If the Allies Had Fallen: Sixty Alternate Scenarios of World War II Paperback – January 15, 2012

Great book. Delivery was quick and packed nicely.

Some parts were interesting. The first part and the last part were less about alternatives, but did have interesting insights into the dynamics, particularly the ongoing plots against Hitler in the military. The alternatives presented in the main part of the book sometimes seemed somewhat colorless.

This is a good, book, and I have to say that it is a huge subject that people need to go through and that there are a lot of "what ifs" which happened during this time period. Thiis book takes a good look at many of these what ifs in a manner that any reader can understand.I enjoyed the book as it stayed with the "questions" and didn't go into too much of what really happened, after all most people with an interest in hisotry can find that out. In this case it points out what might have happened in various cases. I did find that having a different author writing teh chapters made it a bit harder for the over all read, but it seemed as if the book as a whole works well together.I would recommend this book to people who want to compliment and understand why World War II turned out the way it did, and what might have changed if this particular event did not happen the way it happened.

Too many great alt history authors to limit oneself.

As advertised. Arrived promptly

There are many alternate scenarios in this book, but very few that lead to an Axis "victory". Even those that produce a survival of the Nazi regime do not result in a defeat of the allies. This book is written by historians, not fiction authors. If anything, this book explains why Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan had no hope of winning WWII.

Some reviewers seem disappointed that the book is not a Harry Turtledove type "alternate history" in the form of a novel or fiction. This is perhaps because the title of the re-issued book is misleading. This book falls under the category of "historical counter-factuals" (see 'History That Never Happened' by the German unorthodox historian Demandt) rather than alternate historical novels. Several decades ago, Robert Sobel wrote a faux-historical treatise titled "For Want of a Nail" in which he faked a college-level history text about the history of the world as it might have happened if the American revolutionary militias lost the battle of Saratoga. So let's be clear that this book is for the most part an erudite collection of 'documentary' "what ifs" rather than a science fictional treatment of alternate universes. As such, I found it stimulating food for thought about the possible effect of some historical tweaks of the turning points of the Second World War -- turning points, of course, only determined in retrospect. It's the kind of book that alternate history novelists might use in framing their tales. As such, it remains, after 15 years, a seminal work of the genre.

Like everyone else, I fell for the grandiose title and the image of Big Ben shrouded in the Nazi flag. However, the reality is far more dry.This is an academic treatise, exploring in detail the "what if's" of many details of World War II. Each chapter and section is written by a different author, and most of these authors end up being quite reluctant to offer speculation or fancy as to how else history might have played out. In more than half of the scenarios, the conclusion is inevitably that things would still have turned out more or less the same as they did.The stand-out chapters are the two by Edward Drea, on Pearl Harbour and on cracking the Japanese naval codes. Drea clearly understood the charge being given to him, and writes some thrilling material filled with exciting details and surprising possibilities. In contrast, the low point is the chapter by Thomas Barker, which asks: "What if the allies had chosen the Ljubljana Gap rather than ANVIL in 1944 or 1945?". Here there is no context, no narrative, and no real conclusion; after an exhaustive and excruciating treatment, the author finally comes to the stunning conclusion that "the facts (and counterfacts) now give historians no choice but to quit making effective judgements in the matter".Overall, if you come to this book looking for a history, rather than an alternative history, of some pivotal moments in World War II, you probably won't be disappointed. The book is nothing but thorough, and reveals multiple layers of complexity beneath the standard version of events. But if you want some genuine speculation on what might have been, look elsewhere. The authors only ever consider alternatives for one key moment at a time. With everything else in history still exactly the same, it's no surprise that the story still ends the way you'd expect.

This book is very interesting if you are curious about what would have happened if different decisions had been taken by the principal actors in the drama of World War Two. It is written by historians and not by a novelist who could have taken a freer approach to historic reality.

Very interesting!

A very detailed and broad consideration of the "what if" scenarios relating to Second world war. Dense at times but ultimately satisfying.

Harlod C. Deutsch and the other experts contributing to this collection of "what-if" scenarios go at it from a strictly factual point of view - no secret wonder weapons are introduced, they use realisitic assumptions about socio-economic constraints and they don't try to argue away inconvenient facts.No amount of small changes during or before World War II can change the fact that the outcome would have been either very similar to the one we know or - i.e. with regard to Soviet ambitions in the later phase of WW2 or immediately after - even worse. The one constant remaining is, unless major changes are introduced into the timeline, no single decision (politically or militarily) could have changed the result for the German Reich - except avoiding the war altogether and adopting different internal politics (i.e. not electing extremists into positions of power), which might - might ! - have avoided an armed confrontation in Europe during the 1940s.

Les different sujets de scenarios sont bons mais dans aucun les "Alliés" sont vaincus, par contre y sont bien développés les raisons de leurs victoires. Ce n'est pas du what-if mais du what-if not !