Of course, looking at history’s bumps and shifts, you can’t say what might have actually happened in world affairs. But I think it’s clear what wouldn’t have happened: Nazism would not have happened. Where a triumphant Germany might have gone is open to speculation, but we know what happened to a crushed Germany.
Also, I think the Ottoman Empire would likely have continued -- whether as the “Sick Man of Europe” or as a revitalized sultanate ruled by a religiously tolerant government. And that leads to speculation about whether the terrorist groups like al Qaeda and ISIS and the Taliban, among others, would have grown into strong and deadly organizations. For that matter, would there even be an “Israel” or would the Palestine state have simply developed along the same secular -- and religiously tolerant -- lines as the Ottoman Empire.
Even further, Japan seemed on a path of conquest regardless WWI. So maybe the invasions of Manchuria (Manchuokuo) would have occurred even without concerns about the Soviet Union (which may or may not have existed and whose existence, even had Germany assisted Lenin’s return to Russia, may not have been permitted to grow into an international threat). And if Japan had taken Manchuria would it have felt any need at all to attack the British holdings in Southeast Asia or, especially, the United States?
I don’t know if we’d be living in a better world, but it would certainly be a different one!
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