alternatehistory.com

Let's assume that for whatever reason, to declare war to Nazi Germany alone is not an option that Britain and France may deem politically and strategically acceptable during the 1939 Poland crisis.

They may either remain neutral in the German/Soviet-Polish war (e.g. Germany successfully tricks Poland into attacking first, or the British government doesn't deem Poland worth a world war and gives Warsaw no military guarantee, or they still regard the final goal of the appeasement strategy -let Germany and the USSR tear each other and watch by the sidelines- the best choice), or go for broke, declaring war to Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia both and acting on their OTL plans to bomb Baku (i.e. they still think totalitarian aggression need be fought, but they regard the M-R Pact as a de facto alliance, and Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia just as serious a threat).

Which outcome would you regard as best for Europe and the world ?

Some constraints for the scenario:

a) if Britain and France remain neutral, Hitler leaves Western Europe alone and goes to fight the Soviet Union. The Western powers remain neutral in the Nazi-Soviet fight, at most giving the apparently losing side enough support to keep the war as closest as possible to a balanced war of attrition up to mutual exhaustion. They only intervene if either side threatens a decisive victory (e.g. the Germans go beyond Belarus and Ukraine, the Soviets go beyond Poland and Romania).

b) If Britain and France go at war against both the totalitarian powers, America is brought in the war by means similar to OTL, Germany and the USSR eventually turn on each other, making the conflict a true three-way war. The Western Allies do not make any alliance of convenience with the fascists or the communists, but fight them both.
Top