Your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to come up with a PoD where Marshal Zhukov of the Soviet Union successfully orchestrates a coup against the notoriously paranoid Stalin in 1945 just after the Second World War has ended. How would he likely pull it off and what would be the likely policies of the Zhukov USSR? Would he set up some kind of military junta or establish a caretaker government until a new civilian government can be established?
AHC/WI: Zhukov Stages a Coup in 1945
- Thread starter LHB
- Start date
gloster meteor mk3
Banned
The army was loyal to Zhukov not Stalin so a big plus for Zhukov. if he does a coup he will have a lot of clean up to do Beria and the NKVD to deal with as well as Stalin's Friends. The man IOTL was Stalin protege so unless you change his personality you cannot get a way with it.
gloster meteor mk3
Banned
If he does it would be like the PRC but the army would be loyal to one man and that is a very bad thing but saying that having the army loyal to the people would be the way to go. Regarding the bomb he would still go for it but the emphasis would be on battlefield nukes not strategic so a completely different cold war.
deathscompanion1
Banned
He'd fail.
Stalin was fucking Paranoid he had official and unofficial spies in every headquarters in the Red Army.
He sabotaged Zhukov post war to prevent this very scenario and had politically neutered the Red army.
To be honest, it was not. With the other victors of WW2 he was only most prominent among equals, many of which had rivalries against him and would be endangered by his coup. And for the common soldier, many would feel a greater connection to their own generals, or Stalin, than to Zhukov. The Red Army was too large to be tamed by a single man, except for one man, Stalin.
gloster meteor mk3
Banned
Very true which he should not of done he weakened the army so much the Americans could of walked over them if Pattons plan was accepted.
gloster meteor mk3
Banned
To be honest the common soldier LOVED the man because the man knew how to fight and look after his troops, sure the man spent there lives like it was money but if he could help it he would not send them against a target if they could not take it.
gloster meteor mk3
Banned
Exactly unless he sees Stalin going even more Paranoid it will not work. Would the killing of the troops coming home from Germany and Poland work.
That was going to be my point. Zhukov lacked the independent streak that a coup plotter would require.
The Red Army was until the death of Stalin a political organ in all but name. Even after the end of the Dual Command structure every officer had his own political officer, and tens of thousands of other party officials were involved in everything from agitation to reducing desertion to ensuring party loyalty. All actions occurred with a degree of party oversight, and all officers were directly reported on by the NKVD. Beyond the public political system SMERSH, the NKVD, etc maintained a vast system of agents and informants. Communications, from telephones to letters, were observed constantly. By personal order of Stalin, Zhukov and other STAVKA officers were kept under close observation at all times, as were those close to them. Stalin began tightening the noose around Zhukov in particular before the war even ended, arresting officers that had previously been friends or affiliated with Zhukov to eliminate a potential power base and terrify him into submission.
Simply put, a coup was impossible.
Actually the opposite was true; Zhukov showed as much of a willingness to sacrifice tens of thousands of soldiers to achieve victory, though he recognized the difference between losses due to incompetence and losses due to the difficulty of their assigned objectives Commanders such as Vasilevsky, Rokossovsky, and Vatutin were less willing to accept such sacrifices. Part of that was due to Zhukov's hard-driving nature; he pushed himself and his subordinates to the limit in order to achieve objectives.
Not really; there was no public support for a long war, and a large amount of dissent even in the Anglo-American military. Any campaign against the Red Army would have lasted at least a year, and would be bloodier than any previous Anglo-American campaign; the political will for a new bloody war didn't exist in 1945 (Except if the Soviet Union attacked first).
Simply put, a coup was impossible.
Actually the opposite was true; Zhukov showed as much of a willingness to sacrifice tens of thousands of soldiers to achieve victory, though he recognized the difference between losses due to incompetence and losses due to the difficulty of their assigned objectives Commanders such as Vasilevsky, Rokossovsky, and Vatutin were less willing to accept such sacrifices. Part of that was due to Zhukov's hard-driving nature; he pushed himself and his subordinates to the limit in order to achieve objectives.
Not really; there was no public support for a long war, and a large amount of dissent even in the Anglo-American military. Any campaign against the Red Army would have lasted at least a year, and would be bloodier than any previous Anglo-American campaign; the political will for a new bloody war didn't exist in 1945 (Except if the Soviet Union attacked first).
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The end of WWII is the absolute worst time to pull off a Soviet coup. The country is exhausted. The army has enough on its plate already with the occupations and suppressing partisans in Eastern Europe. Stalin has the prestige of being the Savior of the Fatherland, which not even Zhukov can match. Everyone is paranoid about another foreign invasion, and afraid to let the rest of the world show weakness. Most of the old guard has been purged, and the new guard doesn't yet have enough clout to command respect as a political figurehead. Stalin still has his spies everywhere, and has additional loyalty from the evidence that foreigners actually were conspiring to overthrow the government in recent memory.