I thought of a timeline where Communism would be the enemy force, rather than Fascism. Beginning with the World War I era, Japan does not make its Twenty-One Demands on China, knowing the Allies will render it in vain, thus making Japan and China on less hostile terms. In the Washington Naval Conference, Britain continues its Anglo-Japanese Alliance while maintaining friendly relations with China, Britain and the United States putting the screws on Japan to not mouth water over China. Thus there is no invasion of China and Manchuria and no border conflicts with the Soviets in the 1930s. Meanwhile, in 1930s Europe, the Soviet Union and Germany sign an early Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact. The Germans desiring an alliance with France and Britain against the Soviets, refrain from immediate aggression against the areas promised to them by the Pact. The Soviets invade Finland and Romania and annex Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia like in OTL but earlier. The Germans, trapping the Soviets, protest their actions to the British and French, leading to appeasement. The Soviets eventually begin World War II by invading Eastern Poland, the last piece of land the Germans promised to the Soviets that they hadn't taken yet. The United Kingdom, France, and Germany (not sure if Italy would join) declare war on the Soviet Union in response. The earlier mentioned Anglo-Japanese Alliance plays a part when, the strategy of a two-front war is found to be useful. Instead of invading China, the Japanese combine forces with the French and British against the Soviets and Mongolians to the Far East. The United States and China find no benefit in fighting the Soviets, causing them to stay neutral. From what I can make out of this situation is, an Anglo-French Cold War against Germany.
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