Gian
Banned
And now an eleventh hour entry!
(Well, if I get extra time, I’m going to take advantage of it!)
The previous one makes my entry look pretty feeble in comparison, but here goes:
-The map can also be found here, as DeviantArt can be a bit temperamental with its images.
The following is a map from the popular alternate history timeline The Red Tsar Reigns, based on the question: what if Stalin had successfully invaded Europe? The POD is that Kamenev’s coup in 1946 fails and as a result, the Soviet Civil War does not begin.
As a result, when Germany and Poland erupt into civil war after communist uprisings, Stalin takes the chance to begin his great invasion of Europe, launching Operation Lenin on 23 August 1947 and beginning an invasion of the Balkans and Poland. He rebuffs multiple attempts by the Germans to call for an armistice, until, on 17 November 1947, President Hugenberg and Chancellor von Papen are executed and the German government declared dissolved by the communist rebels.
Stalin, whose forces had reached the Oder, offered to the rebels their admission to the USSR as four new Union Republics; the Prussian SSR, the German Federal SSR, the Rhenish Federal SSR and the Bavarian SSR. They would retain their self-government in exchange for recognising Stalin as General Secretary and merging their armies into the Red Army. The proposal was met with varying levels of acceptance; the delegates of the Prussian Commune accepted almost immediately (possibly to do with the fact they were under Soviet occupation), while the United Communes of the Rhine took two weeks to accept the proposal (definitely without any intimidation from Soviet authorities). The Commonwealth had no chance to respond; while they were still drawing up plans for an intervention, a treaty was signed and the Soviet Union stretched to the Rhine.
France's labour revolts spiralled out of control and a Communist President was elected in 1948, who dissolved the Third Republic and created the closely Soviet-aligned Fourth Republic. In the Balkans, nations were falling like dominoes; Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey, in quick succession, all fell to the the Evil Empire. Czechia and Krebs' Austria fell in 1951. In the east, the Chinese Civil War ground to a stalemate and Chu Teh secured the admission of the Chinese People's Soviet Socialist Republic to the USSR, while Korea was split between a free South and the Korean SSR in the North. Finland once again lost its independence.
In the final months of 1952, the French and Soviets commenced Operation October, a two-pronged assault on Italy. It was to be followed by the establishment of puppet states in Iberia and the creation of new SSRs in the Nordics. Famines in Russia eased as Stalin looted Europe for his own gain. As they were stripped of their resources and industry, the German SSRs began to seriously regret their decision. But it was too late now.
Europe was Stalin’s; his face was on posters from Paris to Peking. The Venetian SR was the last to be admitted to the Union, as on 7 February 1953, Joseph Stalin, the Red Tsar, Conqueror of Europe suffered a stroke and died.
The Red Tsar had reigned, and he had wrought violence, hatred and destruction. Now he was gone - but Europe had a long journey to peace ahead of it yet.
The above map is a map of the USSR and its allies on 6 February 1953, the day before Stalin’s death.
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Now imagine if Stalin lived a few years a la Twilight of the Red Tsar
