Cold War alternative mini-scenarios thread

Purpose of this thread is to present possible alternative scenarios( during Cold War) based loosely on fictional/real events and get feedback from members. Most of these scenarios likely not warrant a seperate thread each so this thread can be a repository
If other members can think of other such mini scenarios please do post them here
Thanks

I’ll start , can NATO woo Albania to its side ?esp when it was clear Yugoslavia was not going to go pro western
Italy can use Albanians to torment the Yugoslavs esp during the trieste negotiations
 
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Riain

Banned
The Conservatives win the British 1964 General Election: apparently only like 8000 votes in 20 constituencies would have given them a handy majority.

How does this impact the withdrawal from East of Suez, Devaluation of the Pound, CVA01 and TSR2.
 
What if the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic was not annexed into the RSFSR in 1956? Might we see one more independent post-Soviet country if the USSR falls apart?
 
Debt crisis: in the early 1980s, many South American governments default on their debts. This could aggravate the deepening economic crisis in the US and Western Europe at the time. This could probably lead to various consequences, such Thatcher (somewhat difficult, but still) and Reagan (easier) losing reelection in 1983 and 1984 respectively, Japan not experiencing the bubble of the second half of the 1980s and perhaps forcing the USSR to pursue reforms more actively in the early 1980s and perhaps with somewhat greater success, as foreign loans would dry up.
 
Dhofar rebellion in Oman is successful in overthrowing the monarchy , how will KSA , Iran and other great powers respond ?
 

marktaha

Banned
The Conservatives win the British 1964 General Election: apparently only like 8000 votes in 20 constituencies would have given them a handy majority.

How does this impact the withdrawal from East of Suez, Devaluation of the Pound, CVA01 and TSR2.
Rhodesia independent 1965, 1966 GE sees actual result reversed.
 
ZANU and ZAPU conflict in the late 70s due to USSR PRC rivalry
How will this affect Rhodesian war ? Can the Rhodesians do something bolder ( or foolhardy) like attempting a coup in Zambia or trying to take over Bostswana ?
 
Here's a Philippines-centric timeline which affects the Cold War. POD is the Philippine Marines fire on protesters on EDSA in 1986, which results in a coup against Marcos led by Brigader General Artemio Tadiar. Corazon Aquino is proclaimed as the president but a rift with Tadiar in 1988 results in the Philippine Civil War with the Tadiar junta emerging victorious.

It sends butterflies around the world. The Cold War would not end until 1995 when the USSR collapses later than OTL. It is replaced by a more aggressive China in the 1990s akin to OTL's China of 2022. China launches attacks on the Philippines and Vietnam somewhere in 1995-96.

 
What if the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic was not annexed into the RSFSR in 1956? Might we see one more independent post-Soviet country if the USSR falls apart?
I don’t see how since the whole point of the SSR was to prepare for the annexation of Finland
 
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The soviet invasion of Afghanistan is rocked by mutiny of the soviet muslim soldiers
They openly opt to support the insurgents and take a significant amount of soviet military hardware with them. Almost a division worth of troops are involved and this news cannot be suppressed by Soviets. How will the western and Muslim world react to this ? Given stoking Islamic fundamentalism can be a double edged sword esp with Iranian revolution and Mecca mosque siege fresh in recent memory.
 

tonycat77

Banned
Falklands war: the Vulcan that landed on Rio, actually has less fuel than OTL, it crashes on Approach in a Favela, killing and maiming hundreds, also the british openly attack and send commando raids into bases in the mainland.
Result: Brazil is openly pissed at the British, relations fall to the lowest point since the Christie affair of imperial times.
Argentina is backed by Brazil openly, the US panics at having to choose between the South americans or a NATO ally.
Argentine Navy fixes it's torpedo guidance systems and the fire control system of San Luis after a dramatic hunt against it, the modern submarine fires it's torpedos on the Hermes, critically damaging it.
The Hermes sinks after towing attempts fail due to bad weather.
San Luis is sunk by HMS conqueror.
I think Argentina still loses the war and eventually becomes a democracy, but the national pride of taking on the RN and inflicting severe losses is huge, the military isn't discredited.
Thoughts?
 
You been watching "Countdown to Looking Glass"? ;)
Uh, no, I wasn't aware of that. I just like to look into economic history and the 1970s - 1980s economic developments are one of the subjects I think I have researched somewhat well. I have been thinking about the Mexico default in 1981 - 1982, since it is an interesting case of the repercussions of oil glut, and the fact that it coincided with the period when Reagan's policies were causing more harm than good, with the industry already in steep decline; if the banking system went through a major shock as other Latin American countries are led to declare bankruptcy, then the recession could become deeper, which in turn would open various possibilities, such unbridled neoliberalism being discredited in favour of a more "social market economy" set of policies and in general avoid some of the OTL disruptions of the 1980s.
 
Falklands war: the Vulcan that landed on Rio, actually has less fuel than OTL, it crashes on Approach in a Favela, killing and maiming hundreds, also the british openly attack and send commando raids into bases in the mainland.
Result: Brazil is openly pissed at the British, relations fall to the lowest point since the Christie affair of imperial times.
Argentina is backed by Brazil openly, the US panics at having to choose between the South americans or a NATO ally.
Argentine Navy fixes it's torpedo guidance systems and the fire control system of San Luis after a dramatic hunt against it, the modern submarine fires it's torpedos on the Hermes, critically damaging it.
The Hermes sinks after towing attempts fail due to bad weather.
San Luis is sunk by HMS conqueror.
I think Argentina still loses the war and eventually becomes a democracy, but the national pride of taking on the RN and inflicting severe losses is huge, the military isn't discredited.
Thoughts?
Perhaps Prince Andrew dies too when one of the carriers he served at is sunk. He was a helicopter pilot at this time.
 
Tito don't break up with Stalin and later become a member of the Warsaw Pact as immediate consequeces Italy get a slighty better deal at Paris and Albania is absorbed by Jugoslavia
Stettin remain part of Germany
Austria is divided between east and west with the western part immediately absorbed by West Germany
The postwar crisis in Belgium due to Leopold cause the split of the nation with the various part absorbed by his neighboughs
 
1. What if one of the assassination attempts on Gerald Ford had succeeded, in 1975. This would make Nelson Rockefeller president. Is he the nominee in 1976, (with a Carter win), or do we get Reagan 4 yrs earlier? This might have a significant impact on how the Cold War progresses as Reagan would be out of office before Mikhail Gorbachev becomes General Secretary.
Also, how would a 1976 President Reagan impact in Afghanistan? Would the CIA be more involved? Might the invasion be butterflied? Or might there be a more direct US-USSR confrontation in central Asia?

2. Britain decides in 1970 the decision to cancel CVA-01 was wrong and they build three 'full-size' carriers. The Falklands War likely does not happen, and Margaret Thatcher may lose in 1983.
 

Riain

Banned
The carrier HMAS Melbourne enters the Operation Market Time blockade area and undertakes operations while escorting the HMAS Sydney trooping missions in Operation Hardihood, the establishment of 1 Australian Task Force in Phuc Tuy in early 1966.

The Australian Government responds positively to the April 1967 US request that HMAS Melbourne undertakes a war cruise, as an ASW asset on Yankee Station. The Melbourne undertakes a 7 month, 10 'patrol' deployment to Vietnam from late 1967.

Following the devaluation of the Pound the British Labour government offers the surplus to requirements HMS Hermes to the Australian Government. After the recent difficulty around replacing Melbourne with a used USS Essex class or British CVA01 and the Melbourne undertaking a combat deployment the offer is accepted, for delivery in 1971.

The incoming British Conservative Government overturns the Labour decision to end carrier aviation and orders HMS Eagle into a refit to operate Phantoms in 1970.

The rest writes itself.
 
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