The Great Crusade (Reds! Part 3)

[Jello_Biafra]

The Great Crusade

A History of the Global Antifascist Struggle

"Soldiers, sailors and airmen of the United Nations! You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you."*

Army General David Eisenhower

"They told us that our collaboration with the German fascists was necessary to preserve our neutrality. And yet in less than a month, the King had appointed [Sven Olov] Lindholm as his Prime Minister, and the Germans had made us their vassal. No one could escape the war."

Greta Gustaffson, Swedish actress and emigre

"If there is one thing to be remembered about the Second World War, it must be this: when the world plunged headlong into War on 7 May 1940, the human race numbered 2,300 million persons; When the last unconditional surrender was received on 12 October 1946, there were 2,200 million living persons."

George Orwell

"In spite of our justifiable cynicism, we should never forget that for all the power politics behind the scenes, the Second World War was still primarily a moral cause. In spite of my inclination to deconstruct such narratives, I do feel comfortable saying that we were, as the British would say, 'on the side of the angels'."

Michel Foucault

"I have the real feeling I 'evacuated' 30,000 Jews already, by shooting them, at Riga. Is what I did 'evacuation'? When they fell, were they 'evacuated'? There are another 20,000, at least, waiting for similar 'evacuation'. - I just think it is helpful to know what words mean... with all respect."

SS-Standartenführer Rudolf Lange

"Many veterans say they are upset at being criticized for the atrocities they committed fighting on the Soviet front; at least as upset as the people who criticize them for the atrocities. But really, what upsets them is not the criticism, but being reminded of their part in them. Just as their critics are really upset about having their myth of the glorious antifascist struggle ruined by the reality of it."

Henry Kerrigan†, British war correspondent

"The euphemism we used was 'liquidation'. We used the phrase a lot. 'Liquidation' was the common solution for a number of situations, whether it was captured Waffen-SS, civilian collaborators, suspected spies, or deserters. They don't talk about that part in the war movies or the news reels. When they do, they justify it by saying that our victims deserved it. But that's just bullshit; the people I liquidated didn't deserve it any more than anyone else. What I did was evil, but it was necessary evil."

Lt. Colonel Jane Schafer†

"Just as you supported and carried out a policy of not wanting to share the earth with the Slavic people, Jewish people and the people of a number of other nations—as though you and your ilk had any right to determine who should and who should not inhabit the world—we find that no one, that is, no member of the human race, can be expected to want to share the earth with you. This is the reason, and the only reason, you must hang."*

Hannah Arendt, German judge for the International Military Tribunal

"Here in Britain, we cannot seem to decide if the Americans are our friends or our enemies. In my youth, America was like our somewhat strange cousin; still our family and always welcome at our house, but he had his strange quirks that we didn't understand. Suddenly in 1933, America was our enemy, threatening our Dominions with an invasion by Godless Communists. And just as suddenly, less than ten years later we had propaganda posters featuring a Yankee soldier telling us 'This man is your friend, he fights for freedom!' And now I'm starting to hear talk that we're enemies again."

C.S. Lewis

"Once I saw the photos of the aftermath of the atomic bombing of Kyoto, I couldn't get Ken Bainbridge's comment out of my mind; We really were all sons of bitches for our part in the project."

Andrei Sakharov

"It's difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart."*

Anne Frank

'*' denotes a parallel quote to OTL
'†' denotes a fictional person

---

Foreword

Unfortunately, my friends, all that you get at the moment is a teaser of things to come. This section of the Reds! timeline will cover the period from the start of World War 2 until its conclusion, and the immediate aftermath.

Stylistically, things are going to change a bit for this section. There's going to be less epistolary content, and more narratives and short stories. So it will read a bit less like a history scrapbook and a bit more like a novel.

Tune in at some unspecified date in the nearish(?) future for an overview of the sequence of events leading to the start of the war, as well as summaries of the geopolitics at play.

For those of you discovering this for the first time, this is third part of a timeline where events led to a revolutionary socialist movement taking power in the United States after a very different Progressive era resulted in a very different labor movement and a different World War 1. Unfortunately, since the early parts in the process of being revised and retconned, there's no easy way to read the whole thing. The first part has been revised up through the Roaring Twenties, and can be found here. The second part, detailing the post revolutionary period of the 1930s, is a victim of me changing horses mid stream. It can be found here, but be warned: all updates for 1936 and prior are of dubious canonicity and are pending revision. Hopefully, the later content and commentary will be enough to figure out a general inkling of what has changed.

However, I will be compiling important posts as an FAQ in this thread, to help sort out this mess. So hopefully, we'll get through this mess alive.

[Dan]

Like the others - Subscribed.

[Iñaki]

Me too

Subscribed

[Van555]

ahhh yeah

[Turquoise Blue]

Great! I love Reds! and I think its a very good world.

[Luath]

Whoopee!!! This will be A.W.E.S.O.M.E

[Kongzilla]

I'm not really sure what this TL is about. Would someone mind explaining.

[teg]

Originally Posted by Kongzilla

I'm not really sure what this TL is about. Would someone mind explaining.

http://www.alternatehistory.com/disc...d.php?t=122672

http://www.alternatehistory.com/disc...d.php?t=148698

Also I've just realized that Kyoto gets nuked in this timeline, and I have a funny suspicion exactly why it was chosen. Damn it. It very much does seem that this timeline's World War II is going to be much more bloody than OTL.

teg

[Petike]

One nitpick, JB : Given the butterfly ripples in this TL, I'd expect George Orwell to not be known by his pseudonym, but by a different one or as Eric Arthur Blair.

[Plumber]

YESSSSSSSSS.

[The Sandman]

Originally Posted by teg

http://www.alternatehistory.com/disc...d.php?t=122672

http://www.alternatehistory.com/disc...d.php?t=148698

Also I've just realized that Kyoto gets nuked in this timeline, and I have a funny suspicion exactly why it was chosen. Damn it. It very much does seem that this timeline's World War II is going to be much more bloody than OTL.

teg

My guess is that Stimson isn't a major figure in the UASR government and therefore there isn't anyone advocating to preserve Kyoto's cultural treasures for the future.

Given that the war lasts into '46, I'd have expected that Germany eats a nuke or two as well. Probably before Japan, in fact; the only reason Germany didn't get hit IOTL is they fell before any nukes were ready. Nuremberg seems a likely target.

And I still think that ITTL Japan would have to be an earlier priority, because an invasion of the Kuriles and South Sakhalin is pretty much required if the UASR and USSR want to keep any sort of supply line between them open during the first four years or so of the war.

[Nevermore]

Neat, I actually get to be there for the start of a threads rather than playing catch up.

A very nice, if somewhat terrifying, look into the 'Great Crusade,' Jello. I was literally gawking at Orwell's implication of 100 million dead from this. Even with a Holocaust that's not quite as severe as OTL, that's almost beyond words. Especially when, even if it was likely hyperbole, that the Soviets and Americans are going to bear the brunt of it as they're 80% of the casualties.

It's also a bit shocking to hear about the liquidation procedures, even if I rather suspected that would be the case. I'm guessing that this is one of the things posters in Reds!' future point to, if they're in the FBU, to say that the UASR and USSR were almost as bad as Nazi Germany? I really like the quotes by Arendt and Lewis, too.

It's an absolute shame that Kyoto goes up in a mushroom cloud. I'm guessing that this will be a definite point of contention between the Japanese and Americans, even if they become official allies after the war.

P.S. Does Anne Frank have a bright future ahead of her ITTL? I'd assume that's a reason she got a nod in the preview...

[d32123]

Subscribed. Amazing as usual.

[Jello_Biafra]

Reds! Timeline FAQ

What happens to Canada?

Whatever happens, no one really knows what it means to be a Canadian anymore

What happens to Christmas?

It is considered more of a religious holiday than OTL

Why don't revolutionaries steamroll through Latin America?

Because revolution is hard.

What happens to sports?

Things change as much as they stay the same. And Hockey world cups.

Was their Prohibition in the US?

Yes, but not to the same extent as OTL.

What about film, theater and such?

Read Allo Allo Secret Army's posts, because he's much more knowledgeable on the subject than I.

Is there an 'Unmentionable Sea Mammal'?

Yes.

What type of government and ideology do they have in the UASR?

Depends on who you ask, but Americans call them a 'matryoshka republic' and 'Marxism-DeLeonism' respectively.

Any idea what's gonna happen in the middle east?

Cold War skullduggery

How is the International Communist project different ITTL?

More Marx, less Lenin.

How would one publish a book in the UASR?

Like OTL, it involves kissing the right asses.

What's the American economy like in the 1930s?

Complicated.

More coming later...

[eliphas8]

This is looking awesome, really can't wait to read more given how awesome the last two are. By the way, is there any chance we may see the part two entries all collected together? Because at the end finding the later updates is really hard.

[Jello_Biafra]

Originally Posted by eliphas8

This is looking awesome, really can't wait to read more given how awesome the last two are. By the way, is there any chance we may see the part two entries all collected together? Because at the end finding the later updates is really hard.

They will eventually make their way into the Finished Timelines and Scenarios thread after revision.

[Japhy]

I'm not at all that interested in the ideological nature of Reds but I'll admit for some time I've been interested in seeing your take on WWII so, I'll be reading this and keeping quiet. Subscribed.

[Chipperback]

I'm interested in seeing how the UASR battles the Fascist.

I'm also interested in seeing how the homefront handles the war. What the propaganda is..

And would we still need a "Double V" campaign even with the cultural revolution

[Urban fox]

I guess Nazi Germany and Japan suffer worse than OTL, still given the changed world situation the U.S.S.R and China could be much better off.

[GiantMonkeyMan]

Consider me teased, Jello.