Had world war 1 been won by the germans

[saxdude]

What are the overall changes that you think would have occured in the next 20 or 30 years, at a big scale? argument your case.


Discuss.

[NotYetRegistered]

I can only think of a Germany that would be a hyperpower in Europe.

[green tea]

Crazy Wilhelm would have taken some colonies from England and France as reparations. His Allies (Austria and Turkey) perhaps too. I could imagine that Turkey would have been interested in some parts of Africa. Then, Germany would have built a large fleet to dominate the oceans and would have insulted many not so mighty countries with the arrogance that Wilhelm II. had shown before to be a central part of his personality.

Meanwhile, in Germany, the left movements (like social democrats etc.) would have grown stronger. After winning the WWI., a patriotic feeling would have extinguished every revolutionary feeling. But with the years, things like no fair conditions for the poor would have fed this movements again. So after some time (like 10 years), there would have been a strong opposition. If this is combined with the ruling ideology and the personality of Wilhelm, it is clear that this movements would have been suppressed with every possible brutality. And this would have led to a strong civil conflict (perhaps a civil war) if no other enemy from the outside would unite the german Empire again.

[Heavy Weapons Guy]

Eastern Europe (Baltic, Poland, Ukraine, Crimea) after the Great War would have been colonized by Germans.
IMO Italy would return Ottoman territories which they lost in 1912.
Germany would take colonies from France, Belgium and Portugal, maybe some from British Empire too like Rhodesia or Nigeria and they would create Mittelafrika.
German fleet after time would surpass British fleet in size.
Possible collapse of Austro-Hungary.
I'm wondering what would happen in Asian theater. Would Germany take Indochina or something else from France? Or would leave it like it was?

[Jingles]

The would go down in France big time if it lost. The place was unstable even after winning the war.

[Erebus Pasha]

Germany wouldn't have taken any colonies from Great Britain - either during or after the war. The Germans were quickly on the backfoot in their colonies from the beginning of war. Even if they had been victorious in Europe they would've been hard pressed outside of it. Germany would of course dominate the European continent in the event of a victorious outcome, and maybe the Middle East and the Caucasus too but the British would still rule the seas and still have a strong hold on their colonial possessions.

@Kaiser - German possessions in Asia were quickly mopped up Japan and Anzac forces. Without a strong navy outside of European waters there would've been little the Germans could've have done in regards to French Indochina.

[Heavy Weapons Guy]

Germany wouldn't have taken any colonies from Great Britain - either during or after the war. The Germans were quickly on the backfoot in their colonies from the beginning of war. Even if they had been victorious in Europe they would've been hard pressed outside of it. Germany would of course dominate the European continent in the event of a victorious outcome, and maybe the Middle East and the Caucasus too but the British would still rule the seas and still have a strong hold on their colonial possessions.

@Kaiser - German possessions in Asia were quickly mopped up Japan and Anzac forces. Without a strong navy outside of European waters there would've been little the Germans could've have done in regards to French Indochina.

There is no need to capture Indochina they can ask it as reparations from France.
German and Ottoman army could easily go into Egypt and further when Western front had collapsed, they have native support there also. Germany can defeat Great Britain, by collapse of Western Front there should be some unrest in British Isles by people who want peace too.

[Erebus Pasha]

There is no need to capture Indochina they can ask it as reparations from France.
German and Ottoman army could easily go into Egypt and further when Western front had collapsed, they have native support there also. Germany can defeat Great Britain, by collapse of Western Front there should be some unrest in British Isles by people who want peace too.

Yet even during the war two Ottoman offensives against the Suez collapsed easily despite the brilliant efforts they made in getting there. The logistics in sending a large army across the Sinai was immense plus the Suez was well defended. Another problem of an assault against the Suez is that assault across the Sinai could be spotted easily (In reality the Ottomans travelled at night but the British still knew they were coming). The Royal Navy dominated the Med and could lend valuable support to any defensive effort, whilst Turkish and German sabotage efforts were foiled before they even got anywhere and I see little difference in an alternative scenario.

[Azog 150]

^^^The Germans would have been in a better position to build up their navy though. But it would take decades for them to come up with anything to match the Royal Navy.

[saxdude]

How about the US? the reason it industrialized in such a massive and rapid scale war because of the joining of the war (WW2), would that mechanization would have occured had germany won? could the US become the super power it became?

[Spartan90]

If Germany won the war, years down the track a bigger and better empire would have come and slapped her around.

[Makrell]

If germany had won, the lingua franca would perhaps be german and not English, or perhaps we wouldn't have one. I also think america would be a lot weaker and talk many different languages ads this was in the middle of the immigration period

[Poach]

Define "won", because Germany had no hope in hell of invading the UK during the First World War (or the Second, for that matter, but that's beside the point) and, as such, couldn't very well force her to concede anything.

Had France fallen, would we not simply see a (p?)repeat of the Second World War? US enters war, British Empire & Commonwealth + US armies build up in the UK, and then invade France? Maybe trench warfare would not occur during this second Battle of France, or maybe the allies would just cut their losses and let Germany annex the bits of France it wanted (didn't want all of it) and take a few French colonies.

[Azog 150]

You have to bear in mind public opinion though. By the end of the war, the British population was very war-weary.

In this scenario, when does Germany successfully invade France? Early on or towards the end? Because if its the latter, I am not sure the British population (Or German one for that matter) had the stomach to carry on the industrial scale slaughter.

And what about the likes of Italy and the Ottoman Empire?

[Heavy Weapons Guy]

Define "won", because Germany had no hope in hell of invading the UK during the First World War (or the Second, for that matter, but that's beside the point) and, as such, couldn't very well force her to concede anything.

Had France fallen, would we not simply see a (p?)repeat of the Second World War? US enters war, British Empire & Commonwealth + US armies build up in the UK, and then invade France? Maybe trench warfare would not occur during this second Battle of France, or maybe the allies would just cut their losses and let Germany annex the bits of France it wanted (didn't want all of it) and take a few French colonies.

This time there is no USSR. Westerners didn't won war (You know how I mean it), USSR did.

Also could Paris gun reach London from France or not?

[Poach]

Kaiser, the Germany of the First World War wasn't like the Germany of the Second World War. Remember Russia was still fighting Germany until 1917, and Germany relied in overseas imports that the Royal Navy was blockading, steadily strangling German industry.

So, it depends entirely on how early France breaks and what happens afterwards: do they drop out of the war and give Germany what she wants? That would end the war there and then, the UK wouldn't bother to continue the war. Is France occupied? The war continues, the US enters the war, and we need to invade France. Does this happen before Russia drops out? Or after? I still think that the 1916-17 British Empire & Commonwealth/US forces combined could go toe to toe with the Germans without Russian help: after all, British and French forces held the line between Russia dropping out and US forces arriving in overwhelming strength, the majority of the Allied manpower that repelled the 1918 offensive was non-American.

[Heavy Weapons Guy]

OK, I was thinking we are talking about 1918 win scenario so that's why I mentioned no Russia.

[Prince of Darkness]

The demise of French and Russian land power: The only possible way of victory for the central powers was through land battles, in which superior German numbers and quality routed France in six weeks then in turn crushed the Russians in a series of battles in Poland and Galicia. The defeat caused dissent in Russia which sparked the Bolshevik Revolution, meanwhile the German influence will increase gradually in Austria-Hungary, which will cause another war between both sides. Austria will be defeated easily and Germany will be the sole power in Europe except Britain, whose strength laid at sea.
The overpowered Germany will be tested by the emerging industrial strength of the US and possibly Japan in the far east. An US-UK alliance will topple the German power, possibly aided by the disgruntled France and Austria, and I predict the German supremacy in Europe will be ended in a decade. Overexpansion is literally impossible in Europe.