Poll: Would you time-travel and kill Hitler?

[Deathman101]

My belief in time travel being a very very bad idea prevents such a thing. Kind of like that short story 'A Sound of Thunder' (NOT THE MOVIE GOD DAMN YOU).

 

[irani_che]

havent you idiots played RED ALERT??????

 

[Phlakes]

No, it would either be impossible or create a time paradox that could destroy the universe.

 

[no oneder]

I would not kill hitler because I have kind of taken a vow to not kill any human being. I take this vow very seriously.....

Yeah right, as if you could 'kill' people.

OP: I don't know. It is quite tempting but one of the rookie mistakes with time travel is that . You could potentially destroy the universe. I would kill him then go back to the present day to see how things changed. If t was a bad choice then I go back and prevent me killing him in a Back to the Future Part II-esque odyssey. If present day is good or better than it already was then I would never go back.

EDIT: I mised the word 'kill' up there, because I was distracted.

 

[geldonyetich]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Ptitlekz83hawz?from=Main.HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct

Hah, it's even a trope.

Relevant to this discussion:

Frankly, if time travel existed, at all, at any point in human history, we'd be so utterly fucked by petty tyranny that it'd make Hitler look like a schoolyard bully in comparison. Time travel is, like, the ultimate tool for a small group of people to have the fate of the rest of humanity in an unbreakable grip about its neck.

havent you idiots played RED ALERT??????

Bah, scooped if only because I was wrestling with the Captcha sequence at the time.

 

[Anchupom]

Overlooking the general understanding of how time machines are most likely to work, I wouldn't kill him.

We'd probably cause some universe-shredding paradox, and when we return to our time, would be completely unfamiliar with the technologies.

War helps us advance, simple as. Bring on WW3 so I can have a hoverboard.

That last sentence was said in jest, I don't condone the idea of war.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Probably not. War is a terrible thing, but it also stimulates technological progress. Who knows, if WW2 had never happened, our technology may be something on par with the 50-70's.

That has got to be the single worst reason ever to allow a war and genocide to happen.

It's not the only reason, but I wouldn't fuck with the timeline anyway, it may not result in the holocaust, but it could be a shit-tonne worse.

 

[SmokingMirrors]

I wouldn't for no more than two reasons;

1 - If time were to run on a linear track, going back to stop something from occuring would be impossible to achieve seeing as once you manage it your past self will have no incentive to do the same hence creating a paradox.
2 - Killing him would have given the Nazi party a martyr, and an immortal leader is far more dangerous than one of flesh and bone that can still be shown for the tyrant that he truelly is.

 

[Elf Defiler Korgan]

Well while I would love to indulge in revenge fantasy, shouldn't Stalin and Mao be higher on the list (bigger death count, especially if you are talking about domestic suppression: decades of gulags and purges, failed great leap forward and costly cultural revolution)?

Then again, Hitler was one of the key figures behind world war II beginning. A truly tragic endeavour. My point though, as much as he is villified as the biggest bad-guy ever, others have killed and negatively effected more lives--like Genghis Khan.

 

[[The]Rock]

I wouldn't, without him there wouldn't be the Volkswagen, and I wouldn't have a car.

 

[Hader]

Never tamper with the past, just leave it where it falls - behind you.

 

[CastIronWin]

we all know what happens when a time traveller goes back and kills Hitler before WWII, the Russians kick off and we get the C&C: red alert series.

But in all seriousness I'd probably give it a go and off the freaky megalomaniac, for the shits and giggles.

 

[Squeaky]

Well if hitler didnt make the 3rd Reich it would be a very different world the Russians probly would have started world war 2 and would have probly won due to them being quite technologicly advanced admittly having the French and British navay would help but Starlin was obessed with planes (well unless Starlin still ended up paranoid).

And If Hitler was killed during the WWII if he started it during 1941 then we would be fucked as the mistakes he made were the only reason we won, such as attacking Russia several months after getting i think 2/3 year peace treaty.

 

[BlumiereBleck]

No, think of all the good that happened because he invaded Poland(minus the killings) but the inventions, America getting back on its feet, United Nations!

 

[Blatherscythe]

Nope, the only real reason Germany lost was because of the I AM RIGHT, I'M FUCKING GOD, MY REICH WILL LAST 1000 YEARS JEWS AND COMMUNISTS MUST ALL DIE, THE SLAVS WILL BE OUR SLAVES, PURE AYRAN RACE! mentality the Austrain nutcase had. He killed anyone giving him advice other than "Good plan mien furhur" and made the worse battle plans (albiet Blitzkrieg but that doesn't work against a prepared enemy) that most dictators do.

If anything I'd kill Hienrich Himmler, the man who created to the solution of the Jewish problem, the Nazi Death Camps. He also was head of the secret police (or Gestapo) and was Hitlers right hand man. If Himmler was out of the picture the Nazi's would still be using inefficent methods (firing squads and such) to kill Jews, it would still be a massacare but not on the scale it was. I also doubt Hitler would get replaced by Himmlers replacement because the asshole was a fucking paranoid and delusional fucktard.

Killing Hitler would also do nothing to slow down or damage the Nazi war machine, it could only benifit it because the prick made such terrible strategies. Hitler proved what could happen if you push a country around for too long, Hitler gave his people hope and gave the rest of the world the finger on their behalf. He rebuilt their economy after the high taxes the Allies made Germany pay and took back their original lands. Nazi Germany needed to happen, or it would be something else. History shows us that unstable countries like 20th century Germany are most likely to become dictatorships.

He could have won. He shouldnt have fucked with Russia. Originally they had an agreement of neutrality. The Europeans and American Allies would have never made past France. Especially with Japan mucking up the Pacific and cruising through China.

Ah Russia, an excellent point to prove Hitler's shit strategy and preparation. Hitler wanted to press into Russia when it would soon be winter. His generals told him it was too late to enter Russia and to wait for next year, he ignored them. He sent in his troops with summer attire believing it would make them want to work harder to get home to avoid Russian winter. He made the biggest fucking mistake in the entire fucking war, Napoleon made the same god-damn mistake he did and to make matters worse he dragged Russia into was against him, they only kicked his sorry Austrian ass because the dumbfuck decided to go during the winter with his MY ARMY IS INVINCIBEL attitude. That was the problem with the fucking Axis forces, they took on too many foes at one time, Russia was piss scared of Hitler and wanted to avoid contact and America had no love for Britan and only got involved when Japan bombed pearl harbour. Hitler sucked massive balls when it came to foresight with his plans, want another example? He stormed into a room and shot a pistol shot into the roof and declared his party was taking over the German Government, he claimed he had the support of the police (a fucking lie) as well as his own party, the Prime Minister was there and he decided to pretend to bow to Hitlers will and as soon as the police showed up had him and the party leader arrested for treason. He was put in jail for 7 year (I believe) and wrote his mandatory "Best Selling" book, Mien Kampf.

 

[imperialreign]

Honestly, no. If Hitler died, someone else would take his place, and those mistakes that Hitler made might of never happened, and Nazi Germany could have won.

fun fact, there already is a game that plays with this idea

you kill Hitler, someone else takes his place and then takes over the damn world

I remember this one, and I'm fairly certain that's what would've happened as well. Stalin was just as crazed (if not crazier) than Hitler, and the Soviet war machine of the time was the most powerful force in the world . . . even though they were somewhat trailing behind technologically.

I've hinted at the fact before that the whole world should be glad Hitler made the biggest mistake of the war and broke the Soviet-Nazi pact that existed between the two powers. I think if he hadn't, Stalin would've patiently waited until Hitler had exhausted his war machine, or had "won" . . . then Stalin would've proceeded to steam-roll through a weakened victor with little to no resistance.

 

[ChaoticKraus]

Actually, Hitler was a pretty craptastic strategist that made lot's of mistakes. Someone more competent might have ended up in power and could potentially tip the balance in favor of Germany.

And as it has been stated, the cold war could have gotten much much worse. I mean look at the Red Alert series! Global war between west and east because Einstein went back in time and murdered hitler.

And these are even the outcomes that you can guess yourself to, who knows what could happen. For all it's faults the world of today are pretty fine compared to lot's of other situations.

 

[Jaime_Wolf]

Setting aside the question being probably impossible and based on a probably very flawed notion of "time", I'd say no.

Terrible things happen, fixing one bad thing, even a really bad thing, really doesn't change much, especially compared to the risk you'd be taking.

 

[TheBoulder]

I wouldn't because it would completely fuck up our time line.
I also wouldn't have been born because my great grandmother was a war bride.