What if the lengthy Globe & Mail editorial (May 6, 1995) on the "What
ifs of World War II" missed the most crucial and thought-provoking
"what if" of all time-namely, what if Britain and France had
entered the war on Germany's side?
Preposterous? Far from it. What if the immensely popular Prince of Wales
had never met Wallis Warfield Simpson and had been crowned King Edward
VIII to become undoubtedly the most idolized monarch in British history?
What if then he had led Britain into an alliance with Germany along the
lines of NATO-an eminently plausible scenario, given that Britain was anti-communist,
war- weary from W.W.I, and the King well disposed towards Germany (he would
have easily disposed of the anti-German warmongers, including Churchill,
by exposing their secret alien financial backers).
Alternatively, what if neutral Britain had simply given Hitler a free hand
to deal with the Stalin dictatorship as he saw fit? In such a situation
a grateful, friendly Germany could have guaranteed the integrity and survival
of the British Empire, which Hitler much admired.
What if then our German ally had liberated the Soviet Union and reconstituted
its components as semi-autonomous states under German control (most Soviet
citizens probably would have preferred semi- autonomy under German rule
to Communist slavery). The Stalinist threat would have been eliminated
for all time. Had events in fact followed such a favorable course-almost
a certainty, had the ambitious American divorcee not come on the scene-the
outlook for Western civilization would now be decidedly less ominous than
is the case. Control of our destiny would have remained securely in our
own hands.
Sincerely,
Ian Macdonald