[robowombat]

A Brit friend only half jokingly wrote me that the success of the American Revolution was an unmitigated disaster for the western world. No Revolution then Great Britain would really have been great encompassing the British Isles, Canada and at least 3/4’s of the current US. A true superpower it would have been able to effectively control Europe and after 1870 the new German Empire would have been fully aware of the power of great Britain and there would have been non German Naval Acts and probably no First World War and if it had happened it would have meant a German defeat in a couple years. More likely there would have been a lot of tension and maybe war between Germany, Austria and Russia but no global catastrophe let alone any Nazi Germany or Soviet Union. The only bigger disasters he can think of was allowing the British Army to start real contingency planning with the French after 1904 or even engaging in an entente with France. better to let Germany reinforce the verdict of 1870-71 on France and then let Britain act as some sort of mediator to patch up a diplomatic settlement. The other disaster according to his lights, was the entry of the US into the World War , which doomed any chances of the combatants putting together a compromise peace which might have preserved some sort of European great power regime. After Russia collapsed, he imagines the other status quo powers would have been frantic to end the war and try and contain the chaos spilling out of Russia. He is an interestingly fellow. Very nationalistic and he loathes multicultural Britain to the tips of his fingers.

[Sherman Logan]

After Russia collapsed, he imagines the other status quo powers would have been frantic to end the war and try and contain the chaos spilling out of Russia.

Can't tell that from the actual actions of Germany and Austria at the time.They mostly saw an opportunity to aggrandize themselves at the expense of Russia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Brest-Litovsk

Delusional, to be sure, on the part of the German government.