I am a novice writer working on a new project based on a world in which WWII did not come to pass. Imagine Hitler is killed in a plane crash, April of 1936. In the chaos that follows the national socialists are swept from power and eventually a new Kaiser comes to power in Germany. In this altered world the British Empire is not ravaged by WWII and an economic recovery of the late '40s sets the stage for a resurgence of European Colonialism in the 1950s. The United States never ascends to the prominent role of lead power of the western world. A cold war between the Soviet Union and the United States never occurres. By 1953 the British Pound is the only currency used to buy petrol from the oil rich Middle East making it the default world currency.
I have a good perspective on how pre war isolationism in America would have affected the country's interactions with a world dominated by western imperial empires especially given our own overseas adventures at the time. In this storyline a sequence of events leads to a global conflict with the US and Japan pitted against the USSR and the still powerful British Empire circa 1956. I am not sure of British politics, their relationship with the monarchy, and who may have been Priminister had Churchill not been called to lead the country during the second world war. Conjecture on this aspect is encouraged.
I feel that without the war and the influx of cash and material into the Soviet Union, by the mid 1950's the communist economy would falter given a lack of other satellite communist nations on the world stage. Without China to counterbalance Asia and the continued existence of the Japanese Empire, the Russians might have found themselves in a desperate circumstance.
The plot derives from a secret axis between the British who are fighting a brutal insurgency in their colony of Iraq and the Russians who seek to invade Persia and build petrol pipelines to sell oil on the world market. My profile better describes this scenario in more detail as Japan is drawn into war with Russia as the US provides natural resources to them in a way to clandestinely counter the Soviets, an adversary of American capitalism.
The intent of the project is to draw parallels to modern times and the dangers of disengagement on the global stage. The concept is critical of both imperialism and communism and shows that human conflict and relationships are both essential and intertwined. In the end neither side is justified in their choice to go to war and it is the interpersonal relationships of the soldiers fighting the war that drives the plot forward.
I want to build several stories based on this alternate reality without the inclusion of a great deal of exposition. I feel I can best tell the story from the American perspective but have no intent to make this a patriotic rendition of what might have been. My greatest interest for this forum is the perspective of my main character's adversaries particularly mid 20th century British intelligence infrastructure. I am also interested in the British special forces also known as the SAS and the general structure of a mid 20th century British army group.
A contemplation of equipment the British would use during a campaign in North America is also paramount for this story. A calibration of weapons and clothing that the British soldier would have at their disposal should be made under the assumption that the none existant second world war would not have accelerated technological innovation as it did.
In this story the UK has invented the jet fighter; however, they are limited in number. US fighter planes are equipped with jet turbine prop engines similar to modern helicopters or the A1 Skyraider of the Vietnam war era. The US also has never developed the massive B29 long range bomber or the weapon it was ultimately designed to carry.
The list of potential discrepancies are endless however the global conflict of 1956 would appear much different then the actual war faught between 1939 and 1945 in our reality. This story also calls into question an assumption that democracies naturally resist conflict especially with other democratic nations. It ultimately condemns the basic principles of human conflict and the causation there of.