A Colder War

During IGY negotiations in 1950, the USSR, US, and other major powers agree to conduct an intense investigation of the North Pole an the surrounding regions. Bases will be established on Novaya Zemalya, Greenland, Elesmere Island, Alaska, and other places located in the far North. Climatological, geological, oceanographical, and other studies will be made of the North. Plans are made to loft one or more satellites. Almost unnoticed in the discussions, Australia and New Zealand (with aid from the United Kingdom), Chile, and Argentina put forward plans to investigate Antarctica. They are ignored. Nevertheless, they push forward.

(OTL, the main push was for Antarctic exploration. McMurdo and many other important Antarctic bases were established in 1957-1958. Further, that led to the Antarctic treaty, which is not going to occur ITTL)

Thoughts?

(Yes, the title is shamelessly ripped from Charlie Stross. You'll see why I picked it once we get to the '80s)
 
Antarctic Plans (1950 edition)

The nasacent Antarctic programs of Chile, Argentina, and Australia and the Commonwealth are all small and poorly funded and supported. All three powers, though, already have minor bases on the continent, and plan to build more.

ARGENTINA has the oldest base on the continent, Orcadas Base in the South Orkney Islands, approximately midway between South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula. In the event of conflict with Britain over the Falklands, they could be an important strategic base. They are also planning to found a base on the mainland, as part of an Army operation under Colonel D. H. Pujtajo, in the next year or so, as well as a second staging base in the South Shetland Islands. After that, further bases are to be established across the region to conduct scientific research and economic surveys of the region.

AUSTRALIA has a base dating back to 1911 in the Macquarie Islands, about halfway between Australia and Antarctica. As part of the Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition, conducted in conjunction with New Zealand and the United Kingdom, they will construct a base in their territorial sector on the rugged eastern coast of Antarctica, while New Zealand builds one in compartively sheltered Ross Bay, near the base camp for Scott's ill-fated expedition, and the United Kingdom founds one on the Antarctic Peninsula. Combined with a new base station in South Georgia, the three bases will lead a coordinated effort to study the Antarctic environment and lifeforms, and a crossing of the ice cap itself (the goal of the famous Shackleton Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914-1917).

CHILE has one of the newest base systems on the continent, with Captain Arturo Prat in the South Shetlands and O'Higgins on the Peninsula both being under 3 years old. As a rapidly rising country with a much larger western neighbor, Chile is eager to discover and exploit Antarctic resources. Plans are already being drawn up to found additional bases, including at least one for sealers and whalers, in the South Shetlands, and the possiblity of an additional base on the Peninsula or possibly even further south.



(This is mostly as OTL. Argentina really did found a mainland base in 1951, though they didn't found one in the South Shetlands until 1982. Australia, New Zealand, and the UK all founded their first mainland bases around 1957, and there really was a Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition around 1955, though it was private. Chile hasn't built any more bases on the mainland since O'Higgins, though.)

Thoughts?
 
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