The Unreality Gun: Podcast

Hello,

I write a podcast series called The Quantum Door and my latest script is called The Unreality Gun. The device once fired not only erases the person from existence but several generations of their ancestors too. Thus altering the reality.

So now to my questions. I'm considering altering the present time line so that Germany becomes a major super power but not necessarily a global one. I'm thinking that the Germans beat the rest of the world in the race for nuclear weapons. Who would be the best candidate to erase from history to make this a reasonable probability.

Next timeline. During the time Germany emerges as a super power the military finally overthrow Hitler but due to his popularity instead of killing him they force him and Eva into exile. What kind of government is likely to emerge?

Next timeline. They erase one of Hitlers descendents from existence and thus wiping out Hitler as well. What kind of world could emerge from that? Could Russia absorb Germany and become a stronger superpower?

Any ideas used in the podcast will have the name of the person in the credits.

-Tim
 
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No not a spammer

Hey there,

No I'm not a spammer. I usually do my own research for my stories but as it involves alternate histories I thought you guys might be interested. If your not that's fine. I can look elsewhere.

Also note I did not provide any links nor am I selling.
 
Hey there,

No I'm not a spammer. I usually do my own research for my stories but as it involves alternate histories I thought you guys might be interested. If your not that's fine. I can look elsewhere.

Also note I did not provide any links nor am I selling.

Ok, I’m sorry for being hasty:(:(:(
 

Hnau

Banned
Hey, welcome to the forums! :)

So, the first scenario... I always thought that one great opportunity that Germany missed out on was during the 1848 revolution when the Frankfurt Convention offered King Frederick William IV of Prussia the Crown of Germany. This was a chance to unify Germany under a democratic structure, rather than an authoritarian and militaristic one. Perhaps such a democratic Germany would have avoided the many wars and instead absorbed the ethnic German territories by treaties and plebiscites. They would have industrialized and modernized without the tragedies of war. But, I have no idea who you'd have to erase to get this kind of Germany.

Alright, second scenario. At what point does the government overthrow Hitler? During the Second World War? After an alternate WW2 in which the Nazis win? We need some more details. Who are you "erasing" from time to get this timeline?

Third timeline. You know, I've been intrigued by this idea as well, as have many others. It's a popular idea in alternate history. But I've never seen such a timeline done very well. One thing that must be considered is that the Nazis would still have been around with Hitler. Different leaders would have come to power and shaped the movement themselves. Perhaps the Strasser brothers would have kept the Nazis more ideologically bound to their socialist roots. Would they still go for the Beer Hall Putsch without Hitler? Without it, the Nazis would have been much more popular. I believe that the Nazis would still have come to power in the wake of the Great Depression, but under a different Fuhrer, with different (but not so-different) political principles, and in a different way.

However, it's very unlikely that anyone would have come to power as crazy and dedicated towards war-making as Hitler. And there really was a narrow window to launch an attack on the Soviet Union. If they had waited till 1942 or 1943 to attack the USSR, the Nazis would have been hard-pressed to make considerable gains. The Soviets were industrializing too fast. As such, I think that if you remove Hitler, the Nazis would not attempt something as crazy as Barbarossa.

Hope that helps in some way. :)
 
Yes making Germany win WW2 does present a lot of difficulties and how indeed could the elimination of one person do all of this. My idea is erasing Major General Leslie Groves who was in charge of the Manhattan Project. If someone who ran the project turned out to be inept it could be conceivable though not very probable that the Germans managed to steal the plans and get a working prototype up and running. Perhaps they also successfully sabotage the project as well. Nuclear weapons could have indeed turned the tide for the Germans.

Now we know that many Germans were extremely dissatisfied with Hitler. In fact there were 17 assassination attempts on his life alone. Here's a link of the plots: http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/assassination_attempts.html

So I don't believe he could remain in power for the long term. What kind of government would replace his? Not sure but after all he did overthrow the previous government and I'm sure they would have been keen to get back into power. Regardless of who is in charge they would eventually be exhausted with war(low morale) and need to seek saner pursuits. Hitler on the other hand believed in glorious eternal war.

But as the unreality gun erases people from the time line. What would happen if Hitler never existed? Like you mentioned earlier if Hitler never existed they would never have been able to contest against Russia. Would they still declare war though on the rest of Europe? One of the major factors that broke Germany(from my layman's understanding) is they fought too many wars on too many fronts.

The main characters of this story accidentally erase a descendent of General Leslie Groves and now are desperately trying to get things back the way they were. So they try to eliminate key people in history to make the world more or less the same(they are desperate) of course the more key figures you remove the more distorted the timeline becomes.
 
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Yes making Germany win WW2 does present a lot of difficulties and how indeed could the elimination of one person do all of this. My idea is erasing Major General Leslie Groves who was in charge of the Manhattan Project. If someone who ran the project turned out to be inept it could be conceivable though not very probable that the Germans managed to steal the plans and get a working prototype up and running. Perhaps they also successfully sabotage the project as well. Nuclear weapons could have indeed turned the tide for the Germans.

This really probably won't work.

To have a chance of developing an A-bomb, the Germans need to get started well before the US begins gearing up our own efforts in 1941. In fact, they really need to have already started their program before 1940. They're operating from a smaller economic base, and they'll be hard-pressed to find the money even for a "lean" program based on graphite piles. By the time Groves joins the Manhattan Project, the Nazi project is already doomed to irrelevance. Even if everything breaks just right for them - an early start, focusing on plutonium, just generally being very lucky - the most likely outcome is an Allied bombing raid takes out the production piles before they have a weapon ready. Even if they get a bomb before they're overrun, it won't save them - they can't make them fast enough to be a war-winner.

And I haven't even mentioned the problems in the Germans' physics. Or their lack of a delivery vehicle other than trucks and subs. Or the fact that, as far as we know, the Germans didn't even know the Manhattan Project existed, much less have it infiltrated.

To get a Nazi atomic bomb in time to make a difference, you need a deeper point of divergence, sometime in the 20s or 30s. And that's beyond my field of knowledge.

If you don't require a Nazi victory for your TL, I'd suggest that a delayed A-bomb could be an interesting idea even if WW2 ends roughly on schedule. If the bomb is delayed, the US might invade Japan. Or the Japanese might surrender when the Soviets enter the war - which doesn't make much immediate difference, but will have radical consequences down the line. If the bomb hasn't yet been dropped in anger, we're likely to end up using it, perhaps in this timeline's Korean War or its analogue... If the butterflies come out wrong, you could end up with nuclear weapons seen as "conventional" weapons rather than as demons locked in bottles. Imagine if "shock and awe" included airburst nukes - if you can't make a dystopian TL out of that, you're not trying hard enough.
 
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Very nice.

Thank you...that is certainly something for me to think about.

Just goes to show how unbelievable Philip K Dicks "Man in the High Castle" is. United states is like Germany today...west ruled by Germany and the east by Japan.
 
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