Experiment: which European country do you consider the most wanked in OTL?

Which of the following countries do you think is the most wanked in OTL?

  • United Kingdom

    Votes: 77 45.6%
  • Ireland

    Votes: 4 2.4%
  • France

    Votes: 5 3.0%
  • Spain

    Votes: 2 1.2%
  • Switzerland

    Votes: 9 5.3%
  • Germany

    Votes: 48 28.4%
  • Netherlands

    Votes: 3 1.8%
  • Sweden

    Votes: 1 0.6%
  • Norway

    Votes: 8 4.7%
  • Russia

    Votes: 12 7.1%

  • Total voters
    169
I am astounded at all of you who put 'Germany'.

this picture show why

Cologne 1945
FlyoverCologne.jpg


Cologne 1955
luftbild.jpg
 
Regarding Germany - I can't see a nation that lost two world wars as overly wanked in the 20th century. The fact is that in the year 1900, Germany was all but destined to become a European powerhouse. If anything, the OTL has gone along the lower, not upper reaches of what the German potential pointed towards a bit over a century ago, at least until the 1990s or so.

With the situation in 1900 in mind, I'd rather mention such nations as Norway and Finland. At that time, they were poor and underdeveloped parts of larger states. Today, both are wealthy, highly developed, independent nations that are world leaders in many things.

Comparing to pretty much all other nations that were previously parts of the Russian or Austro-Hungarian empires, Finland also got away very lightly from WWII and managed to not be occupied and annexed by the USSR in the vein of the nations it can be most easily compared with, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. And then could keep its independent political and economic systems despite sitting right next to the USSR (that made virtually all other neighbouring states dependent satellites), growing into one of the leading European nations in terms of living standards at the same time.

I am also sure the Norwegians of 1900 would consider today's Norway, with its vast oil wealth, an unattainable pipe dream.
 
It's kind of hard for me to view Finland as wanked, but this is entirely because it got pummeled in the recession. In 2007 I would've put it as an option, and almost voted for it over Switzerland and Norway, due to its high growth rates from the early 1990s until 2007-8.

I put in Switzerland purely on per capita incomes. Norway is also a good option, especially relative to where it was before oil was discovered... but in 1900 Switzerland wasn't yet Europe's richest country - this only came about after WW2.
 
Obviously England.

Every attempt to invade it in the last few centuries was destroyed by freak storm (Spanish Armada, French expedition of 1796...). It managed to steal all of its rival (France) colony in the XVIIIth. It obtained supremacy in India RIGHT when the Moghol was fading away and was able to take a lot of territories.

Managed to escape both World Wars unscathed and its language became lingua franca and became a diplomatic powerhouse in the late XIXth century.

All of that despite being a muddy island at the edge of the world. That's fairly wanked to me.
 
Obviously England.

Every attempt to invade it in the last few centuries was destroyed by freak storm (Spanish Armada, French expedition of 1796...). It managed to steal all of its rival (France) colony in the XVIIIth. It obtained supremacy in India RIGHT when the Moghol was fading away and was able to take a lot of territories.

Managed to escape both World Wars unscathed and its language became lingua franca and became a diplomatic powerhouse in the late XIXth century.

All of that despite being a muddy island at the edge of the world. That's fairly wanked to me.

This thread is in post-1900, though. The OP specified "the modern era, especially the last few decades". From the perspective of the year 1900 and after it, Britain right now actually looks nothing like wanked. Some might say that Britain did not come out of the world wars and the entire period from the 1910s to the early 1950s "unscathed" either.
 
I don't think anyone in Europe has been "wanked."

Russia, without the communist revolution and world war II, can be a top 5 economy, perhaps even the third largest.

Great Britain was the most powerful country on Earth...now they're not.

Germany had the most powerful army in the world, and now they lost a third of their country and they still have lasting economic problems from WW2 and the Eastern Bloc.


Clearly, if one is looking for wanked, we are talking about South Korea or China (backward, nothing powers that have made something of themselves.)
 
This thread is in post-1900, though. The OP specified "the modern era, especially the last few decades". From the perspective of the year 1900 and after it, Britain right now actually looks nothing like wanked. Some might say that Britain did not come out of the world wars and the entire period from the 1910s to the early 1950s "unscathed" either.

Oh, good point, sorry about that. In that case I would say no country in Europe, or maybe Ireland.

Problem is, a lot of countries which could have gone as "wanked" from 1950 to now were hit pretty hard by the recession.

The fact there was no major war since also makes it harder to wank something as it's often a destabilisation factor
 
This thread is in post-1900, though. The OP specified "the modern era, especially the last few decades". From the perspective of the year 1900 and after it, Britain right now actually looks nothing like wanked. Some might say that Britain did not come out of the world wars and the entire period from the 1910s to the early 1950s "unscathed" either.

That sounds like a sort of, what would be the term? "Darkest before Dawn, Wank?" Indeed by the gloomy prognostications not uncommon in 1900 Britain looks rather wanked. Shorn of Empire it may be but it makes it look now like that Empire was a bit of a drag rather than source of power.

It should according to custom look a bit like a wetter, windier Iran back in the 1800s or a maybe pre-Renaissance Rome a rather broken down humble looking place that is forever scrabbling to keep its head afloat in the games of its own competing dynasts and those of foreign powers.

Instead there it goes sticking its nose in matters around the world, allowing even the callowest of PMs a global audience to posture before, still making a ton of money, still a major industrial power (top ten at least in most rankings).

In 1900 for right about now people were expecting a sort of Mad Max in wellies and without the muscle cars.


I can understand why Germany is considered wanked by its proponents also but they are their own best proponents.
 
Going by the "last few decades" the OP mentioned as being post-WWII then Germany's resurrection has been amazing.

Honourable mentions go to France and Ireland.
 
Top