Made some changes, quite a hodge-podge, still a draft. I'm wondering what the Soviet Union might have done if A) they didn't have to worry about the Japanese after a Sovet-Japanese Neutrality Pact in late 1937, how it might affect their war, and B) what might have happened in Tukhachevsky hadn't been killed in the Great Purge. Any ideas would be great.
Also, I really want to kill Adolf Hitler in May of 1943, you know, that one bomb that didn't go off. Any ideas on who would take his place would be great. Note that much of the later events in this draft timeline could be changed completely due to other developments I have forgotten.
Enjoy the map!
1930
May 28th: POD - Jiang Jieshi, Generalissimo of the Republic of China, is unsuspectingly fatally wounded while inspecting the front lines during the Central Plains War.
June 2nd: Liu Zhi becomes the new Premier of China.
July 25th: Xuzhou is taken by the warlord coalition after more than 250,000 casualties.
August 25th: Qingdao falls to the warlords.
September 5th: The Nanjing government surrenders to the warlord coalition
September 22nd: Yan Xishan becomes the new leader of the Kuomintang.
1931
April 19th: Hu Hanmin establishes a rival government in Guangzhou, and receives the backing of the Guangxi clique, instigating a civil war that would take 150,000 as casualties of war.
September 24th: The Mukden Incident begins the Japanese Invasion of Manchuria. Zhang Xueliang, the warlord of Manchuria, establishes resistant forces against the Japanese.
November 13th: Though they had been losing before the Japanese invasion, the Guangzhou government gains sovereignty as the Nanjing government collapses. The Kuomintang reorganizes in Guangzhou and names Wang Jingwei as the new Premier.
1932
March: Shanghai is bombed by the Japanese. Thousands are killed.
April: The Great Manchu Nation of Manchuoko is formally established.
1933
March 7th: Japanese forces continue their advance into China, occupying the province of Jehol and mounting an invasion of the Great Wall region. Wang Jingwei valiantly launches a counter-invasion against the Japanese.
June: The Chinese offensive stalls and they are forced to negotiate for a truce.
July: Yan Xishan becomes the new Generalissimo of the Republic of China.
1934
February 18th: Yan Xishan, in a rash move launches a surprise invasion from the west of Manchukuo. A poor decision on his part is forcing China to declare war on Japan, which means that the United States will not later send aid due to the Neutrality Acts. At this time, however, Xishan believes that the Germans will send them enough material to earn them victory over Japan.
March: In response to the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Neutrality Act of 1934 is passed in the United States, prohibiting American citizens from selling arms to belligerents in an international war. The act does not set limits on trading raw materials, however.
April 27th: Japanese claim victory in the Battle of Shanghai.
May 6th: Southern Shanxi has been taken by the Imperial Japanese Army.
May 11th: Nanjing falls to the path of Japan’s conquest.
July: The Second Neutrality Act of 1934 is passed within the US, closing loopholes in the first act.
1935
January: Fall of Hankou to the Japanese.
1936
May: The Neutrality Act of 1936 is passed, tightening restrictions on businesses and citizens from aiding belligerents.
July: Wang Jingwei moves to occupied Nanjing and agrees to begin a collaborationist government there, hoping to begin a wide-scale East Asian liberation movement.
August: Yan Xishan and other generals move the capital to Chongqing.
August 20th: Fall of Changsha to the Imperial Japanese Army.
1937
June: [Soviet commander Mikhail Tukhachevsky is not convicted and executed in the Moscow Trials. Evidence never comes up against him.]
September: The Chinese Soviet Republic begins the Long March to the west, some to Yan’an, and some even further to the Sinkiang under Soviet puppet warlord Sheng Sicai. [Mao waited too long to begin the Long March, as the Soviet had not been under a significant seige by the Nationalists. The March will be even more grueling, with the Japanese throughout China.]
October: Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact signed, the border is somewhat demilitarized. Germans are seen more as an enemy, as they’ve been supporting China against the Japanese since the beginning of the war.
1938
February: Operation Ichigo is launched, establishing a continuous Japanese railway from Beijing to Hong Kong.
September: End of Stalin’s Great Purges. [Due to butterflies and less stress on Stalin having to worry about a Japanese invasion, more than 60,000 people are not killed in TTL. This includes notable General Mikhail Tukhachevsky.]
1939
June: Negotiations begin with the Kuomintang for an armistice.
August: Spanish Civil War ends, with victory for the Nationalists under Francisco Franco.
1940
February: From Chongqing and western bases, the Kuomintang and Chinese Communists still put up a resistance against the Japanese steamroller, drawing hope that the Nazis victories in the west will mean their ally will soon aid them in taking down Japan.
April: The Soviet Union ends major hostilities in Finland, setting up a puppet government and declaring victory. However, a rump Finland supported by the Allies continues to exist in the northern third of the country.
September: The Chinese capitulate to the Japanese in the Treaty of Guangdong. The treaty creates a general border between the Japanese puppet states and lands still held by the Kuomintang, which is established as the Chinese Republic of Sikang, which holds as its sovereign territory part of Szechwan and Tsinghai as well.
November: Franklin Delano Roosevelt has declined to run for a third term, as he is disappointed over Japan’s success over China. Wendell Willkie thus becomes the new President of the United States following his success at the presidential election.
1941
August: Japan launches an invasion of French Indochina to unseat the Vichy French forces there.
June: The Nazis invade the United Soviet Socialist Republics, defying a previous non-aggression pact.
August: Sinkiang warlord, Sheng Shicai, turns anti-Soviet following Operation Barbarossa and attempts to purge the Chinese communists in the territory, which prompts a coup by Wang Ming, who established the East Turkestan Soviet Republic.
September: Finnish and Nazi forces reclaim Finland from Soviet forces.
October: Thailand signs a military alliance pact with the Empire of Japan, and aids the invasion of Indochina.
1942
January 24th: At the Wannsee Conference, the Final Solution is structured to eliminate 11 million European Jews.
July 15th: President Willkie signs a declaration of war on the Axis Powers, Germany and Italy.
September 12th: Imperial Japan adopts the Kozuma Statute, and sends the navy to participate in the convoy system of the North Atlantic.
1943
March 13th: Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa, begins.
May: The Casablanca Conference is held between Roosevelt and Churchill.
May 20th: A bomb placed in Adolf Hitler’s aircraft detonates, downing the plane and killing the Fuhrer.
November: Benito Mussolini is ousted and a new government takes power in Italy, which promptly switches sides.
December: Sicily falls to the Allies
1944
January: Germany occupies northern Italy. Corsica is taken by the Allies.
February: Soviet Union begins another invasion of Finland, declaring hostilities until unconditional surrender.
June: The Allies take Rome.
July: The Philippines finally gain their independence from nearly fifty years as United States territory as the Republic of the Philippines. Americans are worried about the nearby expansionist, unpredictable Japanese Empire, however, Filipinos object to any talks over continuing as an American Commonwealth, and the Americans do not dare to make an executive order against their independence.
August: The Allies storm Normandy.
September: Soviet forces occupy Bucharest, Romania.
1945
January: British-American forces retake Athens, Greece.
April 14th: Hitler is killed in a quick and brutal coup.
April 25th: Germany signs its surrender to the Allies.
November: Nuremberg Trials against Nazi leaders.
1946
January: Britain largely returns to Malaysia. Though the Malays had independently led the country themselves while much of the British were off at war, the British desire to keep the colony to set up as a bulwark against the Japanese and their Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere. Malay opinion, however, forces them to consider granting some degree of autonomy.
March: The British announced plans for the Malayan Union, to turn the Malay States into a unitary state to eventually gain independence. However, their desire to establish equality of the races throughout the country leads to loud Malay nationalist protest. The British, as such, take back their plan for racial equality.
May: Sarawak and Sabah become colonies of the British Crown.
August: The Japanese Empire begins to aid radical factions throughout the Malayan Union, not only the pseudo-communist ethnic Chinese in the Malayan Union who desire racial equality, but also Malayan nationalists who desire immediate independence, who are angry at the British for taking back their self-rule practiced during the Second World War. Low-scale guerilla warfare begins throughout the country, which triggers brutal crackdowns from the British government.
1949
May: The Lhasa Conference begins between the Chinese Republic of Sikang and Tibet. President Chen Cheng and the 14th Dalai Lama meet to discuss relations of the two states.
October: The Republic of Greater Tibet is declared, with Xining as the official capital, Lhasa as the administrative capital. A common constitution is co-authored by the two governments, binding together the RGT concerning foreign policy, military, and internal commerce. The President of the Republic shares the role as Head of State with the Dalai Lama, who is granted autonomous powers over the west.
1953
November: In the Philippine general election, Liberal Camilo Osias takes the presidency from incumbent Elpidio Quirino. His term will be marked by significant efforts to bolster international trade and diversify the Filipino economy, including a controversial increase of trade to the Japanese Empire.
1954
September: Militant left-wing Chinese rallied under the Malayan Liberation Army (MLA), begin widespread guerilla warfare through the Malay Peninsula, which will cause the British to send in tens of thousands of British troops. With weapons and aid from Thailand and Indochina, the violence approaches that of a low-scale civil war, with significant activity in the north. The terrorists assassinate government officials, destroy infrastructure and disrupt trade. A significant fraction of Malayan nationalists support the movement as a way to unseat the British.
1955
April: Militarization of political groups within Indonesia, tensions with the Dutch government reaches a point that sparks an insurgency throughout the archipelago. Communists, Muslims, and Republicans each vie for their own form of independence. The Dutch use terror tactics in attempt to purge the specter of anarchy from the country, they greatly desire to keep their largest and last colony. Sukarno emerges as a major republican leader.
1956
January: The British makes concessions to the Malayan Union, strengthening self-rule throughout the existing government.
March: The Empire of Japan begins to send clandestine aid through middle-men groups to militant insurgencies working for Indonesian independence.
1957
June: A Chinese riot erupts in Singapore, killing seven people, which discredits the current Chief Minister, who in reaction ruthlessly cracks down on left-wing groups and communist agitators. The government passes legislation allowing them to go to broad lengths to preserve Singapore’s security. Meanwhile, the Malayan Liberation Army begins to spread its influence throughout the island.
August: The Indonesian Revolution begins after a police station is bombed in Jakarta.. Dutch authority has been harsh and unyielding to the millions that call the archipelago their home. For nearly two decades revolutionary missionaries have been traveling throughout the cities of Dutch East Indies, preaching their own ideas on how the revolution could come about. Youth groups, especially of the Islamic fashion, take up the burden of independence, swearing to die for their cause. It takes an extremely violent turn, as many
1958 – November: The Brunei Agreement is signed, granting independence from Britain to Brunei, and ratifying a constitution.
1958 – October: A student movement begins another Chinese riot throughout Singapore. More than thirty are killed, many more are injured. The Ministry responds by disbanding labor unions and imprisoning their leaders. Nationalist terrorists, most supplied by the MLA, begin a bombing campaign throughout the city, which discredits the ethnic movement considerably.
1959 – January: The British government concedes the right to vote to the Chinese, which alleviates some of the ethnic violence throughout Southeast Asia.
1960 – February: Talks with the British government yields local self-government for Singapore. It adopts a Legislative Assembly and a Chief Minister as the head of government, under the parliamentary system.
1963 – April: Militant guerillas end most of their operations through the Malay Peninsula.
1964 – August: Malay nationalist movement begins after the British military begins to largely pull out of the peninsula. It takes a violent revolutionary turn, as British officials are assassinated, British troops fire on crowds of Malay nationalists, while acts of terrorism and violence are committed against the Chinese and Indian populations.
1966 – March: The British resume withdrawals of their soldiers from Malaya when it becomes apparent that a majority of the population supports the revolutionary Malay government, to the point of giving them de facto power.
1967 – May: The British pull the rest of their soldiers out of the Malay Peninsula, yielding sovereignty to what has called itself United Federative Malayan State. The new nation, controlled by reactionary ethnic Malays, tightens political restrictions over the ethnic Chinese and Indians, to the point of organizing them into a near caste system. The parliamentary system is continued, however, the powers of the Prime Minister are allocated to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the elected King of Malaya, selected from the nine hereditary sultans. This seizure of power by the rightwing, along with severe racial inequality, does not go unanswered from the minorities, who organize against the new government as soon as the British leave the peninsula. An ethnic civil war escalates into high gear. The Sphere begins sending significant aid to the Chinese through Thailand and Indochina. Past resistance organizations are easily taken up by the minorities, providing a fully functional network from the outset of the conflict, to be consolidated into the Malaysian People’s Liberation Army (non-communist). With significant experience from earlier battles against the much more well-equipped British armies, the Chinese-led minority coalition is able to wage an effective war against the Malay super-nationalists.
August: The United Federative Malayan State launches an invasion of British-held Singapore.
1968 – October: The MPLA takes power in Kuala Lumpur. A declaration of a Federation of Malaysia is made. A parliamentary government is established, constitutionally granting total racial equality throughout the nation. The Malay sultans are deposed with all of their powers are removed. Super-nationalist continue guerilla warfare to fight for their nobility, but face numerous disadvantages from all fronts. Favorable relations are made with the Japanese Empire, while talks begin to join the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere as an observer. With the creation of a de facto government, if not entirely de jure at the moment, the MPLA has a shift towards to the right, where before they had consisted largely of moderates with a large leftist following. The Japanese make sure that enough harsh anti-communists come into power so as to begin a purge against the leftwing throughout the army and government. Many communist sympathizers are imprisoned and deported to India and even as far as Vladivostok to the Soviet Union.
1969 – September: Chinese nationalist forces begin a rebellion in Singapore to join the Malaysian Federation. They are once again funded by Thai and Japanese backers. The British, however, continue to hold military forces on the island, fearful of the Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere from expanding, granting autonomy on all levels short of direct independence.
