Premise - Point of Divergence (POD)

In 1941, Adolf Hitler didn't declare war on the United States.

The Story

Now, in 1985, the Third Reich stretching from the coast of France to the icy wastes of Eastern Russia, appears supremely powerful. With a powerful force of nuclear warheads and the finest military machine on Earth, there is no hope for freedom for the billions who groan under its rule. Adolf Hitler’s mad dreams have come to pass.

And yet, all is not well in the Reich. The cold war with the United States and the North Atlantic Alliance is destroying the Reich’s economy, while a savage insurgency in South Africa - a war the Reich cannot win and dares not lose - is sapping its military strength. And, while the Reich Council struggles to find a way to save the Reich from its own weaknesses, a young German girl makes a discovery that will shake the Reich to its core.

But the Reich Council will not go quietly into the night ...

The Review

I read this at a time (not that long ago) when I was seeking reassurance that evil would not triumph, and that in general the vast mass of humanity was intrinsically good, or at least not necessarily evil. Christopher makes a succinct, and in my opinion, successful argument that evil cannot continue indefinitely (although for those who had to live through the 52 years of Nuttall’s Third Reich it may very well have felt like it).

Model of Germania

Nuttall’s alternate history posits that the Third Reich was successful in beating the Soviets, and winning the war. As a result Hitler’s dream of Germania, a new capital to challenge that of Ancient Egypt, Babylon, and Rome is built, and the Nazi Empire has spread itself across most of the former Russian lands.  Despite that the Reich has never admitted to the evils it committed during the war.

It is now 1985 and the Reich is locked in a cold war with the USA and the rest of the free world (including the UK). The war is expensive, and in conjunction with the Reich’s enormous unfunded state based welfare system is threatening the collapse of its economy. A collapse which is speeding up as a result of the Reich’s involvement in actively supporting the apartheid regime in South Africa.

It is in this world that a university student, Gudrun, the daughter of a policeman, and betrothed to a soldier fighting in South Africa discovers that the government is lying about the state of the war in South Africa. Full of righteous indignation Gudrun persuades some of her fellow students to protest. Despite their naivety the protests quickly snowball (think the 2019 example in Hong Kong). One of the aspects I particularly liked about the story was how Gudrun’s father eventually came round to supporting his daughter.