The culture of the United States in the 1950’s (and arguably by backlash, in the 1960’s) was in part due to a reaction to the previous sixteen years of poverty and war. The older generation focused on domesticity and financial security while the Baby Boomers, having not suffered what the previous generation did, took those things for granted. I was wondering how American culture of the 1950’s would have different if somehow the Depression and WW2 had never happened. If somehow the late 1920’s stock bubble had been avoided, there wasn’t any worldwide depression, and as a consequence the Nazis had not come to power in the early '30’s. In particular, would there not have been (or at least not as sharp) a “Generation Gap”?
If things had been different, then things would be different.
In other words, you question assumes a world so different, you may as well just wave your hands and assume the answer you want as well.
Great Britain would remain a major power. What of Russia and China?
Okay, some quick thoughts.
The United States would probably still be an isolationist country. We might be an economic great power but we’d avoid political interaction in world affairs as much as possible.
Britain and France would probably be the “leaders” of the western world. Without WWII, they probably would still be holding on to the empires. India would probably have achieved Dominion status.
Germany would have eventually been rehabilitated and would have joined the western bloc as a junior partner.
Japan would presumably have still following its expansionist policies. If there was no world war, I’d assume it had been able to build a regional empire in China without triggering a great power reaction.
Italy would have followed a similar path. Mussolini would have taken power and sought colonies. But without Germany to back him up, he would have been limited in what he could do.
Russia would still have been the Soviet Union. But without its military expansion as a result of fighting WWII, it wouldn’t have been seen as as much of a threat. Hard to predict if communism would have collapsed at the end of the twentieth century as it historically did - the war both strengthened and weakened the regime.
So what exactly was American society like in the 1920s? You would assume American society would be the same several decades later except for technological advancement. Technology would have advanced faster in some areas (probably TV faster, cars would have spread faster), while other areas influenced by wartime research later (nuclear power?).
No welfare states in Europe or North America.
Colonial empires still intact.
No Israel and a more stable Middle East.
Germany would not have been a junior partner. She would have been the dominant economic and military power in Europe. Demographics dont lie.
Some six million more Jews.
There would be no Raiders of the Lost Ark
Aw, man!
But Germany didn’t have a colonial empire after WWI. That would have given Britain and France a demographic advantage.
TV, yes, it was a commercial product that had the existing radio networks pushing it forward.
But I don’t know about cars as much. The war created a lot of industrial capacity for building military vehicles and that was there to be converted to automobile manufacturing after 1945. Without that wartime expansion, I think the automobile industry would have grown at a slower pace. Cars would have existed but they would have been more of a luxury product and less of a product for the masses.
Most colonies were more of a hassle than they were worth, and decolonization would’ve still happened. It might have taken 20-30 yrs longer and been more violent, but it still would’ve happened. Germany would’ve benefited greatly from having gotten rid of it’s colonies in the Great War.
I’m not so sure. In many ways the overseas colonies were more expensive to run than they returned to the mother countries.
And the colonies were increasingly pressuring for independence. It might have taken another 20 years, but GB and France were likely to abandon the colonies eventually.
I think some variation of WWII was bound to happen. The entire world order had been sublimated to the thousand year struggle of European Powers. Colonies were just an outgrowth of that - to project power, accumulate resources, gain prestige. Japan wasn’t immune to this and joined the party.
I think that it had to end in Epic Bloodshed. Those nations were going to keep trying to win at all costs until they did, or they got beaten down. And frankly, the game didn’t end there. It just resulted in the USA and Russia playing the same game. Only instead of “colonies”, we had “client states” and “spheres of influence”. The European nations that started and continued that shit for more than a thousand years dragged the big boys into their game, and found they couldn’t hang with us. They all lost.
Nemo, the Model T was introduced in 1908. Cars were a product for the masses by 1929, with or without the GD/WW2.
What of European colonies in oil rich North Africa?
Does anyone think technology might have actually slowed? It seems that WWII and the following Cold War made huge advances in many fields due to the pressure of the war.
Could things such as radar, nuclear tech (civilian and military uses), aviation, submarines, space science, have been delayed? Would other things have advanced in their place? Who knows, hard to tell I guess. Great question tho!
Frozen food. Aviation, many airliners and cargo planes were based on the B-29.
Medical advances?