rmer student Wernher von Braun, who developed space rockets for NASA and had previously researched for the Nazis.
Oberth retired in 1962 at the age of 68 years.
The victorious Allies discovered the plans for the solar cannon in 1945. Detailed research revealed that the super mirror weapon was supposed to orbit the Earth at a distance of about 35,785 kilometers (22,236 miles).
A crewed space station with docking units for supply rockets, oxygen-generating hydroponic gardens, and solar-powered generators was going to form a part of the space mirror. The Allies were astounded by the scale and detailed nature of the plans.
However, throughout history, the Nazis were not the only ones trying to harness the power of the sun. In 1999, Russia unveiled a plan to use a mirror to reflect the sun to the ground during the winter. And even the ancient Greek scientist Archimedes is said to have defended the city of Syracuse with giant sun mirrors with which he is said to have burned the Roman fleet.
But what would have happened to the history of the world if Adolf Hitler had won the Second World War with some of the outlandish weapons we mentioned in this article?
We can never truly know. However, the Füherer did have plans, and they were very detailed.
Hitler’s plans for after the war
If Hitler and his confidants were to have their way, there was to be a peace conference after the war between the Axis powers consisting of Italy, Germany, and Japan.
The first centerpiece of the Nazi plans was the total subjugation of Europe. Countries such as Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands were to be wholly or at least partially incorporated into the Third Reich.
According to Heydecker and Leeb, authors of the book The Nuremberg Process, France and the countries of the Balkans should remain “in a state of constant subjugation,” while certain parts of France should be annexed into the Third Reich. Even plans for an invasion of neutral Switzerland were already in the making.
On the one hand, Hitler considered that “most Aryans” in the world were basically German; on the other hand, he was of the opinion that the “Jews” would rule the world if it were not for him.
For Britain, Hitler had initially devised a supportive or at least neutral role that involved backing Germany’s path to world domination.
However, Hitler saw Britain as a danger to his interests. After the Nazi invasion of Poland, the British declared war on Germany in 1939. Ultimately, it was clear to the Nazis that Britain would have to be subjugated entirely to maintain control of the European continent.
However, the most significant element of Nazi ideas for the reorganization of Europe and the world was the occupation of the Soviet Union and the elimination of some 30 million Slavs. Hitler wanted to conquer the country up to the Ural mountains, to create new living space for the Germans.
If Hitler had obtained access to some of his super weapons far sooner or had they been realized in the first place, he might actually have fulfilled his dreams of a Nazi super-Reich or a Thousand-Year Reich. In addition, the sun gun would definitely have solidified the German’s position as the only world super power.
On a final note, the veracity for the planning of the sun gun can again be seen in Hermann Oberth’s interview in 1961. This time, he promoted the space mirror’s peacetime attributes in the form of terraforming the Earth, using materials sourced from the moon.
However, to this day, we have found no use for such a device whether for peacetime purposes or war.