this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2023
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Asklemmy
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Everyone was building empires at the time and fighting over who got what. All that nuking England would do is to mean France, the netherlands, germany, spain etc would get more bits
Of course it wouldn't stop colonialization, but it would change the future quite a lot.
I think that should shake up the timeline quite a bit.
No, you'd just have the exact same thing but with another nationality. France had like half of Africa so they'd definitely be bigger.
And wouldn't that completely shift worldwide powerbalanes for centuries to come?
For example, would WW2 have happened if France had been a global superpower instead of a pushover?
Would the american revolution have happened with another colonial ruler?
Without that example, would the french revolution have happened?
Without both revolutions, would democracy be a thing by now, or would we still have totalitarian monarchies?
You know the butterfly effect? It's the same except we aren't killing a butterfly but instead one of the superpower nations of that time.
France wasn't a pushover around WW2. They had enough manpower to fight nazi Germany toe to toe. What they did, however, was underestimate how fast they could advance. France also ignored a warning that the germans were amassing to push through the Ardennes, which allowed the nazis to face little resistance on that front. Apparently, if they took immediate action, they could've mobilized an air raid to completely destroy that nazi battalion, which would royally fuck up the rest of Hitler's plans
France was never a pushover. The idea that being invaded by a bigger stronger army was their fault is weird and one I've only heard in the US.
Most countries that are colonies eventually seek independence, including most that France had.