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Author
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Topic: No WWI, space race between Russia and Germany?
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Fezman92
Member Posts: 1031
From: New Jersey, USA
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 01-05-2011 10:51 PM
   
Hypothetical scenario I might use for one of my college history class thesis. Let's assume for a moment that the following occurred: - There was no WWI
- Karl Marx and Frederich Engels were never born
- The Russian Revolution was a philosophical one in which a Russian version of the Magna Carta was signed, creating a democratic Russia with the Tzar having no power
- No Great Depression
If the above happened, could there have been a Space Race between a (possible) nuclear Germany and a non-nuclear Russia? My view is that since there was no WWI, Germany would not have been subject to the Treaty of Versailles, which directly led to WWII, the Holocaust, etc. With no Marx or Engles, no Communism, no Stalin. With a democratic Russia, there would be no need for the October or February Revolutions. Without the Great Depression, there would be no global economic crisis that also helped get Hitler into power. Before the Revolutions (and after granted even with Stalin's purges), Russia had a very good space program for its day. Pre-WWII Germany also had a good civilian rocket program called Verein für Raumschiffahrt, which was disbanded/absorbed by Nazi Germany once Hitler took power. Given all of the above could have that happened? |
cspg
Member Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006
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posted 01-06-2011 12:44 AM
For a race to occur, you need an adversary/opponent/competitor. If not why bother? (just in case why *nothing" much is happening lately in the space field). Rockets and satellites probably would have been developed but a much slower pace. Just a thought. |
moorouge
Member Posts: 2454
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 01-06-2011 02:46 AM
Mmmmmm...! A huge what if.It can be argued that WW1 was inevitable. Expansionism/colonialism was at its height at the turn of the last century driven by industrialisation and economic growth and it was very likely that there were going to be clashes of interests as Germany, France and Britain squabbled over various pieces of territory. Also, one has to factor in the rise of Japan and Italy and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Revolutions don't need a Marx or a Lenin to happen. Britain escaped a major revolution in the 1600's by the skin of its teeth caused by the belief in the Divine Right of Kings to rule. France wasn't so lucky in the late 1700's, an event that spilled over into Britain's American colonies. [Perhaps it can be argued that without the French Revolution there would have been no War of Independence, America would still be British and it would have been a Briton who first stood on the Moon. Now there's a thought!] As for Russia - there was unrest long before Lenin appeared and the Tzar could well have been overthrown even if Germany hadn't smuggled Lenin back into Russia in 1917 from Switzerland. Also remember that Depressions happen without wars. Think of today....! An interesting topic nevertheless. | |
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