What would you have done differently from real life in the post-World War I peace settlement?

[WolfBear]

What would you have done differently from real life in the post-World War I peace settlement? As for me:

-Hold much more plebiscites (not necessarily on a winner-take-all basis, though): Hold them in Alsace-Lorraine, the Polish Corridor, Transylvania, Bessarabia, eastern Galicia, the Sudetenland, Eupen and Malmedy, and any other disputed territories where this can realistically be done. Maybe exceptions can be made when the numbers involved are relatively small and the territory is needed for strategic reasons, such as with South Tyrol.
-Allow Austria to unify with Germany in 1919.
-Make the reparations payments that Germany has to pay more drawn-out and thus make their pain each and every year much less severe.
-Aggressively support Polish expansion in Eastern Europe so that pro-Polish puppet states can be created in eastern Belarus and central Ukraine.
-Try harder to eliminate the Bolshevik regime in Russia, but if that's not possible, then work on quarantining it.
-Aggressively support the independence of both the new Caucasian republics and Central Asia (Turkestan) led by the Basmachi.
-Have the US join the League of Nations with the Lodge Reservations and also have the US Senate ratify the Security Treaty with Britain and France, thus creating a peacetime defensive US military alliance with Britain and France, a proto-NATO, if you will.
-Eliminate the war guilt clause from the Versailles Treaty.

Anyway, what exactly am I missing here?

 

[Scottty]

Germany should keep the Kaiser as a ceremonial head of state. Purely symbolic, but symbols matter.
Putting so much of the blame for the whole war on Wilhelm was wrong.

 

[sillygoose]

What would you have done differently from real life in the post-World War I peace settlement? As for me:

-Hold much more plebiscites (not necessarily on a winner-take-all basis, though): Hold them in Alsace-Lorraine, the Polish Corridor, Transylvania, Bessarabia, eastern Galicia, the Sudetenland, Eupen and Malmedy, and any other disputed territories where this can realistically be done. Maybe exceptions can be made when the numbers involved are relatively small and the territory is needed for strategic reasons, such as with South Tyrol.
-Allow Austria to unify with Germany in 1919.
-Make the reparations payments that Germany has to pay more drawn-out and thus make their pain each and every year much less severe.
-Aggressively support Polish expansion in Eastern Europe so that pro-Polish puppet states can be created in eastern Belarus and central Ukraine.
-Try harder to eliminate the Bolshevik regime in Russia, but if that's not possible, then work on quarantining it.
-Aggressively support the independence of both the new Caucasian republics and Central Asia (Turkestan) led by the Basmachi.
-Have the US join the League of Nations with the Lodge Reservations and also have the US Senate ratify the Security Treaty with Britain and France, thus creating a peacetime defensive US military alliance with Britain and France, a proto-NATO, if you will.
-Eliminate the war guilt clause from the Versailles Treaty.

Anyway, what exactly am I missing here?

I'd add don't ignore the will of the Sudetens to join Germany just to prop up Czechoslovakia. They voted to join Germany and the Czechs only wanted the region to ensure they had the industry and resources located there, which led to the Czechs militarily occupying the region and using quite a bit of violence to put down protests against the occupation.

Don't put so many Hungarians in Slovakia or Romania or Yugoslavia. Have actual ethnic borders as far as possible and minor population transfers to smooth out the borders if needed.

The Lodge Reservation effectively nullifies any US participation in the LON. Basically it was politically impossible. Of course so was actually expanding Germany or being fair in redrawing borders. Or being more reasonable in reparations payments.

One big thing that could have been done would be to remove Colonel House, perhaps the POD is to have him die during the war for some reason, so he didn't entire undermine Wilson's policies at the conference for 9 months before Wilson arrived (Wilson found out and fired him, but the damage was done). House also prevented negotiations in 1916 as well at the request of the British that might have ended the war early. He likely was an agent of the British who had bribed his way into the Wilson administration via providing large campaign donations that helped Wilson get elected. That would make things more fair, but not as much as you'd like based on the list above.

 

[Skallagrim]

-- No reparations whatsoever, and no war guilt assigned. The entire war, essentially, to be regarded as a tragic folly, never to be repeated.

-- Wilhelm II to abdicate in favour of his son, but the Kaiserreich to otherwise remain politically extant.

-- Karl to remain as King of Austria.

-- Pleibiscites on a municipal basis, to get as close to actual ethnically-sound borders as one can get. No quasi-arbitrary lines drawn on maps. Do ensure reasonable territorial contiguity. No weird exclaves, that's asking for trouble. (I do not favour an exception for South Tirol. It must be allowed to stay with Austria, since Italy has no reasonable claim to it at all.)

-- Although it's harsh and no doubt unpopular: forcibly relocate people to their own homeland where it seems necessary to prevent prior bloodshed. All Hungarians sent to Hungary, all Romanians, Slovaks etc. out of Hungary. Similarly, all Germans out of Poland, all Poles out of Germany.

-- On that note: no Polish Corridor debacle. Either let Germany keep a coastal strip (inluding Danzig) to connect directly to East Prussia, or expel every single German out of East Prussia and give the whole region to Poland. Either is cruel, but you have to pick one. Settle the matter for good.

-- Likewise, settle the Transylvanian question. Either Hungery gets a strip that connects Hungery proper to the Székely Land (with all Romanians expelled therefrom), or all Hungarians get expelled from Székely Land and the whole region goes to Romania. Again, either option is cruel, but a choice must be made.

-- Independent Chzechia/Bohemia-Moravia, without the Sudentenland, which will vote to join Germany or Austria. Similarly independent Slovakia. No Czechslovakian union, which was always going to have issues.

-- Definitely no Yugoslavia. Independent Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia. Bosnian Muslims to be thrown under the bus. Serbian/Croatian population transfers where needed, and a definitive border settled upon. Albanians to be expelled from Kosovo, which is to go to Serbia. Montenegro likewise to be included in Serbia. Macedon to be subject to municipal pleibiscites to see what its population wants.

-- No prohibition of German-Austrian unification, but clear stipulation that if it ever happens, it must be via a pleibiscite, with proper procedures and democratic standards well-defined.

-- Turks to be driven from Constantinople and environs. Turks also to be removed from Cyprus. These regions to be handed to Greece. Greeks otherwise to still be driven from Anatolia.

-- Largest reasonable Armenian state to be created, with Turks and Kurds to be expelled from its confines.

-- Kurdistan (all contiguous Kurdish-majority regions), otherwise, to be handed over to Persia. Turks, Armenians, Arabs etc. to be expelled. Subsequently, Great Persia to become a valued member of the League of Nations, which will help to hem in the communists.

-- Sunni Arab regions to become one great kingdom under the Hashemites, with LoN backing. Shi'a majority regions, however, to become separate states. Population transfers to be carried out where this would improve stability.

-- Christians in Lebanon to receive a separate state, with others expelled from its confines. (A small coastal region from just North of Beirut to Tripoli.)

-- "Syria Palaestina" (essentially the square region Haifa - Lake Tiberias - Dead Sea - Gaza) to become a cosmopolitan Free State accessible to multiple religious, and to be fully neutral by treaty.

-- The Sinai Pensinsula and the Suez Canal region to become a directly administred LoN territory, through which citizens of LoN member states may travel freely for peaceful purposes.

-- All European nations to join in a diplomatic and economic union (a proto-EEC), which should ideally commit itself to sound currency and responsible fiscal policy, to sustainably restore the global economy after the war. Free trade within the bloc, all internal customs duties to be abolished.

-- All European nations, as well as the USA, to join the League of Nations, with no reservations. Full commitment.

-- Communist nations to be explicitly banned from membership; all communist regimes to be declared inherently illegitimate; all communist states to be economically blockaded and embargoed with no exceptions.

-- LoN to commit to defeating the Bolshevik regime. Strictest possible injunctions against any member trying for a separate peace (or any other agreement) with the USSR. Recognition of the Tsarists in exile as the "real Russian government".

-- Aggressive support for non-Bolshevik states on the Russian periphery, e.g. the Caucasian republics, Turkestan, Finland (to be supported in claiming as much of Karelia as possible), the Baltic states, Poland, Belarus (to be carved off Russia if possible), Ukraine (to be carved off Russia if possible). All these states to be inducted into the LoN.

-- Western expeditionary forces to be dedicated first and foremost to occupying and holding Arkhangelsk and the Russian Far East, with the aim of denying the USSR any practical sea access. Combined with the aforementioned peripheral states, this will box the USSR in quite effectively.

 

[WolfBear]

I'd add don't ignore the will of the Sudetens to join Germany just to prop up Czechoslovakia. They voted to join Germany and the Czechs only wanted the region to ensure they had the industry and resources located there, which led to the Czechs militarily occupying the region and using quite a bit of violence to put down protests against the occupation.

Don't put so many Hungarians in Slovakia or Romania or Yugoslavia. Have actual ethnic borders as far as possible and minor population transfers to smooth out the borders if needed.

The Lodge Reservation effectively nullifies any US participation in the LON. Basically it was politically impossible. Of course so was actually expanding Germany or being fair in redrawing borders. Or being more reasonable in reparations payments.

One big thing that could have been done would be to remove Colonel House, perhaps the POD is to have him die during the war for some reason, so he didn't entire undermine Wilson's policies at the conference for 9 months before Wilson arrived (Wilson found out and fired him, but the damage was done). House also prevented negotiations in 1916 as well at the request of the British that might have ended the war early. He likely was an agent of the British who had bribed his way into the Wilson administration via providing large campaign donations that helped Wilson get elected. That would make things more fair, but not as much as you'd like based on the list above.

Agreed.

What about the Szekelys in the middle of Romania?

Needing the permission of the US Congress to declare war is not a radical concept. And in any case, the Security Treaty with Britain and France was more important than the LoN was.

But Wilson trusted Colonel House, did he not? Of course, you could have Wilson lose in 1916 to Hughes, but I'm unsure that this would actually be better for Germany itself.

 

[WolfBear]

-- No reparations whatsoever, and no war guilt assigned. The entire war, essentially, to be regarded as a tragic folly, never to be repeated.

-- Wilhelm II to abdicate in favour of his son, but the Kaiserreich to otherwise remain politically extant.

-- Karl to remain as King of Austria.

-- Pleibiscites on a municipal basis, to get as close to actual ethnically-sound borders as one can get. No quasi-arbitrary lines drawn on maps. Do ensure reasonable territorial contiguity. No weird exclaves, that's asking for trouble. (I do not favour an exception for South Tirol. It must be allowed to stay with Austria, since Italy has no reasonable claim to it at all.)

-- Although it's harsh and no doubt unpopular: forcibly relocate people to their own homeland where it seems necessary to prevent prior bloodshed. All Hungarians sent to Hungary, all Romanians, Slovaks etc. out of Hungary. Similarly, all Germans out of Poland, all Poles out of Germany.

-- On that note: no Polish Corridor debacle. Either let Germany keep a coastal strip (inluding Danzig) to connect directly to East Prussia, or expel every single German out of East Prussia and give the whole region to Poland. Either is cruel, but you have to pick one. Settle the matter for good.

-- Likewise, settle the Transylvanian question. Either Hungery gets a strip that connects Hungery proper to the Székely Land (with all Romanians expelled therefrom), or all Hungarians get expelled from Székely Land and the whole region goes to Romania. Again, either option is cruel, but a choice must be made.

-- Independent Chzechia/Bohemia-Moravia, without the Sudentenland, which will vote to join Germany or Austria. Similarly independent Slovakia. No Czechslovakian union, which was always going to have issues.

-- Definitely no Yugoslavia. Independent Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia. Bosnian Muslims to be thrown under the bus. Serbian/Croatian population transfers where needed, and a definitive border settled upon. Albanians to be expelled from Kosovo, which is to go to Serbia. Montenegro likewise to be included in Serbia. Macedon to be subject to municipal pleibiscites to see what its population wants.

-- No prohibition of German-Austrian unification, but clear stipulation that if it ever happens, it must be via a pleibiscite, with proper procedures and democratic standards well-defined.

-- Turks to be driven from Constantinople and environs. Turks also to be removed from Cyprus. These regions to be handed to Greece. Greeks otherwise to still be driven from Anatolia.

-- Largest reasonable Armenian state to be created, with Turks and Kurds to be expelled from its confines.

-- Kurdistan (all contiguous Kurdish-majority regions), otherwise, to be handed over to Persia. Turks, Armenians, Arabs etc. to be expelled. Subsequently, Great Persia to become a valued member of the League of Nations, which will help to hem in the communists.

-- Sunni Arab regions to become one great kingdom under the Hashemites, with LoN backing. Shi'a majority regions, however, to become separate states. Population transfers to be carried out where this would improve stability.

-- Christians in Lebanon to receive a separate state, with others expelled from its confines. (A small coastal region from just North of Beirut to Tripoli.)

-- "Syria Palaestina" (essentially the square region Haifa - Lake Tiberias - Dead Sea - Gaza) to become a cosmopolitan Free State accessible to multiple religious, and to be fully neutral by treaty.

-- The Sinai Pensinsula and the Suez Canal region to become a directly administred LoN territory, through which citizens of LoN member states may travel freely for peaceful purposes.

-- All European nations to join in a diplomatic and economic union (a proto-EEC), which should ideally commit itself to sound currency and responsible fiscal policy, to sustainably restore the global economy after the war. Free trade within the bloc, all internal customs duties to be abolished.

-- All European nations, as well as the USA, to join the League of Nations, with no reservations. Full commitment.

-- Communist nations to be explicitly banned from membership; all communist regimes to be declared inherently illegitimate; all communist states to be economically blockaded and embargoed with no exceptions.

-- LoN to commit to defeating the Bolshevik regime. Strictest possible injunctions against any member trying for a separate peace (or any other agreement) with the USSR. Recognition of the Tsarists in exile as the "real Russian government".

-- Aggressive support for non-Bolshevik states on the Russian periphery, e.g. the Caucasian republics, Turkestan, Finland (to be supported in claiming as much of Karelia as possible), the Baltic states, Poland, Belarus (to be carved off Russia if possible), Ukraine (to be carved off Russia if possible). All these states to be inducted into the LoN.

-- Western expeditionary forces to be dedicated first and foremost to occupying and holding Arkhangelsk and the Russian Far East, with the aim of denying the USSR any practical sea access. Combined with the aforementioned peripheral states, this will box the USSR in quite effectively.

What about all of the damages to Belgium and northeastern France, though? Belgium is especially notable here for being attacked without provocation by Germany.

Would this have prevented Hitler later on? 'Coz Italy having a King didn't prevent Mussolini.

OK.

OK.

Interestingly enough, mass expulsions of Hungarians was not done even after WWII in our TL. You're being even more radical here. Still, as a solution, it would undoubtedly be effective. But it would also give the impression that ethnically homogeneous states without any minorities are the best.

What about giving Poland Gdynia AND giving Germany a land connection to East Prussia, with Gdynia being connected to the rest of Poland by an extraterritorial road?

What about an independent Szekely Land?

An independent Slovakia could become a target of Hungarian expansionism in the future.

Makes sense.

Makes sense.

What about Smyrna?

OK.

OK.

OK.

OK.

OK.

OK.

OK.

What about the Security Treaty with Britain and France?

OK.

OK.

OK.

OK.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Overall, quite sensible!

 

[Skallagrim]

What about all of the damages to Belgium and northeastern France, though? Belgium is especially notable here for being attacked without provocation by Germany.

Morally, no doubt true. My reasoning is that opening the door for reparations at all will inevitably lead to "But they did this! And they did that! And, and, and...!" -- which means you'll never get that can of worms closed again.

Would this have prevented Hitler later on? 'Coz Italy having a King didn't prevent Mussolini.

My thinking is that not humiliating Germany and not ruining it economically are far more crucial in that regard. Keeping the Kaiserreich helps the continuation of stable government, so it's more about preventing the communists from getting popular than it's about preventing Hitler later on.

Interestingly enough, mass expulsions of Hungarians was not done even after WWII in our TL. You're being even more radical here. Still, as a solution, it would undoubtedly be effective. But it would also give the impression that ethnically homogeneous states without any minorities are the best.

The only goal here is to prevent a future conflict by drawing clear lines. If there's just no Hungarians on one side of a certain line, and no Romanians on the other side, then irridentism just becomes a LOT less viable. Same goes for Germans and Poles.

As for homogeneous states... when the ethnic groups in question hate each other with a passion, separating them really is the best. What else can you do? Let the cycle of slaughter and bitter resentment go on?

What about giving Poland Gdynia AND giving Germany a land connection to East Prussia, with Gdynia being connected to the rest of Poland by an extraterritorial road?

What about an independent Szekely Land?

I have little faith in this, when the groups involved don't like or trust each other.

What about Smyrna?

Letting it be is only going to provide a rallying point for Turkish war-mongering in the future. Again, a clean separation prevents future bloodshed, and then relations can gradually normalise.

What about the Security Treaty with Britain and France?

An independent Slovakia could become a target of Hungarian expansionism in the future.

What I've outlined here is the big World Peace And Also Fuck Communism Plan, which -- in case it hasn't been obvious -- is set up to turn the USSR into the common enemy, while also weakening it sufficiently right away to ensure that it can't hope to win a future conflict.

For this reason, separate security treaties may well be counter-productive. The point is for the LoN to function as one great security pact.

Of course, I would very much prefer setting it up so that when one member declares war on another member, the aggressor is automatically expelled, and is understood as having declared war on all members.

I think that kind of arrangement would prevent Hungary from attacking Slovakia, for instance.

 

[WolfBear]

Interesting thoughts. Your views are similar to Woodrow Wilson's original views on the League of Nations, except that he viewed Article X as only imposing a moral commitment on the US rather than a legal commitment to preserve other states' territorial integrity.

Also, the neatest Greek-Turkish dividing line would be the Straits themselves.

 

[Skallagrim]

Interesting thoughts. Your views are similar to Woodrow Wilson's original views on the League of Nations, except that he viewed Article X as only imposing a moral commitment on the US rather than a legal commitment to preserve other states' territorial integrity.

Well, contrary to popular belief, even Wilson wasn't wrong about everything.

Also, the neatest Greek-Turkish dividing line would be the Straits themselves.

That runs the risk of turning the Bosphoros into a contested and militarised area, with guns on both sides.

Better to put a fortified frontier East of the city, I'd say. Not ideal, but still better.

 

[WolfBear]

Well, contrary to popular belief, even Wilson wasn't wrong about everything.


That runs the risk of turning the Bosphoros into a contested and militarised area, with guns on both sides.

Better to put a fortified frontier East of the city, I'd say. Not ideal, but still better.

Wilson had a good vision in foreign affairs. He simply failed to implement it in practice and also failed to compromise with the GOP in the US Senate on the post-WWI peace settlement.

As for the Greek-Turkish border, what about giving all of the international zone here to the Greeks? :

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Elq22G9XIAAXyig.jpg

The international zone here does NOT include Smyrna, BTW. Smyrna remains Turkish.

These were actually the suggests of this commission:

King–Crane Commission - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Earl]

-- Wilhelm II to abdicate in favour of his son, but the Kaiserreich to otherwise remain politically extant.

He is a piece of shit personally, who will probably hand power over to a Military dictatorship at the first sign of trouble. which will probably get the french running in to stop him.

 

[Skallagrim]

He is a piece of shit personally, who will probably hand power over to a Military dictatorship at the first sign of trouble. which will probably get the french running in to stop him.

Yeah, he was a scumbag, but given the realities of the post-war situation, he wouldn't actually have power anyway. And I'm fairly sure that what I propose would lead to a more stable and sane government presiding over Germany.

As for the Greek-Turkish border, what about giving all of the international zone here to the Greeks?

That looks pretty good.

 

[sillygoose]

Agreed.

What about the Szekelys in the middle of Romania?

Give them minority rights if they aren't contiguous with the rest of the Hungarian minority.

Needing the permission of the US Congress to declare war is not a radical concept. And in any case, the Security Treaty with Britain and France was more important than the LoN was.

It is if you don't expect everyone else wanting the same rights. If accepted it would have meant the US effectively wasn't part of the LON except when they wanted, which is not how those orgs actually are able to function.

But Wilson trusted Colonel House, did he not? Of course, you could have Wilson lose in 1916 to Hughes, but I'm unsure that this would actually be better for Germany itself.

He did and regretted it to his dying day. Never saw him again despite House's repeated efforts to see him.
Hughes would have been a disaster if he became president.

 

[WolfBear]

Give them minority rights if they aren't contiguous with the rest of the Hungarian minority.


It is if you don't expect everyone else wanting the same rights. If accepted it would have meant the US effectively wasn't part of the LON except when they wanted, which is not how those orgs actually are able to function.


He did and regretted it to his dying day. Never saw him again despite House's repeated efforts to see him.
Hughes would have been a disaster if he became president.

The United Nations didn't take away the US Congress's power to wage war after WWII.

Why would Hughes have been a disaster?

 

[Chiron]

Germany returns to its borders. Alsace-Lorraine becomes an independent country between France and Germany.

Austria and Germany may unify. Lithuania is allowed its historical capital and Memel. Danzig remains with East Prussia, but the Polish state owns the port and the rail line to it and can export and import duty free from it. This to remain in effect till the Port of Gdynia is built. Germany may have visa free travel on a rail or designated road to and from East Prussia across the corridor. Military traffic can only cross with Polish Permission or go by sail to Konigsberg.

Czech and Slovak Republics formed. Sudeten Land is part of Czech Republic which will copy and paste the US Constitution as needed to get the Sudeten German's buy in.

Serbia has a fait accompli on Yugoslavia and it is relatively stable, so leave alone.

Hand Egypt the Levant.

Turkey becomes a Republic as historically and I simply rubberstamp their occupation of Mosul which saves a lot of issues later.

Let the Hashemites run Jordan, Syria, and Baghdad and Basra.

Qajars get Azerbaijan. Independent Georgia and Armenia.

All the rest I let sort itself out.

Another war is still inevitable, but the Europeans never seem to learn, so fuck them. Just make sure the US stays the fuck out of it so it doesn't waste its sons in yet another European spat so Britain can loot another colony and measure its stick next to a French stick.

 

[Earl]

Yeah, he was a scumbag, but given the realities of the post-war situation, he wouldn't actually have power anyway. And I'm fairly sure that what I propose would lead to a more stable and sane government presiding over Germany.

Thing is, whatever happens in the aftermath of defeat there will always be some chaos and giving the Military Nationalists a figurehead who will explicitly approve tere actions might encourage them and grant legitmacy.

As for the Greek-Turkish border, what about giving all of the international zone here to the Greeks? :

That looks pretty good.

Didnt Constatinople have a pretty considerable Turkish population here? Personally, Id allow the turks to keep it. iImply put, Id rather deal with Revanchist Greece than a Revanchist Turkey.

 

[WolfBear]

Germany returns to its borders. Alsace-Lorraine becomes an independent country between France and Germany.

Like this? :

November 1918 in Alsace-Lorraine - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Austria and Germany may unify. Lithuania is allowed its historical capital and Memel. Danzig remains with East Prussia, but the Polish state owns the port and the rail line to it and can export and import duty free from it. This to remain in effect till the Port of Gdynia is built. Germany may have visa free travel on a rail or designated road to and from East Prussia across the corridor. Military traffic can only cross with Polish Permission or go by sail to Konigsberg.

What happens to Gdynia itself after it is built? And to the Polish Corridor in general?

Czech and Slovak Republics formed. Sudeten Land is part of Czech Republic which will copy and paste the US Constitution as needed to get the Sudeten German's buy in.

Serbia has a fait accompli on Yugoslavia and it is relatively stable, so leave alone.

OK.

Hand Egypt the Levant.

Why not make it a part of Greater Syria instead?

Turkey becomes a Republic as historically and I simply rubberstamp their occupation of Mosul which saves a lot of issues later.

Why should Turkey get Mosul when Arabs rather than Turks are the ones who mostly live there?

Let the Hashemites run Jordan, Syria, and Baghdad and Basra.

Qajars get Azerbaijan. Independent Georgia and Armenia.

All the rest I let sort itself out.

Interesting. Makes sense, I suppose.

Another war is still inevitable, but the Europeans never seem to learn, so fuck them. Just make sure the US stays the fuck out of it so it doesn't waste its sons in yet another European spat so Britain can loot another colony and measure its stick next to a French stick.

But wasn't US participation in WWII a good thing? Though if WWII can be completely prevented, then this would be even better.

 

[WolfBear]

Thing is, whatever happens in the aftermath of defeat there will always be some chaos and giving the Military Nationalists a figurehead who will explicitly approve tere actions might encourage them and grant legitmacy.


Didnt Constatinople have a pretty considerable Turkish population here? Personally, Id allow the turks to keep it. iImply put, Id rather deal with Revanchist Greece than a Revanchist Turkey.

Yeah, an Axis Turkey in WWII would presumably be much more dangerous than an Axis Greece would be.

 

[sillygoose]

The United Nations didn't take away the US Congress's power to wage war after WWII.

Why would Hughes have been a disaster?

Security council could veto anything and rendered the UN effectively a joke organization. Who today actually cares what the UN says about anything?

Hughes was a warmonger and would have pushed for what House eventually did.

 

[WolfBear]

Security council could veto anything and rendered the UN effectively a joke organization. Who today actually cares what the UN says about anything?

Hughes was a warmonger and would have pushed for what House eventually did.

What makes you think that Hughes was a warmonger?