Nuclear weapons would probably not mature in time to decide this short Pacific war. Research was already beginning, however, so removing the historical war does not erase the technology. American and British programs could still produce weapons around the middle of the 1940s, perhaps somewhat later without the same emergency. The central counterfactual becomes who completes a weapon first and whether its first use occurs in the delayed European war. The dates and national outcomes remain uncertain because the historical Manhattan Project would not unfold unchanged.
Notable Point · 2:58:40-3:00:57
Nuclear weapons shift to a later European war
The Pacific conflict likely ends before an atomic weapon is ready, leaving its first possible use to a later confrontation in Europe.