Infected Mushroom wrote:Please consider the following hypothetical:
WWII starts just as in the original timeline and France still falls.
However, only the British Empire (no USA, no Soviet Union) opposes the Axis. However, all subjects and citizens of the Empire whether or not in a settler colony are 100 percent loyal to the British Empire, really want and need Britain to win and there are no independence movements whatsoever. In this timeline, Britain can try to literally arm up all of India, all of its African colonies etc with no political considerations whatsoever for dealing with insurrections after. In other words, this is Britain that can and will fight at full power.
Can this British Empire singlehanded win WWII?
Or do they lose? Keep in mind that the Empire can literally summon and arm troops from 1/4 of the entire world and India alone has more population than the whole Axis combined (I think).
Assume that there are no nuclear weapons.
Without the United States, probably - assuming a much later end to the Pacific War via British and Soviet invasions.
Without the Soviet Union, probably not. The German invasion of the Soviet Union was the last nail in the coffin of the Nazi Reich, Hitler overextended his armies and allowed his emotions to get the best of him to force his soldiers to fight in the winter and make stupid moves that allowed the Soviets to - post-winter - surround and force the surrender of entire armies. Not to mention the Soviets still managed to win the war and beat the rest of the allies to Berlin in spite of receiving the worst of fighting against the Nazis.
In this hypothetical you're suggesting Britain goes it alone. Without the United States, without the Soviet Union. With all her European allies lost to the enemy. Magically without her subjects getting rebellious. Employing a Soviet-style "overwhelm them with numbers" approach? I don't see it working.
With the Soviet Union and United States 100% guaranteed to stay out of the fight in this scenario, the Axis powers can focus their sights entirely on the British Empire. Japan - without having to worry about the United States fighting them - can continue with their plans to invade India and Australia + New Zealand after their sweep through Malaysia and the Dutch East Indies. We can assume fighting in these countries would be similar to the fighting in Malaysia and the Dutch East Indies: The Japanese, with greater naval and air strength in the region and with better trained troops would knock the more rapidly conscripted, untrained Aussie/Indian troops. The British, like IRL, would likely focus their trained British servicemen in defending the homeland while sending untrained colonial conscripts to the Japanese theater. IRL, the main thing that stopped Japan from conquering Australia and India was the United States navy approaching their rear flank. Naval forces dispatched to assist invasions of Australia and India were pulled back towards the Pacific to fight the U.S. naval forces. You've removed Japan's big enemy/weakness.
Likewise in Europe, Germany - and to a lesser extent, the underbelly of Europe - Italy - would be able to focus entirely on an invasion of the rest of Africa and the Middle East: British and Free French possessions held there, as well as the British homeland. Guaranteeing the Soviet Union refrains from the fight means 100% of the German war effort can be spent fighting the British, and the German war machine outranks the British on nearly all fronts. Britain has a stronger navy and more numbers if she's taking a Soviet-style approach of throwing untrained conscripts at the enemy to overwhelm them with numbers. If Hitler could focus the Luftwaffe at max power at the British Isles and could continue attacking RAF bases - leaving the RAF virtually useless - instead of switching his attacks entirely to London and other civilian cities, it would be likely that an invasion of the British Isles could eventually work. If nothing else, the Germans would be able to prevent British invasions of Europe like D-Day or the invasion of Sicily. Possibly until Japanese naval forces could be sent to assist in an invasion of Britain.
Basically you've removed the biggest weakness the Axis Powers had: Overwhelming themselves with enemies and opening their war on multiple fronts. Yeah, the Axis Powers are going to stand a much better chance when they're only fighting one major enemy.