A five-year delay to the First World War raises competing possibilities for Europe's states. Continued trade and cooperation make the prewar situation seem less fractured than the late 1930s in this comparison. Austria-Hungary could still collapse under internal pressure, while Russia could grow substantially. A question specifically about the navies holds those wider conditions steady so that fleet development can be examined. Those are assumptions for the exercise, and other political outcomes remain possible.
Notable Point · 44:42-45:38
What a five-year delay to the First World War assumes
A delayed First World War illustrates why a naval counterfactual must define what happens to the wider political and economic setting.