Timeline 32: The Reich of the Future
- Thread starter Sternberg
- Start date
I'm sorry, but if there is really going to be a Nazi bomb before 1940 then this TL will need to be moved to the ASB section. It doesn't matter how many resources get thrown at the problem - the basic science simply isn't there to go from a science fictional concept to a working device in 8 years. To take a couple of problems - nuclear fission wasn't even theorised until 1933 and wasn't demonstrated until 1938 (and a sustainable one wasn't demonstrated until 1942). In addition there are several additional problems unique to a Nazi programme -
Deutsche Physik. Note that Heisenberg (without whom you can probably forget about a Nazi bomb in any reasonable timetable) was almost arrested by the SS for refusing to stop teaching "Jewish physics" and was only saved by the astonishing coincidence that his mother went to school with Himmler's mother and was able to get the old girl to bend her son's ear. Deutsche Physik was eventually put on the back burner OTL, but I can see a Hitler obsessed with SF concepts but knowing little proper science giving it more of a hearing.
OTL the surviving German nuclear scientists after the war tended to explain the lack of progress on the German programme as being due to ethical concerns on their part over giving the Nazis a bomb. Even if you view this as ex post facto rationalisation, the alternative excuse - they were simply incompetent - needs to be considered.
Resources. OTL even the USA could only run one programme of the size and scale of the Manhattan project. the closest the Germans got to this OTL was the V-weapons project (which IIRC was something like a third the size of Manhattan, in a much smaller economy). If the Germans try to run a bomb project alongside a V-weapon project they will simply bankrupt themselves and won't have anything left for conventional armament.
Sternberg
Banned
Before crying "ASB!!!" over it, there's a couple things to think about.
First of all, there's no doubt that Deutsche Physik will need to be scrapped and the Nazis would need to take some drastic measures early on. Well, actually, Deutsche Physik may still be promoted amongst the Third Reich, but as far as the public will be concerned, there were no Jewish scientists working with a gun to their head, all in the name of the lesser of two evils to the Jewish people; deportation instead of outright extermination
To get around the Deutsche Physik obstacle, Hitler would need to kidnap many of the Jewish scientists that worked on the Manhattan Project in our timeline. Niels Bohr, Leo Szilard, you name 'em. This also means that Hitler would need to motivate them to work instead of killing themselves, all while trying to solve his Jewish question. The way I see it, the Nazis will have to convince the Jewish scientists they kidnap that they either give them an atomic bomb, or risk having not just them and their families killed, but the whole Jewish race as well. As a result, the Holocaust won't be on the same scale that it was in our timeline. I'm no Holocaust denier, I recognize all instances of mass murder and genocide as something that isn't to be taken lightly, but Hitler is definitely going to have to make some compromises.
Regarding resources, that is another difficult obstacle, but not an impassable one. I'll take some time to think about it.
Sternberg
Banned
I apologize for not being able to write an update yesterday, and in advance, I apologize if I won't be able to update this for a while.
I've been going through some stress and anxiety lately, which means that I'll have to resort to making a simpler map-based timeline than this one if I'm going to keep exercising my creativity, so I hope that you all understand.
I hope on God's name that I don't abandon this timeline either.
I've been going through some stress and anxiety lately, which means that I'll have to resort to making a simpler map-based timeline than this one if I'm going to keep exercising my creativity, so I hope that you all understand.
I hope on God's name that I don't abandon this timeline either.