World War II Questions.

[DemonArchangel]

1.) What if Rommel won at Al-Alamein?

2.) What if the Germans won at Stalingrad?

3.) What if the the Japanese hit the 3 carriers at Pearl Harbor?

[Accounting Troll]

1. The British would have been pushed out of the Middle East back towards India. The Germans would have been able to consolidate their hold over the Mediterranean, and Malta would have soon succumbed. There would have been no way the Allies could have invaded Italy without control of North Africa. The invasion of Italy was important because it forced Hitler to divert troops from the Russian front to Italy and to guard against further seabourne invasions, and it also meant that the Italians changed sides. In the alternative history, the British would have suffered considerable oil shortages, hampering their economy and the Russians would have taken far longer to grind Germany down - perhaps so long that Hitler would have had time to develop the bomb.

2. Again, the Russians would have taken far longer to grind down the Nazis and they may have lost access to Black Sea oil.

3. If the carriers were badly damaged or sunk, it would have taken the Americans longer to drive the Japanese back across the Pacific, but the end result would have been the same.

[TinCow]

I agree 100% with all of the above. The only thing I want to add is a potential further consequence of #1.

With the loss of the Suez, Britain would have had a serious problem maintaining the supply route to India. It is possible that this may have caused them to abandon this territory as well. Whether or not the Indians would have or could have fought off the Japanese on their own is beyond my knowledge. Either way, it would also have prolonged the Pacific war and probably would have made India's independance faster and easier after the end of the conflict.

[Odysseus]

Well, if the Japanese hit the carriers, that would given them a greater advantage in naval power, and the Americans probably wouldn't of been able to do the island hopping strategy as well. Now, if the Germans had won at Stalingrad, that would mean that they probably would get either sign a peace treaty with the Russians or march deeper into Russia. If Rommel had won, that means that Germany wouldn't have a oil shortage and that would've prolonged the war considerably.

[Kaiser of Arabia]

2. If the russians lost stalingrad all involved generals would have been summarily executed by Stalin out of sheer rage and the Germans would have been able to hold the volga and maybe take moscow. Maybe, if they had some generals out there that knew their right flank from their center figurativly speeking of course.

[Tribesman]

Question 3 (b) what if the Japanese had launched the 3rd wave at Pearl Harbour ?

If Rommel had won at Alamein it would have just meant another battle in Egypt , I don't think he had the forces or supplies (even if he could shorten the supply line by gaining ports in working condition) to push Britain out of the middle east , Montgomery was good at defensive battles . The Allied landings in the West would have been to much of a threat to the over extended German/Italian forces . Without neutralising Malta or Gibraltar the N. African campaign was doomed to failure .

Stalingrad was a decisive factor , but the general outcome would not have been much different , the Germans tried too much over too wide an area to succeed , the failure to sieze Leningrad put a huge drain on manpower and the failure to secure the rear areas meant a huge diversion of resources and massive delays in supplying the front lines .

The failure to destroy the Pacific carriers was a disaster , without these carriers Japanese expansion and consolidation of their objectives could have been achieved . But they had no chance of winning the war outright , their only hope was a negotiated peace from a position of strength .

[DemonArchangel]

IMO, if the russians lost at Stalingrad, Hitler could afford send some men/tanks/troops to reinforce the Germans already at Lenningrad. Either that, or he could send some men to north africa to reinforce Rommel.