Death in Tehran (Redux)

[Thanosaekk]

Chapter 27: Henry Wallace's First Term

The election of Henry Wallace in 1944 had confirmed his support from the people, and he could now properly begin a four-year term with Vice President Claude Pepper on his side. There were numerous items on the agenda of the cabinet, but implementing them against the wishes of many conservatives would be an uphill battle.

First came the appointment of a cabinet for the administration. It had initially remained unchanged after the sudden death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, but the 1944 elections provided an opportunity for reshuffling. Wallace had no problem with keeping most of the positions intact, especially as that would give him even more legitimacy as FDR's "true successor" in the eyes of party members. As he was not acceptable to the more conservative wing of the party, many who had such leanings resigned or were replaced by Wallace himself. Notably, Edward Stettinius Jr. replaced aging Secretary of State Cordell Hull, while a number of conservatives such as Henry L. Stimson and James F. Byrnes were quietly removed from the administration or given less important posts. Attorney General Francis Biddle kept his position, since the President was aware of his pro-Civil Rights stance which they shared.

The 1944 elections had given the Democrats a slim majority in the two Houses of Congress, but it could not be trusted to successfully pass wanted legislation due to disunity inside the party. One of the first major programs intended to be a bipartisan effort was the RPUN aid. The United States would be the sole net contributor to the fund for reconstruction around the world, and so it was important to not face any problems back at home to implement the aid plan. Although isolationist voices were gaining popularity inside the Republican Party, the funding was accepted by Congress and was soon sent to over 30 different countries.

The election had largely been won on a platform of continuing the New Deal reforms, although by far the most important domestic issue after VJ-Day was the return to a peace economy. There were numerous concerns over whether the end of war production, which had somewhat helped recover from the Great Depression, would lead to massive unemployment and a new recession. In addition, labor unions that had agreed not to strike for the duration of the war were now looking to earn from a possible economic resurgence and disputes between them and businesses grew. One of Wallace's first moves was to extend an olive branch to labor unions, organizing lengthy talks with some of the more prominent leaders like the CIO's John L. Lewis. The President's friendliness to the working class played a big part in helping these talks progress, and benefits such as higher wages and welfare for workers were ensured with the rather controversial Labor Support Act of 1946, passed as a way to aid economic recovery.

Segregation and civil rights for minorities were still an important issue, but not one that the President could easily address without causing political issues. Through the Fair Employment Practice Committee established by FDR in 1941, the end of discrimination in employment was enforced, and Wallace intended to continue that. Blacks and other minorities had been able to obtain jobs (often more skill-based ones) in wartime, and many retained them after 1945. Under Wallace, the FEPC's budget was increased and there was generally an attempt to combat its shortcomings which had often been criticized. In the immediate post-war period, the Committee was further reinforced within the effort to prevent a new recession, although an attempt to expand it to a general agency against the discrimination that was so common in the south was shot down by Congress in March 1947.

Another move taken by the administration was the desegregation of the armed forces, which there had previously been calls for. Even though there was not immense progress in the field of civil rights between 1944 and 1948, Wallace's views on the topic were an open secret, and would not help with his popularity among Southern Democrats. That is not to mention the stories of his alleged association with socialists that were meant to infuriate the conservative sectors of society. To rebut these claims of being a "communist puppet", the President typically underlined that he only wished for cooperation with the Soviet Union and concessions to labor.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party continued searching for ways to end the four-term dominance of the New Dealers. Before the question of new presidential candidates was brought up, the GOP's congressmen successfully passed a new amendment formally prohibiting any President from serving more than two terms. The tradition of two terms had been in place since the days of Washington, but was never codified until 1947. The mild success at midterms and the support of many Democrats allowed the amendment to pass, despite Wallace's objections for "spitting on FDR's legacy". As the next elections approached, one figure was spearheading the Republican re-emergence, and it was Robert Taft, who was preparing to be the first Republican the White House had seen in many years.

 

[Thanosaekk]

Chapter 28: United States Presidential Election of 1948

The Democratic primaries were clearly the first challenge for the incumbent President. While he was able to sweep numerous states in the Midwest and Northeast in an effort to get the upper hand in the Convention, his opponents inside the party were hard at work to ensure that wouldn't happen. The circle that had tried - and failed - to take the nomination away from Wallace four years earlier including men such as Hannegan and Pauley was back, and they were quick to find the best replacements for him. Harry S. Truman, the senator from Missouri, was once again invited to lead the intra-party opposition of moderate New Dealers and gladly accepted.

With a wide array of candidates, the Democratic National Convention was bound to be an interesting one. At the front were Wallace and Truman, each with their respective base of support. Behind them were James Farley, an Irish Catholic and old friend of Roosevelt, Harry F. Byrd, the Virginia senator who had made a name for himself as a staunch segregationist, with Alben Barkley and James Byrnes a fair distance behind as outsiders. The DNC held between 12 and 14 July was a mess, requiring several ballots to produce a final candidate and involving many deals behind the scenes. In the end, the incumbent President was able to pull off a narrow, almost miraculous victory and secure the nomination thanks to popular support which swayed several delegates and endorsements from some of the losing candidates. However, not all was well, as many of the Southern Democrats and segregations were anxious about keeping an openly pro-civil rights President in the oval office for another four years. In a meeting of Southern governors and senators, it was decided a third party run could help protect states’ rights from the federal government and Harry F. Byrd offered to run as its presidential candidate.

In comparison, the Republican National Convention was a much simpler affair. Robert A. Taft was expected to be the standard option for the GOP, as the greatest critic of the liberal policies in the last four-year period and the face of the party’s conservatism and opposition to the New Deal. However, Taft brought with him the voice of isolationism - Wallace was an outspoken internationalist, and believed in cooperation with the major powers abroad such as Britain, the Soviet Union and China to achieve “the Century of the Common Man”. In contrast, Taft had been a critic of involvement in European and Asian affairs before Pearl Harbor, and even after the attack continued advocating against post-war international treaties and alliances.

The greatest challenger to Taft’s nomination was Thomas E. Dewey, the Governor of New York. While initially an isolationist, he had recently shifted to a stance of internationalism and even supported some of Wallace’s diplomatic efforts such as the foundation of the UN and the “International New Deal”. During the primaries and the conventions, the message he spread to party members was that of conservatism at home and involvement abroad, but even though it struck a chord with some, it was not enough. With only two ballots, it was decided Taft would run in November and Arthur Vandenberg was chosen as his running mate. Bricker’s VP choice was thought to be a good one for geographical balance, even though there were doubts for whether he was a fan of Taft’s isolationist policy plans.

As Election Day approached, all sides campaigned hard. Wallace, realizing this time would be significantly harder, focused on what he called “the next stage” in the effort for world peace and citizen freedoms domestically. The promises on foreign policy beyond broad strokes went generally unnoticed, bringing the spotlight on domestic policy matters such as civil rights, economic recovery and the continuation of New Deal-style programs.

The results came on the night of November 2, and the country learned Henry A. Wallace would not continue onto a second term. The Democrats were able to win only some states in the contested New England region and sweep much of the West Coast as well as parts of the Midwest. Despite that, they were defeated by the Republicans in California as well as several “border states”. Perhaps their biggest defeat was in the South, where Byrd’s Dixiecrat ticket won Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina (even though his home state of Virginia was still won by the Democrats). The victory in the Electoral College was a narrow one for Taft, who was set to be inaugurated on January 20, 1949. The world observed as soon, a major global power would begin its gradual withdrawal from international affairs.

 

[the Imperium of Canada]

It appears that the Cold War straight-up isn't happening ITTL.

Chapter 27 was called Henry Wallace's First Term, implying that he'll run again and win the presidency, presumably sometime in the 50s.

 

[Starforce]

Read through this thread, amazing scenario. Sounds like a much more peaceful world.

 

[The Ghost of Danton]

Looks like Wallace managed to nip the Strike Wave in the bud, so no Taft-Hartley Act I suppose. I get the feeling that Taft's isolationism will let the Soviets get an influence victory somewhere that will have the internationalist wing and the anti-communists in the GOP abandon him and let the Dems come back in 52.

 

[Thanosaekk]

Chapter 29: A Forgotten Troika

The biennium of 1948 - 1949 signalled a rapid and profound change in the leadership and policies of all three world powers, each marked by a different event. In the Soviet Union, the unstable balance maintained between the three members of the troika was bound to collapse at some point, and so it did in that period.

The sense of wartime unity further reinforced by the death of a great leader allowed the triumvirate to usually reach unanimous decisions for the first two years. There was triumph across Eastern Europe that culminated in the fall of Berlin, and in Asia, the oddly short war against Imperial Japan ended with some territorial gains and a hold over Manchuria which allowed negotiations with the Kuomintang. In the immediate aftermath of WWII, the Union was able to exert some influence on more states like Yugoslavia and Iran, definitively achieving a position as a continental hegemon. In the Kremlin, the situation was not so simple.

Arguments over policy matters, mainly between Malenkov and Zhdanov, were hard to defuse and the task typically fell on Molotov, the negotiator. Malenkov's relation with the secret police was also brought up often and was a point of contention throughout the First Troika era, but the first real sign of internal rumblings came with the death of Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin on 4 August 1946. As Chairman of the Presidium and the formal head of state since 1938, the Old Bolshevik wielded almost no real political power and simply signed decrees. What made the appointment so important for the first time was the fact that, under the agreement that gave the troika different positions, the official government and the party leadership had started to drift apart. Soon, the position could become more important than ever.

Molotov's suggestion that Andrey Andreyev be placed as Chairman of the Presidium (and thus nominal head of state) was what started the debate. In response, Maksim Saburov was counter-nominated and, in an extremely rare occasion, the Politburo reached a deadlock that lasted for 9 days. It was only resolved after a backroom deal that gave Saburov's backers, those being largely the NKVD - Malenkovites, extensive power in the Gosplan that controlled economic planning. In exchange, Andreyev was quietly approved as Chairman and the cogs of the Soviet bureaucratic machine began to turn again.

By this point, the three dominant factions each represented by a triumvirate member were becoming clear. First, there were Molotov's Stalinist conservatives that held no particular ideological leaning but were still powerful in the bureaucracy. The "cultural revolutionaries" of Zhdanov were second in influence, only closely beating the Malenkovite technocrats. Once again, this balance was upset on 19 June 1948 when General Secretary Zhdanov died. This was not exactly unexpected as the cultural revolutionaries had plans for this occasions - Nikolai Voznesensky, a rising star and a skilled economist, used his connections to arrange approval from the Central Committee as a replacement before any rivals could make a move. The swift transfer of power took the conservatives by surprise, but the death of a figure as influential as Zhdanov certainly had certainly shaken up his base of support.

Without his famous speeches calling for aggression and a cultural war against Western influence, many sympathetic officials reverted to neutrality on the factionalism issue or turned to other big players. Voznesensky was also less aggressive in foreign policy, and so lost the backing of those who were looking for an expansionist and strong leader. This was the second blow which paved Molotov's rise to power, and further sidelined his enemies. The third would come only eight months later, and it was the February Purges in which the secret police was rigorously rooted out.

In hindsight, we can see that a strike against the NKVD had been in the works by the Sovnarkom for a while, and was mainly targeted at Lavrentiy Beria and the "Georgian mafia" that surrounded him. The NKGB was supplied by Molotov as an alternative branch loyal to the party, while the Red Army and its commanders were re-shuffled around 1948. And so, on February 10th, 1949, the plan for consolidation of power was set into motion.

Molotov was well aware that the key to taking down the technocrat faction was to cut off its great benefactor. Destroying Beria's clique was not a move based on morals, but rather what was perceived as the first step to taking total power. On the 10th, a number of NKVD officers who had been invited to Moscow for a briefing were swiftly arrested by loyal Red Army and NKGB soldiers. Those caught included Sergo Goglidze, Vsevolod Merkulov and Pavel Sudoplatov, all accomplices to Beria's crimes. The ring leader himself, however, had been quite paranoid lately and managed to escape through Mongolia to China, and in a matter of days he had completely disappeared.

Beria's flight was unfortunate, as he would not be able to confess his crimes, but it was still enough to make Malenkov realized the trouble he was in. Reserve units were called up to take positions around Moscow, and Malenkov had no choice but to resign from his positions on February 24. A number of technocrats in the Politburo like Saburov and Mikhail Pervukhin were also "escorted out", with the units of Georgy Zhukov playing a role in the events that took place in the capital and helping stabilize the situation. Once that threat had been eliminated, and conservative loyalists had taken up the vacant positions, it was time to approach Voznesensky's cultural revolutionaries to sort things out with the full support of the Soviet state.

Voznesensky lacked his predecessor's stubbornness and "ideological purity". He was more of a pragmatist, and made a backroom deal that allowed his "clique" (including Kosygin and Kuznetsov) to safely withdraw from national politics without fearing gulag sentences or executions. With the last rivals out of the way, Molotov was free to reorganize the government however he liked, as for the first time in over 6 years only one man held power. Nevertheless, he was not particularly fond of total authoritarian rule and instead preferred to maintain the spirit of collective decision-making that had developed in the mid-1940s. He argued that, without different interest groups constantly bickering in the Politburo and Sovnarkom, this method could prove highly effective.

Firstly, a new triumvirate was created to replace the previous one. Several Old Bolsheviks Molotov was friends with were by now too old, and thus he preferred to include some of the younger party members that had risen to prominence through the purges in the government. This was what allowed Dmitri Shepilov, a political commissar turned ideologue, to become General Secretary at the age of 43. To complete the troika, Nikolai Bulganin was appointed Deputy Premier and proceeded to actively help in organizing cabinet positions and other witch hunts of much smaller scale.

In the field of diplomacy, Andrei Gromyko became Narkom of Foreign Affairs even though many decisions still went through Molotov first. Another person to quickly climb the ranks was Alexander Shelepin, a hardliner who earned the favor of the Premier and became a member of the Secretariat at a surprisingly young age. Much like in the years of the Great Purge, the phenomenon of less experienced officials growing in importance was observed, but the Premier did not show any concern about the loss of party veterans as long as they didn't toe his line. For now, he continued re-shuffling the party and got to work to fix the problems of the Union. Due to reasons that will be discussed later, however, this period would come to be known as the era of the Forgotten Troika.

 

[Thanosaekk]

Chapter 30: Quid Pro Quo

One of Molotov's first priorities as undisputed Soviet leader was to fix the Soviet position abroad, by improving its image and consolidating control over satellite states. This process was a long and gradual one, and began in the USSR's backyard in Southeastern Europe. By spring of 1949, all four puppet states there had come under the authoritarian rule of their respective communist parties, but not all leaders were happy with the direction their benefactor was taking. For example, Slovakia's Karol Smidke and Romania's Stefan Foris had been in close contact with Andrei Zhdanov and his associates before their fall, and were supportive of his ideas on culture and aggressiveness abroad. The latter was allowed to stay in exchange for limiting his powers and abandoning some of his principles, but the former was not.

Smidke was replaced on April 6, 1949, by prominent party member Alexander Dubček. This change in leadership was widely criticized both in Moscow and in Slovakia, as Dubček was judged to be too young, too inexperienced and too moderate to lead the country. Another difference with his predecessor was the sympathy to "unionism" in regards to the defunct state of Czechoslovakia, and that is exactly what mattered to Molotov. In a Kremlin meeting on April 12, he stated the necessity of "re-configuring the alignments of Eastern European states to our advantage" and had a specific idea in mind that would help achieve his vision of a stronger communist bloc.

The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was considered a thorn on the side of the "Southeastern Bloc", with Tito holding down a volatile mix of ethnicities ready to blow up, and yet still eager to expand its influence to the Balkans. Ideological differences also existed, but what the Premier cared about the most was to establish Yugoslavia as a stable and Soviet-aligned state - even at the cost of some territory. An invasion would be very hard, and most methods that could be employed would result in a sticky situation, one that would drain Soviet resources. The plan was for the USSR to present Britain with a great opportunity to fulfill its Balkan ambitions in Serbia, and in addition, provide an excellent opportunity to solve the Czechoslovak dispute that had now been going on for almost 4 years.

Across Europe, the United Kingdom was rising as the sole arbiter in continental politics. America's gradual withdrawal from commitments abroad was controversial, but it still allowed Britain, together with its partner across the Channel, to act as they wished. The desire to combat Yugoslavian expansion was present, and it only increased in May as a crisis unfolded around Istria where Tito's army was trying to scare the Commonwealth occupation forces into giving up Trieste. At the time of the stand-off, Moscow approached Eden for the backroom deal they had been planning, and not long after, it was settled. May 8th was the day when the reunification of Czechoslovakia was announced with the blessing of all powers, and the world was surprised to see a mend in British - Soviet relations.

With Edvard Beneš, the face of unionist sentiment, having died only nine months prior, the largely ceremonial position of President was given to Jan Masaryk, the son of the country's founder who had previously retired from politics. The system of government remained parliamentary and elections were expected to be held in two months' time so that a new Constitution may be written. However, while the people of Czechoslovakia rejoiced at unification, things to a different Slavic country in the south were taking a turn for the worse. The UK had been given a carte blanche to go against Yugoslavia through its monarchist allies, as long as it did not go too far and risk intervention.

The fact that, in a period of tense relations, these two powers were able to come to such an agreement can perhaps be explained to the changes in attitude of all three superpowers. The USA's turn to isolationism allowed the British to pursue their own interests, which were not always driven by ideological motives. Eden himself was getting into a progressively worse situation, and wanted something to show that his foreign policy in Europe was not doomed to fail. And finally, Molotov now had undisputed power over the USSR's government which allowed him to exploit Eden's feelings about a joint front against an Axis resurgence and make concessions to tone down the existing rivalry. He seemed to succeed, as for the next few months, bilateral relations were surprisingly friendly. Britain could count on the USSR for European affairs for as long as it was convenient.

Back in the Balkans, the opportunity presented was soon exploited by Britain and it only took until mid-May for rumours to emerge of an "officers' plot" brewing inside the Army. Former royalists still maintained positions and had a certain level of influence, prompting Tito to immediately draft plans for what was essentially a purge of the branch and the replacement of the royalists with politically reliant commanders. Alas, he was not quick enough, as on 21 May 1949, all hell broke loose in Yugoslavia.

 

[Phradmon]

Chapter 30: Quid Pro Quo

One of Molotov's first priorities as undisputed Soviet leader was to fix the Soviet position abroad, by improving its image and consolidating control over satellite states. This process was a long and gradual one, and began in the USSR's backyard in Southeastern Europe. By spring of 1949, all four puppet states there had come under the authoritarian rule of their respective communist parties, but not all leaders were happy with the direction their benefactor was taking. For example, Slovakia's Karol Smidke and Romania's Stefan Foris had been in close contact with Andrei Zhdanov and his associates before their fall, and were supportive of his ideas on culture and aggressiveness abroad. The latter was allowed to stay in exchange for limiting his powers and abandoning some of his principles, but the former was not.

Smidke was replaced on April 6, 1949, by prominent party member Alexander Dubček. This change in leadership was widely criticized both in Moscow and in Slovakia, as Dubček was judged to be too young, too inexperienced and too moderate to lead the country. Another difference with his predecessor was the sympathy to "unionism" in regards to the defunct state of Czechoslovakia, and that is exactly what mattered to Molotov. In a Kremlin meeting on April 12, he stated the necessity of "re-configuring the alignments of Eastern European states to our advantage" and had a specific idea in mind that would help achieve his vision of a stronger communist bloc.

The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was considered a thorn on the side of the "Southeastern Bloc", with Tito holding down a volatile mix of ethnicities ready to blow up, and yet still eager to expand its influence to the Balkans. Ideological differences also existed, but what the Premier cared about the most was to establish Yugoslavia as a stable and Soviet-aligned state - even at the cost of some territory. An invasion would be very hard, and most methods that could be employed would result in a sticky situation, one that would drain Soviet resources. The plan was for the USSR to present Britain with a great opportunity to fulfill its Balkan ambitions in Serbia, and in addition, provide an excellent opportunity to solve the Czechoslovak dispute that had now been going on for almost 4 years.

Across Europe, the United Kingdom was rising as the sole arbiter in continental politics. America's gradual withdrawal from commitments abroad was controversial, but it still allowed Britain, together with its partner across the Channel, to act as they wished. The desire to combat Yugoslavian expansion was present, and it only increased in May as a crisis unfolded around Istria where Tito's army was trying to scare the Commonwealth occupation forces into giving up Trieste. At the time of the stand-off, Moscow approached Eden for the backroom deal they had been planning, and not long after, it was settled. May 8th was the day when the reunification of Czechoslovakia was announced with the blessing of all powers, and the world was surprised to see a mend in British - Soviet relations.

With Edvard Beneš, the face of unionist sentiment, having died only nine months prior, the largely ceremonial position of President was given to Jan Masaryk, the son of the country's founder who had previously retired from politics. The system of government remained parliamentary and elections were expected to be held in two months' time so that a new Constitution may be written. However, while the people of Czechoslovakia rejoiced at unification, things to a different Slavic country in the south were taking a turn for the worse. The UK had been given a carte blanche to go against Yugoslavia through its monarchist allies, as long as it did not go too far and risk intervention.

The fact that, in a period of tense relations, these two powers were able to come to such an agreement can perhaps be explained to the changes in attitude of all three superpowers. The USA's turn to isolationism allowed the British to pursue their own interests, which were not always driven by ideological motives. Eden himself was getting into a progressively worse situation, and wanted something to show that his foreign policy in Europe was not doomed to fail. And finally, Molotov now had undisputed power over the USSR's government which allowed him to exploit Eden's feelings about a joint front against an Axis resurgence and make concessions to tone down the existing rivalry. He seemed to succeed, as for the next few months, bilateral relations were surprisingly friendly. Britain could count on the USSR for European affairs for as long as it was convenient.

Back in the Balkans, the opportunity presented was soon exploited by Britain and it only took until mid-May for rumours to emerge of an "officers' plot" brewing inside the Army. Former royalists still maintained positions and had a certain level of influence, prompting Tito to immediately draft plans for what was essentially a purge of the branch and the replacement of the royalists with politically reliant commanders. Alas, he was not quick enough, as on 21 May 1949, all hell broke loose in Yugoslavia.

Karadjordevic Monarhy Rediviva?

 

[Thanosaekk]

Chapter 31: Crisis in Yugoslavia

Despite their positions inside the Yugoslav Army, most of the royalists and former Chetniks were unable to rally entire divisions to their side during the initial putsch thanks to the wide-reaching popularity of the socialists that was present everywhere. Thus, the officers participating in the plot to oust Tito mainly relied on various paramilitary units, some of which had only been formed very recently. The surprising pace at which they were armed caused suspicion, and confirmed beliefs that they were British-backed as their weapons were commonly used in battles of the Yugoslav Crisis. All in all, within days of unrest breaking out, over 100.000 troops had been mustered to take part in a drive to Belgrade.

The initial stage of armed conflict unfolding inside the country was characterized by the disorganized anti-communist militias steadily increasing in number and converging on the national capital. At the time, the Trieste crisis was reaching its peak and so the majority of the actual army was situated to the northeast, making a show of force to Italy and the West. What this meant is the insurrection only had the typical garrisons to deal with until reinforcements came from Croatia and Bosnia. In the meantime, the resistance to Tito's government coalesced around former Chetnik leaders. Many had collaborated with the Axis occupation authorities to fight the Partisans in WW2, but some had avoided trial and maintained low-ranking posts in the military. As Draža Mihailović was in exile in Greece out of fear of execution, the nominal leadership of the "neo-Chetniks" fell to Dragutin Keserović, a lieutenant colonel who had cooperated with both the partisans and the Axis during the four-year occupation.

The first real battle occurred in Sandžak on May 26th. A "loyal" division stationed in Dalmatia had been called to move east, and collided with Keserović's men near Novi Pazar. Should the defenses in Sandžak fall, the leadership of the anti-communists realized the rear of the troops heading to Belgrade would be exposed, and so a bloodbath ensued as almost a fifth of the royalist army held the line. Beyond the fierce defense that temporarily held back the YPA, the battle was also notable for atrocities on a small scale that were committed by the neo-Chetniks mainly against Muslims and other non-Serbian groups judged to be "a potential fifth column for Tito".

The world reacted negatively to what was effectively a civil war in the Balkans, but British support to the anti-communists kept flowing despite the outcry in the hopes of quickly ending this debacle. Meanwhile, a detachment of 10.000 men held by Pavle Đurišić swept through lightly defended Montenegro, and was able to capture Podgorica on June 1st "in the name of the King". There was little success for neo-Chetniks inside Bosnia and Croatia, as they were typically crushed by strong YPA forces. However, one week after the capture of Podgorica, the capital of the entire country itself was in danger of falling. The socialist army had been caught off guard by the rapid, almost careless advance of the militias north, and so hadn't been able to send enough reinforcements to Belgrade. All roads leading into the city were soon occupied by the rebels, leading to its final capture on June 4 against an army division.

The Tito government was now in a precarious position. The Prime Minister was near Trieste at the time of Belgrade's fall, but Keserović was able to declare a rival government and rally even more support. The sporadic garrisons in Montenegro and Vardar Macedonia were forced to flee to the neighbouring socialist states or even into the mountains of Greece where former EAM fighters were still active. This left the bulk of the army to form a defense line along the eastern Bosnian border, the hope being that an actual face to face battle would result in a victory for the professional forces.

As the first battles along the "Jovanović line" began to take place, what was referred to by now as the Zagreb government decided to use diplomatic channels to its advantage. The first step was a condemnation of the revolt and the alleged war crimes committed through the United Nations, a resolution passed by the General Assembly. The UK was the only power against the condemnation, and so the Security Council never issued a veto. Next came an appeal to the USSR, despite any differences they had, to help its socialist brothers in the struggle against reactionaries through supplying weapons or even directly intervening. To Tito's surprise, the Kremlin's response was negative, and called for peace to be made between the two Yugoslavian governments. That was how a new idea was created: to definitively divide the multiethnic country.

Keserović's government which was entrenched in Belgrade by the time talks started had made its goals clear. The first priority was the return of King Peter II against the results of what they argued was a referendum rigged by the communists. However, much like the Chetniks that formed the backbone of the new movement, not everyone was fully committed to the idea of a united Yugoslavia. Many aspired for a "Greater Serbia" separate from Croatia, and had even engaged in massacres of non-Serb populations in WWII. Thus, when the British Foreign Office made a proposal for the troubled country to be divided in two, the royalists begrudgingly entered negotiations.

The battles along the Serbian - Bosnian border had been largely inconclusive, as the neo-Chetniks were using the resources now available to them to raise new forces. Foreign volunteer forces also helped fight against the communists, notably White Russian emigrés (many of whom had been residing in Yugoslavia before the war). Any attempts at breakthroughs were typically stopped within days, and so an effective stalemate was created. After the last abortive attempts to achieve total victory, representatives from both sides were called to Milan with the goal of settling the terms for an armistice. Tito completely refused to recognize the Belgrade government, but proved open to a temporary truce splitting the country in two and hostilities ceased on June 19th (making the armed conflict last just short of a month). As per the final deal, the provisional border would be set on the western Serbian and Montenegrin borders, a convenient solution that helped avoid too many ethnic questions and represented the situation on the ground. In addition, an international UN-administered force would be used to help ensure tensions remain low.

The announcement was made three days after the Milan talks started, and was received differently by the various demographics of Yugoslavia. Both regimes immediately got to work, Zagreb to regroup and reform what was left of the country, and Belgrade to perform “de-communization” and restore the Karađorđević dynasty at last.

 

[Thanosaekk]

Chapter 32: Mr. Eden's Wild Ride

The Conservative victory in the 1945 UK elections had come as a surprise to most, even much of the party itself. It had been carrying the burden of the Great Depression, WWII and the last few terms in general, so the message of change spread by Labour was expected to be a heavy blow. However, the sudden assassination of Churchill, the resulting wave of sympathy and Eden's popularity as party leader resulted in the "1945 Surprise". From that point, the Prime Minister put a heavy focus on foreign affairs, as the issues to be settled were many. The future of Germany, relations with the USSR, Palestine and India were all hard problems to solve, but to the common man it didn't matter as much as what was going on back at home.

Post-war politics and debates were dominated by the questions of social reform and economic control. The Beveridge Report of 1942 was originally meant to be a simple political report commissioned by the wartime coalition to investigate the country's social insurance, but soon turned into a manifesto calling for radical change and reform in regards to welfare and government policy as a whole. The Labour Party had wholeheartedly embraced the Report that fit its agenda, but Prime Minister Churchill and most of the Conservative Party were reluctant to implement the reforms William Beveridge had advocated for. As part of his 1945 electoral campaign, Eden had promised to implement a "slightly revised" version of the proposals, and that was the main focus of his domestic agenda while serving his term.

From the end of the war and onwards, the Tory government took measures to first establish the National Health Service that had long been advocated for. Under the supervision of Minister Henry Willink who had drafted his own plan for the service in wartime, the NHS was built from the ground up as a free, universal and comprehensive healthcare system for all British citizens. Limited welfare policies were introduced in 1947 to provide various benefits, but were later expanded under pressure from the opposition and included a "safety net" for the general population. Other policies, like anti-unemployment measures and public housing were implemented with a general bipartisan consensus. However, where the government was really in trouble was abroad.

Over the years, the government of Anthony Eden had gotten itself involved in an increasing number of quagmires far from home, especially in the colonies. One of the most infamous ones was in the Dutch East Indies, the colony of the Netherlands that was one of the first to be fighting a war for its independence. To support an ally of theirs, and to prevent British colonies nearby from getting any ideas about violently seceding, the UK had resorted to military supporting the DEI with tens of thousands of troops. The war was taking a toll on the homeland, and the back-and-forth nature meant there could be no clear outcome or victory in a campaign, and nothing to show the war was ending soon. This was one of the biggest post-war operations undertaken, and Labour made sure to criticize it at every step of the way as an unnecessary imperialist conflict.

The policies of decolonization in Palestine and India were also attacked as "half-baked attempts at withdrawal". In the case of the former, a large garrison remained in place, not only in Jerusalem as originally planned but across the country to maintain order and fight Zionist and Arab insurgencies alike. Thankfully, President Chaim Weizmann had some understanding of internal British politics, and realized it would not be long until they would have to leave, and then a Jewish state could be properly established. This helped reduce the tensions with the Jewish paramilitary force, but this reduction in agitation was far from the case in India.

The National Congress had been advocating for total independence, in some cases violently. Dominion status had done little to appease the population - if anything, it radicalised it even more. For example, the Congress Socialist Party which was operating as a caucus inside the INC found increasing support, mainly in the non-violent current of Narendra Deva and his democratic socialist principles (although those wishing for violent aggression also existed). Jawaharlal Nehru himself was mildly sympathetic to the CSP's cause, and with the continued British presence turned to its members and even the USSR for support. Full independence was agreed to take effect on January 1st, 1950, and so in the months preceding it, the princely states would have to make a decision on whether to go on their own or join India.

Only the largest states in size and population had the luxury of being self-sustainable. Jammu and Kashmir, Hyderabad, Mysore and Travancore all had their rulers declare sovereignty. The only other cases of secession were near the frontier, where the princes had more options. So, Sikkim near the Himalayas and Manipur near Burma joined the community of independent nations, while two more cases were also notable. Kalat and the National Party advocating for preservation of its monarchy spearheaded an effort for the land not to accede to the Union of India, and so formed a "Baluchi Federation" with the other neighbouring princes. In addition, Junagadh led the creation of the Kathiawar Federation, a collection of the various administrations of the western peninsula. With that, the messy process of transition was done. However, the clause for all the princely states to be protected by the UK was still kept, and so symbolic Royal Guards of various sizes were stationed in each one. No sooner had Nehru's caretaker government took power, than it began advocating for an end to these separatist movements.

The Indian mess, in combination with the events in Yugoslavia where even former collaborators were armed against Tito, had caused an uproar and discontent with the Tory government was growing. When Parliament was dissolved and new elections were held, the burden of everything from the Great Depression to decolonization was heavy for the Conservatives to carry, and so Labour enjoyed one of its greatest landslide victories in decades. 401 seats allowed it to easily create a new government without a need for a coalition, and opposition leader Clement Attlee became the new prime minister in the first majority government of the Labour Party.

With no delay, Attlee began the task of bringing the nation to "a new era", both in regards to domestic policies and diplomacy. Some of his cabinet's most important decisions were in the colonies, as the greatest hotspots in Africa and Asia were dealt with in a more "hands-off" approach. The garrisons in Palestine were significantly reduced with a view to granting full sovereignty, and most importantly the Royal Guards were withdrawn from the Indian states, effectively ending the British guarantee and giving India a free hand to do as they wanted in the subcontinent. The question was if they would be so willing to go on a crusade against all the princes.

 

[Thanosaekk]

Chapter 33: Aftermath of the Yugoslav War

The Yugoslav War, as brief as it may have been, certainly had an impact across the Balkan region and beyond. Nowhere was the change clearer than in the country which was the battleground, of course, as both regimes had distinct differences from the short-lived "Federal Democratic Yugoslavia" that barely lasted more than 4 years of peacetime as a sovereign entity. In the north, the Zagreb government was seeing Molotov's endgame take place, as aid from the Soviet bloc was necessary to survive. Beyond the aggressiveness of the neo-Chetniks in the southeast, Italy and the West also had a bone to pick with Tito's government, making the USSR its only possible ally which gladly welcomed socialist Yugoslavia into its sphere of influence. Weapons and advisors were arriving in great numbers by early 1950, but Tito was not completely pleased with the state of affairs.

There were also changes for the people still living under the Tito regime, as socialist policies were sped up and were almost reminiscent of the Soviet Union's early years. Heavy industry and self-sustainability were deemed the most important, leading to rapid economic programs and greater central planning. Politically, the democracy still espoused became a facade much like in Hungary or Romania; the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was declared on September 18, but it still claimed all of its former territories including those occupied by the monarchists. Other reforms included the reorganisation of subdivisions: while most of the Serb population was now behind enemy lines, there was still a majority in some parts of Bosnia and it was certain to cause trouble, much like most other ethnic groups in Bosnia, and so lines were redrawn to appease them and prevent unrest. The degree to which propaganda highlighted the monarcho-fascism of Keserović and the Chetniks' past can also not be understated, and often led to fierce disagreements whenever the rival governments had to meet and discuss anything.

On the other side of the "iron curtain" that divided the South Slavs, the monarchists dubbed "an army with a state" were taking steps to make their country a stable kingdom. Peter II was swiftly crowned to become a figurehead, and basic democratic institutions were implemented. This did not change the ban on most socialist groups and the influence the Royal Army held in politics, so the country could be called a flawed democracy at best. British material support began to dry up after the Labour victory in the 1950 elections, but that did not stop new benefactors such as France from helping the new country. While it started to be known as just "Serbia" informally, the Belgrade government still claimed to be pan-Slavic in nature and even created autonomous Banovinas for Montenegro and Vardar Macedonia in 1951. The real control the two regions had over local affairs was uncertain, however.

Albania and Greece were also heavily affected by the breakout of the Yugoslav War. Thousands of refugees, especially those who didn’t wish to be oppressed by Serbs for their ethnicity, crossed the border south in the first days of chaos and settled elsewhere in the Balkans or even tried to leave further away. An example of this was the flight of Kosovars into Albania, but a large part of those who fled were also socialists or socialist sympathizers leaving as political fugitives. The effect of this was made clear in northern Greece, where former EAM fighters welcomed Yugoslav socialists, and in some cases, were even encouraged to perform raids for the first time since the German withdrawal. The government did not exactly appreciate this, and had no option but to resort to the deployment of units like the Gendarmerie as there could be no political negotiation (most cases involved lone wolves instead of organized offensives). Eventually, the tensions with leftists in the country would subside.

In Albania, not all of the political refugees were supportive of the Gjinishi regime and held more sympathy for Hoxha who was currently exiled in Italy. The political situation in the country deteriorated, especially after the possibility of conflict with the neo-Chetniks emerged. Skirmishes and disputes reached a climax as the civil war in Yugoslavia wound down, but nothing significant came out of it and things soon returned to normal - beyond the steady purges of “Hoxhaists” and the internment of suspected fifth columnists. The conflict in the Balkans also helped cement the nature of the Southeastern European communist states as Soviet puppets, since they received increased support and were generally kept on a tighter leash since 1949 due to “fears of a repeat of Yugoslavia”. This was also the pretext for greater political oppression in some cases, and the events in the communist bloc were drawn further away from the spotlight of the public. Of course, Molotov was criticized for his controversial and rather risky move in the Kremlin, but whether that opposition would amount to anything remained to be seen.

 

[Thanosaekk]

Here is another map, this time depicting the aftermath of the Raj's decolonization.

 

[Whiteshore]

Here is another map, this time depicting the aftermath of the Raj's decolonization.

Well, all I have to say is that, if Lesotho is a thing IOTL, Hyderabad and Mysore might be viable states ITTL.

 

[Brahman]

Here is another map, this time depicting the aftermath of the Raj's decolonization.

Just one question, Why hasn't India annexed all of the princely states, it would be much more militarily and economically stronger in TTL due to no partition, and would see this states as the last remnants of colonialism and with the importance each state has, it would be inevitable that they would be annexed

 

[Thanosaekk]

Just one question, Why hasn't India annexed all of the princely states, it would be much more militarily and economically stronger in TTL due to no partition, and would see this states as the last remnants of colonialism and with the importance each state has, it would be inevitable that they would be annexed

India and the INC are in fact strongly advocating to annex the various princely states. The reason these few ones survived is due to the British, as the government basically guaranteed the independence of any princes who wanted to go on their own (maintaining their old relationship, in a way). Attlee isn't a fan of this practice and so will largely abandon it, effectively giving Delhi a free hand soon.

 

[Brahman]

India and the INC are in fact strongly advocating to annex the various princely states. The reason these few ones survived is due to the British, as the government basically guaranteed the independence of any princes who wanted to go on their own (maintaining their old relationship, in a way). Attlee isn't a fan of this practice and so will largely abandon it, effectively giving Delhi a free hand soon.

The way it seems, it would be best for the british here to leave India at the hands of Indians

 

[Thanosaekk]

Chapter 34: Politics in Post-War France

The Provisional Government of the French Republic was founded two months prior to the landings in Normandy and Provence by Charles De Gaulle and his French Committee of National Liberation. Its goal was to be a government that would unite all ideological sections of the resistance and that would help preserve the sovereignty of France as a fellow Allied nation instead of another occupation zone once the British and Americans had landed. Anthony Eden was particularly sympathetic to De Gaulle's cause, and allowed the GPFR to participate in Operation Anvil with divisions of its own. Once they were able to liberate the city of Lyon on September 12, 1944, it became the base of the Provisional Government that wasted no time and quickly started recruiting new troops from the mainland. The transport of units from Italy and North Africa was also facilitated, and for the first months of Operation Overlord the southern front included a large fraction of French troops that went about re-establishing order and political control.

The next 367 days were marked by the liberation of city after city. Paris was taken on October 1 with great help from the Resistance which organized an armed uprising, and on December 19 Philippe Leclerc fulfilled the oath he had taken in the Libyan oasis of Kufra to fight until the tricolor flew over the Strasbourg Cathedral. As French armies marched into the core German lands, the "tripartite coalition" was cemented in the Provisional Government. With most of the political class discredited and stained thanks to collaboration, old movements had collapsed and allowed new ones, like the Gaullists and the Communists, to rise. Under the three parties agreement, the far-left CPF, the broader left-wing SFIO and the new Christian Republican Movement all united into a "government of national unanimity" which included a wide variety of politicians in the cabinet. As for the new MRC, it was formed by the bulk of the non-socialist Resistance and former Free French supporters who sought to place De Gaulle as a leader who would combat leftist influence. The general, however, refrained from openly embracing any specific political movement for now as it could endanger the unity of the country.

The winter of 1944 - 45 was harsh for France, as it was facing rapid inflation and significant food shortages. In this period, a great number of enterprises from banks to energy companies and industrial manufacturers were nationalised thanks to the initiative of the Communists, while American aid in the form of the Lend-Lease program (and later the RPUN) was key for recovery and reconstruction. Another very important issue was facing the past of collaborationism under the Vichy regime, especially for the partisans and communists who urged the people to take a harsh approach to anyone who had aided or supported the Germans. These punishments temporarily spiralled out of control in the first months of liberation, with public lynchings and the like, but were later brought under control thanks to the efforts of the GPFR and De Gaulle.

Politically, there were tensions between the components of the Provisional Government. Right-wingers believed the PCF was a tool being used by the Russians to exert influence in the West, while the process of drafting a new constitution for the Republic was also rather messy. De Gaulle supported a presidential republic as opposed to letting the parties dominate, but found opposition in the 3 dominant parties that swept most seats in the November 1945 elections for a Constituent Assembly. A series of tense negotiations between the various groups followed, in which De Gaulle accepted limitations to the presidential powers he advocated in exchange for lessened Communist and Socialist agitation in regards to cabinet positions and policy. Not everyone was happy with the agreement reached, but the population accepted the proposal for a semi-presidential constitution in the 1946 referendum. Until the next elections to be held in five years, the tripartisme coalition held on, but fears of a Gaullist dictatorship or a communist takeover were highly popular.

The government in place took measures to at least reform its colonial empire abroad with the formation of the French Union, which was announced in the new Fourth Republic Constitution. The new system would ensure the various colonies had democratic representation through the Assembly of the Union and the High Council, but the power of these institutions was not as great as it was meant to be in paper. Beyond Indochina where separate national states were created, Paris did not seem to have any intention of abandoning its holdings across the world like in Africa and the Americas.

Another project undertaken in foreign policy was the beginnings of European integration, which were spearheaded by France and Britain for the most part. The first step in this was the expansion of the Franco-Rhenish Economic Agreement, originally meant to tie the two countries’ economies together, to include North and South Germany in 1950 after the end of their occupation. A common market, mainly for natural resources and other industrial goods, was to be created and there were plans for it to be expanded to include other nations. With Italian relations cooled after the annexation of Aosta and Iberia still under two authoritarian dictatorships, the main opportunities for the agreement’s expansion were in the Low Countries and in Britain. For the moment, the process of creating a united Europe would remain on pause.

 

[Thanosaekk]

Chapter 35: The Heart of Europe

Germany, as the perpetrator of the Second World War, was punished with the permanent division of its lands into three states as discussed earlier. The process of de-nazification took place throughout the three years of joint Allied occupation, and by the time it had reached its end, it was only logical that a completely new political structure appeared.

In the Republic of the Rhineland, occupation ended approximately at the same time as in the rest of the former Reich in late 1949, but over 15.000 French troops maintained their positions and were permanently stationed in outposts, unlike in the other sectors of Germany. The backlash from this move was strong domestically, but De Gaulle reasoned the military was only there to "ensure a smooth transition to democracy and the enforcement of the peace treaty". In the 1950 elections, the first in the fledgling nation's history, two clear blocs emerged. The first was the Christian Democratic Party under former Mayor of Cologne Konrad Adenauer who had formed the non-denominational successor of Weimar's old kingmaker party, Zentrum, and advocated for social conservative policies. Against the CDP stood the Rhenish SDP branch, which was formally established as a separate entity in 1947.

Despite the fact the latter collected the votes of the Ruhr's working class in the elections, it still suffered a narrow defeat to the CDP. Under the semi-presidential system established, Adenauer was elected President for the next six-year period, and began reconstruction projects with help from the United States and France. Interestingly enough, Rhineland had also seen the greatest efforts at de-nazification spearheaded by Paris and was largely cleansed of former NSDAP administrators and politicians by the 1950s.

North Germany was significantly more independent than Rhineland, even though the Allied Advisory Council remained in place until 1955. In its early years, it had to deal with the massive number of immigrants flooding the country as the expulsion of ethnic Germans from Prussia, the Sudetenland and elsewhere was taking place. As for its elections, the social democrat SDNP led by Kurt Schumacher and Erich Ollenhauer was able to get 53% and begin the implementation of a left-wing policies, despite the recent center-right surge. Schumacher, who was mainly responsible for the revival of the SPD in the north, became the Chancellor. His main priority was the creation of a new constitution for the country, which was to be drafted by the elected Constituent Assembly and included clauses for most basic rights, as well as outlining the centralized structure of local government and setting Chancellor terms to five years.

Finally, the southern part of Germany, often considered a stronghold of conservatism, became a federal republic to allow for decentralized government in its different states: Bavaria, Baden and Württemberg, each of which had a separate identity and was not as associated with the “Prussian core”. There were talks of further dividing the south along these lines, but they were rejected in favor of a united yet federal state. Franz Josef Strauss, the founder of the South German Christian Union, was elected as Chancellor despite not being especially prominent in the pre-war era and led a vaguely conservative democratic coalition. Together with Schumacher, he came to lead the early efforts for European integration and negotiated the Franco-German economic treaties.

Even though the nation was suffering the consequences of the Nazi dictatorship, extremism still existed in fringe movements and parties - both the far-left and the far-right kinds. On the one edge of the spectrum, the KPD returned to its old activities and agitation as it was founded in Berlin in 1946 (under the clear protection and support of the Red Army troops participating in the occupation). The choice made by Molotov for the leadership of the party was Wilhelm Pieck, who had lived in exile in the USSR since 1933 and was thought of being a trustworthy candidate.

The NSDAP and all its institutions were completely banned with the agreement of the major Allied powers, who agreed to crack down on far-right groups as part of the de-nazification effort. However, that did not stop people, especially former party members and officers who had not been executed or incarcerated, from creating new movements that carefully walked the line between right-wing conservatism and neo-Nazism. The most prominent example was the Deutsche Konservative Partei, which was initially founded in Saxony as a typical right-wing party, but was soon “hijacked” by former Nazi officers and others who had escaped punishment. It was able to gain three seats in the South German Bundestag, but was largely irrelevant to the political stage for now.

 

[roachbeef]

Are all non-Nazi parties legal in the three German nations? I.e. the Soviets allow non-communists and vice-versa for the Allies.

If the Allies want the partition to last long term, then they have to find a way to breed resentment and dislike between the three nations, otherwise the Germans might find a way to unite once the Cold War starts to die down.

 

[Thanosaekk]

Chapter 36: Rise of China

In May 1947, elections in the Republic of China were the first in twenty-nine years to be held and the first in thirty-five years to be held in a united nation. With the agreement of both the Nationalists and the Communists who were responsible for supervising the election results and their fairness, the process of disarmament and unification was almost finished allowing for democratic processes to be finally restored.

Chiang Kai-Shek had initially advocated for the creation of a "Basic Law" in the 1946 peace talks, meant to act as a constitution for the regime to comply with. However, both the CPC and foreign diplomats encouraged him to instead form a Constituent Assembly like had been the norm for many new nations in these years, and said body would be responsible for drafting its own Basic Law. The Nationalist leader reluctantly agreed, and two weeks after the Chongqing Conference ended the plans for democratic reform were announced. A National Assembly of 1,840 delegates was to be elected from the country's 30 provinces, and it would be responsible for creating a constitution as well as electing an Acting President to lead the nation until the next elections.

The main contestants of the election were, of course, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party which were both able to field candidates for every constituency. It's not surprising, though, that a number of opposition parties which had remained underground surfaced to compete as third parties and alternatives to the giants. The most popular of these was the continuation of the China Democratic League, which was rather an electoral alliance of a handful of nationalist movements: the left-leaning National Socialist Party, the strongly anti-communist Young China Party and the Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party. The CDL mainly argued for parliamentary democracy and an end to warlord rule and oligarchism, but it was hard to take away votes from the larger and more radical Communists who preached similar ideas. In addition, splinters of the Left KMT and the federalist Public Interest Party participated but were unable to reliably get percentages higher than single digits.

The elections provided both major parties over 40% of the vote, giving the Kuomintang a slim plurality. The exact numbers did not matter anyway, as in a show of good faith the Nationalists and Communists arranged another coalition of national unity together with most minor parties that made their way into the Assembly. With an almost total majority, creating the Constitution wasn't particularly hard. China became a unicameral presidential democracy where the parliament would have the duty of electing the President every six years, amending the constitution and voting on new laws. The President would also be responsible for appointing a cabinet to fill the executive branch. As for the first head of state, Chiang Kai-Shek won the vote in the Assembly with ease.

Foreigner observers claimed the elections were "relatively free" - besides the absurdly high turnout rates and KMT votes in warlord-controlled provinces such as Shanxi and Qinghai. And while the warlords held back the democratic system, the Communist leadership began acting almost like a check on the executive branch's powers, ensuring it never went too far nor consolidated power under Chiang.

With the passage of time, the problems presented by the warlords in charge of China’s outer provinces were appearing. In Xinjiang, Sheng Shicai held power but was unable to effectively respond to Uighur revolts or appease them with concessions. Back in 1944, a new East Turkestan Republic had been declared in the northern part of the Xinjiang provinces and was more likely than not supported by the USSR. Sheng understood that the Kremlin’s Troika had likely turned against him and fought the uprising with whatever resources he had at his disposal. The longevity of the Uighur rebellion proved to Nanjing the incompetence of Sheng, who in 1948 was replaced as governor with staunch Kuomintang loyalist Bai Chongxi. This had angered the non-Han population who was hoping a Turkic figure like Masud Sabri would be appointed, but thankfully Soviet support to the rebels was largely cut off after the Soviet-Chinese rapprochement and the debacle came to an end. As if that was not enough, tensions were beginning to rise with Tibet, the legal status of which was disputed. Incidents with ethnic Tibetans were increasingly common in nearby provinces such as Xikang and Qinghai, where the Hui population was famously in a rivalry with them.

A summit was mediated by the United Kingdom to resolve the status of Tibet inside the RoC, but talks essentially collapsed. Nanjing’s authority in these matters was also questionable, since those in charge of adjacent provinces were the ones to have a real say instead of legislators thousands of miles away. It was becoming clear to President Chiang and his advisors that warlord rule was taking a toll on the country, and their desire for self-preservation was hurting China. Something had to be done, but no one was sure what - except for the Generalissimo.

On 8 April 1950, Chiang made an announcement in which he revealed an alleged plot to depose him through a coup d'etat. According to documents of questionable authenticity, a number of high-ranking generals and warlords formed the core of this group and were supported by an even larger list of less significant officers and officials. This was first used as pretext for the arrest of numerous people inside the administration, most notably Li Zongren. The former leader of the Guangxi Clique had long been an opponent of Chiang and his policies, with the government believing him to be a danger. However, the most important part of the list was that about generals and governors actually in control of land, those who could not be simply arrested. Included were members of the Ma family who ruled the Northwest as well as Yan Xishan, governor of Shanxi for more time than anyone could remember. To finally end the trend of warlordism and eliminate possible opposition, the President announced a “pre-emptive military campaign” and thus began the War of National Pacification, a campaign to finally reunify the country in earnest.