What If America Was FULLY Neutral During WW1? 

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Alternative history is actually an important part of history because it tells us a lot about WHY things happened the way they did.

What if Serbia was fully neutral during WW1 lol

While US intervention may not have been a deciding factor in Germany's defeat in WW1, I seriously doubt that Germany would unconditionally surrender to the Entene like they did IRL. Actually a lighter peace deal like this could make for an interesting alternate history scenario to explore.

The root cause of Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare was to counter the British blockade of Germany. Also, it was an answer to the way that British merchant ships were armed and began attacked German submarines when the submarines approaches British merchant ships. Originally, German uboots would approach a British merchant ship, surface, and announce that it has been captured, and have the sailors evacuate the ship, then it would be sunk with torpedos. Later the British start to arm the merchant ships and also have destroyers disguised as merchant ships, so they can fire upon the subs when they surface. So Germany uboots started to have unannounced attacked on civilian ships, that was the origin of the unrestricted submarine warfare. The key question is if the US stays absolutely neutral, then the US should be objecting to the blockade of Germany. If not, then how would US trade with Germany? So if US insist on trading with Germany, then the UK would stop US shipping like it did in real life. And that would eventually become a causus belli like in 1812. So US cannot stay absolutely neutral without eventually having to cave either to the UK or till over against the UK. US could continue to trade with UK and Germany at the same and insist that both UK and Germany would not attack its shipping wherever they are headed, but that is not very likely.

Most underrated History Channel. I love how your analyses are always realistic and based in fact, rather than what we WANt to happen

I love your channel. No moronic predictions, no outlandish claims. Subbed.

Usa would probably use the netherlands as a neutral port to trade with germany

The Entente surrendering while they are still militarily capable is very realistic, Germany tried to do the same but too late

"Germany always wins a world war if America doesn't get involved" - Matt Mitrovich, the Alternate Historian

Plz make a part 2, This was so interesting

Great video as always Mr.Potential! I have seen that you're channel has grown quite quickly recently and that now you also have a sponsor which means that within a year you would have tens of thousands of subscribers.I hope you can become a large youtuber and make a living out of youtube very soon

Great video

Would love to see this scenario continued! Great job as always :)

I really enjoyed the video!

1) even if Britain keeps the North Sea blockade, the US can still export to Central Power ports such as Trieste & Fiume, which would also alleviate the situation in AH. 2) as Germany can o longer depend on submarines, they might be pushed to use the Kiel navy, which was oretty much unused in WW1. 3) by making Germany dependent on the US, Washington can dictate who can get which Caribbean colony.

Great video! Keep up the good work

Nice to see that quality content is being rewarded in the form of a sponsorship.

So glad I subbed underrated channel

Great job!

I love your presentation of history and your narrative skills.

Really liked this video and i would love the see the continuation of this what if into the 20's and 30's

Nice video

I swear the map with German Empire without Memel is driving me nuts

Can we please revisit and continue this scenario?

5:50

Great content, keep it up

Thank you

man i love this channel so much i find the vid very intresting!

This guy needs to make a channel called "Impossible History" where he only covers theory's so ridiculous that there is no timeline where it could have happened

Your map at the end of the video looks a bit like the one from Hoi4 Kaiserreich

America just can't stop winning, even when we don't fight.

You gotta make a part 2

One thing I dont understand, why do US citizens matter if the USA goes to war or not? It's a warzone, it's contested waters, if some US citizens go to Ukraine and get killed in the cross fire then that would not impact the USA to go to war, yes, yes, nukes, modern warfare, different times I know. But its just so bizar how the USA was supplying the British and even using civilian ships to bring in weapons and then act surprised and outraged that Germany would sink those ships. Like what's going on here? Did they have a propaganda media or something working for the government or the British?

Another great video

Love History!!

AMAZING VID

You should definitely make a part 2 on this lol

Good video.

yes

This channel is far too underrated rn, can’t wait to see it grow from here!

My alt take: 1914, war starts, US retains neutrality and ships cargo to all nations. As hostilities escalate it slowly starts to prefer allies but not by much, it also focuses on agricultural and similar trade while trying to not ship weapons or outright military goods. Starts a strong buildup. 1917, Germany is much stronger and Russia collapses as standard, but, Turkey is essentially facing the UK alone, Austria Hungary is facing the Italians and Balkans alone, and Germany is facing France, having to maintain its territories in the east, and trying to help its allies if it can, while all the Entente countries support France as a primary while focusing to at least gain more than they lose in their territory. 1918, Germany starts to slowly push into France while Turkey starts to crumble in the face of the UK and her allies, Italy starts to feel the full might of Austria-Hungary thats easy for Germany to support and has a large territorial expansion in the east. For a while A-H dominates in the field but eventually Italy digs into good defensive ground. 1919. France is facing collapse. Ottoman Empire collapses and UK is now able to strongly reinforce the BEF, preventing outright French Collapse. A-H now has to try to pacify its territory in the east, which is getting harder, defend in the Balkans against the UK and Balkan Minors that are now land connected to the Entente, and Italy is at the very least, holding firm. UK starts to do more and more disadvantagous loans and sales of territory for cash but is in no way facing economic collapse. Germany still receives trade from the US and Neutral occasionally fly US flag to trade with Germany, but its not much trade, UK randomly inspects ships and its almost entirely made of domestic and commercial goods and not military stuff. 1920. Everyone is exhausted, Germany continues to slowly advance in France but hasnt taken Paris, there has been at least one major German push towards it that got within 1914ish distance but didn't take the city. Germany is doing economically far worse and has to quell what amounts to civil wars in most of the E-European countries like the Finnish Civil war. While its slowly getting better the population are reacting more than violently to plans like "put a German/Prussian prince as Monarch and rule as Kingdom". Italy's unified population against A-H's many divergent rebelious voices is starting to tell and Italian and Balkan fronts are pushing into A-H, Germany is having to divide between trying to knock out France and supporting its Southren Front. The east is slowly turning from a resource drain to a resource surplus but barely. American sentiment is turning against the war in general which is increasingly viewed as a German War. Populations revolt against war and peace negotiations start. Final peace is essentially allowing competition in the balkans and e-europe for economic rights as well as some african and pacific island colonies for germany as well as no war reparations and nominal blame escalation alliances in general that lead to a small regional war turning into 5 years of planet wide carnage. No country is signalled out but network of interlocking hostile alliances is seen as cause. Germany revolts against militaristic style of expansion and confrontation of the 1910's and returns to methods of 1880's or so in terms of maintaining friendly relations and growing in peace. Alsac and Ruhr are turned into demilitarized and turned over to league of nations. Various small countries pop up and are either absorbed into the winner of the Russian civil war or retain independence. One of the participants of the conflict sees more resentment and someone militant rises to power there 20 years later and everyone rerolls as history always does. Facist Britannia anyone?

Here's an interesting question: What if the Austrian army had had tanks in 1914? There was an officer who recognized after a wargame how wars in the future will play out with current technology, and so came up with a concept for what we would call a tank today, which he proposed to the Austrian army in 1910. However, they rejected the idea, as they didn't believe his prognosis. If we imagine a world, however, where the Austrians did buy this concept, how might it affect the course of the war?

Cool video

imagine being a german general trying to explain to the stubborn military dictatorship that there are hundreds of thousands of fresh american troops landing in france every month

Thank you for this edu-vid. I will post this video to my class (for debate). SPSV - Vallejo, Ca.

Hello everyone, love the video

Nice vid

So just kaiserreich but less weird

The Central Powers had a huge moral boost with Russia's collapse, trade through Turkey and Central Asia was restored and their enemies didn't even capture any territory of the Central Powers with the exception of the defeated Russia. Entente had a huge moral hit, riots among the French soldiers and they were as broke as the Central Powers. Both sides would agree to a negotiated piece in this scenario.

I really love your videos, even if I often disagree with you but I think that's exactly how alt history should work. In the end we can only speculate about what would have happen. Keep up the good work 👍

You've missed one key point - the Allies may win on others fronts. For example, they could defeat the Ottomans and the Bulgarians like in our own timeline (these nation wouldn't become much stronger because of the US neutrality). And Austro-Hungary could be carved by its nationality because of the war exhaustion. In this case (quite similar with our timeline) Germany will left alone against the Allies with only inefficient Eastern puppets (that gived nothing but required a huge amount of resources).

This channel should get more attention and really can compleat with the big alternative history channels.

As an American I wish this is what happened. No American deaths and great wealth from war profiteering.

Thanks.

This is basically a Kaiserreich lore video, without the branding or details.

0:30 Is that "La Victoire est à Nous" playing in the background?

damn this channel is too underated

germany would clutch the 1v3 for sure imo

Good

So its mostly like Kaiserreich, thats pretty neat

I do wonder what about Austro-Hungary? It was in much more worse shape than Germany so i expect that without any massive reforms it would still fall apart even in this scenario.

Hi! Political Science and Economics student, with a family with a deep love of history with a personal passion for the subject as well. I really like your videos especially some of the more recent ones and kinda wish you had more like this on what ifs that interest me. That said as for what I think would happen from here at least for the US as Europe would be alot harder to predict in this scenario in my opinion as it would be filled with just as much if not more political turmoil and unpredictable situations as OTL. But the US I believe would slowly begin to leave its isolationism entering into the 20s for a couple of reasons. 1. The War: Without direct involvement in the war I believe the anti war movement will slowly die off over time, especially as the political groups that supported that sentiment largely begin to focus either on other things, lessen in power, or change in sentiment due to a feeling by some of having 'missed out' a sentiment some nations that stay neutral at times seem to fall into though that's far from set in stone however nothing truly is in alternate history anyways. Resultingly I believe America will increase its interventionism in Latin America, and potentially begin to involve itself in Canadian Domestic politics depending how affected they are by the aftermath of the Great War, especially as America is prone at least in this time period to intervene one way or another in its unstable neighbors in order a continued stable beneficial status quo. Am I saying there will be any armed conflict? hell no, dont see that at all unless Canada breaks off from the UK entirely and suddenly collapses somehow. No I am talking economic, diplomatic, and political involvement with Canada. With said Involvement potentially resulting in a greater intermingleing of American and Canadian political and social movements. 2. The Economy: With the aftermath of the war alot of International trade will be rather damaged, and the ability of foreign nations to repay debts to America uncertain at least in the short term. Combine this with the drop in prices with the end of war time prices, while this will still see the largescale economic rise of America, even more then IRL potentially it will nonetheless in my opinion draw America out to become more involved in International trade. Takeing up part of the mantle the British and French 'empires' held as major importers and exporters of goods, particularly exporters with Germany, many of its puppets, and likely much of Europe as a whole becoming massive importers in the aftermath of the war both in the short and long term depending on the nation in question. Ukraine for example will have a immense demand for industrial goods of countless variety and the sheer size and population of the nation will make it difficult for Germany alone to supply its needs, especially as the German Empire recovers and keeps much of its industry oriented towards its military in order to maintain their enlarged Empire. This will hold true for many rising nations such as China, Japan, British Raj, and more. Further as profits grow as America involves itself more in global trade, the more it may be tempted to be involved further. This will in my opinion see a even stronger roaring 20s, at least in America. However it will leave America much more vulnerable to international trade disruptions especially involving conflict between major nations. Thus I believe a future economic crisis is inevitable still, however it might be delayed until Japan conducts a major invasion of China, or a new major war breaks out in Europe. Depending on how the economic crisis is handled America may once again turn isolationist however due to its great global trade ties at this point such isolationism could worsen the economic crisis even further. 3. Cultural Shift: The 20s will see a large if temporary major cultural shift in America that will make Americans much more open to the world. Full of hope, optimism, and other good feelings in a general time of good feelings. This would mostly see its effects in terms of more open global trade, and greater intervention willingness in the Americas however I doubt the America people will support any far off overseas adventures in Asia or something. 4. Late 20s Dust Bowl: While Agriculture would be doing great for most of the 20s, inevitably nature will do as nature does and theres not much that can change the Dust Bowl crisis showing up. However due to Americas position on the global stage, they can supplement any agricultural issues with its farmers by finding new markets from them. What people often don't realize is America was still sitting on a massive amount of foodstuffs during the crisis and food prices were rising from the crisis briefly and crashing in a manner that was ruining farmers from lack of demand. However this alternate America would be able to leverage its agriculture to export overseas more capably, especially among nations in Europe and Asia with good demand for agriculture, especially cheap foodstuffs.

Good vid. I think it was wise to cut the vid when you did considering how many times people have pondered already on what a post ww1 world would look like if Germany won

KaiserReich?

... kaiserreich?

Shouldnt the ottomans get libya back from italy instead of germany getting libya?

If only

So basically Ww1 with no American involvement = USA profit

An alternate history of what it the USA didn’t betray its values with the Federal Reserve and income tax would be an interesting one. Certainly, that’d mean no Great Depression

My Main, and only Major, contention with this scenario is that i do Not believe Austria-Hungary would survive the war. Even with a German victory, they could Not keep their Empire together, and would, at best, become an Austrian rump state, and at worst, Join Germany.

What if the death of Franz Ferdinand prevented world war 1?

Hi

Congrats on the first sponsor

What about Portugal??? They were an entente allie

The Entente would surrender. Not France though. France would Not surrender. Why would they? Face another humiliation? Like in 1870? They would collapse!

Great video and analysis!!! One thing that I think you overlooked thought is another consequence of a scenario where the U.S strong arms both Britain and Germany into allowing its trade to flow freely. At the beginning of the war, in response to the British blockade, Germany strong armed Denmark into mining the Danish straits even though by treaty it was an international waterway. In a scenario where the U.S was truly neutral, it would require pressure from the U.S on Germany to backpedal on this strait mining issue and allow unfettered U.S trade into the Baltic. In this case, the western Entente powers, through U.S middlemen, would better be able to send supplies to Russia via the Baltic and St. Petersburg. This would go a long way to alleviating Russia’s logistical issues during the war, possibly keep it in the war longer, and perhaps butterfly the revolution. In short, I think a truly neutral U.S would require an unlocking of the Baltic to trade which would help the help the logistics and supplies of the allied war effort.

But germany also had a few colonies

I love how you can click on one of these videos, scroll through the first 5 comments and then close it again because it already tells you that it wouldn’t have made sense at all.

Not sure that the Entente could convince Italy to join their side in a world without US economic support of the Entente. Perhaps they would adhere to their original treaty obligation to join the Central Powers or more likely simply remain neutral. If so, Italy would not lose anything, in 1919 ne economically stronger than in our timeline, and the Central Powers would be even stronger because Austro- Hungary would not have been sidelined by Italy at Capareto.

Honestly in my opinion, neither side would be very stable after a war with America trading with both sides extensively, favoring neither, possibly resulting in a chaotic unstable europe after the war. somewhat resembling the Hoi4 mod, Red Flood. Japan would’ve also taken advantage of the situation the great powers of Europe were in, and seize their colonies, with the exceptions of New Zealand, Australia, and Polynesia, possibly even allowing East Timor and Southern New Guinea to stay in European hands at least. (This is just speculation don’t criticize me)

Then hoi4 kaiserreich's lore is plausible after all hahaha

What if America had joined the central powers ? What if Franz Ferdinand had live ?

What if everyone was neutral

very swag sponser

This is basically Kaiserreich, isn't it?

This just seems like a perfect scenario for a Hitler-Napoleon regime to raise in france for a round 2

I don't know if the Germans could hold Eastern Europe. Those areas were incredibly unstable and rife with nationalist sentiment.

I would love to see a part 2 see what following the war but hay that won’t happen

Please work on your thumbnails. Your work is absolutely incredible, with better quality of thumbnails you could potentially grow much faster.

Commenting to boost algorithm

A comment for the algorithm.

Congrats on the sponsor. I appreciate how it fits the topic of your videos more than some boring mobile game or whatever!

French revanchism was already pretty strong during WW1, and wiþ such a devestating defeat i see lots of political instability and potentiolly an extreamist goverment on þe rise

Nope don't mut it at all, Yje Trance army was suffering from mutinies about the time the USA joining the fight was announced.

Before I keep watching, If America had joined 1914 then I think it would've been harder to convince the public of the benefit of the war, after all it was before sinkings like lusitania that killed Americans and before the Zimmerman telegram so America would've been seen as America throwing itself into others business it has no right being in. Also the Americans were in fact likely the thing that decided the Entente victory as after 4 long years of war both sides were exhausted as hell and the fresh American troops against exhausted german troops certainly helped turned the tide a ton and after all the troops moved from the east that had it relatively easy on the eastern front without the Americans and no help coming the french would certainly have broke in the kaiserschlatt however I'm interested to see if my points are brought up in the video

just putting a comment in cuz i like this guy

What if the US and Japan were allies in ww2?

12:54 Wrong!! There's just no way Italy would go unpunished!!! Why? They betrayed Germany & Austria, I'm pretty sure those 2 would seek vengeance against Italy for this! So Italy would have to be divided into 2 occupation zones, With the Ottomans getting the south. While the north would be tricky, Austria should get it... but you say they're too weak for that? Germany you claim doesn't want it, Bulgaria is also too weak + uninterested + too far. I guess they could stay independent, but it's more likely they will be given to Spain... despite their neutrality!!

Your maps incorrectly show Cyprus under Ottoman control, it should be British