WI No Antarctic Treaty

In 1961, a range of world powers signed the Antarctic Treaty, regulating international relations in regards to the continent and banning all military activity. Since the treaty's inception, 46 countries are now signatories.

WI the Treaty was never signed, or it was signed with significantly different content? Could we see a greater importance of the southern hemisphere during the Cold War, or more international conflict between nations over who controls the continent? I'm particularly interested in the POD of not having a military restriction on Antarctica, but any other ideas are still welcome.

Honestly doubt it would make much difference. Too cold, too remote, too expensive to exploit any resources (assuming any were found in appreciable quantities apart from Ice, Penguins, and Krill). Everything (apart from Penguins and Krill) there can be found elsewhere cheaper and closer to major trading routes/infrastructure.

Maximal settlement in a non GH/FH world would somewhat less than Iceland I would imagine - just don't see a lot of fighting over that.

Throw in some rampant greenhouse gases, focus the world's wealth/population/power in the southern hemisphere, have some ultravaluable & rare resource discovered in antartica (natural room temperature superconductors, unobtanium, dilithium crystals, mithril, whatever), have alien space craft land/be found there - do something to attact enough of the world's interest to care more about Antartica than they do about Alaska/Siberia (not much happened there during the cold war either), then you might have something to work with.

All IMHO, AFAIK, YMMV, TGIF, ABCDEFG now I know my ABC's and the rest.

Something like this?

. . . The Discovery bumped against the ice foot, and Captain Scott jumped over the side, floundered across the ice, and reached the top of a hillock. He struck a dramatic pose, as would look well in the Illustrated London News, stuck his flagpole in the snow, and said in a thrilling, heroic voice, as the Union Flag fluttered above: “I CLAIM THIS CONTINENT FOR THE BRITISH EMPIRE!!!”

Then a shout arose from the ship.

About half a mile away, a small round ship was moored to the ice. A man in Esquimo furs could be seen marching resolutely to the top of another height, where he planted a red flag with a blue cross edged in white on a hill top. He said something.

Captain Scott ran down the hill, over to his own ship, and shouted up, “What the devil did he say?”

On the ship, Lieutenant Shackleton said, “I think he said, ‘I claim this continent for the Kingdom of Norway! Ooo, isn’t that lovely!?’”


The captain marched resolutely towards the Fram. Midway between the two ships, on the edge of the ice, he met the Norwegian captain. “See here now,” he said, “I have already claimed this piece of ice and snow for the British Empire, and there’s just not room enough on this continent for the two of us.”

“I do believe you are right,” said Captain Amundsen, and pushed.


The captain stalked on board, little flakes of ice falling off his Burberry pullover. “We bloody well can’t have that! We must prepare the . . .” his voice dropped to a nigh-whisper, “. . . most secret device.”

“You mean the Fisher-Wells Torpedo?”

Captain Scott scowled at his subordinate. He was really only a merchant officer and didn’t understand such things.

Down below in the hold of the Discovery was a terrifing, potent weapon, one that could blow a vast area — no one knew how much — into 17,670,002 microcells. It was this dreadful device that Captain Scott had descended into the depths of the ship to prepare for its use.

Little did he know of what his foe had wrought!


A floe floated in the devastated ruin of bergy bits and growlers, with two men atop it. Captain Scott stared at his enemy and said, “There’s just not room enough on this continent for the two of us, so off you go!” He swung his arm and the Norwegian slid off the floe, into the water.

Then he struck a heroic pose, and pluckily declared, “I CLAIM THIS CONTINENT FOR THE BRITISH EMPIRE!!!”

Down below, clutching the edge of the ice, himself being desperately clung to by Captain Amundsen, Lieutenant Shackleton said, “B-b-b-b-big deal.”

boredatwork said:

Honestly doubt it would make much difference. Too cold, too remote, too expensive to exploit any resources (assuming any were found in appreciable quantities apart from Ice, Penguins, and Krill). Everything (apart from Penguins and Krill) there can be found elsewhere cheaper and closer to major trading routes/infrastructure.

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Actually, IIRC Antarctica has a crapload of oil and raw materials. While it might be expensive to extract, I can see both of those being very important in the modern world.

Hannibal.Caesar said:

Actually, IIRC Antarctica has a crapload of oil and raw materials. While it might be expensive to extract, I can see both of those being very important in the modern world.

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nobody really knows if there is anything there.... AFAIK, the only even semi-valuable material found there is coal. Oil is suspected, but not certain.