[ WP ] In your world , the Nazis won WWII . You are a historian writing a book on what the world would be like if the Allied powers had won the war .

I must confess that this seemed like a fun little writing project at first. Write a counterfactual short story in which the Allies somehow won World War II, and I ’ ve written lots of counterfactuals about all sorts of history. Of course that ’ s why you invited me to contribute to your anthology in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Peace of Berlin. 
 
 
 The secret to writing a good counterfactual is finding places in history where small changes could bring about huge effects. I remember one work by a Heinrich Turteltaube about time travelling Boers who had given some sort of Sturmgewehr to the Secessionists and changed the course of US history. May I tell you that to my mind time travel is just lazy writing, scientists at the Arische Institut für Physik are close to 100 % sure that it is an impossibility. To say nothing of the fact that America has done a fine job dealing with the lower races without reinstating slavery. 
 
 
 In any case some small thing that could have changed the war. It ’ s maddening I tell you, maddening. Nothing comes to mind, and I ’ ve gone over Dönitz ’ s 8-volume history of the war cover to cover. Shall I tell you the ideas I ’ ve rejected? Very well… 
 
 
 I tried to write something about the invasion of Poland. But there ’ s really nothing there. The country was overrun within a month, and the leadership had fled within a week. After the surrender at Lodz they didn ’ t have enough men to carry on a resistance, and that was that. 
 
 
 Next I moved on to France. Perhaps the Maginot Line would hold? No it could not. Not with the guns they had, and the speed of German armour. I actually tried writing a version in which a plane gets lost, and lands in Belgium carrying two senior officers and the invasion plans. As if such a thing could have happened. 
 
 
 Although it is not my area of expertise, I tried my hand at Naval Warfare scenarios. Perhaps there was some way the British could turn the tide and gain control of the seas. I tried to imagine that they found some way to detect and sink u-boats. Not that it would have mattered after Britain surrendered. 
 
 
 Then I though about the Slaughter of Dunkirk. Perhaps the Allies could remove their troops and get them to England. Do you remember the English sending all those fishing boats and sailing vessels that the Luftwaffe sank? It was a romantic idea, I ’ ll give them that. Of course the Wehrmacht rolled onto those beaches it was all over. Almost 400,000 dead or captured. 
 
 
 I tried to think of reasons for America to get involved in the war, but I couldn ’ t come up with anything. I know Roosevelt was no great friend of Germany, but he was unable to find a casus belli, and after Britain surrendered politics in the US took a strong turn to the Reich, excuse the pun. 
 
 
 Maybe Russia. It ’ s a huge country and look what it did to Napoleon… So I tried writing a story where we invaded Russia, but it seemed ridiculous. When you ’ re building a Thousand Year Reich you don ’ t need to do everything at once. Certainly history has vindicated the decision to wait for the Bomb. 
 
 
 I even tried to write a story in which Der Führer doesn ’ t die of a heart attack but instead lives on, and makes a series of increasingly bad decisions that imperil the war effort. It seemed blasphemous to me, even though we know he was not without his faults. Even if he had lived the war was decided by 1942 anyway, so there was very little damage that he could have done. 
 
 
 Look at the world we live in, with a Reich that encompasses Eurasia, Africa, and the Indian subcontinent. Our allies in Japan control East Asia, and are ever happy to co-operate with us. South America has been an ally ever since Uruguay defied the British and allowed the Graf Spee to refit in Montevideo. Canada is a German territory, and the United States hasn ’ t been a problem since 1941. 
 
 
 Perhaps it is a failure of imagination, or a reticence born out of respect for the architects of our world, but I find myself unable to complete the story you have requested. I shall instruct my agent to return the advance forthwith. Good-day, gentlemen. 

