Exam o

*Okay, this is an attept at Alternate History from the perspective of an Exam, which might be an experiment in a method of writing, and the answer to this Question will come later.*

13 January 2010

I went into the Exam hall for my A-level History. The air was palpable with excitement and uncertainty as this was the big exam. No Backsies, nothing. I had to get through this exam. The invigilators guided me to my desk, where i was instructed to wait for my paper. I sat there, thinking about what was going to be on it. The invigilators then gave me my source sheet and the answer sheet.

There was one Question:

using the Sources and your own knowledge, explain why Germany lost the Cold War
I had 3 Sources:

Source A said:
The Nazis were first and foremost incapable of taking on the United States in a Cold War, and were never up to the task. This was because, first and foremost, their ideology was centred around reactionary ideals which meant that reform was nigh-impossible.

Source B said:
The Reich's economy was not able to take on the industrial might of the Alliance. The inherent nature of the Command Economy meant that corruption and waste were excessive as well as inability to find markets for German goods meant that the Reich would crumble from within.

Source C said:
The Nazis had largely been deluded by their own propaganda believing that they were superior to everyone else, such as with the Greatly exxagerated capabilities of the Von Braun Stations. This led to myths being propagated about national superiority, which far from enhancing their status in the world, led to their own demise
 
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The Von Braun station was actually a lot more complicated and potentially efficient than the the ISS save all the modern gadgets.

This looks interesting, I think OW did something similar in one of his TL's.
 
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The Von Braun station was actually a lot more complicated and potentially efficient than the the ISS save all the modern gadgets.

This lokks interesting, I think OW did something similar in one of his TL's.

And you should know i'm doing an A-Level History Module soon. ;)
 
My advice is to attack the question, or better still the person who wrote the question. The Markers will be so impressed with the change of scene and your sheer balls that they wont care that the bullshit you write is without substance and lacks academic rigour. This apporach got me through University with great marks and great job references, academics tell the people that interivew you that you have brains and balls and don't figure that you were bullshitting them all along.
 
The answer is very simple. You should all know that after plundering the wealth of Europe, Hitler chose to squander it on a giant deathzeppelin ten kilometers long and as such bankrupted his nation. Had the deathzeppelin been completed, though, America would have been crushed underneath its awesome power, along with waves of the planned jetpack legions.
 
You should also use background knowledge such as how the Soviet backed guerillas in Poland made Vietnam look like a schoolyard brawl and how the revelation of the holocaust essentially led to forced isolationism apart from the ECA.
 
You should also use background knowledge such as how the Soviet backed guerillas in Poland made Vietnam look like a schoolyard brawl and how the revelation of the holocaust essentially led to forced isolationism apart from the ECA.

Okay, i'll PM you the rough draft of the TL, coz i'm going to post it on Timelines and Scenarios.
 
Here's the completed project.

13 January 2010

I went into the Exam hall for my A-level History. The air was palpable with excitement and uncertainty as this was the big exam. No Backsies, nothing. I had to get through this exam. The invigilators guided me to my desk, where i was instructed to wait for my paper. I sat there, thinking about what was going to be on it. The invigilators then gave me my source sheet and the answer sheet.

There was one Question:

using the Sources and your own knowledge, explain why Germany lost the Cold War
I had 3 Sources:

Source A said:
The Nazis were first and foremost incapable of taking on the United States in a Cold War, and were never up to the task. This was because, first and foremost, their ideology revolved around reactionary ideals which meant that reform was nigh-impossible.

Source B said:
The Reich's economy was not able to take on the industrial might of the Alliance. The inherent nature of the Command Economy meant that corruption and waste were excessive as well as inability to find markets for German goods meant that the Reich would crumble from within.

Source C said:
The Nazis had largely been deluded by their own propaganda believing that they were superior to everyone else, such as with the Greatly exaggerated capabilities of the Von Braun Stations. This led to myths being propagated about national superiority, which far from enhancing their status in the world, led to their own demise
I then heard the words: "You may start your exam now"

I then put my pen to paper and wrote my essay:
The Nazis had just barely won World War 2 against the Soviet Union when they had to confront the United States and her allies in the Cold War. In this essay, I will explore the reasons for Germany’s collapse.

They had to find allies in order to counter the influence of the United States. The first place to do this was in Europe, where, Apart from Britain, Ireland and Portugal, every European nation joined the Greater European Union, which had a common Currency (The Reichsmark) as well as some common markets. However, this was going to meet problems, especially with the fact that Germany need to sustain its economy and this boost was insufficient. They couldn’t go beyond the 71st Parallel per the Treaty of Geneva, which covered Southern Sudan, the Revived Ethiopian Empire (which seized Eritrea, Djbouti and Somalia as protectorates) Southern Chad, Nigeria, Benin, Burkina, Senegal and Southern Mali. Although Algeria and Libya were rich with oil, they were not very developed.

Britain and America decided to found the Alliance of Free States, or the Alliance for short. It initially consisted of the Eastern Soviet Union, The Republics of Korea and China and most of the British Commonwealth below the 71st parallel. Germany was further cut off from markets in 1948 when Syria and Saudi Arabia announced their intentions to join the Alliance. This gave the Alliance near unlimited access to oil and other raw materials which was a major advantage in the markets.

The Defeat of Mao in China as a result of Alliance intervention in the Chinese Civil War enabled the US and Britain to help the KMT regain control of Tibet and Xinjiang, which were lost in the Civil War. This reconstitution of China included greater integration and modernisation overseen by various economic and social experts. The Nazis greeted this with dismay as news came of Partisans wreaking havoc in the Ostland colonies. From this point on, Nazi Germany was cut off from Asia and the Pacific, isolating it economically and politically.

So the Nazis turned to the newly Elected Juan Peron of Argentina for trade and alliances. But this would violate the Monroe Doctrine that was held sacrosanct by various US Presidents. The US responded to this with Operation pinpoint, a CIA assassination of Juan Peron before he had signed a German-Argentinean trade agreement. This, as well as other Covert Operations in Central and South America forever cut off the Nazis from Latin America. This led to major problems with regards to the economy, as Source B indicates.
Problems began to show with the Nazi Economy at this stage, although they would be swept under the carpet for the moment. This action, rather than confronting it head on, would lead to the first nail in the Coffin for Germany. Propaganda was blared about the supposed efficiency of the German economy and tried to convince Immigrants (of a certain ethnic group) to come to Germany. But these failed to win any converts as Germany was an international Pariah for its actions in World war 2, most notorious of which was the annihilation of Kiev by the SS in 1945 in response to a general uprising. As well as that, any immigrants would have been extremely closely monitored by the Gestapo and made to live in certain areas for years where the quality of life was below that of Mozambique.

The Alliance would push every single advantage they had in order to defeat their ideological opponents. A good case study of this is the Marshall Plan, which involved huge donations of aid to Asia, Latin America and most of Africa. The Alliance would also modernise these nations and help vitalise their economies and militaries. Freedom was also promoted in order to convince the recipient nations to join the Alliance.

The Nazis were also trying to convince people to stay in Germany with propaganda about how it is the strongest nation on Earth. But as source C noted, it was so outrageous and slick that even Hitler believed it. They also began purges and tightening controls on people in order to ensure loyalty. This was shown in the school system where children were taught very slanted physics questions about a missile hitting Atlanta (The Alliance’s headquarters) for example. As well as that, their ideas of biology were greatly distorted, leading to serious problems with doctors later on.

Before Hitler died in 1952, Germany finally detonated its first Atomic bomb after so much bureaucratic incompetence and financial arteriosclerosis. When Hitler died a month later, the Nazi Party began to fall into chaos as the reformist Goring and the hardliner Himmler fought it out over who should succeed him. Eventually, Himmler won, sparking the Bloody Purge*, which led to reactionary students persecuting adherents to any “un-Nazi” lines of thought. Lin Biao writes in Source C that this was where the mythmaking of the Reich really caused problems, as they became “deluded by their own propaganda”. When Himmler began the Space programme with the first Probe in Space in 1954, a cult around Nazi technology began. This cult reached new heights in 1957 with Germany getting the First Man in Space, a Luftwaffe Officer. However, problems with the German Economy began to surface, with the German GDP beginning to stagnate. Meanwhile, there was the issue of competition with the west in every sphere possible, from Culture to Science, from Military to Economy. The Nazis also began to fall behind the United States with the first US Hydrogen bomb being detonated in 1954 and the Nazis having to wait until 1960 to achieve atomic parity.

William Blum noted in his book “The Fall of Germany, 1945-1975 and afterwards” that the United States responded to the German space programme with the first man in space in 1959, making this achievement moot as well as the US spending more on Space as part of a greater struggle for domination of the heavens. After a major attack in 1960 on German settlers in Russia, killing 200, the Nazis then decided to aid revolutionary movements in Latin America in response. The National Socialist Army in Nicaragua was established to cause disruption. Eventually, they helped the infamous Death Squads in Honduras and Colombia, fuelled by the Drug Trade, which was a small economic help for the Germans. Himmler was said to personally order that shipments of drugs be sent to the US, although no evidence has emerged of this being true. But conspiracy theories about the German connection to the cocaine trade still thrive to this day.

Demographics were also a problem for Nazi Germany. Despite Eugenics and settlement policies, Germans were still outnumbered by Slavs by 1960, leading to what some historians call the worst act of genocide in history. Over 30% of all non-Germans were exterminated between 1960 and 1963. As well as that, the Nazi education system began to show problems with regards to biology as Eugenics was exposed as a Pseudoscience by South African Biologist Dr Nelson Mandela in 1963. This destroyed the credibility of Nazi Germany across the world and people began to become disillusioned with the idea of the “Master Race” as Mandela’s debunking held rigour among the scientific community. The counterculture, although heavily suppressed by weak Nazi alternatives were forced underground and they worked with the resistance in Germany, headed by Sophie Scholl and given CIA assistance.

The Cold War became even tenser in 1962, when the United States placed Nuclear Missiles on the Syrian/Turkish border, causing a standoff that would last 21 days. This exposed critical weaknesses in the Nazi military, such as lack of a strategic bomber and their weapons being behind the Americans, so Himmler ordered Werner Von Braun to work on something Ambitious. The resulting Space Station, which was established in 1968, shocked the Americans, and may have led to Ronald Reagan being Elected President. However, this was met in 1969 by the first Computer Malware, or virus, being created in a Seoul computer lab as well as the United States landing the first man on the moon, which shocked everybody in the Reich as they had believed themselves invincible.

The new MacArthur Tank had also been shown to be superior to its German equivalent by far. This revealed great deficiencies in the German military as they thought that they had the best military on the planet. The testing of the British Reaper tank in March 1971 also showed its superiority over Nazi hardware. The Canadian Scramjet Project a month later had shown that Germany was far behind the rest of the world in technological terms. The Indian Space programme also showed that the Nazis were losing their grip in the heavens.

When President Reagan assumed office, he had a good understanding of the situation in Germany. Their GDP was fourth in the world, and about to be overtaken by the Asian Miracle. The Asian Miracle was a boom that boosted the economy of every member state of the Alliance in Asia, which saw economic output increase fourfold from 1961 to 1975. He knew that the German economy was on very unstable ground and that the partisans in Russia were winning. So he decided to increase tensions. The US Military was given a larger budget than ever before, the CIA gave the new Tracker Portable Missile launchers to the insurgents in Russia, the Space Race became even tenser, and the 71st parallel became more militarised as the Americans began to show Germany what it was capable of.

It worked. After the Von Braun Station’s dramatic disintegration into orbit in 1971, the assassination of Himmler in Moscow by Russian insurgents and the Collapse of the German Economy in 1972, the Reich saw the writing on the wall. So they appointed a reformist, Gunter Grass as fuehrer to help save Germany. However, his reforms, far from saving Germany, would be the actions that would cause it to collapse.

One of his first reforms was to lower the German military budget in order to allow for more money on infrastructure and space. This would lead to a German man on the moon by 1973. He also began to reform ideology, which had become a chronic problem as Source A noted which meant that Germany had renounced Eugenics as a pseudoscience and as a “Great mistake, which has held back our country by decades”. There was also the increase of rights for the Slav labourers in the Ostland territories, although this only led to them taking advantage of their newfound rights. Grass would even work with President Reagan on reducing the spiralling amount of nuclear weapons under the SART, or Strategic Arms reduction treaties.

But by this stage, reform was too late. Dissent from the Nazi Old Guard on the scale of reforms as well as the seeming weakness of Grass led to an attempt at a coup in 1974. It failed. At the same time, in protest at the coup, there was a massive revolt in Eastern Europe as the Slavs rebelled against the German forces. Ultimately, this was too much for the German military, and Grass was forced to sign away Russia in a peace treaty mediated by the Angolan President Jonas Savimbi. Eventually, the Ukrainians, the Baltic peoples and the Byelorussians revolted too as well as the system collapsing. This left the Fuhrer alone and the Reich broken, and when he resigned, the Reich died with him. With that, Nazism as a viable ideology died. But even in the New European Federation, there are still die hard adherents, albeit they are now in a minority as atrocities committed by the Nazis emerged across the 80s.

I can therefore conclude that the Third Reich collapsed because of several reasons. Firstly, it was technologically backward and could not hope to compete with the capitalist free world. Secondly, its ideology, National Socialism, was hostile to change and reform, leading to problems in leadership and innovation. Finally, the economy was ill-suited for the situation of a superpower being surrounded by hostile enemies with little chance of trade.

“Put your pens down now” the invigilator shouted out as it signalled the end of the 2 hour exam. I put my pen in my pocket and an invigilator came and took it for marking. I had to wait to March to find out if I passed or failed.
 
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Holy crap, that made alot of sense to me and the writing style was pretty cool.

The three reasons why Nazi Germany fell apart were.... golden.
 
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