By Luca Morgante

World War 2 was the most destructive war in human history with the whole of the world engaged in conflict across oceans, deserts, hills, and valleys. The following is a short timeline of events that took place during the war.

1^st September, 1939: Germany declares war on Poland dragging France, Britain and her allies in the war

6^th October, 1939:          Poland surrenders

9^th April, 1940:             Germany invades Denmark and Norway

10^th May, 1940: Germany invades Netherlands, Belgium and France

22^nd June, 1940: France surrenders

July-October, 1940: Germany loses Battle of Britain

31^st October, 1940: Germany postpones invasion of Britain

22^nd June, 1940: Germany declares war and invades The Soviet Union

7^th December, 1940: Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, causing America to join the Allies

2^nd February, 1943: German troops surrender in Stalingrad marking a turning point in the war

6^th June, 1944: Allied troops land in northern France and begin an offensive

7^th May, 1945: Germany surrenders to allied forces marking the end of the war in Europe

2^nd September, 1945: After two atomic bombs are dropped over Japan, they officially surrender marking the end of the war.

However, what if some events went a little differently? What if one small event changed the course of history for years to come?

The year is 2017. 77 years ago, something changed. A small thread in the space-time continuum broke off and found another connection, and so a new future was formed. However tiny, this event changed the course of history for years to come and altered everything we know. In this world, cars still buzz around Toronto. Streetcars can still be heard screeching on Queen Street, and the C.N. Tower still climbs high in the air that is the city skyline because, in this world, things have a habit of following the shape of circles. And the thing about circles is that one always ends up at the same spot no matter which way one goes.

77 years ago, in the heat that was the Second World War, one thing changed. One man and one heart attack were all it took. That man was Hermann Göring, the Reichsminister of Aviation within Nazi Germany, who died suddenly on the 23^rd of June, 1940, one day after the surrender of France.

Although his death was a great loss to the Nazi leadership in Berlin, his death resulted in a great success in the Battle of Britain, the air battle fought over Britain.

Without Göring’s outdated air tactics, Commander Sperrie and Commander Kesselring were free to employ their own creative tactics in the logistical and strategic bombings of the island. Due to this change in leadership and tactics, the R.A.F. was devastated, leaving Britain open for an invasion known as Operation Sealion. In early January of 1941, with a thin layer of frost clinging to the ground on Britain’s southern shores, the first German troops touched down via a combination of air and naval assaults. With the Luftwaffe in total control of the skies, 110 thousand Germans landed and forced a beachhead near Plymouth. They quickly pushed up to Salisbury and then headed to Winchester, Basingstoke and finally to London. At this point, over 500 thousand German troops were on the ground and ready to fight until all of Britain was under their control. Already 20 thousand Germans were dead or wounded and added up to the total of 500 thousand Germans dead or wounded from the war.

After taking most of England, Allied troops engaged in a fierce battle that spanned several months in the south of Scotland. By September of 1941, Britain surrendered and Germany was in control over the whole of the British Isles. Germany’s casualty count climbed to a million. With Britain out of the way, Germany could focus its attention on the Soviet Union, which in March of the next year, was attacked and so Operation Barbarossa was launched. With a limited garrison of Britain and France, 5 million men were sent to commence the assault on the mighty Russian Bear. After 5 months, German troops were just miles away from the Soviet Capital. Even with Germany focusing on only one front, the war still came to a standstill and both sides dug in for many months. The German blitzkrieg was stopped.

It was not until April of the next year that the Soviets were finally defeated and Leningrad, Stalingrad, and Moskva laid in the hands of the Germans. At this point, the Germans suffered a catastrophic 6 million casualties that totaled over 7 million during the course of the war up to that point. With the Soviets gone, the only major threats for Germany were Canada, where the Royal Family and British loyalists then resided, and the mighty giant that was the United States of America. However, an assault on the Americas was not possible by Germany because of their sheer lack of manpower. In 1939, Germany had about 13 million men in the appropriate age group to be conscripted into the army. However, after almost 8 million losses, Germany had a remaining 5 million men on the ground, and taking into account garrisons and policing in occupied territory, this left about 3 million remaining for a possible attack. The United States of America, on the other hand, had a ground force totaling 16 million, and a possible 45 million between the ages of 18 and 50.

In August of 1943, Allied Forces landed in Ireland, and after quickly securing the island, moved to northern Scotland to take back Britain. By July of 1944, the whole of Britain was liberated and plans began for D-Day. Although it was then called Y-Day because of a whole array of failures on the part of the Allies, the operation began, and around 1 million troops landed in Normandy, France. By May of 1945, France was liberated, and by February of 1946, Rome fell to the Allies, and Italy announced its newfound allegiance with the Allies. Finally, on the 3^rd of October, 1946, an atomic bomb was launched on Berlin and Tokyo, marking the end of the Nazi regime, the Hirohito Dictatorship, and the end of the Second World War.

When comparing this alternate timeline, a lot of things are different, but more are not. In the end, it would have been next to impossible for the Axis to win the war due to their lack of manpower. By the time 1945 rolled around, they both would have been conscripting children and old men for the war, and all women would have been working in the factories that drove the war. Hitler’s dreams of world conquest could never have been fulfilled and democracy eradicated, because no matter which way one goes in a circle, one always ends up in the same place.