If We Enter a World War – and Lose

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In the years leading up to World War II, tensions were rising in Europe as Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, was expanding its territorial ambitions. The United Kingdom and France were trying to maintain peace through diplomacy, but Germany’s aggressive actions eventually led to the outbreak of the war in 1939.

The United States initially pursued a policy of neutrality and non-intervention in the early stages of the war. But later, the United States started to support to the Allied powers, including the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, through programs like Lend-Lease. It wasn’t until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, that the United States officially entered World War II. This attack prompted the U.S. to declare war on Japan, and subsequently, Germany declared war on the U.S., leading to America’s full involvement in the war effort alongside the Allied powers.

If We Enter a World War – and Lose! (1937)

Interestingly, before the beginning of the Second World War, the premise was that England and Germany would make a treaty and attack the United States from Canada. The imaginary map below was published in many Hearst newspapers.

This map of the United States contained the following text:

‘The United States, with the greatest resources on Earth, would suffer the fate Poland, Austria, and Germany – our prizes lands would be divided among the conquerors.’

The creators of this map prophesied the following fate for various regions of the country:

• Washington, Oregon, California: ‘Our rich Pacific coast, with a wealth of minerals, oil, lumber, and its many natural advantages would fall east pray to the Allied conquerors. This Empire could be defended against attack from the east.‘
• Montana, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, New York, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, parts of Arizona, Mexico, Pennsylvania and Texas: ‘All that is left of the United States of America – reduced by pressure of embattled conquerors on all sides. We could still till our soil, man our industries and conduct our business affairs, we could ship products abroad – under supervision and control of other powers.’
• Wisconsin, Michigan: ‘A big prize for one of the victors – minerals, foodstuffs, shipping outlets.’
• Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut: ‘The empire state corridor conceded to U.S. as a buffer between two victorious allies who may be enemies it the next conflict’
• New York: ‘New York City to high a prize to be awarded a single conqueror would be an international free port‘.
• Alabama and parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Tennessee: ‘The “Corridor of Death”, where America’s bounty of steel, coal, and cotton could be diverted to channels of destruction, munitions plants dwarfing the combined output of all Europe would spring up in this “Buffer State”, cut out of the heart of a continent as was Poland’
• Delaware, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida: ‘The reach east coast would be stripped from the U.S. and divided among foreign powers’.
• Parts of Arizona, Mexico, and Texas: ‘As a reward to one of the successful alliesallies, this section, rich in farming and mineral resources, would be ceded’.
• Hawai: ‘ The United States would lose this mid-Pacific stepping stone and naval base.’
• Alaska: ‘Rich Alaska mineral, lumber and fur resources were taken over by a conqueror’
• Panama Canal: ‘Panama canal linking the Earth’s greatest oceans would be under the joint control of victorious powers’

New Prussia

At the height of World War I, many publications also voiced fears that America would be the target of aggression.

The map below appeared earlier on the cover of Life magazine on February 10, 1916, calling for direct U.S. action against German aggression in Europe.

To learn more about World War have a look at the following books and movies:

• World War II: The Definitive Visual History from Blitzkrieg to the Atom Bomb
• Hidden Side of World War II
• The Man in the High Castle