Alternative history

A big question with so many possible “what if” branching-off that any answer would be highly speculative – but yes, an interesting exercise.  All I can think of at this point are a few bits and pieces.

• One aspect to consider is: Would Germany be the European economic powerhouse that it is today if it hadn’t been for WWI and WWII?  The same question could be asked about Japan.  Both countries lost WWII (and very badly too, being turned into heaps of rubble), yet both became enormously wealthy over the subsequent decades – in contrast with Britain, which won the war but bankrupted itself in the process, then (as an added insult / injury) lost its empire.

• Germany up until at least 1918 (and maybe even during part of the Weimar era) apparently still retained some of its feudal, Prussian, pre-unification character.  I’ve heard it argued that (ironically enough) it was during the Hitler era that Germany became a truly modern state, though I don’t know enough about the subject to decide how much substance there is to this argument.

• WWI and WWI also affected Germany by changing the international context very dramatically.  One of Wilhelm’s gripes against Britain and France (and lesser players like Belgium, Holland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Japan) was that they all had nice, shiny colonial empires (of various sizes), whereas Germany controlled just a few territories in Africa and the Pacific (some of them purchased under the Kaiser himself, as I recall).  WWI reshuffled the colonial deck, and the wave of decolonization and nationalism that followed WWII sent most of the cards flying all over the living room floor and wrecked the colonial game altogether.  So in a sense, WWII’s aftermath leveled the playing field for Germany (which had lost its few colonies after WWI) by causing all the other imperial powers to lose their colonies too.  (See Paul Kennedy’s The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers for more details about the way in which a country’s world ranking depends not only on its absolute strength but also on its relative strength compared to other countries (and hence can fluctuate even when a country’s absolute level of power remains stable).

@rjpeters70:

Realistically, how much better off would Germany be today had it not fought World Wars I and II?

An Industrial Challenge would possibly occur with the U.K., France and Weimar Germany on board (later Romania,Hungary, Spain etc).
Military wise would each European Nation set the Norm up to a European fair, were they would show their goods and news at these fairs/markets and even trade.
Europe would bloom and boom, the U.S. and the Soviets would be jealous, maybe Japan would kick in, in the fairs for a good setting and settlement on the Asian market.

The Weimar Republic would sent very good goods in all over the World.

@rjpeters70:

They could have been like the Kurds, a people without a state), it might have significantly larger population, it could have absorbed Austria even, had the Austro-Hungarian empire collapsed.

Not likley since Germany was allready a Republic and absorbing Austria was in the mind set of A.H. not the Weimarian Republic.

@rjpeters70:

Would there have been a Soviet bear even?

A very good possibility but the European states could have been a very good counter part of it, working together and establishing an European country with its own Market like wall street.

@rjpeters70:

Was World War II and the rebuilding of Germany necessary for its modern industrial capacity?

Yes and No

Yes - because of WWII the world knew early about German Autobahn, Rockets, Jet Engine and Atom physics and working accurate to the highest limit.

No - because it would have taken longer depending on where the favors and the money would have flown to!