World War II alternate history scenario.?

Question

How would history be different if Japan had given in to US demands and withdrawn from southern China in spring of 1941, and then launched an invasion of the eastern USSR to coincide with Hitler's invasion that summer? Could the Axis have defeated Russia before the US joined the war? Assume no Pearl Harbor attack...

Answer 1

The Axis probably still would have lost. Russia's vast manpower and resources would have allowed it to outlast both Germany and Japan. The massive front of Barbarosa and the Russian winter were already working heavily against the Germans. The Japanese wouldn't have advanced very far into Siberia due to the impossible weather.

EDIT: Ok, I've looked it over, tested it on Hearts of Iron 2, and found that Russia probably would have won. The Japanese wouldn't have been marching through Siberia like I said originally, though. They just would have taken the mineral-rich areas of the far west.

The US would take a lot longer (until at least 1943 or '44) to join the war, meaning that all of Europe would probably be in the Communist sphere of influence post-war. This would have put the US at a much greater disadvantage during the cold war, and would have set the US very far back technologically due to the fact that they wouldn't gain any of the brilliant Nazi scientists.

Answer 2

It would have been really, really hard to get the United States involved in the second world war without Pearl Harbor.
I don't know about whether the Axis could have defeated Russia under these different circumstances. They were not so much defeated by the allies in Russia as the horrible weather and wide open spaces.
Britain on the other hand probably would have succumbed. They'd managed to resist Hitler longer than almost any other country in Europe but they were just barely hanging in there by the time America intervened.
I don't know that America would have joined the second world war without Pearl Harbor at all. Despite what FDR might have wanted to do,there were still strong feelings that The United States should stay out of European wars, to say nothing of quite vocal anti-Semites within the United States who saw nothing wrong with what Hitler was attempting to do.

Answer 3

Well, the what if, is tough to answer, if Operation Barbarossa had began on the origional date sometime spring 1941, Germany would be rolling over Moscow by October 1941...OR if Hitler had not ordered a change in direction.....Army Group Centre was poised in attacking Moscow(If he did, Hitler would have won without Japan's help)
Army Group North was attacking Leningrad
Army Group South was responsible in getting the Ukraine, Rumaine oil fields

Army Group South had a problem in attacking, since resitance in southern Russia was the toughest, so Hitler diverted almost all of Army Group Centre to attack the city of Kiev and reach the Caucus Mountains to get lots of oil

Japan couldn't do much, it only had a strong navy, the army couldn't do anything because they didn't have any medium or heavy tanks O_O; also Siberia had certain crack units that were diverted to the West to attack Germany....the US would not enter the war, FDR wouldn't want to risk the US people to be angry, If Congres saw the need to join, it would probably be too late

Also, if Hitler showed some enthusiasim in Africa, he could have gotten the oil fields in Saudi Arabia and attack the USSR from the deep south, but he only sent the Afrika Corps, if he sent 2 more Panzer Divisons, Africa would have been won O_O;

Answer 4

Seeing as how Siberia was mostly a frozen empty wasteland, Japanese troops would have gotten little out of invading Russia. Japan could have seized or destroyed the Trans Siberian Railway and destroyed Vladivostok, but after that, progress would have been painfully slow. American trade sanctions most likely would have continued, which means that Japan would have been chronically short of oil. The Japanese Army considered these things and decided to remain in China, where at least they had access to slaves and coal.

Answer 5

Are you serious??? This CAN'T be for a Ph.D thesis!!! All baloney! The only shelling on American soil occurred when a sole Japanese sub lobbed several torpedoes onto an Oregon beach. REALLY! We'd all be speaking Japanese, if what you say had happened! Ever hear about the first two atomic bombings of cities? Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on August 6th and 9th, l945.. The Japanese Emperor immediately surrendered. I think that General Douglas MacArthur accepted the Emperor's sword--but maybe my memory is fautly.

Answer 6

Hmm... It's hard to say really. The US was aching to get involved with that war so they would have found someway to get involved. There is more to "WAR" than meets the eye. Politics, personal interests, and security all play a factor. Hitler would have come after the US eventually with Japan and Hitler would have turned on Japan. A German speaking world for sure.

Answer 7

Ah the great what ifs of history. What if Japan had not attacked Pearl Harbor? The whole war would have been different. If they had attacked the USSR we would most likely have stayed out of it all.