The Foresight war, after the end?

So i have been thinking...

What are the long term effects

How dose this change things.

How will the world of the foresight war look ten years after the end of the war?

how wil it look after fifty?

Dose the uk retain its empire for longer?

dose it retain great power status for longer.?

will there be a welfare state.

And would the uk end up dominating the world

from a military and tecnological way?

would the uk be the first nation in to space?
 
If the US ever found out how the UK dragged it into the war, things could get very hot.....
 
I haven't read the book yet, although I think I've got the general storyline down. Could someone sum up the rough timeline?
 
Assuming Britain could go on with it as they did prewar they would not drop down the ladder of great powers so quickly or so much. They would have avoided a lot of the losses and waste of OTL WW2 and have a handy lead in new economic fields like jets and electronics which could give them a good market share in the post war world. They could reform their Empire into a trading bloc and stay wealthy and powerful.
 
Dose the UK retain its empire for longer?
Yes and no I would have thought. Erlang will probably be able to convince them that even with a better WW2 that giving independence to the Empire is unavoidable. What he should be able to do is inform them of the major pitfalls that happened so that they can try and be avoided, say something like a long term phased withdrawal giving time to fully train up and institute local governments.


Does it retain great power status for longer?
Depends on whether you mean Superpower when you say great power. It's taken too many hits and with losing the Empire it'll have to come to terms with settling down into the second rung beneath the US and the USSR, once they hit their strides. With a bit of judicious planning however the UK will still be a sizable industrial power with a very respectable military able to operate unilaterally globally.


Will there be a welfare state.
Almost certainly. There'll still be pressure from people of the time for it and once Erling illustrates to the government how it's not the Devil incarnate but actually a net benefit for the country I see it going ahead.


And would the UK end up dominating the world from a military and technological way?
Not a chance. The UK is just too small to support the size of military needed for something like that. I generally see them being very much the most powerful of the second rung powers after the US and USSR even with their military research and equipment having been jumped forward a decade or so.

Industrially that's a whole other matter. Erling is going to be able to get them to invest any money they make or loans they receive from the US in investing in industry and rebuilding infrastructure rather than paying for a massive military and pretensions of grandeur like the did post-WW2 IOTL. Doing things like that plus not selling off large swathes of the railways but upgrade them or being able to forward plan the motorway system 60 years in advance is going to give a massive boost. He can also point them in the right directions to follow even if he can't give them any technical help.

A random thought I just had was that Silicon Valley is likely to be in the UK for a while. IIRC he brought a digital watch and notebook computer back with him but they weren't much technical use as they were too advanced for the locals. As the tech base catches up they could be used to leapfrog ahead into the electronics industry. Hell up until the 70s the UK was still designing and building some of the most powerful computers in the world on par with the US, it was after that they were outpaced.


Would the UK be the first nation in to space?
Doubtful, IIRC Erling was no scientist so even with a bit of a head start it's still going to be horrendously expensive. The main question though is would they bother? The moon landings only really came out of the US and USSR wanting to compete with each other. From a future perspective they'd be much better off concentrating only on rockets to get satellites into orbit and the satellite industry itself and plowing the rest of the money that would be spent on a moon landing back into their economy.


If the US ever found out how the UK dragged it into the war, things could get very hot.....
Indeed, whilst I don't think things would go 'hot' as in armed conflict the 'special relationship' - whatever that has been worth - would be straight down the plughole. Now it's been a while since I read the book but that could be somewhat offset by pointing out the help they provided in other areas, IIRC didn't they change the attack on Pearl Harbour for the better and generally tilt the war in the Pacific much more in the Allies favour? Although the British are still going to take a hit to their reputation.
 
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