What if World War II were extended to the present day?

Question

This is an alternate history that I'm considering, as World War II was fought for six years, from 1939 to 1945. The Axis (Germany, Italy, Japan) fought for world conquest, while the Allies (USA, UK, USSR) fought to prevent it. About 50 million people, both soldiers and civilians, were killed by bombings, massacres, and diseases, and the war paved way for the Cold War, the nuclear age, and the development of new technologies.

If WWII were to be extended for another 60+ years as the Axis and Allied powers remain fighting, then history would be a lot different in many ways, and I therefore look for such possiblities from all of you. Millions of more people would be killed, new weapons would be used, and nations would trade bombing raids. If nuclear energy is developed, then WWII ends in a nuclear war.

What do you think? What if World War II were extended to the present day? What would be effects be? Where in history do I begin this alternate outcome?

Answer 1

The advances in technology would've surpassed our wildest imaginations...

Answer 2

1.) Not plausible. Sorry, but people tire of war more quickly, especially in the recent years. We've gone from fighting the 100 Years War to complaining about staying in Iraq for too long because we've been there for about 5 years.
2.) WWI is kind of like what you're talking about, and it wasn't pretty, trench warfare's a *****. And actually, 60+ years wouldn't work because the birth rates would decrease like none other, and then you wouldn't have a fighting force because there wouldn't be another new generation. Also, the supply stores from all the countries would be exhaused after about 20 years.
3. And the whole world would be up in nuclear bombs, no more New York, Berlin, London, Paris, Stalingrad (as it was then called.) Those are just a few of the points that might get hit.
4. Bottom line, that would suck.

Answer 3

Who would represent Germany? Hitler and Eva's son Rudolph??

Well, if WWII was still extended to the present day with continuing atomic bombs dropped all over the world, the world could possibly be a wasteland. The number of people all over the world wouldn't be 6 billion, BUT FAR MUCH LESS due to the effects on the war.

If the Holocaust still continued, the Jewish population could be considered extinct.

Important events that followed WWII such as the Civil Rights Movement wouldn't have happened due to the focus on the war.

Asia would probably be a communist CONTINENT.

This is just horrifying to think about.

Answer 4

If WWII were fought for 60 years there wouldn't be many people left to fight. I'm sure the fight would've been brought to American soil and Japan might've retailated with their own atomic bomb. Nuclear arms would've been the prime objective of invention rather than advances in information technology such cell phones or the Internet and other countries may have joined the fight. The pollution from the nuclear arms could've led to mutations (i.e. Chernobyl) and the world would've seen its ultimate demise. In short, it would very much suck if WWII was still being fought today -- but it's all hypothetical.

Answer 5

The best way to re-engineer WWII so it could sustain itself for 60 years would be to have nuclear bombs invented by both sides in 1938.

This would have prevented all-out total war, and WWII would have been a long, slow, war fought by proxy, just as the Cold War (World War III) was.

Another way to lengthen it would be to have Churchill negotiate a non-aggression pact with Hitler --- which Hitler wanted, but Churchill rejected. Had Churchill kept England out of it, then the Soviets and the Nazis would have duked it out much longer.

Answer 6

Anyone in active military service or anyone related to such a person or in contact with such a person could let out a small bit of info that could provide important clues for enemy agents, and there were quite a few in the US. There even were some landed from a U-boat on Long Island, although the FBI quickly picked them up. As an example, if the Nazis had gotten such bits of info as "Oak Ridge," "heavy water," and "Fermi," they would have known a lot about nuclear work in the US.

Answer 7

i could also see lapses in fighting. It takes a lot of energy, manpower, etc to fight for so long. Economies couldn't sustain such a long fighting war. there could even be a change in how the actual fighting is done, more cold war like instead of armies battling each other.

Answer 8

The belligerent countries would have eventually ran out of their most precious commodity Men.

As in WWI when many nations lost almost an entire generation of men.

Your scenario is an impossible one to say the least.

Answer 9

George Bush taking over from a retiring Hitler??
Fantasy is different in everybody's mind