Funny, I was typing up some speculation a couple days back but decided against it
Well here it is I guess.
Czechoslovakia's strongest potential enemy with irredentist claims is Germany. So... Perhaps Germany makes some moves toward reclaiming the Sudetenland (but the leader of Germany would probably not be as willing to risk war as Hitler was IOTL, so I guess it might be be empty bluffs in the hopes of getting appeasement), and in rolls Hitler to save the day, backed by the French who don't want Germany to get any ideas.
So Germany and Poland back down, but the Sozinats stay in Czechoslovakia and in one way or another make sure the regime in Prague stays loyal.
Perhaps a while afterwards Hitler, fresh from the conquest of Yugoslavia, "convinces" the Czechoslovakian government to deport the Sudeten Germans and allow him to resettle them in the new Lebensraum of occupied Yugoslavia (IOTL a similar deal was made between the USSR and Nazi Germany where ethnic Germans in the Soviet Union were forcibly transferred to the Reich to be resettled in occupied Poland), thereby killing two birds (the limited ethnic German population in the Sozinat empire and the threat of another Sudetenland crisis) in one stone.
Austria will be doing its best to take control (either directly or indirectly) of Czechoslovakia and Hungary. Hungary has the farmland, Czechoslovakia the industry. If the Austrian State is to succeed (in Sozinat terms) then these two countries have to be under sone form of Austrian influence.
I have a question:what is the difference between Stalin and Sverdlov in their way of ruling URSS?
I would say Sverdlov is more hands off and is not as powerful as Stalin was, but after the First and Second Great Purge this will change as Sverdlov removes enemies, both real and imagined throughout the 1930s. I do envision the USSR surviving longer here ITTL. My head canon is that its economic decline is slower and finally breaks apart in 2005 in the Der Kampf-Verse.
Fun fact, Der Kampf was the name of a Social Democrat publication by Karl Renner, the first Chancellor of the Austrian Republic. Ironic.
Now here’s something absolutely no one asked for-
U.S. Presidents (subject to change):
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) (1933-1945)
—Harry Truman (D) (1945-1949)
—Chester Nimitz (R) (1949-1953)
—Omar Bradley (R) (1953-1961)
—Lyndon B. Johnson (D) (1961-1967)
—Joseph Kennedy Jr. (D) (1967-1969)
—Nelson Rockefeller (R) (1969-1977)
—Ronald Reagan (D) (1977-1985)
—George HW Bush (R) (1985-1993)
—Al Gore (D) (1993-1997)
—John McCain (R) (1997-2005)
—Joe Biden (D) (2005-2013)
—Barack Obama (D) (2013-2021)
If anyone has questions about this list please let me know. As you can see, Jimmy Carter is never president (sorry Vidal!) but he is the first Secretary of Energy. No George W. Bush and no Bill Clinton.
There is a Great Recession but happens in 2004 rather than 2008/2009, leading to Biden beating Huckabee in 2004. John Edwards is Biden’s VP but is forced to resign after his affair is made known, leading to Obama as VP from 2009-2013.
Probably the craziest thing on the list is a Democratic Reagan. Reagan does do a massive Tax Cut, but while it lowers the top rate from 70% to 50%, it also closed lots of loopholes, actually bringing in more federal revenue. Also no Iran-Contra affair, no ‘Just Say No’ Drug policy, perhaps no Nancy Reagan either, instead either first wife is still around or he remarried someone else. Support and research for the HIV/AIDS virus in the 1980s, leading to breakthroughs in medicine to treat and contain it years earlier than OTL.
No JFK, as Joseph Jr. doesn’t die in WW2. JFK and RFK and Ted Kennedy will be in Congress but no Presidential spot. Ted could possibly be Secretary of HEW in Reagan’s Cabinet.
No Nixon, no Watergate, Rockefeller’s VP is Gerald Ford, Eisenhower is a Democrat here while Bradley runs for office and wins as a Republican.
I’m thinking of doing a timeline after Der Kampf where it is the Cold War and beyond. But that’s years away.
