What if~The Atomic Bomb was never invented?

Since the beginning of warfare, man always had the need to make weapons that are better than what the enemy tribe had. There also had been people that wanted to make weapons so powerful, and so destructive, that would make war not only impossible, but also worthless.

In July of 1945, Julius Robert Oppenheimer and his team of Atomic Scientists have invented the ultimate weapon to deter war; the Atomic Bomb.

Though, my competitors at Biographics would say that some guy named Enrico Fermi actually invented the bomb, but this is known to be false.

Anyway,

Ultimately, they were used on Japan and a few weeks after the bombs were dropped. Japan threw up the white flag, and World War 2 was over. Oppenheimer's team invented a weapon that not only ended WW2, but also made the world enter a brand new age of warfare; Nuclear Warfare. Warfare that would make war not only impossible, but also have no clear winner and thus worthless.

But, what if in an alternate reality, the Atomic Bomb was never invented. What would happen, and how would this change warfare? This is what this page will try to cover. But first, some historical context. You can just click on the "What if?" part of the page if you just want to read about the alternate scenario.

## Real History

Just to let everybody know that I have already covered a similar scenario such as this, and even discussed this in other wiki and blog pages, so this is going to be an oversimplified summary of the real scenario.

As said before, Julius Robert Oppenheimer (not Enrico Fermi) and his team of atomic scientists at Los Alamos, New Mexico invented 2 Atomic Bombs and tested it at White Sands around 50 miles south of Los Alamos. After this, President Harry S. Truman gave the order to drop the bomb ASAP.

On August 6, 1945, a B-29 Superfortress named "Anola Gay" dropped "Little Boy" on Hiroshima, 3 days later, another Superfortress bomber (named "Bockscar") dropped "Fat Man" on Nagasaki. Just 3 weeks later, Japan surrenders and thus ending World War 2.

But where WW2 ended, the nuclear would begin, and though the United States would continue to create more atomic weapons, and eventually invent nuclear weapons, the Soviet Union would become another nuclear power in 1949, thus changing how we see warfare forever, where warfare would make war impossible and worthless, as a nuke war would mean the end of the world. But this didn't stop the 2 nations from finding themselves in a nuclear standoff during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, but after 5 days, the 2 nations backed down as both sides saw that nukes would destroy the world.

## What if?

Now for the scenario, what if the Atomic Bomb was never invented?

Let's say that our good friend Oppenheimer was never born, and thus nobody could come up with a way to make atomic weapons. Though somebody else can do the same thing Oppenheimer did, but for the sake of this scenario, let's say this doesn't happen.

Now, even with Atomic weapons not being invented in this alternate reality, this wouldn't change the outcome of World War 2 as by 1944, the war was hopeless for the Axis, so Nazi Germany and Italy would still fall (as they did before the A-Bomb was invented in our reality). What would change, however, is how to deal with Japan, by 1945 the USA already had taken the islands that the Japanese were using as a defense net against the Americans. There were also a number of reasons why the US in our reality dropped the a-bomb.

1. The US Military already suffered substantial casualties in the Pacific, and even understood the ferocity and the tenacity of the Japanese Military.
2. They built the bomb, and they just said "We might as well use it". Why would they say that? Well, the original intention for the atomic bomb is to use it against the Nazis, not the Japanese. But the Nazis threw up the white flag before the a-bomb was finished.

Even before the a-bomb was invented, the US Military had plans to invade Japan from the ground (if opportunity knocked). First, it was the invasion of Kyushu (called "Operation Downfall") and to invade Honshu (called "Operation Coronet").

In this alternate reality without atomic bombs, the US Military would go ahead with these operations. By October of this alternate 1945, Operation Downfall begins, and almost immediately it would see some of the most horrific battles ever seen in the Pacific Theater of WW2 as the US Military wouldn't just deal with heavily entrenched Japanese soldiers, but also Japanese civilians that are called up to defend their beloved nation armed with small daggers, bamboo spears, and even Katanas. Let's say Operation Downfall was a success and the US took Kyushu, they would begin Operation Coronet in the Spring of 1946.

Taking a bit of a detour in our alternate scenario to tel you something important. What American propaganda routinely leaves out in why Japan surrendered is that the Soviets also had a hand in it as well. On August 8 (a day before Fat man was dropped on Nagasaki) the USSR officially declared war on Japan and invaded Japanese occupied Manchuria, in fact, this scared the Japanese more than the a-bombs.

In this alternate reality, they would (reluctantly) aid the US forces in Japan by not just invading the Korean Peninsula, but also Hokkaido, and by around the same time Operation Coronet begins for the US, the USSR. By 1946, it will come down to who would reach Tokyo first, eventhough Hokkaido is closer to the Japanese capital than Kyushu, it would still be a close race. But, let's say that the USA makes it to Tokyo and force Japan to surrender. World war 2 would end in the summer of 1946.

Though, Japan still loses the war, but the casualty rate would be astronomical on both sides, Japan would suffer 10 Million casualties with the USA suffering 2 Million, the USSR, 3 Million. With the USA making it to Tokyo first would mean the Emperor would still live. But because of the immense casualties in Japan, it'll take a really long time for things in Japan to fully recover, and with Japan split amongst the Americans and the Soviets (like in Germany) it'll also be divided amongst the 2 victorious nations. Now, it's hard to speculate if Japan in this alternate reality would be faced with the same problems as Korea is in our reality since less people live in Hokkaido than anywhere else in Japan. But what also would happen is that the American and Soviet invasions of Japan would also create scars on Japan's relationship with the USA and the USSR, and it'll be decades before relations would improve, if they improve at all.

### World War 3?

With World War 2 won (even without atomic weapons), both the USA and the USSR would be weary of war, eventhough the Berlin Blockade would still happen, but even by 1948 both the west and the USSR would still be exhausted. But as I said earlier, the invention of Nukes was to make war impossible.

But if you create a scenario where there are no nukes, you also created a scenario with no fear, as in no MAD (or Mutually Assured Destruction). In a world without nukes, there's no fear of destroying the world and leaving it a nuclear wasteland. So, this still makes war a thing for the victor to gain.

Let's say that tensions begin at the Berlin Blockade, and over the 50s, things began to sizzle a bit more (as NATO and the Warsaw Pact are still formed), and by the end of the 1950s, something happens and the west and the Soviet Union are now at war.

As I covered in my previous pages about the Cold War, the Soviets even at the end of World War 2, still outnumbered the west in terms of soldiers and tanks.

The west can counter this with superior naval and air power, even without nukes, and the west would rely more on this than their ground forces since strictly fighting a land war against the Soviets would be suicide. They would try to use their naval and air power to bomb strategic places that the Soviets would need and use.

The Soviets would easily invade the west by mobilizing its reserves in the Soviet Union's occupied areas and with members of the Warsaw Pact, so the Soviet and Warsaw Pact forces would invade places in Austria and Germany, but are met with resistance by West Germany, France and Britain.

Because the Soviets have superior soldier and tank numbers, does this mean that the Soviets would easily bowl over Western Europe and we see the entire European continent under the Soviet banner? Well....................................

What made the Nazis so successful in their Blitzkrieg during World War 2 is that they had technology and logistics that outclassed anything the French had (or did) as they proved by taking advantage of the weak points in France's Maginot line, plus the Nazis also had geography on their side too, Germany is situated in the middle of Europe and was closer to France than Russia is

In this alternate reality, and despite the USSR's superior troop and armor numbers, they would face fierce resistance by West Germany, France, Britain, and eventually the United States, and even if the Soviet Union made substantial gains, it wouldn't be done as fast as what was seen in the Blitzkrieg, this is because Soviet forces would stretch too far from their supply lines, and thus making it harder for the soviets to resupply on ammo, food, uniforms, and other supplies. Again, another advantage the west would have over the Soviets is ease of getting supplies to their troops.

What about bombs? Even without nukes, bombs can still be upgraded, they may not have the destructive power of nukes, but they can still do a lot of damage.

When it comes to bombing cities, again like ground battles, a lot of bombing raids would take place in Europe as the Soviets didn't have long range bombers by the 1950s, and even if they were to take over most of (if not all of) Europe, they wouldn't be able to launch a bombing raid in the United States.

More than likely (with air superiority), the west would be able to bomb strategic places deep in the USSR. But instead of blowing the Soviet Union to kingdom come, the west would rather bomb military bases and where there would be a large gathering of tanks, basically trying to take away the USSR's ability to wage war and have to agree to peace terms.

Even with a clear winner in this war, there would still be other conflicts going around the world. Perhaps Japan is locked in a civil war very similar to Vietnam in our reality, yet again it'll be just another proxy war sponsored by the west and the USSR (especially for the USSR, who were losers in WW3 and would definitely want revenge). Whatever happens, its possible that the latter part of the 20th century would not see peace, dramatically changing the demographics of the era we live in today.

### Technology

Here's something a bit interesting, as we know that the discovery of atomic energy not just led to the invention of atomic and nuclear weapons, but also new ways to power our world. Just because atomic and nuclear weapons aren't invented in this alternate reality, doesn't mean that there's no atomic and nuclear power. Though, the scenario surrounding atomic technology is that the world may be more reliant on gasoline and oil even going into the 1970s and 80s, but eventually atomic and nuclear energy will be made almost as a substitute for gas and oil, just not until the late 20th century.

That'll do it for this page. What do you think would happen if the Atomic Bomb was never invented? Don't forget to check out my Games and Movies wikis too. Until next time, this is JohnnyOTGS signing out.