# tangent: resources tied up by Final Solution *The Urth list — 2 messages, 1 voices, 11 Aug 2001* > Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright > in each message remains with the person who wrote it. > Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original > archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than > retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact. --- ### Michael Andre-Driussi *11 Aug 2001, 17:44* Hey gang, Recently the discussion of alternate history touched on Hitler, and the question of "what if a less irrational/idealistic/insane leader had led Germany into WWII and beyond?" Which is something I myself had been mulling over, off and on, over the years. What if the leader had the sense to stop while he was ahead, rather than going for total victory? (Well, that's a dicey one, really -- the "rubicon" I tend to think of is the invasion of France, but there are all sorts of complications. Obviously, if the leader thought that the western democracies were decadent and weak, and the early victories seemed to support that, and sudden victories are needed, well--blitzkrieg would seem like the only way to do it. Give them enough time and the democracies will shift production, etc. Nevermind the stupidity of invading Russia.) What if the anti-Semitism wasn't so pronounced (even shifted into the "Give the Jews Madagascar" scenario, picked up by Janet Berliner a few years back), could that have helped the Nazis develop the atom bomb (Einstein pressed into service: the bomb for Zion/Madagascar)? But here's the one I really puzzle over, and I'm sure it has been addressed somewhere in Holocaust literature a few times at least: IF the leader had not used the resources (rail, police, army, etc.) on the Final Solution, and if these resources were then applied to military use, how would that translate? There must be ballpark figures out there somewhere, like it would've been worth this many more panzers or stukas or cold cash or what-have-you, and if anyone reading this right now knows such a figure or answer to the question, please send me email. That is: the Holocaust was a military drain, and I'm curious as to the net military effect if Germany had not been engaged in such infamous "monument" building. I'm actually not a fan of alternate history works, but certain thoughts occur to me from time to time. =mantis= Sirius Fiction Has Moved To http://www.siriusfiction.com/ --- ### Michael Andre-Driussi *15 Aug 2001, 09:38 · follows Michael Andre-Driussi* John Bishop wrote, beginning: > I've seen some figures for "war materiel" produced > per year by the major actors in World War II. And included a table. Thanks for answering my question. Very sobering stuff. =mantis= Sirius Fiction Has Moved To http://www.siriusfiction.com/ ---