Germany

I just watched Where Eagles Dare in preparation for bringing it up to a friend here at work so he could borrow it. I had the strange thought while watching it that in some ways, I miss that Germany. I mean, in no way am I disputing that the Third Reich was evil, terrible and otherwise extremely undesireable, or that we weren't right to bring the war to them. But since then, Germany has been completely... I mean, it's hard to even respect Germany these days.

So, I went and looked up some Harry Turtledove and other alternate history stuff. One of my favorite alternate history conceits is that there's still a Nazi Reich in Europe in the present day. Harry Turtledove's Southern Victory series may have had an even better idea; in that one, since the CSA managed to not be defeated in the American Civil War, and was traditionally allied with Britain and France, the USA was allied with the "Second Reich", i.e. the Prussian based Kaiser-helmed Germany that fought in WWI. Without the US support, the Etente powers actually didn't defeat Germany in this scenario. The series goes too far, in my opinion, with recreating the Nazi ideology and experience very specifically on CSA soil. That strains credibility. But the idea of Kaiserreich surviving to the present day is intriguing.

The board game Tannhäuser, which I've discussed here before, also has a Reich that is an extension of the Kaiserreich, not a Nazi Third Reich (although the imagery is very Nazi themed regardless.)

One of these days, I'd really like to do something with some of this alternate history. I remember posting a fairly detailed alternate history setting that I had come up with several months ago here, but honestly, I think I now like the idea of an extended Kaiserreich better than an extended Third Reich. It opens up at least a little ambiguity. Nazis are so obviously and culturally ingrained in our culture as evil that it makes the setting simplistic; but if it's the Kaiser's troops... are they the bad guys? Suddenly it's not so clear.