Chiang Kai-Shek goes to Germany: An Axis China Timeline

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The price of peace: The New York Peace Conference and the Entente’s position.

Although an uneasy peace had fallen across the world there was still no guarantee that it would last. As the various powers jockeyed and positioned for influence ahead of the New York Peace Talks there was furious discussion about bottom lines, priority positions and other demands. The following is an attempt to construct a brief analysis of the negotiating position, demands and delegations of the Entente nations and the Soviet Union.

Molotov was actually fluent in two languages: Russian and clapping at whatever Stalin said.

Soviet Union:
The Soviet’s main priority was to secure a border as far west as possible to serve as a buffer to German aggression and to see the return of the breakway central Asian Republics. It’s not that they were particularly valuable (with the exception of Kyrgyzstan's substantial mineral reserves.) But Stalin wanted to nip ‘national fascism’ in the bud and saw the return of Soviet territory as a bottom line.

Stalin’s secondary tier priorities was to prevent the Blood and Iron line from continuing and also to maintain the Soviet position on Manchuria - gaining recognition for the legal independence of the People’s Republic of Manchuria if possible.

Low Soviet priorities included securing a corridor to India through either Iran or Afghanistan and getting formal recognition of the People’s Republic of India’s rights over the rest of the Indian continent.

Leading the Soviet delegation was Stalin’s right-hand man and long time Old Bolshevik Vyacheslav Molotov. Although Molotov was not fluent in any tongue besides Russian, this was used as a negotiation tactic by Molotov as he asked the translator to repeat the translation to stall for time to give him time to think.

In addition, Molotov was well liked by the Entente as he had led efforts and coordination with them during the war.

Bottom lines: Return of all Soviet territory. Moving the Soviet border as Westwards as possible.
Secondary priorities: Prevent the Blood and Iron line from continuing. Recognition of the Manchurian People’s Republic and Soviet interests. Maintenance of the Soviet position in the Balkans.
Low priorities: Indian corridor. Formal recognition of PRI’s rights. Soviet Hegemony over the balkans.


United Kingdom:
Of all the Great Powers, the United Kingdom had perhaps lost the most in the conflict - with discontent in her empire, the loss of much of India (the Jewel of the crown), the loss of Burma and the loss of much of men across her Empire was keenly felt. Rebellion and discontent was also spreading it’s way to the colonies with a growing insurgency and peaceful resistance. Perhaps this was why Prime Minister Eden decided to attend the conference personally, by going personally, Eden was hoping to leverage his personal charm and shared cultural legacy with the Americans into favourable concessions.

Bottom lines: Peace. The preservation of the remaining colonies.
Secondary priorities: Return of Burma. Recognition of the Dominion of India’s claims to the rest of India.
Low priorities: Limiting Axis gains as much as possible. Freeing the Netherlands, Czecheslovakia and the Scandinavian countries from Axis occupation.


France:
In comparison to her British ally, France had not lost as much. Although half of Indochina had been lost, the core of Metropolitan France had been secured - at the great cost of another generation of young men. The divided French government instructed French Foreign Minister Joseph Paul-Boncour to make peace urgently with the only bottom line being the integrity of Metropolitan France. If possible, Paul-Boncour would see French interests in Indochina secured and the Netherlands, Scandinavia and Czechoslovakia freed but these were fairly low priorities compared to peace.

Bottom lines: Peace. No Metropolitan part of France to be handed over to the boches.
Secondary priorities: Recognition of French interests in Indochina.
Low priorities: Liberation of German occupied territory.


Japan:
Japan arrived at the peace conference relatively happy with her gains in the war. She’d managed to seize the riches of the Dutch East Indies with the complicity of her Entente allies. Although, she had lost her interests in Manchuria and her Chinese concessions, Japan had actually gained territory during the war. Japan was determined to hang onto these gains, get Manchuria back if possible and contain the Chinese and the Soviets.

Japan’s man on the ground at the conference was Foreign Minister Kichisaburo Nomura who was the former ambassador to the US. Speaking fluent English, Nomura would attempt to gain the favour of the US mediators during the conference.
Bottom lines: Recognition of new status quo on the Japanese East Indies.
Secondary priorities: Return of Manchuria concessions and Chinese concessions.
Low priorities: Limit the gains of the Chinese and the Soviets.

 

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The San Francisco Conference - Initial Stages:

Although initially slated to take place at New York, the Soviet Union had objected to the travel distance between Russian territory and the conference. In this she was surprisingly supported by China, Japan and Germany. China wanted a shorter trip for her diplomats, as did Japan and Hitler disliked New York as a ‘nest of judeo-bolshevist-capitalists.’ With 4/7 parties in agreement - the host country agreed to move the conference to San Francisco. On April 1, delegates from all over the world gathered in San Francisco where they were addressed and welcomed by Vice President Harry Truman.

US Army Troops and Naitonal guard units helping put down the San Francisco Chopsticks Riot

The expectation that the conference would finish within two months was misguided. The first month of the conference was taken up with boring administrative fights about seating, hotel rooms and speaking order. Halfway towards April a big fight broke out between the low ranking members (translators, secretaries and other low level diplomats) Chinese and the Japanese delegations about who invented the chopstick. The Italian and German delegations loyally waded into the fray with their Chinese comrades and the British and French likewise backed up the Japanese. The Soviets joined their bemused American hosts in expressing surprise as they drank Russian vodka and ate American popcorn. Bemusement and bet-taking turned into horror as the fracas spread throughout San Francisco with Japanese and Chinese communities attacking each other. While the “San Francisco riots” became infamous, the respective Japanese and Chinese governments refused to apologize. The Chinese and Japanese governments awarded combat decorations and wounded badge medals to those who had taken part in the fracas (the only case of diplomats being awarded combat awards during either Great War.)


The second month was also farcical but likewise serious - both the Axis and Entente had bought along contingents of their puppet government which purported to speak for the particular country under occupation/liberation. While some were broadly respected and had international legitimacy like the Greek Peoples Government (formerly in exile in London - now back in Athens as a “Monarcho-Communist” state) others were complete farces like the “German Democratic Republic” set up in Konigsberg by Soviet troops and the various Baltic socialist republics that had magically been conjured into existence despite being almost under a decade long occupation and who’s diplomats at the conference were former NKVD agents. In between these were the countries where there was genuine debate where legitimacy lay such as the three Indias, the two Romanias and the two Polands. There was serious arguments about which government would be speaking for whom and which governments would be allowed representation. The “Hull Compromise” was that no governments claiming to represent another nation that already was formally represented in the negotiation would be allowed and that a government had to physically occupy at least half of the territories it was claiming to represent in order to be represented with an exception made for the Republic of India, the People’s Republic of India and the Dominion of India.


By the end of June, these nations were the official ones allowed during the conference:

Axis:
Germany
Italy
China
Persia
Afghanistan
Uzbekistan
Turkmenistan
Tajikstan
Kazakstan
Reichsprotektorate of the Netherlands
Denmark
Norway
The Republic of Poland
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Republic of Indochina
The Republic of India
The Kingdom of Romania

Entente:
United Kingdom
Republic of France
Empire of Japan
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
The Polish Socialist Republic
The Lithuanian Socialist Republic
The Latvian Socialist Republic
The Estonian Socialist Republic
The Romanian Socialist Republic
Kingdom of Belgium
Duchy of Luxenburg
The Kingdom of Bulgaria
The Kingdom of Greece
The People’s Republic of Mancuria
The Dominion of India
The People’s Republic of India
The Kingdom of Libya
The Kingdom of Ethiopia
The Kingdom of Egypt
The Dominion of Australia
The Dominion of Canada
The Dominion of New Zealand
The Dominion of the Caribbean Federation
The Kingdom of Sarawak
The Dominion of South Africa

With the shitfighting (mostly) out of the way, the parties were ready to go to work.

Next: The San Francisco Conference - Europe

 

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The Division of Europe: Two Polands

Communist Propaganda of Comrade General Secretary Stalin and Comrade General Secretary Bierut or cover of steam erotic novel? You decide!

Nonetheless, by July - the parties got down to work. The central question of whether to negotiate one binding peace treaty that would apply to all participants or whether to just sign ceasefires and then negotiate each one. It was decided that the logistics of this were too complicated. Parties could negotiate among themselves or bilaterally or with a group as needed with one final document being signed off by all parties at the end.

The logical consequence of this and the Hull Compromise is that the current front-lines were assumed to be the status quo and negotiations would proceed on that basis.

In Europe, the first issue was the fate of Poland. Poland was currently split in two with a Polish People’s Republic, although it was initially based around Lublin, it had moved to Bialystok when the Axis liberated the city in late 1944. The Polish People’s Republic was nominally led by Marshal Rokossovsky but the real power in the land was Prime Minister Boleslaw Beirut. The other - the Second Polish Republic was based in Gdansk and led by Marshal Rommel.

While their patrons publicly supported each sides claim to rule over all of Poland, in reality both saw Polish land as bits and pieces to be bargained away. The first Soviet-German agreement was for Poland to be divided cleanly along the Vistula river - splitting the country in half as well as splitting the cities of Warsaw and Krakow into two. In return for Axis forces retreating beyond the Vistula (as opposed to the Lublin, Lwow, Gdansk line they currently held) - Germany would be returned East Prussia as well as Memmelland (held by the People’s Republic of Lithuania)

However, when the Polish delegation were informed, they went to work - lobbying not only their fellow Axis delegations from China, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Italy and many others but also discretely lobbying the Wehrmacht. They’d long resigned themselves to the post-war division of the country, but giving up everything East of the Vistula was too great a sacrifice. They wanted at least the present areas of military advance, and if that wasn’t possible - at least having a border at the Vistula and the San river.

Hungary, Slovakia and Romania were also opposed and alarmed at pushing the Soviet border so closely to their countries. Having had the taste of Soviet occupation once, they did not want to taste it again. The Wehrmacht and the Army High Command were also opposed to creating such a long salient to the North which could easily be cut off - which it had been earlier in the war - encircling millions of Axis troops.

The lobbying worked, along with Polish threats to boycott the process and to keep fighting the Soviets on their own (which would lead to the border being dangerously close to Berlin.) A revised border was agreed to along the Vistula and San rivers with East Prussia being returned, but Memmeland would not be ceded.

Even though both the Polish Republic and the Polish People’s Republic still claim jurisdiction over each other’s territories, much of the international community has accepted this division of borders as the current one.

 

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The Division of Europe - the Balkans and the Rest

I wouldn't mess with her. Would you?

Romania:
In Romania the present frontline was held - despite the protests of both the German-backed Kingdom of Romania and the Socialist Republic of Romania who wanted the other to be extinguished. The Entente knew that the Axis would not budge from the current Carpathian-Ploetsi front-line and both sides preferred to spend their political capital elsewhere. The Socialist Republic of Romania was led by General Secretary Ana Pauker who who became known in the west as the “Iron Lady” for her tough stances and uncompromising positions.

Greece:
Italy was bribed into trading the parts of Greece she currently occupied in exchange for returning Libya and Ethiopia. The pre-war Greek monarchy was established as a nod to the British but was forced to appoint a government with a Communist Prime Minister and with 60% of the Cabinet as Communists. This form of government - known as “Monarcho-Communism” of cohabitation and shared influence between the Entente and the Soviets would persist in Bulgaria and Greece until the late 40’s.

Bulgaria:
Tsar Boris had managed to save his country for occupation and being a complete puppet with his rule being confirmed - although he was forced to appoint communists to key posts including the Prime Ministry and the Defence Ministry.

Low Countries:
Much of the Netherlands fell to German rule. A small chunk of the Netherlands west of the Meuse which remained under Entente control was restored to Queen Willhemina who set up the so-called “Eindoven Government” under British tutelage until the late 40s.

Scandinavia:
The countries of Denmark and Norway confirmed how happy they were under German liberation.

The current division vs the old order

Bonus Question: Can you guys guess what happens in the late 40s that causes the collapse of "Monarcho-Communism?"

 

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San Francisco Conference and Asia


Middle East:
The status quo antebellum was preserved, but the Soviets insisted on a non-reciprocal de-militarized zone in the Persia-Soviet border.

Afghanistan was awarded the Pashtun areas that she occupied.

Central Asia:
All of the Central Asian republics were returned to the USSR in return for Manchuria (along with some Soviet concessions and considerable autonomy for the Autonomous Region of Socialist Manchuria.) Despite the feeling of betrayal by the Republic of China, many decided to flee to China fearing retribution and purges by the NKVD for collaboration, suspected collaboration and/or consuming the same oxygen as Chinese troops within a 30 kilometer radius. The flood of central Asian refugees, combined with another wave of Jewish expulsions in the Reich would strain already streched Chinese food supplies to the limit and cause a famine - but that’s the next chapter.

India:
India was split along Uti possidetis lines with each India having possession over the territory they presently controlled.

Burma:
Burma was returned to the British Empire in exchange for Hainan. Before returning them, the clumsy troops of the National Revolutionary Army and the secret police of the Bureau of Statistics and Investigation accidentally and clumsily left behind millions of tons of ammunition along with plenty of guns and supplies (similarly to how British troops would also misplace supplies in about to be returned Libya and Ethiopia.)

Indochina :
The divided French government was in no position or mood to play hardball, simply being content to divide Indochina along present lines.

China:
Hainan was returned to China in exchange for Burma and Manchuria was returned in exchange for Chinese-held central Asia and a host of extraterritorial rights, agreements to share mineral wealth and a 50 year lease on Port Arthur for the Soviet Union.

OOC: Sorry for the barebones nature of the updates. I’m running out of creative juice, but be assured that the post-war content should see a return to form. They’re going to be the ones I alluded to earlier that focussed on the terms of various leaders which should hopefully give more detail and context to what’s going on.


Planned updates:
US President William Wallace: The Peacemaker who won the peace, but lost the election. (1944-48)
Fuhrer Adolf Hitler: Building Greater Germany (1945-54)
President Chiang Kai-Shek: The Decade of Rice and Salt (1945-55)
General Secretary Joseph Stalin: Socialism in Many Countries (1945-56)

 

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"The century which we are entering can be and must be the century of the common man."

Resolution to create the United Nations at the San Francisco Conference

The Triumph of San Francisco and the New World Order
After the peace negotiations concluded in San Francisco, President Wallace presented a proposal to the parties - a reconstituted “United Nations” where the Great Powers would meet and discuss events so that the world could go forward in peace, prosperity and freedom.

Incidentally, President Wallace also said that countries that were not part of this United Nations could not have access to American loans or purchase goods or services on credit. Faced with being locked out of critical supplies, all the countries joined.

President Wallace returned to the Washington in triumph as peace parades were held all over America. After the tragedy of the Second Great War where over 40-50 million people were killed and tens of million more displaced, many sincerely hoped that the ugliness and brutality of the conflict would offer a way forward and that humanity had learned its lessons and that all countries would now go forward together to create a more peaceful world.

He was speaking for the hopes and dreams of many around the world when he said that he wanted this new world would be the ‘century of the common man.’

A photo of Jewish refugees being taken to a Soviet "Transit Camp" - many would be worked to near death before being handed over to the Chinese once they'd exhausted their usefulness and transported in primitive conditions across the Transsiberian Rail line into Manchuria.

The Shoah
They would be mistaken. The post-war world would see another wave of senseless violence and brutality. From the Third Italian-Ethiopian War, to the Burmese Insurgency to the Vietnamese Civil War, the world would continue to see bloody conflict. But one of the greatest tragedies was the Shoah.

After German hegemony over Central and Northern Europe was confirmed, Hitler went to work. While the Jewish deportations to China had been halted by the severing of the Iron Line, now they could resume in earnest - this time Germany’s allies and friends would be expected to participate. The lack of a concrete victory also led to a search for scapegoats and the Jewish population was blamed.

To the eternal shame of most of the leaders of the German allies - all but Italy said no.

Nearly three million jews from all over the Reich’s territory were slated for deportation to China. As the Iron Line was already to capacity and being constructed - another way was found. Stalin agreed to transit them through the Soviet Union if he was allowed ‘first pick’ of the the Jewish population - planning to settle them near the Polish border where their loyalties would be unquestionable.

Ironically, it was the bulk of the non-Polish jewry that were settled in the Polish border - Stalin wanted to make these communities even more dependent on the state as much as possible. The Soviet Union would end up resettling 500,000 Jews - many of them the brightest and best who had been in skilled occupations in Poland.

A further 500,000 would make their way to China via either the Iron Line or by ship.

But the 2,000,000 that were transited through the Soviet Union suffered the most nightmarish fate. They would pass through the ‘gulag’ system en route to China, Stalin did not believe in wasting labour and they were put to work repairing infrastructure, in the mines or chopping lumber. By the time many arrived in China many would be sick, weakened and malnourished.

But so were the Chinese. The Yellow River floods of the past year, Japanese ‘locust bombs’ and the pressures of nearly a decade of war had stretched Chinese agriculture to breaking point. The mass slaughter of sparrows by Chinese peasants (despite warnings/admonitions not to kill them) had prevented starvation last year, but without sparrows to eat the locusts, the harvest had not recovered to pre-flooding levels.

Although China tried to bridge the gap with the import of food from South America, United States, New Zealand and the resumption of fishing - there was still not enough to feed the starving Chinese population, the new Jewish refugees, Central Asian refugees and the starving Bengal population. The “Great Asian Famine” of the late 40s would eventually kill 5 million Chinese, 2 million Indians, 1 million Central Asians and 1 million of the Jewish refugees.

When word got out, the US public opinion turned sharply against Germany, the Soviet Union and China. Although each country denied responsibility with China and Germany blaming the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union blaming both China and Germany.

The US Public weren’t interested in excuses and neither was President Wallace. The “Morgenthau Plan” was drafted as a response to contain the “Axis of Evil - Fascism and Russian Communism” with the American public seeing them both as equally evil.

The Morgenthau Plan
Passed at the start of 1947 These were a combination of sanctions towards China, Germany, the Soviet Union and Japan (Japan was added to the list of the “Axis of Evil” following the Seoul Massacre and aggressive lobbying by the China Lobby) and aid and assistance towards Britain and France.

The sanctions took the form of an embargo against the import or export of raw material and all finished products (except for foodstuffs and agricultural produce) against China, Germany, the Soviet Union and Japan.

Aid and Assistance towards Britain and France included low cost interest loans, reconstruction assistance and aid packages. Controversially, France was included in the program despite having a Communist (Trotskyist) Prime Minister in a coalition government leading to suspicion that Wallace was a communist sympathizer (he was.)

The Domestic Agenda:
Besides the Morgenthau Plan, Wallace continued to advance progressive legislation - proposing a “Second Bill of Rights” in his 1946 speech. This was shot down by an increasingly conservative congress - as were his efforts to advance a civil rights agenda.

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The 1948 election
Although economic historians argue to what extent the Morgenthau Plan contributed to the sharp recession of 1947 and the sluggish economic recovery throughout 1948, all agree that it had some impact.

The tank, truck and automobile factories of the Mid-west, the ship factories of California and the oil refineries of Texas all keenly felt the impact of the cut-off of trade towards the “Axis of Evil” and while France and Britain did make additional orders, they prioritized rebuilding their own industries using American low-cost loans.

But the plains and agricultural states remained largely immune from the sluggish recovery due to the high price of agriculture from the continuing Great Asian Famine.

With much of the “Solid South” voting for Thurmond, Wallace won many of the plains states but many traditional Democratic states such as Illinois and Pennsylvania defected to the Republicans - despite all the efforts of the big city bosses and how many dead returned to life.

The election of Dewey marks the phenomenon derisively called “Americanism” - this is the dissonance of the American people wanting strong action taken on human rights and peace, but being unwilling to actually continue once the strong action begins to hit the pocket books.

President Henry A Wallace - although deeply unpopular by the end of his reign had been reassessed by contemporary historians. He is noted as a conviction liberal, a forerunner of the civil rights struggle and a staunch, committed progressive and idealist who was unafraid to stand up for the human spirit.

 

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The Fuhrer who won Europe: Adolf Hitler (1945-55)

In a sense, The Second Great War was the inverse of the First Great War. If in the First Great Warthe Entente had won a minor victory against Germany but kept Germany mostly intact territorially with loss of colonies, the reverse was the case in the Second Great War with Germany and her allies (Italy and China) forcing a minor victory and leading to the loss of many Entente colonies.

But while some classify the Second Great War as a minor Axis victory, Germany did not feel like a victor. Sure - she had confirmation of her hegemony over Scandinavia and Central Europe - but these were already held by the Germans. Germany didn’t actually win anything on the peace table other than the return of existing territory or confirmation of current lines of occupation.

Furthermore, Germany was in significant debt to the Americans (not to the extent of France, Britain and China - but some) and had to reconstruct East Prussia (which was stripped bare by Soviet forces) as well as to provide assistance to her allies.

It did not take long for the ‘stab in the back’ mythos to find her old targets again.

The Shoah
The Shoah has already been covered at length by others. However, recently de-classified intelligence relieased by the Americans under the auspices of the Sino-American Cooperative Organization reveals the alternatives that were considered. Although other options were considered such as expelling the Jews to Palestine and most chillingly - outright extermination - Hitler opted to go with the deportation of Jews and the confiscation of their assets.

Germanization
Hitler moved to reorganize the German spheres of influence. In addition to the Shoah, a list of extraterritorial privileges for German citizens were agreed to by the German puppet states and allies with only Italy being immune to these demands. These demands included free movement of german soldiers and citizens across their territory, fairly one sided trade agreements as well as other burdens. It is a damning indictment of Stalinist Soviet Union that the countries of Europe when forced to choose between the German whip or the Russian yoke chose the former.

From foe to friend: British-German Rapprochement
After Wallace’s defeat, President Dewey cancelled the Morgenthau Plan - resuming trade with all powers on a non-preferential, purely commercial basis. This would have a number of fairly significant ripple effects, but the most obvious was the the downfall of the Eden Government which fell apart from an inability to prioritize their now recently constrained fiscal situation. Simply put - the question was: Guns or Butter? Should Britain try and hang on to the colonies or alleviate the poverty and prioritize reconstruction.

Eden made the wrong choice. Prioritizing the defence of the colonies against the Trotskyist and nationalist insurgencies, staunch cuts were made across the board. Unfortunately was one of the coldest winters in recent memory and the cut of the fuel allowance led to many families going into crushing debt and poverty to heat themselves. And those were the lucky ones - the poorer ones or the ones that had no family left outright froze to death. Although the Eden government would hastily reverse this decision - it was too little, too late. Trust in the state had vastly collapsed with winter-fuel relief efforts being organized either by Trade Unions, Veterans Leagues or by Mosely’s Black Shirts.

In the chaos and instability of the election, the British Union of Fascists eked out a majority government in the 1949 election despite winning only a total of 33.09% of the vote due to the left-vote (44%) being split between the British Worker’s Party (Trotskiyist), the Communist Party of Great Britain (Stalinist), the UK Labour Party (Social Democrat/Democratic Socialist) and the Common Wealth Party (Social Democrat/Mutualist) and the outright collapse of the Conservative vote (12%). Terrified out of their minds of a fascist takeover, the Trotskyists and other elements of the hard left rose up in rebellion with some unions in support. The UK tethered on the brink for a few days as the bulk of the professional army stayed in their barracks. But they finally got their order from their King. George VI in return for Mosely guaranteeing the continuation of British democracy and the inclusion of Conservatives in the Mosely Government in the Great Offices of State (Secretary of State of the Home Office and Lord Chancellor)

George VI believed that he could control the fascists along with the senior conservatives. He would never get the chance to put his theory to action. He would pass away in December 1949 of ‘unknown causes’ leaving the young Elizabeth II as Queen of England.

Imagine just having a baby and having to deal with a fascist takeover. That's what Queen Elizabeth II had to deal with. I'd look pissed off too.

With a young, politically naive Queen in Charge, Mosely took action - reshuffling the Cabinet and consolidating fascist rule in Britain, ultimately entering the “Pact of Steel” by mid 1950

The consolidation of fascism in Britain and the entry of the United Kingdom into the pact of steel had a big impact on the international sphere. Stalin disbanded the “Monarcho-Communist” states of Bulgaria and Greece, overthrowing their monarchs who now had no support from their patron. The Belgians threw in their lot with the Pact of Steel, terrified of being isolated and left alone with a revolutionary France on it’s borders. But now the balance of power had shifted dramatically. Britain, Germany, China and Italy against the Soviet Union, Japan and France. Most importantly, the Axis now had a navy and would no longer be subject to blockades.

But not all was well in the Axis. While Britain and Germany was more than happy to throw the nationalist rebels they supported to the wolves (the Germans literally wholesale handing over their lists to the British of the rebels they supported and funded in Africa, Asia and the Middle East and the British handing over their lists of rebels in Libya and Ethiopia to Italy) - China was actually a sincerely anti-colonialist and nationalist power. While Chiang was happy to sell out other nationalists if it helped China (notice the fate of Central Asia), this was a different case and the BIS continued to misplace shipments of arms across Asia, Africa and the Middle East and continued to also misplace the list of rebels they were meant to give to their new allies.

This was obviously a source of tension in the Axis, but one that Chiang and Hitler’s close friendship would paper over. But once the two were gone the tensions and contradictions inherent in China - a revolutionary, anti-colonialist, third worldist, anti-European, nationalist power in a club of Empires desperately trying to retain their Empires and oppress people of colour across the world would lead to the Sino-German Split of 1956.

Why do you think we've got the bomb.

Project gotterdammerung
But the Axis was happy to overlook these differences for now and work together on a variety of projects. This meant deploying Wehrmacht forces across Africa, the Middle East and Asia to suppress nationalist uprisings and test unpleasant new weaponry.

The biggest cooperation was in the project gotterdammerung, the project to weaponize the power of the fission. While German scientists were the first to theorize that the atom could be split and that this could be potentially be turned towards destructive use, the Nazi ideology had led to the expulsion of hundreds of researchers to China (the most prominent among them was Max Born) and a handful who managed to escape to the states (the most prominent being Albert Einstein.)

Sino-German efforts to develop a bomb during the Second Great War had run headlong into the wall of lack of resourcing and also the refusal of Jewish-German scientists to work with a regime they considered abhorrent. They had literally been expelled by Germany and they did not want to work with Nazi German scientists or help the war cause.

After the war, with many of China’s hydro-electric power plants destroyed by the Japanese-British “damnbusting” campaign, they finally agreed to work on the peaceful use of nuclear power in developing a reactor, provided that their research wasn’t used for destructive purposes. After making Dai Li pinky swear that the research wouldn’t be used for war or shared with the Nazis, they got to work.

But Dai Li was a very naughty boy and made copies of all the research and provided it straight to the Germans. The entry of British scientists into the Axis also helped speed up the research. On New Year’s Day in 1955, an explosion on the mountains of the Carpathians helped usher in the New Year for some very unlucky Romanian peasants in the Kingdom of Romania. The Axis Powers had won the race to build nuclear weaponry.

Preparations began for the invasion of the Soviet Union in a couple of years. Much of the funding to the armed forces for China and Germany had gone to the nuclear weaponry project and the armed forces were still using tanks developed in mid 1940s (for Germany) and the mid 1930s (for China.)

But Hitler would not live to see his triumph. 10 days after his 66th birthday on April 30 1955, Hitler would breath his last. The Fuhrer was dead. But who would succeed him?

 

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The Man with the Iron Mask becomes the man with the Iron Heart: President Chiang

Following the San Francisco Conference, Chiang returned home with a victory. China had retaken Manchuria (with caveats such as it being a demilitarized zone by mutual agreement for both the Soviet Union and China, extra-territorial concessions and reparations) but nonetheless, it had retaken Manchuria. But at what cost? China had lost between 10-20 million in the Second Great War - many of them the creme de la creme of Chinese society. It was now suffering from a serious famine and a massive refugee crisis. The central question of the 1945 Presidential Election: Was it worth it?

Are starving children worth the victory?

The 1945 election
Chiang predictably won the endorsement of the White and Blue faction of the Kuomintang with Wang winning the endorsement of the Red faction. This was a bitter election fought to the knife with Wang fiercely critiquing the conduct of the war and Chiang criticizing Wang’s foreign policy failures.

Both men were confident of victory - but the election swung on to who Zhang Zhoulin would support. Moscow instructed him to support Wang, but knowing that a co-aligned Moscow and Nanking would undermine his autonomy, he stuffed the ballots in Manchuria in favour of Chiang and the Blue faction - an irony as he technically led the Communist Party of Manchuria.

The result was a narrow victory in favour of Chiang - 53% compared to 47% that Wang received. But Zhang would extract his price. He demanded autonomy and the role of Prime Minister as the price for his support. He wouldn’t attend any cabinet meetings or even go to the capital - he just wanted the potential to use power to gain his autonomy.

Chiang agreed.

Father Knows Best
Perhaps unsurprisingly, being kept in solitary confinement in a caged mask by a man you thought was your friend for a few months warped Chiang’s personality. This meant that his last term of office was significantly more authoritarian than the first Kuomintang government.

Setting the tone of the rest of the term was the refusal to lift Martial Law after the re-election. Even though Chiang had the factional numbers in the Legislative Yuan since Zhuolin’s blatant ballot stuffing, he still preferred to rule by decree.

The first act after confirming that martial law was standing was to strip Wang of his roles and appoint him as the ambassador to Moscow where he would be a prisoner in a gilded cage. His wife and family were kept in Nanking to ensure his good behaviour and to ensure that he would not defect.

The second was in unilaterally creating two new posts in the Executive Yuan (Cabinet) - two Vice Presidenct positions where he appointed his two sons: Chiang Weikuo and Chiang Chingkuo. Chiang’s injuries had left him more acutely aware of his own mortality more than ever and he wanted to send clear signals about succession, but could not yet make his mind up about which of the sons he would pick. His plan was to work closely with them and give them projects and then pick the best performing one for Vice President in 1955 and send either Weikuo to Germany or Chingkuo to America as the ambassador.

For Weikuo - he would appoint him as Plenipotentiary for Famine Relief and Agricultural Production to give him experience in dealing with domestic affairs and give him local contacts. For Chingkuo, he would reward his excellent service by formally naming him as the Plenipotentiary “Moral Purification and Anticorruption.” This - as the name implies was a bid to eliminate the massive corruption that had begun to take root in the wake of rampant poverty and famine.

He also reshuffled the cabinet, sending many of the leftists to less crucial roles. Mao went from the Labour Relations ministry where he did an excellent job keeping the peace and preventing industrial strife during the war to Secretary for Agricultural Affairs where he was overshadowed and overruled by Chiang’s own son. Dai Li was rewarded for his loyalty by being named the Plenipotentiary for Statistics, Information, and Internal Affairs (in effect, merging the interior ministry, the propaganda ministry with his existing secret police apparatus.) Chiang’s wife was moved from those roles to the Foreign Affairs ministry. Dai Li was also given oversight over the ultra-confidential Project Gotterdammerung project.

The Second Kuomintang Government (1945-55)
President and Supreme Field Marshall: Chiang Kai-Shek
Vice President: Chiang Weikuo (Plenipotentiary for Famine Relief and Agricultural Production)
Vice President: Chiang Chingkuo (Plenipotentiary for Moral Purification and Anticorruption)
Prime Minister: Zhang Zhoulin
Premier: T.V Soong (Finance Minister)
Speaker of the House: Lin Sen
Plenipotentiary for Statistics, Information, and Internal Affairs: Dai Li

Secretary for Foreign Affairs: Soong Meiling
Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs: T.V Soong
Secretary of Economic Development: H.H Kung
Secretary of Transportation and Communication: Deng Xiaoping
Commisar for Regional Development: Soong-Ailing

Secretary for Ethnic Affairs: Soong-Qingling
Secretary for Labour Relations: Liu Han
Secretary for Agricultural Affairs: Mao Zedong

Ministry of Defence: Chiang Kai-Shek
Secretary for War Production and Arnaments: He Yingquin
Secretary of Aviation: Feng Ru
Secretary of Maritime Affairs: Chan Chak
Secretary of the National Revolutionary Army: Sun li-Jen

This was a time of continued repression. The censorship of arts, media and speech from the war was continued - as was rationing, conscription. The only thing that indicated that the war had ended was the slight demobilization of the army and the slight decrease of production quotas - in all other areas, life was almost as hard.


The great Asian Famine
In fact, life was harder. The Great Asian Famine - caused by the Yellow River Floods, Japanese “famine bombs”, the collapse of Bengali agriculture was exacerbated by the fact that many peasants now had access to firearms thanks to the Civil Protection training being extended to the rural countryside. Although peasants were told not to shoot sparrows, hunger was a far more cruel master than the KMT could ever hope to be and the sparrow population decreased by almost 33%. Naturally this meant that even though Weikuo had started a program of planting crops in all possible arable land including parks and gardens, agricultural production would not resume to pre-yellow flood levels until 1953.

Even though Chiang tried to bridge the gap through aggressive food production strategies such as community gardens and urban architecture and the “Food diplomacy” of buying food off Latin American Countries and New Zealand - there was still widespread hunger and starvation. Simply put, there were too many mouths to feed and not enough food.

Food hoarding and corruption was also a big problem. The KMT had destroyed the Du Yusheng’s Green Gang - but it had simply coopted many others and the war had loosened their iron grip on them. Chingkuo’s “Moral Purification and Anticorruption” campaign ran headlong into the problem that many of the big time crooks had friends in cabinet or were in cabinet (He Yingqing, HH. Kung) and while there was some steps to repair the economy - these could never be fully implemented since the profits from the criminal activity was helping China repay it’s staggering war debts. The dilema that Chiang Chingkuo encountered was well portrayed in the original TV series “All Quiet in Peking


Foreign policy

Chiang pursued three key objectives in his foreign policy. The first was to secure food for the starving population - to this end, trade agreements were signed with New Zealand and all over Latin America to try and secure imports. Unfortunately, the Japanese ‘cropkiller’ diseases got on trade ships and also aggresively destroyed the agricultural production of many countries with the US as the exception due to the embargo against Chinese goods.


The second was to supply revolutionary activity throughout Asia and create a network of Chinese allies and puppets. Arms and supplies were aggressively funnelled to British-held Burma, to the Republic of Indochina and to the rebels against Japanese imperialism in Indonesia. But arms and supplies were also funnelled across Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa - but not to the same degree of urgency. This caused tension in the Axis following the British entry into the Axis in 1950, but Chiang could not and would not stop.

Even through the ups and downs of the Sino-German political relationship, the two peoples still felt and remained close to each other across the 20th and 21st century with polls in both countries regularly citing a high level of trust in each other.

The last was to continue cooperation with Germany. Sino-German cooperation actually intensified during this period. Germany squeezed her allies and her own population to send famine relief to China during this period and Sino-German technical cooperation was further enhanced and the relationship deepened. This led to continued progress on things like nuclear weaponry, rocketry, submarines, airships and even in cultural and social works with many youth groups visits across China and Germany. There was even a dynastic marriage to seal the alliance with Hitler’s niece Geli Raubal finally marrying her long-time fiancee Chiang Weikuo in 1947. Their union was symbolic of many marriages between German and Chinese during this time. From German submariners stationed in Hainan to Chinese Airshipmen training in Kiel, there was plenty of opportunity for contact between the “Two Fraternal Aryan Races” as Hitler would call it.

But the good times couldn't last. After hearing that Hitler had died, Chiang fell into a deep depression and had a stroke on May 4. Although he wouldn’t die until July, it didn’t matter. Neither of their successors were as close with each other and while Sino-German cooperation would recover from the Sino-German split of 1956, things would never be the same again. Chiang and Hitler’s death would end the friendship which probably defined the 20th century and the world would never see it’s like again.


Bonus Question: Who do you guys think will succeed Chiang (Kaishek)

 

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A bit of lore fluff as a bit of a break between the leader updates.

Reassessing Churchill's "Guangzhou Gamble"

"...as the 50 year anniversary of Operation Unthinkable draws close this year, we will undoubtedly see the ritual flagellation and scorn poured upon Britain's most unpopular Prime Minister from a number of quarters. Prime Minister Blair and Reichsfuhrer Hitler will denounce Churchill as a fool who squandered white lives over god-forsaken Asia as a desperate way of cementing their reformist faction's nationalist credentials and to keep the hungry jackals at bay. President Xiaoping will predictably decry Churchill as a warmongering colonialist, as will French President Mitterand and General Secretary Gargarin. The antipodeans will also denounce the loss of Australian and New Zealand lives over another foolish adventure. Japanese Prime Minister Ozawa will froth at the mouth and accuse Churchill of being too soft and arguing that they should've used poison gas and biological weaponry. Hell, even American President Dukakis will probably join in the circlejerk to keep the Chinese sweet and trading. But they're all wrong...."

"The truth was, Operation Unthinkable was actually successful. Even though they didn't take over the Guangzhou province, the Entente successfully denied 40-60% of Chinese war-time industry. Knocked China out of the war and laid the groundwork for the Soviet advances in East Europe. People forget now, but the Axis very nearly lost the war between late 1942 and early 1943. Germany lost over a million men and a whole army in East Prussia because of Hitler's refusal to withdraw the 6th army from Konigsberg till it was too late..."

"... That's not to say that the Guangzhou Gamble wasn't ultimately a failure - the Union Jack flying alongside the Swastika in the European Volksunion Hall is stark evidence that it did, but the two events which led to the disintegration of Churchill's strategy was outside his control. There isn't anything he could've done about the Rape of Nanning, other than not involving Japanese troops at all, which would've created a gap of 1 million troops. Nor could Churchill have predicted that Chiang would turn out alive and well after all. The truth is Operation Unthinkable was a daring, strategic masterstroke which very nearly won the Entente the war..."

"... But as they say, the victors write the history and as China continues it's 10th consecutive year of over 10% GDP growth, I can see why no one is in a mood to reassess his legacy..."

- An article featured in Monthly Military History as part of the October Operation Unthinkable Commemorative Issue.

 

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Joseph Stalin: The man of Steel
The Soviet Union (besides the USA) was the only power that mainstream historians would say had ‘won’ the Second Great War. Yes the caucuses and much of Central Asia had been occupied, but the Soviet Union now had access to the bountry of Manchuria, access to warm water ports and influence over Northern India. Of course this had come at the cost of around 5 million Soviet dead, but that was a small price to pay.

Enthusiastic workers reacting joyously to comrade Stalin's announcement that they are to move to Central Asia

The Second Great Purge
There were some who expected a level of liberalization within the Soviet Union given the Soviet victory, but those people would soon find themselves in the New Soviet Towns. Following a short period of relative liberalization between 1945-48 with some relaxation of censorship and the release of some political prisoners (mostly Trotskyists) the “Second Great Purge” would be launched. However, while brutal - this Second Great Purge would not be as fatal as the past one was.

The main focus of the “Second Great Purge” was to ‘nip the bud of Nationalist-Fascism” in the bud. To accomplish this, Stalin wanted to dlilute the ‘pool of traitors’ 50% of Central Asia was essentially depopulated of it’s native peoples with Central Asians being moved to Poland, the Caucuses being moved to Russia the Polish being moved to Russia (but not nearly to the same extent), the Jews being moved to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (in regions near the German border but well away from the Lithuanian coastline), Baltics being moved to Russia and last but not least the Russian , Russians being moved to Central Asia and the Caucuses

After the collapse of Monarcho-Communism with the fall of Britain to fascism, a similar process took place in Bulgaria and Romania but the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and President Flokaris was more resistant to Soviet control compared to the rest of the balkans given their more or less independent liberation of Greece and the back-channel communications between Athens and Nanking.

The main intention of these population transfers were to isolate ‘disloyal minorities’ by integrating them within a foreign culture. The idea is that the stigma and alienation that these cultures would face in a completely new environment would make them completely dependent on the Soviet state. Furthermore, population transfers would deprive the Chinese of willing collaborators in Central Asia and the Germans of willing collaborators in Central Asia.

All in all, more than 30 million people were transferred across the Soviet Union across this period of 1945-1956. However, remarkably there were very few casualties in this round of purges compared to the last round with the number of deaths only around 50,000 - a remarkably small number given the scale.

Students rallying to the defence of the Republic near the Elysee Palace

“Co-tolerance” with Trotskyists
The main reason for the ‘softness’ of Stalin’s new approach was a uneasy “Co-Tolerance” that had developed with Trotkyist France. President Andre Breton was a surrealist artist who had developed a fond friendship with Leon Trotsky after him getting lost in Mexico City ended up him blundering straight onto an attempted assassin with a sniper rifle. The grateful Trotsky hosted Breton and converted him to the more liberal, more revolutionary, more international version of communism that Trotkyism was fast evolving into. After a bill to colonize Algeria was tabled through the French Parliament, the conservative sections of society worked quickly to mobilize behind Petain - an anti-communist of impeccable anti-fascist credentials also. They could tolerate the syndicalization of the economy, shorter work weeks and higher wages - as those all could be undone - but independence could not and would not be undone.

So on the 21 April 1948, Military Chief of Staff Charles Nogues, Grand Admiral Francois Darlan and Head of Air Force Jean Romatet launched the coup. At first the coup looked to be a great success. Algiers fell without much bloodshed and much of Paris was seized by paratroopers and elements of the regular army. The parties of the right and center that were not with the government convened at Parliament to remove President Breton and instal a new government to office - one headed by Petain. President Breton was trapped in the Elysee with loyalist members of parliament and the Republican Guard. However, despite the seeming strength of the Putsch, their failure to secure President Breton meant that he continued to broadcast defiant appeals from the Elysee, meaning that much of the professional army stayed in the barracks.

The unions called for a general strike. As did the parties of the French left. Thorez, the chief of the PCF (French Communist Party) joined the strikes after a call with Stalin. All over Paris lines of people formed in front of the Elysee. Although the Presidential Guard was hopelessly outnumbered by the regular army, the people formed a barricade. When the paratroopers led by Edgar Puaud arrived to try and disperse the people - they hesitated to fire on the crowds. Yes - they were red French, socialists, malingerers, agitators and communists - but they were still French!

But the air force had no such hesitation - several DWs arrived to strafe the Presdential palace and the bombs fell loose among the crowds - dispersing much of them. A small fraction took up arms and retreated around the palace. The siege of the Elysee had begun.

But Major General De Gaulle was outraged by the actions of the coupists, like any Catholic he had no love for these godless reds and these degenerate atheists, but to him it was unacceptable to shed the blood of civilians. The decision was made.

De Gaulle’s troops raced with him to Paris and turned the tide. With Paris secured and the news of the Elysee massacre inflaming the streets, the coup collapsed. The Putschists surrendered and much of the traitor parliament also surrendered with a small fraction managing to flee - either to Britain or Germany.

With the putsch collapsed, order was restored - but the Republic had fundamentally changed. The parties of the right and center were discredited by the participation in the Elysee Massacre. President Breton - while still disapproving of the thuggery of Stalinism saw that France had no other allies she could turn to. America was still in the thrall of isolationism - and even if it wasn’t - President Wallace was far behind in the polls with President Dewey only a friend to money. They didn’t have to be friends with Stalin - just exercise a ‘mutual co-toleration.’ Besides, the PCF were true patriots after all - standing with the Republic against the putsch.

While Stalin's attention was occupied internationally, progress continued. Although Soviet industry endured some disruption with the population transfers, the influx of people into a system where they were essentially slaves and completely dependent on the state did wonders for productivity. Soviet industry was massively increased with the military receiving the bulk of the surplus. Advanced tanks and advanced planes for the first time ever were world class with the T-54 and the Mig-20 being the best tanks and planes in the world. However, Stalin fretted - why had Germany and China fallen so far behind despite spending so much of their budget in the military. Sure the fascist regimes were corrupt to their core - but surely not that corrupt?

Stalin received their answer on new year's day on January 1955. Despite his scientist's assurances that such a bomb would not be produced for at least another 3 decades, the Axis had gone and done it. This forced Stalin and Breton even closer together with the rampant saber-rattling of the Axis and increased military exercises causing concerns that another invasion was near - an invasion where the Soviet Union had no effective response.

Say "long live the victory of the working classes and the eventual triumph of the proletariat over fascism"

Manchuria and China
But Stalin was more clever than that, seeing Chiang's stroke as an opportunity for a fundamental realignment - he ordered that Zhuoulin be bought back in line. Their ‘puppet’ had become uppity and would not take orders from either Moscow or Nanking - loudly declaring his autonomy. But with the Zhoulin family ‘safely’ in Moscow by Mayday 1955 Zhoulin had no choice but to back Moscow’s man. With the Chiang family split the Professor of Botany and the Secretary of Agricultural Affairs Mao Zedong would win with 35% of the vote against the 33% of Chingkuo and the 32% of Weikou.

Stalin’s death would come two weeks after his greatest triumph. The visit of President Mao to Moscow in 1956 was supposed to signal a new age and the coming triumph of worldwide communism.

But then Stalin had an aneurysm and was found dead the next morning. While the tragi-comic farce of the succession is immortalized in the “Death of Stalin” - his death (within a month of Hitler and Chiang’s death the year before) signalled the end of an era that was forged by the three men. Who would have the strength to succeed the man of Steel?


OOC: Alright - time for more guesses - who succeeds Stalin? (Unless I've asked this question - have I asked this question? I'm sure I asked for Chiang and Hitler)

 

[CCA]

Kantaro Suzuki: The elder statesman who negotiated a peace (1944-49)

After the collapse of the “Leizhou Peninsula” - Prime Minister Tojo’s position became increasingly untenable. The rapid advance of the NRA across Indochina sealed Tojo’s fate and Suzuki was appointed as Prime Minister by Hirohito. The appointment of Suzuki represented a fundamental shift in the balance of power between the Army and Navy. Thus far - the Army had been in a fairly ascendant position, but now - faced with a string of failures in Manchuria, China and Indochina - the Navy’s star was on the rise.

The Navy had seen nothing but success throughout the wire, they had succesfully destroyed China’s fleet at bay. Managed to isolate China from her allies and were doing real damage to China’s coastal industries and cities. The Navy was also a far more disciplined unit, the Special Naval Landing Forces didn’t engage in the sort of massacres that the Army did and while the Navy was very firm in shadowing American shipping to Chinese ports as a show of force - there were remarkably no incidents of accidental firing or conflict.

Therefore the veteran statesman Kantaro Suzuki - who was one of the eldest naval admirals and still influential among the Imperial Japanese Navy was bought in at the start of January 1944. The appointed heralded a shift in policy - one from direct invasions and large scale movements to more smaller scale raids and invasions. This had remarkable success with the destruction of the Huangkou dam showed. But Emperor Hirohito also had a hidden agenda. As a younger naval officer, Suzuki had visited the states and been received by Rear Admiral Fulham. Although Fulham was long dead, Suzuki still had some contacts among the American navy.

At this stage, Emperor Hirohito believed that the war was futile and that Japan should seek peace terms. Manchuria was lost and Japan had gained the Dutch East Indies and was holding the line in South Indochina. It was far better to consolidate her position now rather than wait for China to potentially overrun Manchuria and then Japan - or far worse, for the Japanese position to get so weak that the Soviets would take her place.

But Suzuki’s appointment was superseded by President Wallace’s peace plan. Japan, although publically looking like it was reluctant to enter negotiations - it was just tactic to increase Japanese concessions. Although Japan didn’t really gain anything at the peace table - her rule over the Dutch East Indies was confirmed.


Rebuilding:
After the war, Suzuki presided over a transition to a peacetime economy. One of the measures that he wanted to undertake was army reform - to shrink the bloated conscript army and replace it with a mechanized efficient, professional fighting force that weren’t ill-discilined rabble liable to raping and pillaging.

Needless to say, this inflamed tensions between him and the Army. The Army was delusional enough to have opposed the peace in San Francisco - spreading poisonous ‘stabbed in the back’ myths about how the Navy sued for peace to prevent the Army from winning the war. The notice of the Army reform plan in late 1947 caused the “Seoul Massacre” where a group of IJA soldiers in the Kwangtung Army refused their demobilization orders to come back to Japan and ran riot over Seoul - killing, pillaging and raping. Although SNLF Marines eventually restored control - this inflamed the Korean independence movement - causing a wave of riots, demonstrations and disobedience.

As a concession, Suzuki allowed the Crown Prince Yi Un of the Joseon Dynasty to return to Seoul and appointed him as Governor-General for Korea. This was part of a wider reform plan of wanting the “Japanese Co-Prosperity Sphere” to actually exist in reality rather than being just propaganda. In addition, Suzuki also allowed Sukarno in Indonesia to form an ‘advisory commission’ to the Governor-General in Indonesia and to begin allowing Indonesian volunteers against the various guerillas and bandits that had arisen in Indonesia.

This charm offensive extended itself to other Asian countries and independence movements not in the Japanese sphere. South Indochina found itself awash with Japanese aid and supplies - as did the Burmese government. And when the chaos of confusion of the attempted Generals’ Putsch happened in April 1948 and distracted France and the chaos and confusion of the bloody days after the 1949 election happened in the UK - well - Japan was at hand to assist her friends in South Indochina and Burma. While Emperor Bao Dai’s cooperation in South Indochina was somewhat begrudging, the assistance and support of Ba Maw and the Burmese independence movement was more genuine as they believed (not incorrectly) that China betrayed them at the peace table to get Hainan back.

Suzuki saw this as vindication of his strategy. A Great East Asia Conference was scheduled to be held in Japan from the 5th-8th of November with representatives from South Indochina, Burma, Korea, Indonesia invited and delegations from Thailand and the Commonwealth of India invited to attend . It was widely rumoured that the “Great East Asia Co-Prosperity Association” would be formally declared there.

Of course, the militarists wouldn’t stand for this. The army had won Korea, Indochina and Indonesia fair and square - they weren’t going to let the navy betray them again at the peace table.

IJA mutineers taking positions outside the conference

On the first day of the conference, November 5 1949 mutinous soldiers led by Army Minister Anami seized the conference and killed Prime Minister Suzuki and appealed on ‘patriotic soldiers and true patriots’ to rise with them and seize control. Japan teethered on the brink and all eyes fell upon the Emperor.

 

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Benito Mussolini: The Diminished Duce (1945-64)

Chamberlain (L), Mussolini (C), Balbo (second from right) and Ciano (FR) in 1938

Postwar:
Although Italy only had its’ former colonies restored in the San Francisco Treaty, there was a sense of relief and resignationa bout the outcome. Yes, there were almost 500,000 Italian casualties from the Second Great War and no - Italy hadn’t really gained anything other than a few Greek islands, Malta and *Albania* but it could’ve been worse. Mussolini’s prestige had taken a beating, but he got credit for resisting German entreaties for widening Italy’s involvement in the Eastern Front.

Besides - what was the alternative? Between the reds in France and the reds in Russia and the reds in the Balkans what else could Italy have done? America was far away. So the Italian public fell behind fascism - not out of any great enthusiasm - but out of a sense of weary resignation.

But even if the public did, the elites were not as compliant. Yes - fascism was seen as necessary, but Mussolini’s powers were vastly reduced. Although the Italian regime had proclaimed Balbo dead, he had miraculously come back to life from the powers of not actually being dead. This set of a round of recriminations in the Fascist Grand Council with Ciano leading the opposition to weaken Mussolini.

The outcome was the creation of a Triumverate between Balbo, Mussolini and Ciano. Mussolini still had entrenched support among the grandees of fascism and also (surprisingly) from the wider population. He was kept in his rule of Duce while Balbo becamse the head of the Fascist Grand Council and Ciano became Prime Minister.

While the Triumverate had their many divisions - Ciano wanted a closer relationship with the Anglos, Balbo wanted an independent foreign policy and Mussolini wanted to stay in the Axis. Ciano wanted a more open, slightly more liberalized economy, Balbo wanted an increase to Autarky and Mussolini was in favour of the status quo. One area they did agree on was the need to bring the colonies back into line.

Ethiopian troops armed with mislaid Italian equipment captured by Entente forces

The subjugation wars:
Although Libya and Ethiopia had been returned to Italian administration, departing Entente troops clumsily mislaid tons of arms and ammunition and when they had new arms and ammunition allocated to replaces these - they also mislaid them. The Kingdom of Libya and the Empire of Ethiopia thus were proclaimed before Italy could return and she had to fight a long, bloody war to reclaim them. In addition - a steady trickle of supplies from the Entente and Comintern kept up the insurgency.

But while King Idris in Libya and Emperor Sailesee had troops that were brave, determined and and had the home field advantage, Italy had tanks and planes and poison gas. Italy also had support from her German ally who wanted to keep some troops doing military exercises.

Although Libya and Ethipia still has nationalist guerillas operating till today, Libya was formally subdued in 1948 with Ethiopia following two years later in 1950. But even though the subjugation was succesful, Italy had inherited ruined colonies with restive populations and was looking at decades of debt from the war effort.

Black gold:
But the follow up drilling to initial explorations done in the 1940s would dramatically change Italy’s fortune. Oil was struck in 1954 and by 1960 Libya was in the middle of an oil boom - as was the Italian economy as the supercharged exports fed domestic handouts and consumption. Italy was open for business - being the primary exporter of Oil to the Third Reich - but also now the British Empire which now needed new sources of oil. The Axis demand for oil intensified after Mao’s election to the Presidency and the closing off of the Persian oil markets to the Axis was particularly good for Italy which now became the primary source of oil for the Axis powers.

Realignment:
Italy was having to navigate it’s way in a changing world. The entry of the British into the Axis and the withdrawal of the Chinese meant that a new world order was being formed. Between the ‘anti-colonial powers’ of France, China and the Soviet Union (just don’t tell that to the central Asians, Baltic Germans, eastern Europeans or the Caucus peoples) and the ‘colonial powers’ of Japan, Britain, Italy and Germany. But this was still an interregnum period where sentimental ties with China between the pact of steel members kept China from being fully part of the Communist/Anti-Colonial block.

Korean People's Army Troops marching across Manchuria into North Korea where a worker's uprising had taken some cities in the North.

Korean War:
Nowhere was the dilemma of ‘realignment’ more confusingly demonstrated than the Korean War. Although Mao’s China had been steadily drifting towards the Comintern, the joint support of the USSR, China, France, Vietnam and other left-leaning powers for the Korean People’s Army’s uprising in Korea and ‘invasion’ (if you ask a South Korean) or ‘liberation’ (if you ask a North Korean) on 25 June 1960 spooked anti-communists throughout the world. Adding to this confusion was the fact that technically, although China was no longer part of the Pact of Steel, China had recently renewed a multi-lateral defence pact with Italy and Germany. However, Japan was applying to be a member of the Pact of Steel. Added to this foreign policy confusion was economic and domestic considerations. As the Chinese economy recovered from it’s slump the rising wave of Chinese middle class and elites increased their demand for fine Italian luxury goods. But China was also fueling leftist agitation within Ethiopia and Libya so there was genuinely condition.

The confusion of the various powers was illustrated when a resolution came before the UN to condemn the ‘invasion’ of Korea. The Chinese, French and Soviet delegations walked out in protest - leaving them unable to vote against the motion. But it meant that the Japanese proposal passed with British and American support while Italians and Germans abstained. By the time the Chinese delegation realized their mistake - the motion had already passed and there was a UN Force approved for deployment for Korea.

The predictable wave of denunciation from the Chinese, French and Soviet delegations around western imperialism came, but as did a concrete call for a counter-UN force - the “International Brigades.” This was an open call for any power to send forth volunteers to liberate Korea against Japanese rule.

Italy’s response was nuanced - she decided to send troops to aid both the Empire of Korea and the People’s Republic of Korea. A ‘blackshirt’ volunteer division was planned to aid the Empire of Korea as part of the UN Task Force. Italy asked for volunteers among the most staunchest and fiercest anti-communists. When there weren’t enough volunteers, hardened criminals were recruited to fill the ranks. Conversely, a ‘redshirt’ volunteer division was planned - and the response of this was more enthusiastic - among the ranks of political prisoners and those on internal exile as well as students and idealists.

Korea was a strange war. Chinese, Soviet, Mexican French, New Zealand volunteers would fight alongside the Korean People’s Army alongside their ideological enemies - in the Italian Garibaldi Division and in the regular Heer forces that were deployed to Korea. They would fight against Japanese, American, British, Australian and various Latin American troops. The Spanish Federation would have troops also fighting on both sides, sometimes the same state sent troops to both sides, sometimes it was the same city.

During the Korean War, Italian forces gave themselves a good accounting. The Blackshirt division fought with a combination of ideological zeal and the desperation of doomed men who would be given pardons if they returned and the Garibaldi division fought with the shining idealism of international brigaders.

The Blackshirt division covered themselves in glory at Daegu on April 26 1961, blunting the advance of Tukachevksy’s T-62 tanks with nothing but their panzerfausts and 90s mounted on trucks and allowing the UN Forces time to regroup and counter-attack.

It was the Garibaldi division that held off the might of the American X Corps as they landed in Inchon in 1962 and delayed them for long enough that the People’s Army could counter-attack with the 1st Panzer Division. The subsequent destruction of the X Corps in the “Christmas Surrender” led famously to Defense Secretary Eisenhower’s resignation as he leaked plans by the American President to escalate the conflict through nuclear weapons. The outcry of this forced him to back down and ultimately led to the ceasefire on 27 July 1963 which divided Korea along the Han and Bukhan rivers.

But the repercussion of the war lasted beyond just the effects of the war. Close to 20,000 Italian troops had fought side by side besides the ‘red hordes’ and found that they were just human beings like them. Even the 20,000 Blackshirts that fought against the Reds developed a respect for their ferocity. In trying to position herself strategically, Mussolini had unwittingly laid down a severe challenge for the fascist regime in the future.

Mussolini would not live to see this day. As the American voters swept in President Eisenhower on November 3 1964, Mussolini would breath his last. He was the last of the contemporary of Hitler, Chiang and Stalin and clung onto power for the longest - with nearly 50 years in power.