that nudge is Pearl Harbor or something else, it's hard to imagine it not happening at all.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Desdichado, post: 472021, member: 2205"] The more I think about it, now, the more the idea of a non-superpower USA seems to be difficult. Defections to the US were rampant from both the Soviets and the Nazis, so the US getting the technological capability to go atomic (probably after Germany, though, in this scenario) is very easy. With three superpowers stomping around, it's hard to believe that someone else wouldn't trigger the equivalent of a Pearl Harbor and "awaken the sleeping giant" although the scenario has to balance this carefully so that one of the superpowers isn't eliminated by this course of action. And finally, even with the neutrality and isolationism, the US was really slowly moving towards war before even Pearl Harbor. I find it hard to believe that the US would simply watch Britain be completely plowed over by the Nazis and not do anything about it. YMMV, but I have a harder and harder time justifying the US as [i]not[/i] a superpower in this setting. They had all the right ingredients before WWII -- they just needed a nudge to get out of isolationism. Whether that nudge is Pearl Harbor or something else, it's hard to imagine it not happening at all. [/QUOTE]

Verification