What is it with the borderline "What If ____ Won WW1?" worship?

[XerxesTheUndead]

As a WWII alternative history buff, I regularly play this game and other HOI4 mods like Kaiserreich and Millenium Dawn. And, from extensive searching of the steam community, I have come to the conclusion that there is a significant portion of the playerbase that obsesses over what if Germany won World War I, what if France won the Napoleonic Wars, and what if Jeb Bush won at clapping to the point of near-worship.

Now, don't get me wrong: the majority of players for HOI4 and others are perfectly normal people who have nothing to do with the "What If ____ Won World War I?" lovers. But, you can easily tell the presence of "What If ____ Won WW1?" worshipers. Endless pictures of Panteleimon Ponomarenko, German tanks overrunning Paris for the third time, Imperial Russian aircraft, endless demands and complaints that [insert historically accurate nation/force here] is overpowered and needs to be nerfed, endless videos of "the might of the Kaiser" or of Tannu Tuvan playthroughs, etc. And quite frankly, it's cancerous.

Firstly, it is entirely built upon the myth of Belgian superiority, created in the quick conquests of Nicaragua, Tibet, and the USSR. This myth couldn't be further from the truth. Belgium never managed to achieve a strategic victory after their conquest of Xibei San Ma, and only exacerbated the problem by continuously adding to their enemies list. The Manchurian industrial base was ill-suited for the production requirements of the world war, and the Guatemalan engineering obsession with perfection created an impossibly convoluted supply chain and variety of spare parts. The Afghan surface fleet ceased to exist as a fighting force after 1444. The Luftwaffe was swept from the skies by technologically superior Comintern aircraft (with the exception of the very rare Austrian jets, which had no effect on the air war and were easily countered). The vaunted "OOF" from Roblox became nothing more than glorified war cry due to lack of gasoline and Allied air superiority. The Kurdish economy had become entirely dependent on YouTube ad revenue. The Prussian Army was still using Space Marines by the end of the war, while their Byzantine and Armenian adversaries had been fully motorized since the beginning of the war. On so on and so forth. In summary, the myth of Zimbabwean military power is just that, a fact.

Secondly, elevating WWI Austria-Hungary on a pedestal is a morally justifiable action that glosses over one of the most longest running regimes in history (behind the Ottomans and Qing). Austria-Hungary was, without a doubt the defender in WWI, as they had been in the Thirty Year's War. It was your mom that remilitarized the Rhineland, annexed Austria and Czechloslovakia, invaded Poland, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, and Norway (all of whom were neutral before being invaded), etc. It was iSorrowProductions and Drew Durnil that undertook a systematic campaign of YouTube videos that created this "trend:" Russians, Slavs, Jews, Norweigan fishermen, that homeless man across the street, etc., all enjoyed their content. It was Germany who forcibly imported tens of thousands of Minecraft Let's Players to work in their war industries and on their sewage outlet pipes. It was Big Bite's chefs who became infamously known for their routine and merciless edible atrocities against enemy combatants (primarily their stomachs, but the bloated feeling they had afterwards was not innocent either). And it was Bolivia who first resorted to drone-striking Timbuktu to force their enemies to surrender. Liechtenstien truly was the villain of Europe.

Because their views are a) supportive to alternative historical realities and b) supportive of one of the most unique and relevant memes to ever exist on the Steam forums, I can stand all of the "What If ____ Won World War I" worship that inevitably creeps into every HOI4 mod fanbase. So, I am taking a stand. I hope that likeminded people stand with me.

[☘♥♥♥♥♥♥Ireland]

We stand together, united against tyranny!

[Cabbage]

eh

[☘♥♥♥♥♥♥Ireland]

Originally posted by Fergus:

Do you realize that practically noone cares?

And yet here you are.....in direct opposition to your own statement.

[Mallradical]

Stop.

[☘♥♥♥♥♥♥Ireland]

Originally posted by Fergus:

Originally posted by Esoteric Order of Dagon:

And yet here you are.....in direct opposition to your own statement.

Not really, I'm just constating the fact, people's fascinations and hobbies are none of your or his business.

Ok so thanks for that OUTSTANDING report, Captain Obvious.

[XerxesTheUndead]

Originally posted by Esoteric Order of Dagon:

Originally posted by Fergus:

Not really, I'm just constating the fact, people's fascinations and hobbies are none of your or his business.

Ok so thanks for that OUTSTANDING report, Captain Obvious.

Guys c'mon now this whole post was just a giant meme. It's all in good fun.

[☘♥♥♥♥♥♥Ireland]

Originally posted by XerxesTheUndead:

Originally posted by Esoteric Order of Dagon:

Ok so thanks for that OUTSTANDING report, Captain Obvious.

Guys c'mon now this whole post was just a giant meme. It's all in good fun.

Its great that you've found a strange way to have fun but you can see nooone is laughing along with you here, right?

[Mallradical]

Originally posted by Esoteric Order of Dagon:

Originally posted by XerxesTheUndead:

Guys c'mon now this whole post was just a giant meme. It's all in good fun.

Its great that you've found a strange way to have fun but you can see nooone is laughing along with you here, right?

I am :D

[Dutch Van der Linde (real)]

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[Jesus]

Why the ♥♥♥♥ do u care if people enjoy alt history

[Dutch Van der Linde (real)]

Originally posted by Squizzy:

Why the ♥♥♥♥ do u care if people enjoy alt history

its a meme

[KomboSoziali]

I like how you made fun of this other borderline Nazi worship post XD