If history was different...

So many questions have been asked and thoughts been thought about the 'what ifs' of history. If _____ didn't happen, how would _____ be like today?

Recently I have taken an interest in the history of World War 2. Not so much about the Japanese in the Asia-pacific region though it’s closer to home, but about the war in Europe. The war in Europe could have easily turned out very differently, and it was mainly due to Hitler’s extreme overconfidence that the axis lost. Not listening to the advice of his generals who obviously knew better, Hitler made many bad mistakes; but in my opinion the single-most biggest mistake was attacking the Soviet Union.

Nazi Germany had a non-aggression treaty with the soviets, so they could have easily avoided a war with them, maybe even cooperating together. The Soviet Union was so much bigger than Germany, had so much more people, resources, and production; Hitler’s decision to attack them was gross overconfidence to the level that I cannot understand. Looking back at the severity of this mistake: more than 80% of the axis’ casualties in Europe were suffered on the eastern front with the soviets. Had these forces been concentrated into the western front instead, the Nazis could have easily taken over and maintained control of the whole of Western Europe and North Africa, including Britain. To understand how powerful the Nazis were: they took over Western Europe and North Africa very easily and quickly, only failing to take Britain because Hitler foolishly diverted the attention to the soviets instead. They also almost captured Moscow, and could have easily done so if not for other costly mistakes like getting caught unprepared for the harsh Russian winter.

Now, had the war in Europe taken that very different turn, not only would the whole of western Europe be German-speaking today, but Singapore would have probably turned out very differently as well. If Britain had fallen to the Nazis, I thought of 2 scenarios of what might have happened to Singapore.

1.       After the Japanese surrender, Singapore would return to the hands of the British, who are now in the hands of the Nazis. Which means, Singapore would become a Nazi colony and we would be speaking German in our offices and displaying reverse swastikas.

2.       Singapore would declare independence immediately after the Japanese surrender. But Singapore was a total wreckage after the Japanese occupation, and it took another 20 years of British support before Singapore recovered from her wounds enough to stand on her own and chase the British out. Even at the time of Singapore’s independence in 1965, her ability to survive on her own was doubted by everyone, including Singaporeans. Fortunately, Lee Kuan Yew and his able team of ministers came in and made a miraculous transformation. Had Singapore become independent right after WW2, we would have almost certainly crumbled into a mess. And the person at the helm would surely not be LKY.