This is my first time on the forums, and I don't even know if this is the right place or even thing to put here. Anyway, this is a timeline of WW2 in an axis victory I've been working on for a bit, which includes the aftermath, Cold war, all the way up until the turn of the surrender.
30 January 1933 – The Nazis, lead by Hitler, come to power in Germany
May 1935 – After invading the country, Italy annexes Ethiopia
July 1937 – Japan invades China following the Marco-Polo bridge incident
March 1938 – Germany annexes Austria with no resistance
30 September 1938 – Germany annexes the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia
March 1939 – Germany invades the rest of Czechoslovakia, splitting it between themselves, various allies and their new puppet state of Slovakia.
1 September 1939 – Germany invades Poland after they refused to cede Danzig. Britain, France and the British Commonwealth declare war on Germany in defense of Poland.
17 September 1939 – The Soviet Union invades Poland from the east.
27 September 1939 – Poland surrenders.
May 1940 – German invades Denmark and Norway to assert better control of the North Sea, and protect trade with Sweden. Denmark surrenders within hours, while Norway holds out for 2 months.
10 May 1940 – Churchill becomes the new British Prime Minister.
10 May 1940 – Germany launches an offensive against France, attacking Belgium, Luxemburg and the Netherlands to bypass the Maginot Line. The Netherlands and Belgium surrender in a matter of days and weeks respectively.
10 May 1940 – Britain occupies Iceland to prevent it falling to the Germans.
Germany attacks through the wooded Ardennes region, surrounding the main allied force.
27 May 1940 – For one day only, part of the BEF is evacuated from Dunkirk before Germany finally closes the pocket, forcing the majority to surrender after bloody fighting.
14 June 1940 – Paris falls to Germany.
24 June 1940 – France surrenders to Germany. The Northern regions around the Atlantic coast are temporarily occupied by Germany, Alsace-Lorraine and Luxembourg are annexed permanently into the German Reich, the region around Nice and Corsica are given to Italy, which is still technically neutral. The rest was given to a new puppet rump state.
June 1940 – The Soviets annex the Baltic States.
July 1940 – The Battle of Britain begins as German fighters try to gain air superiority over the island. Over the next few months, the RAF is severely weakened, opening the way for strategic bombing operations by the Germans.
German U-Boats, using newly captured French ports, begin to sink British shipping.
10 March 1941 – Germany launches Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, with 3 million men, along with their eastern European allies and Vichy France. ‘Volunteers’ from still neutral Italy and other countries flock in the hundreds of thousands to join the ‘crusade against bolshevism’.
In the following days and weeks, the Luftwaffe gained immediate air superiority, destroying thousands of planes and vehicles parked on the ground. Ground forces sweep forward, destroying all opposition. Entire divisions are quickly annihilated.
May 1941 – Large Soviet armies are surrounded and destroyed in Minsk, Riga and Odessa, giving a big blow to the general Soviet war effort.
June 1941 – A Japanese reconnaissance aircraft violates Soviet airspace, prompting the Soviet high command not to divert troops from the Far East for fears of an imminent Japanese invasion, opening a second front.
The USA steps up its Lend Lease program to the UK, but doesn’t send anything to the Soviets for fear of public outcry to supporting a non-democratic regime.
June 1941 – The German army captures Novgorod, Smolensk and Kiev.
The German Army Group Centre pushes for Moscow, but is stalled by well dug defenses. The Germans soon halt to consolidate their rapid gains, having taken a vast swathe of Soviet territory.
7 December 1941 – Japan launches simultaneous attacks on the American fleet in Pearl Harbor, British Malaya and Hong Kong and the Dutch East Indies. The attacks take the allies by surprise, and the American Pacific fleet is crippled and the fuel stocks destroyed. The USA, UK, Netherlands, Australia and Canada all declare war on Japan. After consideration, Hitler decides not to declare war on the USA, claiming the tripartite pact only applies to defensive wars.
Over the following weeks, the Dutch East Indies, British Malaya, Hong Kong, part of Burma, the Philippines, Guam and Wake Island had fallen to Japan.
February 1942 – Using massive air support, the combined German-Finnish force finally takes Leningrad, one of the key goals of the initial attack. However, the losses sustained are heavy, and no offensive operations can take place in the far north for a while.
During early 1942, the Soviets launch their first massive offensive across the front. Although some land is taken back, the German forces are not much damaged, and Soviet losses mount rapidly.
April 1942 – Germany launches its southern offensive to seize the Caucasus oil fields and the Volga River, culminating in the Battle of Stalingrad of June 1942. The Soviet forces choose here to make their stand. The Battle is bloody for both sides, with the Germans losing precious manpower, but in the end the German army wins out, forcing the Soviets into an embarrassing retreat.
With the big losses of the southern offensive, Germany puts off the attack on Moscow until the next year.
June 1942 – Japan confronts the USA in the Battle of Midway. There is no decisive winner in the battle, with the both sides losing a carrier and having another heavily damaged. Both Japan and the US retreat, but Japan finds itself in a difficult situation as American industry vastly outstrips them.
In the same month, the USA begins research into creating an atomic weapon. The finished bomb is still years away, but a weapon of such power could decide the war.
July 1942 – While the Japanese have control of most of Papua, the first offensive action of large numbers of Australian troops see them being forces northwest. Meanwhile, the war in China has become somewhat of a stalemate as Japanese resources are spread thing between many fronts.
May 1942 – Britain invades and occupies Madagascar, for fears it could be used as a base for Japan or Vichy France.
July 1942 – Seeing Finland as the weak link in the Axis front, and knowing the Germans had expended much manpower in the recent offensive, the Soviets launch an attack in the far north. After pushing German troops back, they are stopped just outside recently captured Leningrad. Further north, more progress is made into the interior of Finland, forcing the Germans to divert more troops north for assistance. Soviet high command is now determined to knock Finland out of the war.
September 1942 – British Indian troops start the long campaign through Japanese occupied Burma, along with Chinese support, in an effort to ultimately recapture Malaya and take Indochina.
October 1942 – The Soviet Union launches its surprise Astrakhan offensive. German troops had been being diverted to the imminent assault of Moscow, leaving secondary fronts short of manpower. In their first big victory of the war so far, a Soviet tank army, including some of the first amassed T-34 formations of the war, smashed the German lines along the southern Volga, nearly reaching the Black Sea outside Rostov-on-Don in a couple of weeks and threatening German-held Stalingrad from the south, before finally being halted. The Germans, for the first time, had underestimated Soviet fighting ability. By the time the offensive is declared over, the Soviets had created a large salient just south of the Volga, and threatened to cut off German and Romanian forces in the Caucasus.
January 1943 – Britain has been slowly rebuilding its air infrastructure since they lost the Battle of Britain, and finally starts to attack German strategic bombers. Until now, German bombers have been flying relatively safely over British industrial areas, and have become complacent, taking huge losses in the first few days and weeks of the British air counter-offensive, dubbed the ‘Second Battle of Britain’, but soon begin fighting back, downing many allied fighters. Meanwhile, Britain sends its first major, organized strategic bombing run over the Ruhr region, although its effectiveness is debatable, and with a lot of losses.
February 1943 – The USA, desperate for a victory to raise morale, launches a daring operation to retake Wake Island, captured by Japan following Pearl Harbor. Japanese troops are well dug in and defend fiercely, inflicting over 50,000 losses on the fresh, inexperienced American troops, and defiantly refusing to surrender. By the time the American flag rises on top of the island, the death toll has been huge, and American planners decide to look into better ways of taking islands, with fewer casualties.
March 1943 – Germany launches its offensive against Moscow, with early Panther and Tiger tanks. Although its initial blitzkrieg advance is quick, the Soviets have been fully expecting such an attack, and have employed civilians to dig in extensive defensive complexes. Although German tank losses begin mounting, and many generals suggest waiting, Hitler gives the order to push on and not stop until Moscow falls. As the German army approaches Moscow, Stalin leaves in a plane to his new HQ in Perm. Cracks are beginning to show in the USSR, as the country begins to collapse. Georgia and Turkestan declare their independence, with the Soviet army powerless to intervene with much bigger fish to fry.
April 1943 – The Australian army launches an attack into the last Japanese foothold in the northwest of Papua. The Japanese fight relentlessly, and don’t attempt to evacuate the island, inflicting heavy losses on the allied forces and fighting to the last man, but are eventually defeated. British and Australian generals propose plans for the invasion of Malaya, while American and Canadian generals argue a direct island hopping campaign straight to Japan, ignoring their occupied territories.
May 1943 – German forces reach the outskirts of Moscow, with brutal street-to-street fighting starting. Civilians and soldiers alike take to the streets to fight the German attackers. After a week of bitter fighting, the German army takes Moscow, to the cheers of people all over Axis Europe. A wave of fear spreads across Britain as people come to terms that all of Europe but their island lies under the German yoke. The USSR reaches breaking point, and millions of troops in the north and south, upon hearing news of the fall of the capital either surrender, drop their weapons and flee, or plan to make their way east to the new provisional capital in Perm. A few resolve to fight to the bitter end, but the German troops advance across the front, destroying what little resistance there is. Stalin is killed by his generals in a coup, but by now it is too late. 3 March 1943 is declared ‘victory day’ in Germany, the new greatest universal holiday. There is no official surrender or treaty signed, because there is nobody left to sign it. The USSR has ceased to exist as an effective governmental organization, let alone a nation-state. Shock waves ripple across the world, as the world comes to terms with the fact that the largest country on earth has essentially ceased to exist, and had been totally destroyed by the Nazi war machine. The USA decides to send part of its Atlantic fleet to the North Sea and the Channel, warning Germany any attempt to invade the British mainland will result in war.
July 1943 – As German troops mop up the mess in Russia, Yugoslavia and Greece is invaded, claiming they were ‘negotiating with enemies’. Greece is temporarily occupied by Germany and Italy, and the Croatian coast is given to Italy, a German puppet state of Croatia is created containing the majority of former Yugoslavia, and Macedonia and Thrace are given to Bulgaria, an Axis ally.
August 1943 – Germany steps up its strategic bombing campaign over Britain, deliberately targeting civilians as well as industrial infrastructure to try to lower morale, which is at an all time low in the country. Italy, with German support, declares war on Britain, invading Egypt. Britain has been ready, though, and has well dug in defenses. The axis advance into Egypt is slow and costly.
September 1943 – With morale dropping, Britain declares Burma has been retaken, a much needed boost to public morale, but maybe not enough.
October 1943 – As the former USSR continues to fragment, Japan annexes Vladivostok and the Russian south pacific coast. Meanwhile, a Japanese fleet catastrophically loses a large naval battle against the USA, losing 3 carriers and 1 being heavily damaged, while the USA has only moderate damage to 1.
November 1943 – Churchill resigns from office, saying “We may have saved Britain from German expansionism, but we have lost Europe.” His successor, Halifax, begins negotiation with Hitler. In the same month, Germany and Italy launch an invasion of Switzerland, taking some losses but quickly advancing with now improved paratrooper tactics.
3 January 1944 – Britain signs peace with Germany, officially ending WW2. The Nazis had respect for Britain, and so the peace treaty is very lenient. Germany gets back some of its pacific islands for naval bases, Italy receives all of Egypt west of the River Nile and the British promise to not interfere with continental European affairs.
January 1944 – the USA has now perfected its island hopping strategies, taking pacific islands with far fewer losses, but still quite high due to well dug in Japanese defenses and the determination of Japanese defenders. With the Japanese navy heavily damaged, the USA is able to use air and sea power to assist island-hopping campaigns. Meanwhile, a mass movement of British troops to India begins. British generals hope extra manpower after peace with Germany and Italy will help in the war against Japan.
Germany releases an independent puppet state of Greece. While they now have autonomy, Italy has gained some of the west coast, Bulgaria has Thrace and Germany has taken many islands as naval bases. Georgia also comes under the protection of Germany, while newly independent Turkestan struggles with internal fighting, while Germany releases puppet states in Norway and Denmark, except annexing Schleswig-Holstein. Luxembourg in officially added to the Reich, while Belgium and the Netherlands are turned into puppet nations with minor territorial concessions.
February 1944 – Australia, with American, Canadian and British support invade some of the southern islands of the former Dutch East Indies including Timor and Java. Progress is slow, as well dug in Japanese troops fight bitterly.
May 1944 – Britain launches an offensive to retake the Malay peninsular, especially Singapore. Allied supplies flood through Burma into China, who has begun to push back Japan. The same month, Thailand surrenders to Britain, forcing Japanese forces to retreat into former French Indochina.
July 1944 – Chinese forces retake Shanghai from Japan. This is a massive morale boost to the Chinese people. The USA retakes Guam.
August 1944 – Australian forces enter Jakarta, and begin planning the invasions of Borneo and Sumatra.
December 1944 – The USA lands troops in the Philippines.
January 1945 – The USA allocates more resources to the Manhattan Project, now nearing a finished bomb.
March 1945 – After a grueling campaign, all the Philippines are under American control. Britain finally retakes Singapore, suffering heavy losses along the way.
April 1945 – Japan has been pushed out of Indochina, retreating into southern China.
May 1945 – The first test atomic bomb is detonated in Nevada. Plans are made to use the weapon against Japan. Meanwhile, border fighting breaks out between Turkestan and Afghanistan.
July 1945 – A nuclear bomb is dropped on Kyoto. The world is shocked at the power of the weapon, as most of the city is leveled either by the blast itself or the fires, with over 100,000 dead. Hitler orders German scientists to begin work on their own nuclear weapons, sending spies into the USA.
21 August 1945 – Japan surrenders after the USA threatens to use more atomic bombs. The war in Asia is now over. Over the next few months, Japan is given independence as a democracy, as is Korea. Manchuria and Taiwan are given to the Republic of China. The allies give independence to the former Dutch East Indies and French Indochina, as well as the Congo, to stop them falling to fascist states. Berlin protests, but takes no further action.
October 1946 – The UK gives India autonomy but not full independence, releasing them as a dominion. The British are reluctant to give up India completely, for fears of becoming weak and falling under German influence. Calls for full independence in India are silenced, sometimes brutally, to the disappointment of the USA.
January 1947 – Germany founds an alliance called the Federated Social States of Europe, including themselves, Italy, their other allies and puppets as well as Spain and Portugal. Britain is the only major European nation that refuses to join this new alliance and trade pact. In response, the USA and Britain found NATO. Germany declares all land up the Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line part of the eastern territories of the greater Reich.
May 1947 – The USA tests a nuke in the North Sea. Germany protests, calling it a deliberate attempt to scare it, but the USA claims it was a simple sea based nuclear test.
Russian refugees form their own small states in Siberia.
1950 – Germany tests its first own nuclear weapon in the ‘Eastern Greater Reich’ (former Russia).
1951 – The Republic of China defeats the last of the Communists and warlords. Communism has been almost totally annihilated across the world. Britain and the USA reopen trade with Germany and its allies, and begin diplomatic negotiations.
The United Nations is created, with Germany, the United States, Britain, China and Italy being the leading members.
1953 – Britain detonates its first nuclear weapon, becoming the 3rd country to do so.
During the 1950s, many African countries gain their independence, though those that were former British colonies are usually forced to maintain ties to the UK.
1954 – Germany launches an artificial satellite into orbit on a rocket built by Wernher Von Braun, starting the space race. This same rocket is used to build the first ICBMs.
1955 – The USA launches its own satellite.
1960 – Germany puts a man in space. The USA follows months after.
1961 – The state of Siberia, a successor state to the USSR and the only remaining Slavic nation on Earth, is officially recognized by the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa and China, to the anger of Germany. The UN petitions to hand the Vladivostok region and the rest of the pacific coast, currently under Chinese occupation, to Siberia, but it is vetoed by China and Germany.
1964 – Germany and the USA both perform human flybys of the Moon.
1965 – China becomes the 4th nation to test a nuclear weapon.
1967 – Germany lands a human on the Moon, beating the USA. Hitler dies the same year.
1968 – NASA lands a crew on the Moon.
1970 – The Guadeloupe missile crisis happens. Germany, angered by the amount of nuclear missile submarines in the North Sea, sends nuclear weapons to the French island of Guadeloupe with the permission of the French government. The world comes close to nuclear war, but the crisis is averted with diplomacy.
1972 – With Hitler dead, Germany and its control of Europe are becoming unstable. A group of Danish nationalists rises up in Germany Schleswig-Holstein, and is brutally suppressed. The west begins deciding whether to fund rebel organisations in Axis dominated Europe.
1974 – The October Rebellion happens in France. Demonstrations become riots and riots become revolution. Hundreds of thousands attacked the fascist regime in France, arguing they were mere pawns to Germany. After several months, the now inept French army struggles, and German troops are called in to quell the rebellion. The Axis powers accuse the west of funding the rebels, which they deny.
1975 – After numerous calls for full independence, the Dominion of India is finally made into a totally independent republic, and is divided between India and Pakistan. British naval and military bases remains however.
1976 – Austrian nationalists stage a demonstration in Vienna. Riot police end up firing onto the rioters, which leads to more anti-German sentiment. The west condemns Germany’s violent acts.
1978 – Albanian nationalists rebel against Italy, and seize the capital, before the Germany army retakes it. Italy organises a brutal crackdown, which is condemned by many countries around the world.
1979 – Italy and France detonate a nuke in their joint nuclear program.
1980 – China has its first democratic election. The ruling family is voted in, but by a small margin. Although the world suspects corruption, it is a big step, as the country with the largest population on Earth slowly transitions to a democracy.
1981 – Sweden and Finland announce they are leaving the German controlled Federated Social States of Europe. Germany threatens an invasion, but the west warns there will be war if they do, and Germany reluctantly stands down.
1983 – Germans protest in Berlin at Germany’s new ‘weak foreign policy’.
1986 – The first web browser is set up. Infrastructure used for the military and universities in the USA and Britain is used to create a civilian system for sharing data.
1990 – Germany sets up its own, heavily state-monitored, web browser. Over the next few years, western media leaks into Germany, creating unrest at the large amount of state control.
1992 – The Chancellor of Germany dies prematurely. This sets off a chain reaction of unrest. The provisional government struggles to find a new leader. Rebellions kick off in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Iberia and the Balkans for ‘letting Germany dominate their countries’ Even in Germany and Italy themselves, riots begin in the major cities for the lack of political freedoms. Even branches of the military refuse to fight their own people or even join the revolution.
1993 – The German government finds a new leader, who immediately puts all of Europe under martial law. Anyone causing dissidence is imprisoned or executed. This terror tactic is ineffective, just prompting more rebellion, and is heavily condemned by NATO.
1997 – Rebels capture Berlin, execute all the members of the Reich’s government and declare the Republic of Germany. The UN officially recognises the new republic as the legitimate successor state to the Germany Reich. Nationalists in many countries that used to be controlled by Germany disconnect ties to their former masters. In a new treaty, all land east of Moscow is given to the Republic of Siberia, which renames itself to the Slavic Union. German people and culture have become too ingrained in areas of Belarus, the Baltics and Ukraine to warrant giving it to the Slavic Union. The map of Europe is redrawn, trade opens up between the two former blocs and the Cold War is declared over. A mass migration of Slavic people into the newly liberated former Russian territories takes place. Countries in the Caucasus are given their independence. Turkestan, which was propped up by Germany, breaks up and collapses. The state of Croatia, controlling most of former Yugoslavia, is dismantled into Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia. Italy reforms into a democracy, and all German and Italian military bases in Europe are destroyed. The German nuclear arsenal is also heavily reduced, but not completely dismantled. Peace is restored to the world.
30 January 1933 – The Nazis, lead by Hitler, come to power in Germany
May 1935 – After invading the country, Italy annexes Ethiopia
July 1937 – Japan invades China following the Marco-Polo bridge incident
March 1938 – Germany annexes Austria with no resistance
30 September 1938 – Germany annexes the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia
March 1939 – Germany invades the rest of Czechoslovakia, splitting it between themselves, various allies and their new puppet state of Slovakia.
1 September 1939 – Germany invades Poland after they refused to cede Danzig. Britain, France and the British Commonwealth declare war on Germany in defense of Poland.
17 September 1939 – The Soviet Union invades Poland from the east.
27 September 1939 – Poland surrenders.
May 1940 – German invades Denmark and Norway to assert better control of the North Sea, and protect trade with Sweden. Denmark surrenders within hours, while Norway holds out for 2 months.
10 May 1940 – Churchill becomes the new British Prime Minister.
10 May 1940 – Germany launches an offensive against France, attacking Belgium, Luxemburg and the Netherlands to bypass the Maginot Line. The Netherlands and Belgium surrender in a matter of days and weeks respectively.
10 May 1940 – Britain occupies Iceland to prevent it falling to the Germans.
Germany attacks through the wooded Ardennes region, surrounding the main allied force.
27 May 1940 – For one day only, part of the BEF is evacuated from Dunkirk before Germany finally closes the pocket, forcing the majority to surrender after bloody fighting.
14 June 1940 – Paris falls to Germany.
24 June 1940 – France surrenders to Germany. The Northern regions around the Atlantic coast are temporarily occupied by Germany, Alsace-Lorraine and Luxembourg are annexed permanently into the German Reich, the region around Nice and Corsica are given to Italy, which is still technically neutral. The rest was given to a new puppet rump state.
June 1940 – The Soviets annex the Baltic States.
July 1940 – The Battle of Britain begins as German fighters try to gain air superiority over the island. Over the next few months, the RAF is severely weakened, opening the way for strategic bombing operations by the Germans.
German U-Boats, using newly captured French ports, begin to sink British shipping.
10 March 1941 – Germany launches Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, with 3 million men, along with their eastern European allies and Vichy France. ‘Volunteers’ from still neutral Italy and other countries flock in the hundreds of thousands to join the ‘crusade against bolshevism’.
In the following days and weeks, the Luftwaffe gained immediate air superiority, destroying thousands of planes and vehicles parked on the ground. Ground forces sweep forward, destroying all opposition. Entire divisions are quickly annihilated.
May 1941 – Large Soviet armies are surrounded and destroyed in Minsk, Riga and Odessa, giving a big blow to the general Soviet war effort.
June 1941 – A Japanese reconnaissance aircraft violates Soviet airspace, prompting the Soviet high command not to divert troops from the Far East for fears of an imminent Japanese invasion, opening a second front.
The USA steps up its Lend Lease program to the UK, but doesn’t send anything to the Soviets for fear of public outcry to supporting a non-democratic regime.
June 1941 – The German army captures Novgorod, Smolensk and Kiev.
The German Army Group Centre pushes for Moscow, but is stalled by well dug defenses. The Germans soon halt to consolidate their rapid gains, having taken a vast swathe of Soviet territory.
7 December 1941 – Japan launches simultaneous attacks on the American fleet in Pearl Harbor, British Malaya and Hong Kong and the Dutch East Indies. The attacks take the allies by surprise, and the American Pacific fleet is crippled and the fuel stocks destroyed. The USA, UK, Netherlands, Australia and Canada all declare war on Japan. After consideration, Hitler decides not to declare war on the USA, claiming the tripartite pact only applies to defensive wars.
Over the following weeks, the Dutch East Indies, British Malaya, Hong Kong, part of Burma, the Philippines, Guam and Wake Island had fallen to Japan.
February 1942 – Using massive air support, the combined German-Finnish force finally takes Leningrad, one of the key goals of the initial attack. However, the losses sustained are heavy, and no offensive operations can take place in the far north for a while.
During early 1942, the Soviets launch their first massive offensive across the front. Although some land is taken back, the German forces are not much damaged, and Soviet losses mount rapidly.
April 1942 – Germany launches its southern offensive to seize the Caucasus oil fields and the Volga River, culminating in the Battle of Stalingrad of June 1942. The Soviet forces choose here to make their stand. The Battle is bloody for both sides, with the Germans losing precious manpower, but in the end the German army wins out, forcing the Soviets into an embarrassing retreat.
With the big losses of the southern offensive, Germany puts off the attack on Moscow until the next year.
June 1942 – Japan confronts the USA in the Battle of Midway. There is no decisive winner in the battle, with the both sides losing a carrier and having another heavily damaged. Both Japan and the US retreat, but Japan finds itself in a difficult situation as American industry vastly outstrips them.
In the same month, the USA begins research into creating an atomic weapon. The finished bomb is still years away, but a weapon of such power could decide the war.
July 1942 – While the Japanese have control of most of Papua, the first offensive action of large numbers of Australian troops see them being forces northwest. Meanwhile, the war in China has become somewhat of a stalemate as Japanese resources are spread thing between many fronts.
May 1942 – Britain invades and occupies Madagascar, for fears it could be used as a base for Japan or Vichy France.
July 1942 – Seeing Finland as the weak link in the Axis front, and knowing the Germans had expended much manpower in the recent offensive, the Soviets launch an attack in the far north. After pushing German troops back, they are stopped just outside recently captured Leningrad. Further north, more progress is made into the interior of Finland, forcing the Germans to divert more troops north for assistance. Soviet high command is now determined to knock Finland out of the war.
September 1942 – British Indian troops start the long campaign through Japanese occupied Burma, along with Chinese support, in an effort to ultimately recapture Malaya and take Indochina.
October 1942 – The Soviet Union launches its surprise Astrakhan offensive. German troops had been being diverted to the imminent assault of Moscow, leaving secondary fronts short of manpower. In their first big victory of the war so far, a Soviet tank army, including some of the first amassed T-34 formations of the war, smashed the German lines along the southern Volga, nearly reaching the Black Sea outside Rostov-on-Don in a couple of weeks and threatening German-held Stalingrad from the south, before finally being halted. The Germans, for the first time, had underestimated Soviet fighting ability. By the time the offensive is declared over, the Soviets had created a large salient just south of the Volga, and threatened to cut off German and Romanian forces in the Caucasus.
January 1943 – Britain has been slowly rebuilding its air infrastructure since they lost the Battle of Britain, and finally starts to attack German strategic bombers. Until now, German bombers have been flying relatively safely over British industrial areas, and have become complacent, taking huge losses in the first few days and weeks of the British air counter-offensive, dubbed the ‘Second Battle of Britain’, but soon begin fighting back, downing many allied fighters. Meanwhile, Britain sends its first major, organized strategic bombing run over the Ruhr region, although its effectiveness is debatable, and with a lot of losses.
February 1943 – The USA, desperate for a victory to raise morale, launches a daring operation to retake Wake Island, captured by Japan following Pearl Harbor. Japanese troops are well dug in and defend fiercely, inflicting over 50,000 losses on the fresh, inexperienced American troops, and defiantly refusing to surrender. By the time the American flag rises on top of the island, the death toll has been huge, and American planners decide to look into better ways of taking islands, with fewer casualties.
March 1943 – Germany launches its offensive against Moscow, with early Panther and Tiger tanks. Although its initial blitzkrieg advance is quick, the Soviets have been fully expecting such an attack, and have employed civilians to dig in extensive defensive complexes. Although German tank losses begin mounting, and many generals suggest waiting, Hitler gives the order to push on and not stop until Moscow falls. As the German army approaches Moscow, Stalin leaves in a plane to his new HQ in Perm. Cracks are beginning to show in the USSR, as the country begins to collapse. Georgia and Turkestan declare their independence, with the Soviet army powerless to intervene with much bigger fish to fry.
April 1943 – The Australian army launches an attack into the last Japanese foothold in the northwest of Papua. The Japanese fight relentlessly, and don’t attempt to evacuate the island, inflicting heavy losses on the allied forces and fighting to the last man, but are eventually defeated. British and Australian generals propose plans for the invasion of Malaya, while American and Canadian generals argue a direct island hopping campaign straight to Japan, ignoring their occupied territories.
May 1943 – German forces reach the outskirts of Moscow, with brutal street-to-street fighting starting. Civilians and soldiers alike take to the streets to fight the German attackers. After a week of bitter fighting, the German army takes Moscow, to the cheers of people all over Axis Europe. A wave of fear spreads across Britain as people come to terms that all of Europe but their island lies under the German yoke. The USSR reaches breaking point, and millions of troops in the north and south, upon hearing news of the fall of the capital either surrender, drop their weapons and flee, or plan to make their way east to the new provisional capital in Perm. A few resolve to fight to the bitter end, but the German troops advance across the front, destroying what little resistance there is. Stalin is killed by his generals in a coup, but by now it is too late. 3 March 1943 is declared ‘victory day’ in Germany, the new greatest universal holiday. There is no official surrender or treaty signed, because there is nobody left to sign it. The USSR has ceased to exist as an effective governmental organization, let alone a nation-state. Shock waves ripple across the world, as the world comes to terms with the fact that the largest country on earth has essentially ceased to exist, and had been totally destroyed by the Nazi war machine. The USA decides to send part of its Atlantic fleet to the North Sea and the Channel, warning Germany any attempt to invade the British mainland will result in war.
July 1943 – As German troops mop up the mess in Russia, Yugoslavia and Greece is invaded, claiming they were ‘negotiating with enemies’. Greece is temporarily occupied by Germany and Italy, and the Croatian coast is given to Italy, a German puppet state of Croatia is created containing the majority of former Yugoslavia, and Macedonia and Thrace are given to Bulgaria, an Axis ally.
August 1943 – Germany steps up its strategic bombing campaign over Britain, deliberately targeting civilians as well as industrial infrastructure to try to lower morale, which is at an all time low in the country. Italy, with German support, declares war on Britain, invading Egypt. Britain has been ready, though, and has well dug in defenses. The axis advance into Egypt is slow and costly.
September 1943 – With morale dropping, Britain declares Burma has been retaken, a much needed boost to public morale, but maybe not enough.
October 1943 – As the former USSR continues to fragment, Japan annexes Vladivostok and the Russian south pacific coast. Meanwhile, a Japanese fleet catastrophically loses a large naval battle against the USA, losing 3 carriers and 1 being heavily damaged, while the USA has only moderate damage to 1.
November 1943 – Churchill resigns from office, saying “We may have saved Britain from German expansionism, but we have lost Europe.” His successor, Halifax, begins negotiation with Hitler. In the same month, Germany and Italy launch an invasion of Switzerland, taking some losses but quickly advancing with now improved paratrooper tactics.
3 January 1944 – Britain signs peace with Germany, officially ending WW2. The Nazis had respect for Britain, and so the peace treaty is very lenient. Germany gets back some of its pacific islands for naval bases, Italy receives all of Egypt west of the River Nile and the British promise to not interfere with continental European affairs.
January 1944 – the USA has now perfected its island hopping strategies, taking pacific islands with far fewer losses, but still quite high due to well dug in Japanese defenses and the determination of Japanese defenders. With the Japanese navy heavily damaged, the USA is able to use air and sea power to assist island-hopping campaigns. Meanwhile, a mass movement of British troops to India begins. British generals hope extra manpower after peace with Germany and Italy will help in the war against Japan.
Germany releases an independent puppet state of Greece. While they now have autonomy, Italy has gained some of the west coast, Bulgaria has Thrace and Germany has taken many islands as naval bases. Georgia also comes under the protection of Germany, while newly independent Turkestan struggles with internal fighting, while Germany releases puppet states in Norway and Denmark, except annexing Schleswig-Holstein. Luxembourg in officially added to the Reich, while Belgium and the Netherlands are turned into puppet nations with minor territorial concessions.
February 1944 – Australia, with American, Canadian and British support invade some of the southern islands of the former Dutch East Indies including Timor and Java. Progress is slow, as well dug in Japanese troops fight bitterly.
May 1944 – Britain launches an offensive to retake the Malay peninsular, especially Singapore. Allied supplies flood through Burma into China, who has begun to push back Japan. The same month, Thailand surrenders to Britain, forcing Japanese forces to retreat into former French Indochina.
July 1944 – Chinese forces retake Shanghai from Japan. This is a massive morale boost to the Chinese people. The USA retakes Guam.
August 1944 – Australian forces enter Jakarta, and begin planning the invasions of Borneo and Sumatra.
December 1944 – The USA lands troops in the Philippines.
January 1945 – The USA allocates more resources to the Manhattan Project, now nearing a finished bomb.
March 1945 – After a grueling campaign, all the Philippines are under American control. Britain finally retakes Singapore, suffering heavy losses along the way.
April 1945 – Japan has been pushed out of Indochina, retreating into southern China.
May 1945 – The first test atomic bomb is detonated in Nevada. Plans are made to use the weapon against Japan. Meanwhile, border fighting breaks out between Turkestan and Afghanistan.
July 1945 – A nuclear bomb is dropped on Kyoto. The world is shocked at the power of the weapon, as most of the city is leveled either by the blast itself or the fires, with over 100,000 dead. Hitler orders German scientists to begin work on their own nuclear weapons, sending spies into the USA.
21 August 1945 – Japan surrenders after the USA threatens to use more atomic bombs. The war in Asia is now over. Over the next few months, Japan is given independence as a democracy, as is Korea. Manchuria and Taiwan are given to the Republic of China. The allies give independence to the former Dutch East Indies and French Indochina, as well as the Congo, to stop them falling to fascist states. Berlin protests, but takes no further action.
October 1946 – The UK gives India autonomy but not full independence, releasing them as a dominion. The British are reluctant to give up India completely, for fears of becoming weak and falling under German influence. Calls for full independence in India are silenced, sometimes brutally, to the disappointment of the USA.
January 1947 – Germany founds an alliance called the Federated Social States of Europe, including themselves, Italy, their other allies and puppets as well as Spain and Portugal. Britain is the only major European nation that refuses to join this new alliance and trade pact. In response, the USA and Britain found NATO. Germany declares all land up the Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line part of the eastern territories of the greater Reich.
May 1947 – The USA tests a nuke in the North Sea. Germany protests, calling it a deliberate attempt to scare it, but the USA claims it was a simple sea based nuclear test.
Russian refugees form their own small states in Siberia.
1950 – Germany tests its first own nuclear weapon in the ‘Eastern Greater Reich’ (former Russia).
1951 – The Republic of China defeats the last of the Communists and warlords. Communism has been almost totally annihilated across the world. Britain and the USA reopen trade with Germany and its allies, and begin diplomatic negotiations.
The United Nations is created, with Germany, the United States, Britain, China and Italy being the leading members.
1953 – Britain detonates its first nuclear weapon, becoming the 3rd country to do so.
During the 1950s, many African countries gain their independence, though those that were former British colonies are usually forced to maintain ties to the UK.
1954 – Germany launches an artificial satellite into orbit on a rocket built by Wernher Von Braun, starting the space race. This same rocket is used to build the first ICBMs.
1955 – The USA launches its own satellite.
1960 – Germany puts a man in space. The USA follows months after.
1961 – The state of Siberia, a successor state to the USSR and the only remaining Slavic nation on Earth, is officially recognized by the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa and China, to the anger of Germany. The UN petitions to hand the Vladivostok region and the rest of the pacific coast, currently under Chinese occupation, to Siberia, but it is vetoed by China and Germany.
1964 – Germany and the USA both perform human flybys of the Moon.
1965 – China becomes the 4th nation to test a nuclear weapon.
1967 – Germany lands a human on the Moon, beating the USA. Hitler dies the same year.
1968 – NASA lands a crew on the Moon.
1970 – The Guadeloupe missile crisis happens. Germany, angered by the amount of nuclear missile submarines in the North Sea, sends nuclear weapons to the French island of Guadeloupe with the permission of the French government. The world comes close to nuclear war, but the crisis is averted with diplomacy.
1972 – With Hitler dead, Germany and its control of Europe are becoming unstable. A group of Danish nationalists rises up in Germany Schleswig-Holstein, and is brutally suppressed. The west begins deciding whether to fund rebel organisations in Axis dominated Europe.
1974 – The October Rebellion happens in France. Demonstrations become riots and riots become revolution. Hundreds of thousands attacked the fascist regime in France, arguing they were mere pawns to Germany. After several months, the now inept French army struggles, and German troops are called in to quell the rebellion. The Axis powers accuse the west of funding the rebels, which they deny.
1975 – After numerous calls for full independence, the Dominion of India is finally made into a totally independent republic, and is divided between India and Pakistan. British naval and military bases remains however.
1976 – Austrian nationalists stage a demonstration in Vienna. Riot police end up firing onto the rioters, which leads to more anti-German sentiment. The west condemns Germany’s violent acts.
1978 – Albanian nationalists rebel against Italy, and seize the capital, before the Germany army retakes it. Italy organises a brutal crackdown, which is condemned by many countries around the world.
1979 – Italy and France detonate a nuke in their joint nuclear program.
1980 – China has its first democratic election. The ruling family is voted in, but by a small margin. Although the world suspects corruption, it is a big step, as the country with the largest population on Earth slowly transitions to a democracy.
1981 – Sweden and Finland announce they are leaving the German controlled Federated Social States of Europe. Germany threatens an invasion, but the west warns there will be war if they do, and Germany reluctantly stands down.
1983 – Germans protest in Berlin at Germany’s new ‘weak foreign policy’.
1986 – The first web browser is set up. Infrastructure used for the military and universities in the USA and Britain is used to create a civilian system for sharing data.
1990 – Germany sets up its own, heavily state-monitored, web browser. Over the next few years, western media leaks into Germany, creating unrest at the large amount of state control.
1992 – The Chancellor of Germany dies prematurely. This sets off a chain reaction of unrest. The provisional government struggles to find a new leader. Rebellions kick off in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Iberia and the Balkans for ‘letting Germany dominate their countries’ Even in Germany and Italy themselves, riots begin in the major cities for the lack of political freedoms. Even branches of the military refuse to fight their own people or even join the revolution.
1993 – The German government finds a new leader, who immediately puts all of Europe under martial law. Anyone causing dissidence is imprisoned or executed. This terror tactic is ineffective, just prompting more rebellion, and is heavily condemned by NATO.
1997 – Rebels capture Berlin, execute all the members of the Reich’s government and declare the Republic of Germany. The UN officially recognises the new republic as the legitimate successor state to the Germany Reich. Nationalists in many countries that used to be controlled by Germany disconnect ties to their former masters. In a new treaty, all land east of Moscow is given to the Republic of Siberia, which renames itself to the Slavic Union. German people and culture have become too ingrained in areas of Belarus, the Baltics and Ukraine to warrant giving it to the Slavic Union. The map of Europe is redrawn, trade opens up between the two former blocs and the Cold War is declared over. A mass migration of Slavic people into the newly liberated former Russian territories takes place. Countries in the Caucasus are given their independence. Turkestan, which was propped up by Germany, breaks up and collapses. The state of Croatia, controlling most of former Yugoslavia, is dismantled into Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia. Italy reforms into a democracy, and all German and Italian military bases in Europe are destroyed. The German nuclear arsenal is also heavily reduced, but not completely dismantled. Peace is restored to the world.