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So, say that Operation Barbarossa is a complete and unmitigated success for the Germans, and an absolute worst-case scenario for the USSR. That is, the Soviets are utterly routed, Moscow is taken, and they ultimately surrender at some point in late 1941 or early 1942, ceding everything west of the Urals to Berlin.

But at the same time, Pearl Harbor still happens right on schedule, and Hitler, feeling even more confident with the Soviets knocked out of the conflict, still declares war on the United States.

What happens next? Or, more specifically, how do the Allies (here, primarily the United States and the United Kingdom) and the Axis strategize and allocate troops and resources differently? I have to assume that the Germans would immediately begin pouring more troops into the Mediterranean theater, but at the same time they’ll need to leave a significant occupying force in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, etc. Would they even be able to extract resources from the rump USSR in the peace treaty? Would they be better able to goad Franco or others into officially joining them against the Allies?

In the case of Washington and London, what sort of strategies would they adopt? Would they take a significantly different approach to fighting in North Africa and the eventual invasion(s) of Europe without the Eastern Front eating into so many of Germany’s resources for the time being? With Europe seeming like a much tougher nut to crack, might they even abandon the “Europe First” plan and focus more on Japan for the time being? If so, how might the Pacific War go differently?

Now, even in such a scenario, unless Germany falls into many, many more lucky breaks, an Allied victory still seems the most likely outcome given their overwhelming resource and manpower advantage, the Manhattan Project, etc., but how long would the war last in such a scenario? Another year? Year and a half? Also, note that this scenario doesn’t preclude the Soviets jumping back in at some point, but what would be the most logical time for them do so? Perhaps after the Western Allies get troops onto the European continent?

Finally, how would the postwar world most likely look in such a scenario?
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