Hendryk
Banned
In OTL, there was never any doubt, once the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor, that they would lose; it was merely a question of when. The outcome of the war is even less in doubt in my "Superpower Empire" TL: fighting against a more unified China on the one hand, and against the US on the other (not to mention Britain), Japan crumbles in late 1944.
But... but what if, in the context of my TL, the Japanese had found the Daqing oilfield (which in OTL was discovered in 1958) during their occupation of Manchuria?
Let's say that, in 1938, four years after invading the place, the Japanese, who were looking for oil in Manchuria but got lucky neither in OTL nor in my TL, looked in the right spot. There it was, the answer to their impending fuel crisis--16 billion barrels' worth of crude, enough to power their military machine, and in fact their entire economy, for at least three decades. Self-sufficiency being assured, they no longer needed to rely on imports, and neither feared a US embargo nor had to set up contingency plans for seizing the Dutch East Indies. This meant they could focus their war effort on China itself. Would China in my TL still have been able to defeat Japan given such circumstances?
For those who'd like to speculate on a similar development in OTL, see this thread.
The following map shows the extent of Japanese occupation in 1938 in my TL. Note that the south-east of Yakutia is being occupied as well.
But... but what if, in the context of my TL, the Japanese had found the Daqing oilfield (which in OTL was discovered in 1958) during their occupation of Manchuria?
Let's say that, in 1938, four years after invading the place, the Japanese, who were looking for oil in Manchuria but got lucky neither in OTL nor in my TL, looked in the right spot. There it was, the answer to their impending fuel crisis--16 billion barrels' worth of crude, enough to power their military machine, and in fact their entire economy, for at least three decades. Self-sufficiency being assured, they no longer needed to rely on imports, and neither feared a US embargo nor had to set up contingency plans for seizing the Dutch East Indies. This meant they could focus their war effort on China itself. Would China in my TL still have been able to defeat Japan given such circumstances?
For those who'd like to speculate on a similar development in OTL, see this thread.
The following map shows the extent of Japanese occupation in 1938 in my TL. Note that the south-east of Yakutia is being occupied as well.