Alternate Nuclear Powers

Obviously the US was the first nation to develop the Atomic Bomb. And although we've all seen timelines wherein Germany of the Soviet Union develop the A-Bomb first, who else could have plausibly beaten the US to the A-Bomb. What would these ATL look like?
 
Well, there is much speculation about the Japanese and how much research they did upon atomic power. At least two stories I know of have the British developing it. One particular favourite has the British demonstrating the atomic bomb in the Egyptian desert for selective members of the German High Command in 1917 or 1918. Tho here they are foiled by Fu Manchu.

There is also the book Queen Victoria's Bomb which has the British develop the atomic bomb in the 1850s, or so. I can't remember much about the book, particularly where the bomb was to be used against in either the Crimean War or the Boer War.

Undoubtedly, there must be some stories that talk about Tsarist Russia. The French are possible, I guess.
 
As long as your POD presupposed the Nazi rise to power in Germany and an allied fascist state in Italy, I don't see anybody but the US (or UK) could have developed nuclear weapons in the 1940's.

But...

1914 - German forces execute the Scheifflein plan to perfection and Paris falls, France seeks peace, and Great Britain withdraws forces, eventually signing Madrid armistice in early 1915. France is forced to accept a demilitarized eastern zone, but German-English relationships dissolve into a cold war, with the naval race continuing and each side seeking global allies to counterbalance each other.

1932 - War breaks out between USA and Japan after long naval race. Great Britain formally neutral, but is favorably disposed to Japan. Seeking a counterweight to Britain, Germany offers USA use of German colonial harbor facilities in Asia/Pacific. Both USA and Germany offer support to China in its defensive war with China. France is taken over by revisionist nationalists and begins to rearm.

1934 - The Global War breaks out between the Alliance of Empires (Britain, Japan, France, Russia) and the Great Alliance (USA, Germany, China). Sweden, Italy and Ottoman Empire are neutral but favorably disposed to the Great Alliance. Spain, Serbian Peoples Union, and Argentina lead toward the Alliance of Empires.

1935 - Kaiser Willhem institute and its team of Swiss, German, Austrio-Hungarian, and Italian scientists, many of them Jewish, begin work on nuclear fission and its practical application under a grant from the German Government

1935 - US Navy suffers major setback in the second Battle of the Phillipine Sea. losing 10 dreadnoughts battleships to Japan's 2. Japan's secret investment in large heavier-than-air aircraft carriers and planes leads to complete desruction of USN rigid airship scouting force and US fleet is lured into a submarine ambush before the IJN heavy units engage. US forces in Phillipines surrender and US begins to consider separate peace with Japan.

1936 - Fearing loss of US ally and encirclement by UK and Russia, Germany steps up search for new weapons. First controlled fission reaction in Berlin. France is finally overrun by German forces

1937 - As position of Great Alliance weakened, a general Armistice signed. Armistice is considered just a break in hostlities as all recent combatants (except France which is ocupied) continue military built up against backdrop of growing economic problems.

1939 - Germany develops first fissoin bomb and announces to the world with a public test. No one else is even close to developing such a weapon and Germany uses monopoly of atomic weapons in attempt to dictate very favorable peace terms to replace armistice. Facing British resistance, Germany plants an atomic bomb by submarine at Scap flow and detonates it, destroying the bulk of the British East Atlantic/North Sea squadron. In concert with US, Germany institutes blockade of British Isles and moves troops to invasion ports threatening to bomb London next(to be continued...)
 
wakie said:
Obviously the US was the first nation to develop the Atomic Bomb. And although we've all seen timelines wherein Germany of the Soviet Union develop the A-Bomb first, who else could have plausibly beaten the US to the A-Bomb. What would these ATL look like?

Depends on where you start. With a point of divergence in 1900, I could make plausible arguments for America, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, Australia or Czechoslovakia.
 
Ok, I'm taking America, Germany, and Russia out of the mix. The POD must be from 1898 (birth of Leo Szilard) onward. ASB's don't count. Szilard must still do the pioneering work.
 
Ten Year Slower and Cheaper Project

Russia, Japan, Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Australia, Argentina, a free India, a united China, maybe Norway? A united Latin America? An independent Korea if the Russo-Japanese war had tied?
 
Top