Carl Tighe

Pax Germanica in the future-historical

World War II was not one war but a

great many over-lapping wars with dis-
tinct objectives. These differing experi-
ences still haunt the present, not only in
the memories of survivors but also in
the myths which colour the minds of
subsequent generations. (E.P. Thomp-
son: VE-Day. In: Sanity. May 1985)

The history of the future, regularly investigated in genres such as science fiction, is
concerned with the imaginative exploration of alternatives to what happened in the
past. This chapter surveys works by writers from Britain and America, some of
whom are associated with the genres of imaginative fiction and the detective story,
while others are from academic backgrounds. Their works are distinguished by a
fusion of historical research and speculation. The common aim of these writers is
to pose fundamental, and frequently awkward, questions about the Allies’ war ob-
jectives, the likely consequences of German victory and the nature of her defeat.
What were the issues that precipitated the Second World War? What would post-
war Europe have been like, if the Nazis had won? It is obvious that many of these
questions continue to haunt the European imagination, in view of a growing body
of quasi-historical novels, stories, academic essays, radio discussions and films ex-
ploring aspects of the theme. It is therefore of importance to reflect on the images
which these speculative works attempt to convey of a world that might have re-
sulted from a victorious Nazi Pax Germanica.

I. Alternative history

This article is an examination of the relationship between literature, poli-

tics and history through the genre of science fiction, or ‘sci-fi’. Sci-fi may
be defined as ‘future history’; it enjoys greater freedom than other literary
genres to explore alternative outcomes of historical events. Of all the pos-
sible ‘alternative history’ subjects available to sci-fi writers, World War II
has proved to be one of the most popular. Nazism continues to haunt
Europe: it is an area in which the literary imagination and speculative
scholarship intersect and ask fundamental, often awkward questions about
Allied opposition to Nazism, the content of victory and the nature of de-
feat. What was World War II about? What would Europe have been like if
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the Nazis had won? What can imaginative literature reveal to us of the
world the Nazis would have created? It may be that these books stretch ac-
cepted definitions of the German Historical novel, but while they are writ-
ten in English they are undeniably the products of German history.
An Allied victory over Hitler’s Germany may have been inevitable in
the long run, but key decisions (Hitler’s failure to invade Britain, the inva-
sion of Yugoslavia, Albania and Greece, the invasion of the USSR, the
declaration of war on the USA) meshed with logistical factors to provide
the eventual outcome. How different things would have been if the Ameri-
cans had listened to Ambassador Joseph Kennedy instead of Franklin D.
Roosevelt, if Japan had not attacked Pearl Harbour, or if, having decided to
attack Pearl Harbour, Japan had wiped out the US aircraft carriers. If the
Nazis had not honoured their treaty with Japan and had failed to declare
war on the US; if Hitler had invaded England instead of turning towards
Moscow, the world we inhabit today might be unrecognisable.
The possibility of a Nazi victory has been the subject of several ima-
ginative academic treatments, but, in general, academia has tended to re-
gard such speculation as marginal to genuine research concerns. However,
with the publication of Niall Ferguson’s Virtual History, counterfactual
history has become a subject of both popular interest and serious intellec-
tual debate. Significantly, no fewer than three of the book’s nine chapters
touch on alternative outcomes to World War II.

Historians who stress the chaotic and ultimately self-destructive character of the
Third Reich would have us believe that [...] the Third Reich was pre-pro-
grammed to collapse in 1945. What remains unclear, however, is how far their
assumptions of an inevitable Nazi defeat are based on a realistic assessment of
what could have happened – and how far on mere wishful and teleological
thinking. Certainly, many aspects of Nazi planning appear so bizarre to us that it
is hard to imagine their ever having been realised. But not all.1

1
Niall Ferguson (ed.): Virtual History: Alternatives and Counterfactuals. London
1997. P. 246. R. Overy: Why the Allies Won. London 1995. Other academic works on
the theme include: B. Collier: The Defence of the United Kingdom. London 1957; D.
Lampe: The Last Ditch. London 1968; N. Longmate: If Britain Had Fallen. London
1972; A. Gilbert: Britain Invaded. London 1990; K. Macksey: Invasion: The German
Invasion of England 1940. London 1980; K. Macksey (ed.): The Hitler Options. Lon-
don 1995. Unease is also reflected in a series of TV and Radio programmes including:
What if Hitler Had Won? BBC Radio 4 (2 January 1991), featuring Professor Norman
Stone; the controversial TV debate Myths ands Memories of World War II, BBC 2
(June 1996), in which several historians and the former Conservative government
minister Alan Clark took part; and Front Row with Mark Lawson, BBC Radio 4 (16
September 1998). Plays and films on this theme include: Noël Coward’s Peace in Our
Time (1944), and the films: Went The Day Well? (1943), It Happened Here (1960),