An Age of Peace? – A 1966 Kaiserreich Sequel

- Herbert Hoover (Republican) 1929- 1936
- Alf Landon (Republican) 1937 - 1944
- Harry Truman (Democrat) 1945 - 1952
- Dwight Eisenhower (Republican) 1953 - 1961
Interesting. How did Harry win? I think that almost naturally, the Republicans would take advantage of the situation to establish themselves as the main big boys, with the Democrats wrecked due to both of their big blocks first running off and then turning traitor. Also Mac, because no way that guy isn’t running for President after winning a Civil War.
 

chankljp

Donor
Interesting. How did Harry win? I think that almost naturally, the Republicans would take advantage of the situation to establish themselves as the main big boys, with the Democrats wrecked due to both of their big blocks first running off and then turning traitor
Just changed the third POTUS from Truman to Cordell Hull, with Truman being his VP instead.

With Cordell using his political experienced during the Civil War in keepin Tennessee loyal to the Federalist to his advantage. Plus, with many Dixiecrats flocking to the ranks of the AUS during the Second Civil War, the progressive wing of the party managed to take over.
 
Just changed the third POTUS from Truman to Cordell Hull, with Truman being his VP instead.

With Cordell using his political experienced during the Civil War in keepin Tennessee loyal to the Federalist to his advantage. Plus, with many Dixiecrats flocking to the ranks of the AUS during the Second Civil War, the progressive wing of the party managed to take over.
Fair, but wouldn’t a lot of Progessives also be fighting with the Reds? At the very least, the base of Progessive voting power would be very Red.
 

chankljp

Donor
Also, how is Alf Landon viewed ITTL?
Fair, but wouldn’t a lot of Progessives also be fighting with the Reds? At the very least, the base of Progessive voting power would be very Red.
I will get into more details about it when I finally get to the map seriers detailing the Second American Civil War, but lets just say that compared to say.... Kaiser Cat Cinema's "Divided States" seiers, in which the SACW was still on-going all the way to 1941 with seemingly no end in sight.... My verison of the Second American Civil War is a lot shorter and less devastating, lasting only about a year and 2 months, from March 1937 to May 1938, due to a combination of factors.

While many people in the KR fandom have complaint about Alf Landon being 'boring' compared to all the other bombastic and over the top personalities on all sides, ranging from Jack 'Ten Days That Shook the World' Reed the syndicalist demagogue, to Huey Long the 'Kingfish', MacArthur the 'American Caesar', and even John 'Cactus Jack' Garner with the iconic 400-pound giant gavel that he keeps in his office.... Alf Landon does indeed come acorss as a boring, inoffensive moderate centraist with ties to the bussiness world... Which is exactly WHY he was able to be so effective in rallying the nation with his status as the only sane person in the room... Or as someone on Reddit once put it, when you are surrounded by radicals and fanitcial ideologes, the moderate centraist ended up becoming the one that is 'edgy' and couragous.

To start with, while the KR setting's plot mandated 'US-screw' with the prolonged Great Depression and political radicalization meant that by 1936, a Second Civil War would be ineviable.... The Federalist did managed to pull a last minitue 'eleventh hour miracle' in stacking the deck in their favor as much as possible before thinigs finally explodes. For example, Hoover's adminstration was able to pass the Garner-Wagner Unemployment Relief Bill after forcing the establishment sentors to compromised with the SPA; As well as comprising with the Canadian government on the deferment of British WK1 war debt repayments in exchange for a free trade agreement with the Entente, makin the pre-Civil War economic situation much less dire for a good chunk of the American population even if the Republicans and Democrats failed to form a united front against the radicals in the 1936 eleciton.

In addition, both Jack Reed and Huey Long, in their radicalism, unintentionally made themselves come across as unreasonable and obstructionists to the American public... Partly thanks to the US government working together with the media outlet under William Randolph Hearst, and partly because they WERE indeed so blinded by their ideological conviction as to make them come across as unreasonable and obstructionists to the majority of Americans... Such as when they protested the free trade agreement with the Entente as 'treachery', even when it is the best that the Federal governent could have realistically gotten considering the situation, or that technically speaking, the Federal government did not even gave up anything to the Canadians since they would not be able to pay back to debts at the moment reguardless. Or that after the election of Alf Landon in 1936, Reed and Long's very public and very immture personal attacks on the president both right after the election as well as during the National Econmic Conference organized by the Secretary of Commerce made them lose the support of the more moderate elements inside their own parties.

Essentially, the moment that President Landon manged to rally both the etablishment Republicans and Democrats in Congress to pass his 'New Deal' econmic intervention bill, even without a formal coaltion between the two parties, Long, being the power hungry demagogue (Even if a well intentioned one) that he is, KNEW that the shacky coalition that is the AFP will fall apart and fade into political obscurity within a few years at most thanks to the New Deal actually fixing the economy. By that point, it will be a matter of time before the Federal government started cracking down on all the shady and corrupt dealings that he had engaged in over in Louisiana, using them as an excuse to either put him in jail or remove him from politics for life. Hence, Long knew that his option was either to pull a desperate, Hail Mary 'YOLO' attempt by use the Great St. Louis Riot as a pretext to mobalize both the Minuteman and the Silver Leagion to overthrow the Federal governent RIGHT NOW before his movement runs out of steam... Or to step down quietly while he is still ahead... And Huey Long is absolutly NOT the type to ever step down quietly no matter what. Hence, his infamous radio address calling the United States a 'dead nation' and rallying the AFP for open rebellion, kicking off the SACW.

As for Reed, while the SPA's situation was not as dire as that of Long and the AFP. The SPA's leadership had two options in front of them after Long declared the AUS and kicked off the Second Civil War:

(1) Support the Federal government and their bourgeois republic, trying to negoicate and get as much concessions on behalf of the working class out of the establihsment as possible in their moment of weakness;​
(2) Attempt to overthrow the bourgeois republic themslves via armed struggle while the reactionaries are busy killing each other.​

If say, Curtis or Olson were the President, Reed, under the infuence or the more moderate members of the SPA such as Norman Thomas, he might have been open to the first option... But given his personal distate to the point of outright hatard towards Landon as a 'class traitor' due to the latter's bussiness background in the oil industry, Reed allowing his inner Lenin and Bolshevik fanboy since his days withnessing the Russian Revolution back in the 1910s to take over. With him not at all being incline to rein in the radicals himself, but instead, allowed them to do their thing. With the Red Guard militia already mobalized in response to the AFP doing the same for their own paramilitary during the Great St. Louis Riot, he simply stood aside, and allowed the radicals in the SPA such as the Foster's Totalists and Browder's Vanguardists factions to do their thing until an open rebellion against the Federal government was declared by the party.

The goal here for both Reed and the radical elements of the SPA would have been to replicate the conditions of the French Civil War that put their comardes over in CoF in power, in which the CGT started off merely wanting to negoicate with the Provisional Government, but the Leninist Jacobins, a small faction of radicals inside the movment, more or less forced the otherwise moderate majorty into declaring a revolution alongside them instead.... Hence in this case, if the 'Center' of the movment sided with the radicals from the start, surely they would be able to take Washington in a week, kick down the door of the White House, and the working masses will follow, resulting in the reactionaries with their rotten strture will collapse?

The rest, as they say, is history.


As for why Second Civil War was such as curb stomp by the Federalists agaisnt both the CSA and AUS...

- The AUS was doomed from the start. The AFP's support base is entirly centered within the South, and have little appeal or support outside of the area. Plus, even within the South, the AFP's control was not as firm as the SPA's was in the Steel Belt, with the Democrats still maintaining a sizeable support base. Hence, when you get the events about the state legislatures in the South voting to join American Union State, it would have been more accuate to instead say 'Minuteman and Silver Leagion stormin the state legislatures at gunpoint while shooting into the ceiling, arresting all the Democrat repersentatives, and having the remaining AFP repersentatives hold a sham vote to declare for Long'.

Futhermore, the AUS would have all the same problems as the Confedercy did in the First American Civil War: Namely, the lack of industry and manpower compare to the rest of the country.... Without even 'King Cotton' on their side this time. And while the AUS did managed to punch way above their weight thanks to many of the US military's most talented generals such as Patton, Devers, and Collins defecting to the Longist cause... The vast, VAST majority of the US miltiary's manpower, and more importanly, their gear, remained loyal to the Federal government. Meaning that no matter now talented the AUS generals might have been, the majority of troops under their command would have been untrained Minuteman and Silver Leagion miltias, suplmented with a limited number of National Guard defectors... All of which would be suffering from supply problems from Day 1 due to the South's limited industrial capicity. And while Germany and Austria-Hungary did sent over miltray aid and advisors to the AUS... It was nothing compared to the aid that the Federal governemnt recieved from both the Entente and the South American nations that have an interest in maintiain the status quo in the Western hemisphere by ensureing that the Federal government comes out on top.

- For the CSA, their situation is much more complicated: In the DH verison of KR, there was a special small scale senarios that allow you to play as either the British government or the TUC during the British Revolution... When playing as the TUC, there is one thing that you need to do above all else if you wish to win: never stay still, maintain your momentum, and keep on make gains early on even if it means leaving areas that you have just taken undefended.

While the government troops might have the advantage in firepower and orgaization at the start, as long as you were able to give the appearance of you winning early on by capturing terrtories, more and more workers and opptunist (Such as Mosley) will either get radicalized or see which way the wind is blowing and flock to the crimson banners of the revolution, allowing you to snowball and out-number the government loyalists evenually... It was the same situation in the SACW, but unlike the British comardes of the TUC, the CSA failing to gain said initial momentum needed for them to snowball.

A key factor of why the CSA failed to gain the needed momentum early on being the the 'Valentine's Day Explosion' incident in 14th Febuary, 1937 (An event that was in both the DH, and used to be in the earlier verisons of the HOI4 verisons of the mod, but was removed for some reason). In which a UoB flagged merchant ship, the 'Edgar Williams', very publically and dramatically exploded in midele of New York habor only minutes after entering it... With it being revealed by the FBI after some investigation that it was smuggling a large volume of field artillery, tanks, and military aircraft from the UoB and CoF to help arm the CSA with heavy equipment.

In the mod, the incident was nothing but a bit of extra flavoring before war breaks out... But in TTL, it was what ultimatly doomed the CSA. In that:

(1) The explosion took place during the National Econmic Conference. Giving Hearst and his media outlet the smoking gun needed to prove to the public (Not entirely incorrectly, BTW), that Reed and the SPA were not only never negoicting with President Landon in good faith in the first place, but that he and his entire party were in fact all forign agents working on behind of the Internationale to destory America. Futher causing a devide within the SPA's ranks, and giving more people that might have otherwise sided with the CSA pause.​
(2) If you look at the CSA's starting roster of commanders, with the exception of Smedley Butler and Herbert Holdridge, no other generals from the US military defected to the CSA. Meaning that the rest of their senior military command were made up of a bunch of upjumped majors, captains and even freaking privates such as Oliver Law that were suddenly promoted to the rank of general, going from being in command of a battalion or brigade at most, to suddenly being in charge of entire armies... That is if their 'generals' were not outright trade union paramiliary organizers such as John Tisa with zero actual military experince beyond street brawls suddenly getting pushed into a position of military command, forcing them to learn the art of war from scratch while the fight. The same applying to the rank-and-file of their Continental Army, with the CSA having even fewer professional soldier defectors (And most importaly, their gear) compared to the AUS... And much of the heavy equipment that they were supposed to recived from their European comardes now at the bottom of New York Bay, with it taking time for London and Paris to organize another shipment. And sure, the CSA control the Steel Belt and its heavy industry, meaning that they could have produced their own heavy equipment and weponds evenually... But they would be at a disadvantage at the start, something that the Federalist would fully expliot.​
(3) Most importantly, without that heavy equipment, not to mention the very public explosion weakening the CSA's support in New York amongst the population, it allowed Federalists to rally both the hastily militaized NYPD and the NY National Guard to prevent syndicalist militias from fully seizing control of New York and New Jersey. While the Red Guards in New York would continue to wage insurgency in the city against the Federalist forces for the rest of the war, the important thing here is that the CSA would NOT be in contol of New York Habor.... Leaving them with Philadelphia as their only sea port. With the Federalist maintaining control of the navy base in Norfolk, combined with the Canadians using the Royal Navy to maintain a blockade (Much easier to do with there only being one port of entry that you need to keep an eye on), the only way for international aid and volenteers to reach the CSA would be either via submarines and light blockade runners that managed to get though to Philadelphia, or via airlift coming in from Mexico, which would require the planes to fly over both Federalist and Longist airspace while under constant threat of interception. Either way, it would greatly reduced the volume of that the CSA was able to receive.​

With the CSA's attempt at launching the 'Second American Revoluton' already being a case of the radical inside their movment trying force the majorty to go along with their armed stuggle in the first place, combined with their heavy losses early on due to the lack of equipment needed to go on the offensive (Not helped by the afformentioned upjumped captains and trade union paramiliary organizers turned generals making a few costly tactical mistakes), the CSA never had their 'The proletariat gloriously rising up all over the country!' moment that they were betting on beyond an attempted uprising in Washington and Oregon by the ILWU, or a shortlived sharecropper rebellion in Georgia, which were both quickly crushed by the Federalist and Longist respectively before they were able to cascade into a opening up a second front.

While on paper, the CSA should have supporters all over the country... In reality, many SPA voters might have been happy to recieve food aid and social welfare from the International Red Aid or take part in a union strike action... But committing high treason against the United States by fighitng for the CSA in a Civil War is something else entirely... Especially when it looks like they are losing and on the retreat from the start instead of making gains. With it being a much saver bet to simply keep your head down and wait for it to be over.

Take civil rights organization avoctaing for minority rights for example, while the syndicalist aligned International Labor Defence openly sided with the CSA and attempted to rally African Americans to the revolution; The much larger and moderate NAACP, on the other ahnd, stayed loyal to the Federal government and helped them organize the 'Double V campign' during the war. Many moderate or even fence-sitting radical progressives such as Eleanor Roosevelt MIGHT have been tempted to join the CSA.... But not when it look like they were losing from the start. And without the general uprising all over the country that Reed had hoped for, it became a self-fulfilling prophecy that doomed his revolution.
 
If anyone is more familar with the British politics during the 1960s have any ideas about the political development and the canadits that I can use as the PM, I will be all ears.
I read an aar once on the paradox forum were in the restoration era the liberals and Tories are the major parties but in the 1980s the Liberals are replaced as the main leftist party by Labour following a reverse SDP/Lib Dem split. My PM recommendations would be Roy Jenkins if the Liberals are in power or Ted Heath if the Tories are.
 

Gabingston

Kicked
I read an aar once on the paradox forum were in the restoration era the liberals and Tories are the major parties but in the 1980s the Liberals are replaced as the main leftist party by Labour following a reverse SDP/Lib Dem split. My PM recommendations would be Roy Jenkins if the Liberals are in power or Ted Heath if the Tories are.
Would there be left-wing parties in Britain after the fall of syndicalism? I'd imagine the political compass would shift to the right.
 
Would there be left-wing parties in Britain after the fall of syndicalism? I'd imagine the political compass would shift to the right.
At the end of the day the workers will still want better conditions and the lower classes will still want better healthcare and women will still want to get out of the kitchen; at some point some party, whether it calls itself leftist or not, will start promising those things to them. Personally I think the fate of Labor in Britain depends on how the Union was. If Mosley was in power ironically the unions could come out better; they could point to him and say that they were just looking for more rights and they got hijacked by madmen. Regardless, any restored UK that has 'learned nothing and forgotten nothing' regarding worker's rights probably isn't going to last very long, so some concessions would have to be made.

Edit: Also, @chankljp I legit don't know how knowledgeable you are about 1960s US politics or what your plans are but I could do something similar with the US here if you'd need; I've done a lot of research as TRO US lead.
 
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pls don't ban me

Monthly Donor
looking at the map, i'm confused about the balkans.
Bulgaria has conquered nish from serbia but lost in the process part of dobruja and all the coast on the Aegean?
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chankljp

Donor
Would there be left-wing parties in Britain after the fall of syndicalism? I'd imagine the political compass would shift to the right.
At the end of the day the workers will still want better conditions and the lower classes will still want better healthcare and women will still want to get out of the kitchen; at some point some party, whether it calls itself leftist or not, will start promising those things to them. Personally I think the fate of Labor in Britain depends on how the Union was. If Mosley was in power ironically the unions could come out better; they could point to him and say that they were just looking for more rights and they got hijacked by madmen. Regardless, any restored UK that has 'learned nothing and forgotten nothing' regarding worker's rights probably isn't going to last very long, so some concessions would have to be made.
A brief summery on post-WK2 British politics for this TL, as well as a person rant about HOI4 KR:

As much as I enjoy many of the reworked elements of the HOI4's verison of KR, one thing that really, REALLY annoyed me when it came to the devs for the HOI4 KR is when they claimed that the infamously meme-worthy T.E. Lawrence coup/counterrevolution for the UoB was 'weirdest part of the mod' and 'does not make sense', since it was basically an instant 'I WIN!' button for the royalist to bloodlessly resotre the United Kingdom, without the Bitish Exiles to have even done anything on their end. And that if even if an anti-Mosley coup took place, the power should have felt to the TUC loyalist uninstead of someone like Lawrence...

In a sense, they were absolutly correct: The T.E. Lawrence coup as it existed in the HOI4's verison of KR indeed does not make any sense... BUT THAT IS BECUASE IT WAS NEVER MEANT TO WORK LIKE THAT BACK IN THE DH VERISON OF THE MOD! :mad:

Instead, back in the DH verison of KR, the T.E. Lawrence coup would have require such a massive chain of unlikely events to take place, with all the many moving parts falling in place correctly, in order for all the elements to allign just in the correct manner, that not only was it extremely rare, but that the resulting counter revolution would be anything BUT bloodless and without any input from the Exiles.

So the Lawrence coup that we had in HOI4's verison of KR was an utterly butchered and scaled down piece of placeholder content for a unique, exciting, and interesting piece of content.... That the devs decided to, instead of replacing the placeholder content for the proper experince that does the event chain justice, they just scrapped the entire thing!

Well, SCREW THAT! This TL is my own personal headcanon, and I will make sure that the epic 'Lawrence of Britannia' event chain gets properly presented! 😠(And maybe, just maybe, do my part in introduce some readers who have never played the DH verison of the mod to an otherwise amazing piece of KR content... With a bit of my personal modification, of course)

(Rant over)

So, back to TTL's British politics.


A brief overview on how things went since 1936, leading up to the 'present day' in 1966:
  1. In the 1936 session of the UoB's TUC Congress, the Maximists faction came out on top, with Oswald Mosley elected to the position of Chairman. But at this point, he was smart enough to hide his power level. Hence, instead of merging the offices of Chairman and General Secretary, he appointed Eric Blair, the leader of the liberal-wing of the Maximists to serve as the General Secretary instead.
  2. In the 4 years of the Maximists being in power in the UoB before the outbreak of WK2, Mosley largely followed the same approch. While both political power and the economy was much more centralized along totalist lines, everything was done legally under the Union's Constitution. So no mass purges or illegal arrests. Futhermore, Mosley was able to effectively show off his internationalist credentials by both supporting leftist revolutions overseas such as sending aid to the CSA when the Second American Civil War broke out, as well as on economic and cultural matters such as the UoB's participation in the contributing greatly to the International Phalanstere, and hosting the 1937 session of the Spartakiade in Edinburgh. Which helped towards placating the mainstream Federationists by potraying Mosley merely as someone that is preparing the UoB for their 'final struggle' agaisnt Germany, instead of being a power hungry authortarian.
  3. It was in this context that T.E. Lawance, the veteran agitator who aided the Arab Revolt during WK1, offered his services to the UoB's military. Many were suspcious of Lawance, due to his lack of socialist credentials... But this was overwritten by none other than Chariman Mosley himself. Who recongized the propaganda potenial by giving the common British citizen a hero that they can identify with. Hence, Lawance was given his commission as the head of the R.E.D.
  4. During WK2, Lawance and his team of RED operatives were airdroped behind German lines, and proceeded to wreck havoc in the Rhine and Saarland regions. Sabotaging railways and factories, ambusing rear supply elements of the Heer, etc... Until he was finally crippled during a firefight, and had to be evacuated by submarine back to Britian. While the actual impact of the daring RED operatives on the overall war effort were limited due to the fact that unlike during the Arab Revolt, they lack popular support from the locals in Germany beyond the most hardcore syndiciast supporters, the British media played up the stories of his exploits to the public back home, calling him 'Lawrence of Germania', and making him a national military hero.
  5. WK2 did not go well for the Internationale. While the CoF managed to push all the way to Frankfurt at the farthest during the height of their advance, with the UoB also landing Republican Marines at the outskirits of Hamburg, they were evenually pushed back by the Germans and the Entente, ending with Paris falling to the Germans for the third time in a little over 70 years. With the UoB getting their troops out of France at the last second, Dunkirk-style, with a hodgepodge of CoF, SRI, and CNT-FAL (Yes, CNT-FAL won the Spainish Civil War, something which I will get into more details later) units getting evacualted alongside their British comardes as well
  6. Under the terms of the Hailfax Conference, Germany had already promoised to return the British and French homelands back to the Exiles once the Internationale has been defeated, instead of imposing their own puppet government. Hence, once the Western parts of Continental Europe has been secured, instead of banging their head against 'Fortress Britain', or wasting resoucres having the Luftstreitkräfte bombing British cities to the ground.... Berlin apporched London with the deal they cannot afford to refuse: A 'Second Peace with Honor' armistice. In which Germany will have the Reichpakt cease all hostility against the UoB and the remainaing Internationale memebers across the world. Leaving the British Exiles and the Canadians to deal with their own kin, and the massive headache of somehow gainning a foothold on a now heavily fortified Great Britan. Allowing Germany to rush his forces eastward to push back the Russians (Under Savinkov's NatPop regime), who by this point had utterly overrun all of the UBD, Ukarine, and Berlrus, with Russian troops on the eastern banks of the Vistula, laying seige to Warsaw, while also engaging in brutal urban combat in Konigsberg.
  7. Back inside the UoB, while the threat of a German invasion appears to be gone for the moment, the situation is still dire. With the 'reactionaries' overrunning all of mainland Europe, as well as the United States joining the side of the Entente, utterly dismantaling every syndicalist country they can get their hands on in the Western Hemisphere, the UoB finds themselves in a situation not that unlike Imperial Japan during the latter stages of OTL's WW2. The Republican Navy and Airforce have been doing a good job at keeping their Royal counterpart at bay for now... But it will only be a matter of time before the UoB can no longer keep them fueled and supplied. With the entire syndicaist camp crumbling across the world... There would not even be any sort of 'The Yanks are coming' line of hope to bail them out. Beaten and alone in Europe, with the Exiles knocking on their door, now what?
  8. It was under this context that an Extraordinary Session of the TUC was called. While Chairman Mosley might try to spin this as a 'victory', and that 'Syndicalism remains secured!' as the 'Refuge of the world revolution in Europe'.... At this point, however, no one, not even the liberal-wing of his own Maximists faction with members such as Ernest Bevin, were buying this anymore. As far as the people were concerned, Totalism with its authoritarian style of governance, something that many within the UoB have alrady beginning to grow tied of even before the war, has utterly failed to bring the triumph over the old order. At the rate that the Congress was going, Mosley would most certainly be removed from power. To make matters worst, the Autonomists under Niclas y Glais have even proposed sending out peace feelers to the Entente, to see if they can come to some sort of accomadation with the Royalists!
  9. Out of sheer desperation, Mosley decided to steal a page from his good friend and comarde Subhas Chandra Bose over in the Bharatiya Commune (Will explain the situation of India over in a seperate post), and used his Blackshirts, the most fantical elements of the exiled CoF and SRI units, and hardliner elements of the military to pull a 'Red Bonapartism' on the TUC. On the last day of the Congresstional session, Blackshirts stormed into the Congress at gunpoint, gathering around the podium both to protect Mosley and to intimadate everyone into submission as the Chairmand made his infamous annocement which was broadcasted live across all the the Union via the Brtish Broadcasting Cooperive: That he and his loyal ally William Joyce had uncovered a vile plot by 'Class enemies, royalist spies, and reactionaries that have infltrated the Union' to destory the country. Hence, in order to safeguard the interests of the British proletariat and the revolution, it is with a heavy heart that as an emergecy measure, the UoB's constitution would be hereby abolished, and that he as the Chairman, would be granted such widespread and unchecked excutive power to the point that it would effectively allow him to rule by decree, in order to allow him and his administration the ability needed to fight against the 'traitorous conspiracy'.
  10. Unlike the OTL Soviet Union, there is no 'Democratic Centrism' here under the UoB's political system. Hence, as one would expect, the rest of the TUC did NOT take this well at all, with booing, jeering, shouts of 'Tyrant!', etc. With even General Secretary Blair publically and on record turning against his former friend and ally in denoncing Mosley and demanded his resignation... At which point, Mosley illegally ordered his Blackshirts to 'Secure the Congress building and restore order', as well as (Again, illegally and against protocol) dismissing Blair from his post on the spot. With all those opposed to the Mosley beaten up and otherwised forced out of the building by the Blackshirts, as army tanks under the command of Home Guard commander and loyal Totalist General Bill Alexander encircled the building and started engagin in the mass arresting of TUC Congres members under the excuse of putting them under 'protection'. With the voting that followed resulting in a 100% 'aye' in favor of Mosley's power grab.... In an ironic echo of the way in which during the final days of British Revolution, the United Kingdom was 'legally' abolished by the parilment in its final session and power fomrally transfered over to the the newly founded UoB.
  11. It was at this point that the now former General Secretary Blair, who have managed to evade capture. Started gathering a circle of comardes both within the goverment (Secertly led by Commissary for the Exchequer Clem Attlee) and the military (Led by General Tom Wintringham) in formulating a plan on fighting back agaisnt the Mosley dictatorship and restoring TUC rule. Covertly rallying support inside the military and the government over the following month in order to find sympathic elements that would be willing to side with him before Mosley was able to fully consolidate his power.... With Wintringham unexpectely managing to rally Lawrence and the RED to their side.
  12. A mere month after seizing power, Mosley found himself removed from power as Ruskin House was stormed by RED commandos led by General Lawrence. With the latter informing the General Secretary that his official powers had been stripped and he is under arrest on charges of subverting the constitution and the abuse of power. When Mosley refused to cooperate with Lawrence, he was 'shot while attempting to escape'.
  13. With the death of Mosley, the hardliner Maximists either laid down their arms, or were purged. An emergency military government was put in place to rule the UoB until a new a new civilian government can be elected, with General Wintringham as the Interim Chairman of the TUC, and Lawrence as the Interim General Secretary, due to his apolitical reputation and clout as a war hero.
  14. During his time as the Interim General Secretary, however, Lawrence behaved in a seemingly erratic manner. Enacting purges within the RED under the excuse of removing suspected Mosley suppoerts from the directorate, only to replace them with his own loyalists, all of which have a reputation of questionable political reliablity... Not only that, edvidence were discovered showing proof that Lawrence have been corresponding with an unknown party via netural Ireland (A country that the UoB have an uneasy detente with) for months... Before they could act on that information, however, Lawrence beat them to the punch.
  15. In a shocking radio address, Lawrence declared that he had only fought for the UoB in the name of Britian. Now that syndicalism has proven to bring nothing but endless chaos and oppression to the nation, it is his duty as a loyal son a Britian to declared his allegiance to King and Country, launching a counter-revolution on the behalf of the Exiles in Canada to restore the United Kingdom. In a single, coodinated stike, Lawrence's loyalist in RED seized control of Plymouth in southwestern England, the Canadian SBS launched a raid together with loyalist elements at Swansea in Wales, and the Loyalist Orange Order from Northern Ireland had their underground branch in Glasgow in Scotland also rise up in rebellion aginast the UoB.
  16. Acting on their own, these rebellions would have been easily crushed by the UoB.... But they were NOT acting on their own. In fact, their objectives were simple: Secure a beachhead and hold out long enough for the Entente to land directly on British soil. While the uprising in Glasgow was swiftly and brutally crushed, the UoB was unable to prevent the Entente from rushing in thousands of troops, fresh from Canada's barracks, and accompanied by a limited number of battlehardened American advisors, into Western England as well as Wales (Ironically, the latter being the exact place were the original Syndicalist Revolution was sparked off 20 years ago)'. Over Canada's Imperial Broadcasting Corperation's World Service, Kind Edward declared T.E Lawrance the 'Acting Prime Minister of the United Kingdom', and declaring the start of 'Operation Return'. Starting the 'Second Glorious Revolution', and the reclaimation to Britian by the Exiles.
  17. After a year of brutal fighting, the royalist forces have achieved the full occupation of England, the Union Jack was raised over Big Ben. While the UoB's remaining force continue to hold out in Scotland, with the TUC, now under the leadership of Aneurin "Nye" Bevan, relocating to Edinburgh. During which the Union's forces, in particualr the CoF exiled units, fought with a level of sheer desperate brutality that shocked even their own comardes... But in the end, it was all in vain, as the Union's position was simply unsustainable. Resulting in the complete surrander of the Union of Britian 3 months later, and the restoration of the United Kingdom.


So... What was the point of this massive info-dump on my headcanon for TTL? Well, it was to show the way in which the Exiles were able to win against the UoB, and that it was only suceessful due to a combination of the UoB being thrown into political chaos, combined with them having a high-ranking inside man within the UoB's miltiary itself that secured a beach head for them. Otherwise, they would never have been able to launch a seaborne amphibious invasion all the way across the Atlantic, even if they had Iceland in the Entente.

So, onto the topic of post-WK2 British politics....

As of 1966, Great Britian (Remember, they have formally abandoned their claim to Northern Ireland. Hence, they are the 'Kingdom of Great Britian', instead of the 'United Kingdom' now) is dominated by three parties, with the following platforms:

- The Conservatives:
Instead of the post-Margaret Thatcher Tories that many of us in OTL would be familar with, the Conservertives would be much more similar to the way that it was back in OTL's 1950s, with a extra dose of anti-leftism. Which is to say that pro-big government and Keysian state intervention in the economy. The Tories ideology here being that while the UoB was indeed pure evil that needed to be crushed... It was the failure of 19th century economic liberalism that allowed social inequalities and proletarian grievances to grew unaddressed to the point that permitted Syndicalist agitation to take advantage of the politics of envy in the working class, ultimately ending in the destrcution of the Edwardian world's old order. Hence, in order to prevent something similar from ever happening again, capitalism will need to be reformed. With big goverment welfare state to ensure that a fair standard of living will be provided to all, as well as an conomy run by a mix of long-term, state-directed investments and 'crown corporations' under technocratic leadership.

On social issues, they would seek a restoration of old institutions and paternalistic values with a the nessary reforms to fit with the times. So think something alone the lines of 'One-nation conservatism'. While on matters of foreign policy, while acknowledging that restoring the Empire is nothing but a pipe dream, the Tories would nonetheless seek to expand Britian's international influence as much as possible. In particular, they would seek to keep the United States at arms length both politically and economically, as the Americans, with their nation once viewed as nothing but a walking corspe of instablity, have been increasingly usurped Britian's position as the leader of the Legue of Nations (The sucessor to the Entente Cordiale). With the long-term goal of turning the Imperial Commonwealth from a mere cultural and economic organzation that exist within the LoN, into a proper British led political and military alliance. In other words, 'Make Britain Great Again!'

- The Liberals:
Compared to the Tories, while also right-wingers, the Liberals would look to the United States as a nation that they should learn from... After all, unlike the United Kingdom who fell to the syndicalist revolution.... The Yanks actually WON their Civil War! Hence, looking at the Alf Landon and the Republican's policies, the Liberals, while supportive of welfare programs such as the NHS and things like minmal wage and maxium work hours, would nonetheless seek to reintroduce the values of free market and free enterpeise to Britian. Both by encouraging domestic entrepreneurship, and to promote forign investment to enter into Britian via lowering barriers of entry and offering incentives to investors. With the view that the government's role is to ensure that meritocratic rise, and to fill in the gaps left by the free market, instead of directing things the same way that the Tories want.

On social issues, the Liberals, as their name suggest, would be much more progressive compared to the Tories. With a focus on preserving the basic liberties, even if it means lessening some of the restrctions placed on socialist organizations that were introduced during the post-WK2 reconstrcution period. While on matters of forign policy, the Liberals would be much more willing to cooperate with the Americans within the LoN. Britian might no longer be superpower, and be reduced to playing second fiddle to the Yanks.... But they would be the best second fiddle possible, craving out a niche for itself under America's shadow by acting as the 'Number Two' within the LoN, benefiting from the global trade network and economic system that the Americans are creating. As for the Imperial Commonwealth, the Liberals would be contente to keep it as a cultural and economic organization, using it to promote multilateral trade between Britian and her former colonies, as well as to use it as a tool of soft power projetion.

- The Progressive Labor Party:
While officially disavowing syndicalism, the Union of Britain, and violent revolution, the goal of the Progressive Labor Party would nonetheless be to preserve as many of the achievements of the Revolution as possible, in a 'Well, the UoB was bad, but they did have the right idea when it comes to...' kind of way. As one would expect, they would be pro big government, pro-welfare state, and wish to push the boundaries of social values to the left as much as possible under the context of the current political system. With them pushing for things such as the banning of private schools and private healthcare as perpetuate inequality... All in the name of making sure that a second revolution would not happen again by the protection of social harmony, of course.

On foreign policy, the P-L would be against any sort of foreign entanglements. Cutting back to military spending and redirecting that money towards social programs, protecting British workers from 'American profiteering' by enacting trade barriers, etc. As for the Imperial Commonwealth, they would largely keep it as it is: A toothless, voluntary cultural organization... Except maybe also pushing for a bit of restitution on the legacy of British Imperialism.

looking at the map, i'm confused about the balkans.
Bulgaria has conquered nish from serbia but lost in the process part of dobruja and all the coast on the Aegean?
View attachment 737611
Ah. The Balkans. The current situation on the map makes perfect sense as a result of a complex and convoluted chain of events as befitting the Balkans that would make a future secondary school student studying for a history exam weep. Allow me to explain:

  1. After the end of WK1, as I am sure we all know, Bulgaria, as a member of the victorious Central Powers, was rewarded with lands from all of their neighbours, allowing them to form the dreams of a 'Greater Bulgaria'... But in the process, not only getting themselves in even worst shape compared to before the war due to being overextended, but also earning the hatred of all those around them by taking their lands...
  2. When Black Monday hits and much of Europe is busy with their own domestic economic problems, under Serbia's initiative, the Belgrade Pact was formed. With both Romania and Greece joining in. The goal of the Pact was simple: Revenge upon Bulgaria and to liberate the lands stolen from them.
  3. With the Great Powers of the former Central Powers too distracted with Black Monday as well as other matters flaring up all across the world, their reaction to the formation of Belgrade Pact and its aggressive, revanchist agenda were limited at best. With Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottomans only issuing diplomatic condemnations, and enacting an arms embargo against Pact's member, as well as sending in outdated surplus arms to Bulgaria, but otherwise staying out of the conflict. In the case of Germany, this was also partly motivated by them being so collectively traumatized by WK1 that they don't want to get involved in anything to do with Balkan affairs ever again.
  4. The Fourth Balkan War ended with a total victory for the Belgrade Pact. With them overcoming the international arms embargo by tying down the bulk of Bulgarian forces in defensive position, while rushing troops though gaps in the line forward in a lighting campaign. With the capital of Sofia itself under threat, Bulgaria had to sign a humiliating peace treaty that saw the utter dismantling of 'Greater Bulgaria'. With them losing every single inch of land that they had gained in WK1. Together with the Finland breaking free from German influence and forming a republic, and the Indochinese Revolution, Germany's inability or unwillingness to defend a former ally was another factor contributing to the likes of Russia and the Internationale concluding that Germany, for all its imperial grandeur, is nothing but a giant with a feet of clay....
  5. Within Bulgaria, the nation would be in a state of shock after this national catastrophe. Having just recently implemented the Royal Dictatorship, Tsar Ferdinand I would take full responsibility for the defear and abdicate in favor of his son, Tsar Boris III... Who quickly restored the constitution and drop the entire Royal Dictatorship business, putting the country back on the Constitutionalist path while licking the wounds....
  6. Meanwhile, within Belgrade Pact, Greece found itself as sort of the odd one out of the bunch now that they have accomplished the goal of reclaiming their lands from Bulgaria. In that while like the others, Greece was also a country that got screwed over during WK1, unlike the others, the country is a democracy. Compared to Serbia and Romania, both of which have fallen into despotism, with their victory in the Fourth Balkan War only encouraged their nationalistic tendencies into becoming full-on NatPop regimes, with the Iron Guard taking over in the latter.
  7. Hence, when Serbia called for a conference with the other Belgrade Pact members, Greece expected it to be about trade and economic cooperation.... Instead, they were shocked once the other started going on about invading the newly formed Danubian Federation, to unite all the Southern Slavs currently Hungarian rule under a single banner and to destroy the Habsburgs once and for all, since they are convinced that even with the reforms, the Danubian Federation is nothing but a rotting edifies that cannot last. having no interests in this and already having reclaimed their lands (As well as, you know, Greeks being Hellenic and not Southern Slavs), Greece exiting the Belgrade Pact, and declaring armed neutrality, focusing their attention back to much more pressing domestic issues.
  8. The republican Greek government emerged from the Fourth Balkan War weakened. While they did managed to reclaim the lands that were lost in WK2, their focus on the war delayed the economic recovery from Black Monday, resulting in lots of discontent within the nation even with the popularity they gained from the war. Hence, when the referendum was held to determine if the country should restore its monarchy... The Monarchist managed to narrowly win, with the restoration of King Alexandros to the throne (The KR world's PoD meant that the monkey bite that killed him in OTL never happened). Under a moderate constitutional monarchy that reconciled with the Republicans as best as they can, but with the king serving as a strong executive with the right to veto bills from the parliament.
  9. While the referendum was done cleanly and without manipulation, the socialists, under encouragement and support from the CoF, and taking inspiration from their CSA comrades over in America, accused the vote as being rigged, and launched a revolution, starting the Greek Civil War. And much like Jack Reed and the CSA, they way overestimated their popular support, resulting in a total socialist defeat, with the constitutional monarchy now more secured than ever. Now focusing on their internal matters...
  10. When WK2 broke out, the Belgrade Pact stayed out of the conflict at first... Until the Danubian Federation took their own Donau-Adriabund alliance, and joined in on Germany's side. Using this opportunity, Serbia approached Russia as 'fellow Slavs' and made a deal with them: With the Belgrade Pact fully joining in on Russia's side of the war as allies in the 'Moscow Accords', in exchange for a free hand in the Balkans after the conflict. With the Pact launching the Fifth Balkan War as yet another front in WK2. Starting with the invasion against both Albania and the Eastern parts of Hungary such as Temesvar, their surprise attack initially allowed them to make some headway in their offensive... But quickly started getting pushed back and eventually defeated.
  11. However, Serbia's actions did resulted in significantly delaying Austria-Hungary's ability to send reinforcements to Germany, almost resulting in Russia taking Warsaw... Until, in an ironic reversal to the Winged Hussars' arrival during the Battle of Vienna over 250 years ago, Austrian reinforcement saved the say for the Polish defenders, holding a defense line across the Vistula, allowing Germany to focus their attention on finishing the CoF, so that they can redirect his forces to the Eastern Front afterwards.
  12. As with Russia, in the post-war settlement, Serbia and Romania were be punished greatly.... With Bulgaria once again being given all the lands that they lost back to in ; The Muslim part of Serbia such as Kosovo going to Albania as a reward for their loyalty; Romania losing all of the country's Eastern parts to Hungary; And Serbia getting reduced to the point that they will never be able to be a threat again....
  13. Greece, however, by having already dropped out of Belgrade Pact previously, and hence did not took part in the fighting againstthe Danubian Federation by 'betraying' Europe in siding with Russia, was left alone, allowing their country to remain intact and untouched in reparations. With Greece eventually joined the Donau-Adriabund alliance both to allow for greater access to the European market, and as a way of promising their future good behavior... Ironically putting them on the came alliance as Bulgaria.
Finally, on the question on why the Aegean Islands were under the control of Greece instead of the Ottomans.... It was accomplished though diplomacy. While the two nations have never got along well since... Well, pretty much since the time of ancient Troy, if you consider Turkey to be a somewhat of a successor state to the Anatolians in the classical era. With their most recently conflict being the Greek War of Independence back in the 1820s... The two countries to wish to bury the bury the hatchet and move forward. And a diplomatic agreement was reached between Athens and Constantinople: Of the Ottomans transferring the Aegean Islands back to Greece's control, in exchange, Greece will drop the terrtory claim that have on everything else, including all of Cyprus, in perpetuity. Also, a population exchange similar to what happened in OTL will also take place, with ethnic Turks and Greeks living in each other's country being given free passage to leave for their ancestral homelands, while those that remain will have to pledge their loyalty to the country they live in. The process of the population exchange, in spite of the best efforts on both sides, would be... Messy. But afterwards, things would have gotten better for both sides by greatly lessening border and ethnic tensions.
 

chankljp

Donor
@chankljp did the new Korean Focus tree affected your hand cannon like who leads Korean this timeline
Good question! While my ultimate outcome for Korea by 1966 remains the same, I am debating about the exact process on how Korea gets there, and if I should incorperate elements from the new Korean focus tree into it. As of the writing of this comment, I am not decided on it yet.
 

chankljp

Donor
While on the topic of KR reworks... One of the aspect of the HOI4 version of the UoB rework that I do like would be the current version of the UoB's flag. In that I never really liked the old UoB flag with the Union Jack still on it.

UOBflag.png


Hence, for TTL, this new version of the UoB's flag would be that one that was used by the syndicalist government before they were overthrown.
 
Good question! While my ultimate outcome for Korea by 1966 remains the same, I am debating about the exact process on how Korea gets there, and if I should incorperate elements from the new Korean focus tree into it. As of the writing of this comment, I am not decided on it yet.
I've been wondering is indoChina led by Tạ Thu Thâu or is it under the Leninists
 
The Tankies will be screaming for years about the Lawrence coup. “You didn’t belive us when we said their were traitors in the party, and look what happened!”. The UK is actually lucky that the UOB went out as vindictively as it did, other wise the stabbed in the back narrative would be fueling radical terrorism for decades. Hell, I imagine it is already.

So was Lawrence always a royalist spy or an Apolitical General with conservative insticnts who signed up to serve his country again, no matter the flag?
 

Gabingston

Kicked
While on the topic of KR reworks... One of the aspect of the HOI4 version of the UoB rework that I do like would be the current version of the UoB's flag. In that I never really liked the old UoB flag with the Union Jack still on it.

UOBflag.png


Hence, for TTL, this new version of the UoB's flag would be that one that was used by the syndicalist government before they were overthrown.
Yeah, I don't think a Leftist movement that overthrew the Monarchy would keep their symbol on the flag (even more the case because of it being a cross). I prefer this flag.
 

chankljp

Donor
I've been wondering is indoChina led by Tạ Thu Thâu or is it under the Leninists
The Indochinese Union in TTL is a country that is, in an ironic twist of faith, totally Francophilic. Hence, right after their victory against Germany during their revolt, they followed in the CoF's footsteps in implementing orthodox syndicalism after the Travailleurs over in the Commune, under the leadership of Tạ Thu Thâu's 'Indochinese Revolutionary League'. In fact, not only did the Indochinese Union pursued a 'special relationship' with the CoF, and officially encouraged public displays of Francomania (Such as getting a French name, dressing up like French workers, address each other as 'monsieur/madame', and eating banh mi baguette sandwiches in Paris-style cafe when reading French books about socialism) in their population as a both a highly revolutionary and patriotic pursuit, once the syndicalist had their power secured, they completely reformed the country after the CoF's model politically to the point of more or less being a direct copy of the CoF: With the state being decentralised with local trade unions and communes managing the local affairs, the formation of a Bourse du Travail to replace the now abolished National Assembly, and all the political factions renaming themselves after after movements from the oriignal French Revolution (The othodox syndies being the Travailleurs, the moderate social democrats being the Maraisards, and the authortarian totalists being the Montagnards), etc.

One thing that the syndicalist had to compromise on, in which for once, the nationalists/social democrat VNQDD and the Jacobin Vanguardist Tan Viet both agreed to form a coalition upon, was to have Indochina use the assistance given to them by their fellow fraternal socialist country to help them pursue economic and industrial self sufficiency, instead of perusing a path of 'socialist international division of labour'.... Which ended up saving them when the Internationale suffered a total collapsed in WK2.

52040457137_124a5bb73d_b.jpg


If we are to think of this as a game design document, I would say that the general path for the Indochinese Union by 1966 would be the following:

By 1966, the Indochinese Union would be a nation at the crossroads, and need to seriously start considering the idea of what they need to do going forward. As the last officially syndicalist nation left in the world, they would find themselves in a 'North Korea' situation by being internationally isolated, having a good chunk of the world's economy locked off from them due to trade embargoes imposed upon them by both the LoN and the Reichpakt. While they would not be totally cut off, they would be forcing to work though netural and sympathetic countries, namely Columbia (That's another story right there that I will explain in more details alter) as a middleman in order to trade with the rest of the world.

While the nation would have managed to stay afloat so far thanks to all the industrial and technical aid that was provided to them by the now defunct Phalanstere Internationale, all the syndicalist exiles that escaped to their country and brining their expertise with them, as well as Indochina having more or less everything they needs from oil and rubber domestically allowing them to be self-sufficient and keep her industrial base running.... Even all of that can only be doing so much, with Indochina finding themselves increasingly lagging behind the rest of the world technologically.

As such, Indochina, desperately in need a means to earn much needed hard currency, would revive their old underworld black market criminal contacts going all the way back to their Viet Minh days in the 1930s during the Indochinese Revolution. With it being an open secret that the nation is major supplier of opium and heroin in Asia Pacific and beyond.... Something that runs directly against their socialist principles and ideology, but they don't exactly have much option in keeping their economy afloat and up with the times (In fact, in this post-Internationale world, the remaining syndicalist movements across the world operate a good chunk of the global drug trade.... Something that I will get into more details later).

While the threat of a direct LoN or Reichpakt invasion would be minimal at this point, there is still the giant elephant in the room that is a resurgent China to the north: Vietnam's historical enemy. Who WOULD be in a position to be launching a 'police action' against them if they wish to do so, the same way that China has done every single time historically whenever the nation is strong, in order to dominate Southeast Asia.

Hence, 1966 Indochina would have four options going forward:
  1. Empower the Social Democrat/Nationalist 'Maraisards' wing of the government, to try and moderate their message. Seeking some sort of diplomatic rapprochement with the LoN and the Reichpakt, so that even if they don't lift the embargo fully, at least allow them to engage in some international trade and perhaps even tourism again. While domestically, engage in a bit of 'Doi Moi' market reforms to improve productivity.
  2. Double down on what they are already doing, and embrace Indochina's status as the last holdout of the world revolution. Empowering the totalist 'Montagnards' faction, and go full DPRK style military-first, hermit kingdom. Once domestic opposition is crushed, try to survive by destabilising the rest of Southeast Asia via a mix of weaponizing their drug trade, and try to break their isolation via once again spreading the revolution across the region, giving them new allies and comrades
  3. Using their old L-KMT contacts inside the Chinese government, and negotiate an entry into China's sphere of influence. Since China's alliance system is perhaps the most non-ideological one around, built entirely around realpolitik, they would likely accept. This would allow Indochina to keeping their current syndicalist system intact thanks to the influx of Chinese investments.... But the price would be to have the nation be under Beijing's thumb.
  4. Either accidentally or deliberately messing up any of the path above, resulting a total collapse of the socialist government.... Which even from an anti-leftist perspective, might not be such a good thing, since you can expect the criminal elements with their control of the drug trade to take over whatever new fig leaf government that takes over.
 

chankljp

Donor
So was Lawrence always a royalist spy or an Apolitical General with conservative insticnts who signed up to serve his country again, no matter the flag?
He was the latter. With his only loyalty being toward Britain and her people. With him being apolitical military-man who never buying into the syndicalist ideology, but joined up with their military because they were the British government that was around for him to serve in. Once they lost the war, and the entire mess with Mosley's power grab, he decided that this madness needs to end, and too steps towards allowing the Exiles to return and lay down the law, restoring some stability to the country.

And in case anyone is wondering what happened to Lawrence of Britannia, the archaeologist-turned-agitator-turned-commando-turned-general-turned-Interim General Secretary-turned-Acting PM.... He took part as a figurehead in the 'British Reconstruction Authority', but was assassinated outside the Old Bailey by syndicalist terrorists/resistance fighters in a motorcycle suicide bombing, officially in retaliation of both him being a traitor to the revolution, and for the harsh sentences that Arthur Horner and the other TUC members that have surrendered received. With him never living to witness Britain's first post-war election.

The Tankies will be screaming for years about the Lawrence coup. “You didn’t belive us when we said their were traitors in the party, and look what happened!”. The UK is actually lucky that the UOB went out as vindictively as it did, other wise the stabbed in the back narrative would be fueling radical terrorism for decades. Hell, I imagine it is already.
Also more lucky to post-war Great Britain in that there is some sort of.... Reconciliation between the people of Britain and the returning Exiles. Even then, things would be be rough for years until the country got back on its feet both in post-war reconstruction, and in stabilising the political situation.
 
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