My history teacher used to tell me 'necessity is the mother of invention'. I think without the World Wars, humanity's technological progress would be substantially impeded.
- The airplane was seen as a novelty before World War I. Without that war, the development of aviation is much slower. Little research is done into their impact on the battlefield, so we might see a much later introduction of airplanes into warfare. Manfred von Richtofen and the other air aces of the time are erased from the history books.
- The rocket was first put into action by the Nazis during World War II in the form of the V-1 flying bomb and the V-2 rocket, said rocket was the first manmade object to reach space. While I don't doubt Von brain would be able to invent the rocket in this timeline's Germany, you can kiss the Space Race and everything it spawned goodbye. Man would reach the moon far later in our timeline, which means space exploration is hampered significantly. NASA doesn't exist, because I think Germany would be ahead of everyone when it comes to space exploration.
- The tank comes later in our timeline, because there is no need for a massive 'battleship on wheels' without the attrition of World War I. The British Mark tanks, the A7vs, they don't exist except for drawings on some board somewhere in London or Berlin.
- The Spanish flu doesn't exist. The people who died still live full lives. But, our knowledge about medicine is impeded. Oswald Avery was studying bacteria as a result of the Spanish flu. Specifically, how it changed from one that didn't have hard coding into one. 20 years later, he discovered DNA. Many peopled believe Pfeiffer's Besillius caused the flu, so research into that never happens. This prevents Alexander Fleming from discovering penicillin. Bacterial infections remain untreatable for a longer period of time. More people die from what in our timeline are treatable illnesses. In 1998, it was discovered that the strain of flu which caused the Spanish flu was avian flu. Without the Spanish flu pandemic, we don't have a century of exposure to avian flu. It can easily strike in this timeline with a vengeance. Imagine this happening in the late 20th Century or the early 21st Century. The pandemic also aided the Indian independence movement in gaining prominence by exposing the gap between British overlords and their subjects.
Also, it would impact the world in other ways.
- World War I effectively destroyed the 19th Century idea of chivalrous warfare with soldiers marching in columns towards the battlefields and officers waving sabres and all that nonsense. Without the brutality of World War I, warfare is not seen as this gory, inhumane experience. It is still seen as honourable and worth having.
- The colonial empires exist for much longer. The world wars effectively destroyed the colonial empires of Britain and France. Decolonization would still happen, but I think it would be much bloodier than in our timeline. More atrocities would be carried out against Africans, though hopefully, not on the scale of Leopold II.
- Assuming Franz Ferdinand survives Sarajevo in this timeline, it's a coin toss as to whether the United States of Greater Austria is a success or it just results in the Empire collapsing. In that case, you would have this timeline's equivalent of the Yugoslav Wars, right in the middle of Europe. Atrocities and genocides abound.
- The Ottoman Empire falls apart in the '20s or '30s. Arabs, Kurds and dozens of other ethnic groups battle it out for territory. Colonial interference by Britain, France and Germany is almost guaranteed. There would probably be a Israel since I don't see the support of a Jewish state stopping because of a lack of a world war.
- It takes longer for some countries to establish national identities. Australia and New Zealand first gained their sense of true nationhood during World War I, with the Gallipoli campaign playing a great part in this. So, Australia and New Zealand would be delayed in their national development and some aspects of their governance is still delegated to Britain.
- The United States never becomes a world superpower. It remains in isolation, extending it's influence over Central and South America. It may extend some influence in the Pacific, but not much compared to Britain, France and Germany.
- Organizations related to internationalism such as the League of Nations and the United Nations don't exist. The UN, however useless the core organization may be, has many agencies that do genuine good work, especially when it comes to dealing with refugees and helping people in need. That good work in places like Africa and the Middle East never happens.
- Internationalist concepts such as 'human rights' never take off. That concept, in particular, was given international prominence by atrocities such as the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust. So, we could see a lot more human rights abuses in this timeline.
- The success of social movements such as woman's suffrage are delayed.
The airplane was seen as a novelty before World War I. Without that war, the development of aviation is much slower. Little research is done into their impact on the battlefield, so we might see a much later introduction of airplanes into warfare. Manfred von Richtofen and the other air aces of the time are erased from the history books.
The first use of airplanes in war dates back to the Italo Turkish war of 1912, aircraft development was a big thing back then and I don't think it would be significantly slowed, just look at the many records and breakthroughs that were made before the war. Surely the development might be different, with more focus on range and less on maneuvering
The space race was an incredible boom followed by a ruinous burst, probably in a tl without world wars there would be a much more gradual approach to space exploration, so maybe we would reach the moon decades after 1969 but we would also establish a base
Yeah the tank might be delayed, but the mechanization of armies was inevitable
The objective benefit of no Spanish flu are indisputable, tens of millions of people survive, and research on medicine would obviously benefit from more wealthy countries doing research with more money
It doesn't matter how one sees war if the war are fought anyways, the grim faces of French soldiers in 1939 didn't stop the war, and the fierce nationalism of the Germans kept peace in Europe for 40 years. War was romanticized by some, but few actually wanted it, usually old aristocrats like von Hotzendorf
We can't say for sure whether the ottoman empire would fall, before the war it was in the process of rebuilding and renovating his military forces, and the most "problematic" regions were already independent. A war with Greece is a possibility tho. Also oil money will come in a few decades
Yes, Australia and New Zealand may not gain a sense of nationhood and could be part of a future imperial federation. That said, the two countries would obviously benefit from the continuation of international trade and from the waves of European immigrants
The US would be the main power in Central America and a major player in the pacific region, surely much more influential than France and probably even Germany. A war with Japan is a possibility. Central American countries would benefit from continuing free trade, foreign investment and immigration. Also there would be much less political turmoil and no large scale communist revolts. I think that most Latin America would be considered developed countries by now, especially Venezuela and Argentina
Internationalism was very important before ww1 in most western countries, with many people supporting it from every side of the political spectrum. There were over 400 international organizations before the war. I really don't see how no fascist or communist countries would be a blow to internationalism. There would still be alliances, trading blocs and cooperation in many areas
Internationalist concepts were a thing before the war, you don't need to have a piece of paper to know that genocide is bad, the entire world condemned Belgium and king Leopold for its atrocities in Congo
Women's suffrage was implemented in many countries before the world wars, and it world be implemented earlier in countries that were taken by communist or fascist parties. That said, it may never come in countries where women's suffrage was forcefully imposed, such us Japan for example
