What If?

Controversial opinion of the day: Germany is remembered as the big "bad guy" of the 20th century, and it's a title they deserve. But did it have to be that way? Let's go back to late 1914, at the start of what *should* have been another one of the continental spats that let off steam between the contemporary superpowers. It seemed over from the start, with Germany swinging into France via Belgium and closing in on Paris, and then . . . . 

And then. 

King Leopold of Belgium, knowing his army was outmatched and doomed, sacrificed it in a delaying action against the Germans. Aside from the fact that no one wants to just roll over and let the other guy win, Leopold was acting to fulfil a British demand to buy time for their own forces. As the Kaiser found out, Leopold was a man of his word. 

The Germans were delayed, the push on Paris faltered, and a minor conflict morphed into the first World War. What's more, the German's didn't react very well to Belgian obstinacy, and their reprisals created a stream of (exaggerated) propaganda that fed Allied sentiment and eventually helped eroded American isolationism. 

So in many ways, ol' King Leopold is the true hero of the war. Right? Perhaps. 

But let's think about an alternative view. 

Say Leopold had thumbed his nose at the British and chose to grant Germany passage through Belgium, while providing only enough resistance to keep his honor - and his country - intact. What may have happened? 

France would have fallen, the British, who at the time had very little in the way of land forces in Europe, would have bowed out and the Western Front would have been over and done. While subsequent decades rightfully give you pause at the idea of German occupation, the evidence of prior continental wars (such as the German victory over France in the 1870's) would suggest that a German victory in 1914, in all likelihood, would leave behind a Europe that looked an awful lot like the Europe of 1913. 

Instead, we have WWI, with ten million dead and nearly forty million wounded or missing. We have the inevitable sequel, in which 73 million died in the time between the invasion of China and VJ Day. We have the fall of the Czar and the rise of a barbaric political system that murdered millions and enslaved billions more across Europe and Asia. We have all the dead of proxy wars in Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. We have the collapse of political systems throughout Europe and the loss of their colonies, with all the internal warfare and famine that created. We have the Holocaust, which begat Israel, which in turn enflamed the Middle East and may well lead to the next world war. 

It's hard to imagine a German victory in 1914 spawning anything remotely resembling the horror that was the 20th century. 

So I ask you - is Leopold the hero of the First World War . . . or the grand villain of the 20th century?

You should be grateful King Leopold did delay the German march toward France, because without WWII, it's almost guaranteed Melissa would not have been born. 

Melissa's Grandpa K was 21 when he joined the Marines on Dec. 8th 1941 (day after Pearl Harbor) and didn't marry Mom until 1946 (1947?). I am not sure if they met before the war or after, but either way, things would have been different.

Had they not met before the war, given Dad was 21, he certainly would have found someone else in those 4-5 years. Thus no Dennis K (and me either) and no Melissa. If they did know each other before the war, they probably would have started a family 4-5 years sooner and Dennis would have graduated H.S. in 1960 instead of 1964. He would not have joined the Marines to fight in Viet Nam, cause there was no war at that time. He would have probably never met Jeanne and thus no Melissa. 

On a Macro level, no WWII, the US would not have built the Atomic bomb (Germany very well could have), and the US would not have been the first to land on the moon.

Butterfly effect is a nice way to exercise the mind though. - Lisa's Uncle Bruce K