WWI in 1934, WWII in 1959?

[iddt3]

Has anyone done a TL that moves up the date for the World Wars? Either or both of them, I've seen plenty of earlier World Wars, done very well, but few late ones.

 

[Catspoke]

There have been a few later WW1 ATLs here.

I think its really tricky to have a later WW2 especially after a later WW1, with around the same number of dead. OTL it took some crazy things happening and some really bad luck to end up in that kind of world wide conflict.

There are narrow bands of tech advancement that made both wars the way they were. A ww1 20 years later could mean:

1) Defensive firepower becomes really nasty without any advanced armor or air doctrine to help the offensive.
2) Russians can mobilize, deploy and supply huge armies so no one would dare attack them, but Russia attacking somebody else takes a lot of political will and would Russia really want to attack Germany, especially where #1 above is true.
3) Air conditioning, malaria drugs, air travel advancements, oil and mineral mining advancements, agricultural advancments make European African colonies very attractive for European settlement and ecomomic jewels, making stupid wars over Balkan countries not seem worthwhile.
4) Somebody eventually breaks into the atomic age before it happens.

 

[Dirk_Pitt]

There have been a few later WW1 ATLs here.

I think its really tricky to have a later WW2 especially after a later WW1, with around the same number of dead. OTL it took some crazy things happening and some really bad luck to end up in that kind of world wide conflict.

There are narrow bands of tech advancement that made both wars the way they were. A ww1 20 years later could mean:

1) Defensive firepower becomes really nasty without any advanced armor or air doctrine to help the offensive.
2) Russians can mobilize, deploy and supply huge armies so no one would dare attack them, but Russia attacking somebody else takes a lot of political will and would Russia really want to attack Germany, especially where #1 above is true.
3) Air conditioning, malaria drugs, air travel advancements, oil and mineral mining advancements, agricultural advancments make European African colonies very attractive for European settlement and ecomomic jewels, making stupid wars over Balkan countries not seem worthwhile.
4) Somebody eventually breaks into the atomic age before it happens.

First 3 point I can agree with. The fourth however...


It took a world war to spur on atomic research. Without a WWII I doubt there'd be a nuke before the 1960s or even '70s if ever.

And even with a WWI, there's no certainty of a WWII. OTL's WWII was the outcome of events stemming directly from OTL's WWI, events not certain to happen in this ALT-WWI.

 

[Maximara]

First 3 point I can agree with. The fourth however...


It took a world war to spur on atomic research. Without a WWII I doubt there'd be a nuke before the 1960s or even '70s if ever.

And even with a WWI, there's no certainty of a WWII. OTL's WWII was the outcome of events stemming directly from OTL's WWI, events not certain to happen in this ALT-WWI.

Also you have the issue of how do you move WWI; in retrospect Ferdinand's assassination and its aftermath was just an excuse to start the fighting.

 

[Catspoke]

I think you have to avoid giving the Germans an excuse to start WW1 for 3 years before Russia gets to strong for the Germans to try such a stunt like OTL. Even OTL it took a little diplomatic bungling for it to go down like it did. After that window you could see peace for a while.

 

[NKVD]

It took a world war to spur on atomic research. Without a WWII I doubt there'd be a nuke before the 1960s or even '70s if ever.

One of the ATLs in Archduke Franz Ferdinand Lives! by Richard Ned Lebow has Europe descending into a cold war in spite of World War I never occurring, with nuclear weapons being developed by the major powers (which eventually fly in the 1970s). It certainly makes sense -- even without a war, you might wind up with the European powers majorly at eachothers' throats, leading to that sort of thing.