alternatehistory.com

Part 1: Setting the Stage

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s death from a heart attack on April 1st 1939 came
as a shock to the entire world. Most of those who were close to Roosevelt in his final days
ascribed his worsening health to unease over the deteriorating international situation. If so,
the President was right to be worried, for exactly five months later, World War II broke out.


Hitler's decision not to attack the Soviet Union in 1941 has been debated endlessly over
the years. Regardless of the reasons, the end result was the defeat of Britain and the end
of the Second World War. The Japanese declaration of war against the British in December
and their subsequent conquest of Southeast Asia, combined with the fall of the Suez Canal
on June 28th 1942, forced Churchill to sue for peace.


The Treaty of Geneva, signed on October 23rd, essentially confirmed the territorial gains the
Axis had made in the past two and a half years. In addition, Spain who had joined the Axis just
after the fall of Suez gained Gibraltar, while Sudan was given to Italy. With the Burma Road in
Japanese hands, China was also forced to come to terms at Geneva. Chiang Kai-shek had to give
the Japanese control of every major city along the coast in return for any sea access at all. So ended
World War II…


The British Parliamentary elections on November 13th 1942 saw the annihilation of Churchill’s
Conservative’s at the polls by Clement Attlee's Labour party. Churchill immediately resigned as
leader of the Conservative party, to be replaced by Samuel Hoare. While the main focus of the
Attlee government was on creating a welfare state for Britain, the new Prime Minister did not
neglect national defense issues. The British nuclear program, code named Tube Alloys, continued
with reduced funding. Meanwhile, Attlee helped supervise India’s transition to independence. With
many Britons and Indians concerned about Japanese designs on India, Nehru’s Indian National
Congress was able to gain ascendancy over Jinnah’s Muslim League. Thus, on August 15th 1947,
a united India was granted independence from Britain.


While the Soviet Union had come out of World War II relatively unscathed, Stalin found
himself unable to increase his influence in an Axis dominated Europe. Instead, the dictator
turned towards a weakened China, which saw the continuation of the civil war between
Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang and Mao Zedong’s Communists. Despite sharing the same
ideology, neither Mao nor Stalin trusted each other. As a result, Stalin was content to watch
Chiang crush the Communist’s base of operations in Yan’an while he took control of Xinjiang.
By March 19th 1947, Mao was dead. At this point, Stalin had established a puppet state
in Xinjiang led by Ehmetjan Qasim. Stalin then began expanding operations against the
Kuomintang, until by December 10th 1949 Chiang was forced to flee to India. The
Japanese did not remain idle and took over the remaining Chinese coast.


On October 23rd 1947, the first nuclear weapon was detonated by Britain off the coast
of Scotland. The announcement of the event sent political shockwaves around the world.
Germany, Japan, and the U.S. began their own nuclear programs, while the Soviet Union
accelerated theirs, having stolen much of the British data through spying. The prestige from
the detonation also allowed the Attlee government to maintain a larger majority than expected
in the elections on October 27th.


In the United States, President Roosevelt was succeeded by his Vice President John
Nance Garner. Garner was able to win reelection in 1940 against Wendell Willkie by
using Roosevelt’s memory. However, Garner became unpopular due to his reversal of
New Deal policies and isolationism. He and his Vice President, James Farley, lost in 1944
to Thomas Dewey.
Top