Why all the Naziwanks?
Re the original question:
1. Obviously, it's the major POD in recent history. If the Nazis won, history would be very, very different. Notice the Civil War is #2 in the heavily American AH community. (I'm told a lot of French AH people like alternate histories where Napoleon wins.)
2. Most AH fans are men. A Nazi victory allows for the idea of a grim struggle against an evil enemy, which is very manly. (Notice the way Regency and other historical romances allow women to fantasize about wealthy men with cultured manners who perform lengthy courtships.)
3. OK, so why not Communism? First of all, a lot of Europeans embraced social democracy, so that struggle isn't quite as black-and-white to them. Second, the demonization (and they were pretty demonic to begin with, don't get me wrong) by Hollywood of Nazis as cultured, sadistic villains makes them sexier. Hollywood was always softer on Communism for historical and cultural reasons (ie they were liberal, so they didn't hate Commies, and Jewish, so they hated Nazis), which ironically meant they didn't get as much play as villains and hence, none of the glamour. Look at the way Gordon Gekko became a hero to Wall Street types, or the way Bela Lugosi turned vampires from walking corpses into sexy aristocrats. (Also, a lot of people might have been afraid, subconsciously, of turning the Cold War Hot and hence nuclear if they made very anti-Russian movies.)
It's kind of ironic, because we're now friends with Germany and enemies with Russia.
Re the original question:
1. Obviously, it's the major POD in recent history. If the Nazis won, history would be very, very different. Notice the Civil War is #2 in the heavily American AH community. (I'm told a lot of French AH people like alternate histories where Napoleon wins.)
2. Most AH fans are men. A Nazi victory allows for the idea of a grim struggle against an evil enemy, which is very manly. (Notice the way Regency and other historical romances allow women to fantasize about wealthy men with cultured manners who perform lengthy courtships.)
3. OK, so why not Communism? First of all, a lot of Europeans embraced social democracy, so that struggle isn't quite as black-and-white to them. Second, the demonization (and they were pretty demonic to begin with, don't get me wrong) by Hollywood of Nazis as cultured, sadistic villains makes them sexier. Hollywood was always softer on Communism for historical and cultural reasons (ie they were liberal, so they didn't hate Commies, and Jewish, so they hated Nazis), which ironically meant they didn't get as much play as villains and hence, none of the glamour. Look at the way Gordon Gekko became a hero to Wall Street types, or the way Bela Lugosi turned vampires from walking corpses into sexy aristocrats. (Also, a lot of people might have been afraid, subconsciously, of turning the Cold War Hot and hence nuclear if they made very anti-Russian movies.)
It's kind of ironic, because we're now friends with Germany and enemies with Russia.