Determined to Destroy Us - An Axis Victory Cold War TL

[Shogo]

That idea I talked about earlier, of an Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Axis being encouraged to form some kind of union that may or may not be called something like Pashtunistan or Pakhtunistan? If you go with it, one of the obstacles faced by any centralized government would be the power of the tribal leaders. Which is one of the things that weakened the Afghan Empire, which once ruled the areas that make up Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, and even a pretty significant chunk of northeastern Iran. (Also kind of neat they actually had an empire.)

It also didn't help that the Russians and the British walked all over Afghanistan as part of the Great Game, and modern Afghanistan as we know it was created to be a buffer state between the British and the Russians. Which is part of the reason that Afghanistan and Germany had good relations. As well as part of the reason Iran and Germany had good relations. Germany didn't have a history of fucking with them, and they thought close relations might help them to avoid being the punching bags of the British and Russians.

But the point stands . . . Helping the central government to bring those tribes to heel and create a stronger national unity would be an important goal for the Axis if they want good allies in the region. Whether the two countries unify or remain divided.

With the Germans helping them to better modernize . . . Well . . . Whether it be a Pakistan or a Pashtunistan in the west, and Free India in the east . . . The next conflict involving India could be rather interesting.

 

[Grammar Kaiser]

If Germany collapses around the same time the USSR did OTL, then it'll be too late for the peolpes that once lived there. To add insult to injury, have the Hohenzollerns replace the Nazis.

 

[Alexander the Average]

To add insult to injury, have the Hohenzollerns replace the Nazis.

You monster.

 

[SirPaperweight]

I do appreciate all the good discussion, even if I sometimes don't have much really substantial to say in response. I do agree that the Holocaust Museum in DC is fantastic, and I'd like to eventually go back and spend a whole day there, rather than just a morning.

Additionally, expect more of these narrative interludes in the future. I think they're more effective in describing life behind the Atlantic Wall than simply talking about it textbook-style. "Showing versus telling" and all that.

 

[SirPaperweight]

Chapter XXIII: An Empire Disgraced

Following the surrender of the Japanese Empire, the US set up occupation governments in Japan and Korea. Each was headed by a military governor, who had to answer to an advisory council set up by Washington. The goal of the occupation was to limit Japan's ability to engage in further militarism and to create democratic institutions in Japan and Korea. In this, however, the US was only partially successful. Korea was left as a prosperous, free nation, but Japan's new government was left in a tenuous and deeply unstable situation.

With the exception of Laos, the Southeast Asian puppet regimes supported by Tokyo did not outlast their patron​

In Japan, the military governor was Lauris Norstad, a general in the US Air Force. Norstad's first goal was to secure a reliable food distribution network. The famine that broke out in early 1957 was still in full force, with the casualty numbers rising into the millions. Hundreds of thousands of refugees still littered the country, living in squalor without much food. Norstad and the occupation government found it difficult to organize Japan's agricultural sector, and famine persisted throughout 1957 and early 1958. Eventually, by the summer, the agricultural situation started to stabilize, and food aid began to flow to needy refugee communities.

Another issue the occupation government faced was the housing. The refugees fleeing the nuclear annihilation had little but the clothes on their back and whatever they could bring with them. To stem the crisis, the US occupiers sought to implement a vast construction program to build new homes for those who lost everything. However, the project faced setback after setback, only building a fraction of the necessary housing. The Americans simply could not keep up with the overwhelming number of refugees. In the coming decades, refugee camps surrounding the surviving cities would turn into slums, and those within would turn into permanent residents of their new home.

As the famine slowed down in the fall of 1958, a new problem reared its ugly head: disease. Smallpox, in particular, surfaced in Tokyo among poor and refugee communities before spreading quickly across the entire country. The densely-packed slums and refugee camps were filled with starvation victims with weak immune systems: the perfect incubator for deadly disease. Thousands dropped dead from the outbreak within weeks, and authorities scrambled to fight the disease. Travel restrictions were placed to try and isolate the smallpox to Tokyo and the surrounding area, but the disease found its way out anyway. The virus was ruthless in culling the poor population of Japan, in some cases killing entire neighborhoods of people. While the outbreak ended just as quickly as it began in the summer of 1959, it had left nearly a million dead in its wake, adding to the 8.5 million dead from the famine.

The ruins of cities hit by atom bombs remained as such for years after the war​

Japan was barred from possessing a standing army, a move designed to prevent Japan from ever becoming an aggressive imperialist nation again. Furthermore, the US was to annex the Ryukyu Islands in order to ensure that the US had a secure base of operations in the Pacific. War criminals throughout the Japanese government were aggressively pursued and punished, with most sentenced to execution. Emperor Hirohito, who abdicated following the end of the Pacific War, faced one of the most infamous trials in history. While the late emperor received a light sentence compared to many others in the imperial government, and while the monarchy was not actually abolished, the trial had the effect of galvanizing the Japanese public against America. Indeed, protests in the streets persisted for weeks following Hirohito's conviction, with some turning violent.

The occupation of Korea was much unlike that of Japan. While Korea suffered greatly under the Japanese yoke, it was spared the horror of atomic warfare. The Americans, regarded as liberators, quickly began collaborating with the government installed by the Koreans upon the end of Japanese rule. Modernizing reforms were implemented, and strong democratic institutions were created. While the US struggled to deal with the many issues that plagued Japan, there were no large grievances with the handling of the occupation of Korea. The difference between the two nations was as stark as black and white.

The occupation finally ended in April 1964, with the signing of the Treaty of Seattle. The US forged a military alliance with both Japan and Korea that would hopefully become the bedrock of Rio Pact influence in East Asia. But already, large sections of the Japanese public felt that the new civilian government was an illegitimate foreign entity. In time, opposition to the democratic government would mix with nostalgia for the days of empire to create a very dangerous cocktail.

 

[Alpha-King98760]

Interesting development. Me think a fascistic party in Japan could rise to power in the future when the United States isn't looking.

I'm guessing Norodom Sihanouk has been ousted in the former Collaborationist Kingdom of Kampuchea?

If so then hopefully a certain man hasn't come to power.

 

[Deleted member 100251]

Chapter XXIII: An Empire Disgraced

Following the surrender of the Japanese Empire, the US set up occupation governments in Japan and Korea. Each was headed by a military governor, who had to answer to an advisory council set up by Washington. The goal of the occupation was to limit Japan's ability to engage in further militarism and to create democratic institutions in Japan and Korea. In this, however, the US was only partially successful. Korea was left as a prosperous, free nation, but Japan's new government was left in a tenuous and deeply unstable situation.

View attachment 325862
With the exception of Laos, the Southeast Asian puppet regimes supported by Tokyo did not outlast their patron​

In Japan, the military governor was Lauris Norstad, a general in the US Air Force. Norstad's first goal was to secure a reliable food distribution network. The famine that broke out in early 1957 was still in full force, with the casualty numbers rising into the millions. Hundreds of thousands of refugees still littered the country, living in squalor without much food. Norstad and the occupation government found it difficult to organize Japan's agricultural sector, and famine persisted throughout 1957 and early 1958. Eventually, by the summer, the agricultural situation started to stabilize, and food aid began to flow to needy refugee communities.

Another issue the occupation government faced was the housing. The refugees fleeing the nuclear annihilation had little but the clothes on their back and whatever they could bring with them. To stem the crisis, the US occupiers sought to implement a vast construction program to build new homes for those who lost everything. However, the project faced setback after setback, only building a fraction of the necessary housing. The Americans simply could not keep up with the overwhelming number of refugees. In the coming decades, refugee camps surrounding the surviving cities would turn into slums, and those within would turn into permanent residents of their new home.

As the famine slowed down in the fall of 1958, a new problem reared its ugly head: disease. Smallpox, in particular, surfaced in Tokyo among poor and refugee communities before spreading quickly across the entire country. The densely-packed slums and refugee camps were filled with starvation victims with weak immune systems: the perfect incubator for deadly disease. Thousands dropped dead from the outbreak within weeks, and authorities scrambled to fight the disease. Travel restrictions were placed to try and isolate the smallpox to Tokyo and the surrounding area, but the disease found its way out anyway. The virus was ruthless in culling the poor population of Japan, in some cases killing entire neighborhoods of people. While the outbreak ended just as quickly as it began in the summer of 1959, it had left nearly a million dead in its wake, adding to the 8.5 million dead from the famine.

View attachment 325863
The ruins of cities hit by atom bombs remained as such for years after the war​

Japan was barred from possessing a standing army, a move designed to prevent Japan from ever becoming an aggressive imperialist nation again. Furthermore, the US was to annex the Ryukyu Islands in order to ensure that the US had a secure base of operations in the Pacific. War criminals throughout the Japanese government were aggressively pursued and punished, with most sentenced to execution. Emperor Hirohito, who abdicated following the end of the Pacific War, faced one of the most infamous trials in history. While the late emperor received a light sentence compared to many others in the imperial government, and while the monarchy was not actually abolished, the trial had the effect of galvanizing the Japanese public against America. Indeed, protests in the streets persisted for weeks following Hirohito's conviction, with some turning violent.

The occupation of Korea was much unlike that of Japan. While Korea suffered greatly under the Japanese yoke, it was spared the horror of atomic warfare. The Americans, regarded as liberators, quickly began collaborating with the government installed by the Koreans upon the end of Japanese rule. Modernizing reforms were implemented, and strong democratic institutions were created. While the US struggled to deal with the many issues that plagued Japan, there were no large grievances with the handling of the occupation of Korea. The difference between the two nations was as stark as black and white.

The occupation finally ended in April 1964, with the signing of the Treaty of Seattle. The US forged a military alliance with both Japan and Korea that would hopefully become the bedrock of Rio Pact influence in East Asia. But already, large sections of the Japanese public felt that the new civilian government was an illegitimate foreign entity. In time, opposition to the democratic government would mix with nostalgia for the days of empire to create a very dangerous cocktail.

Been a reader of the TL for a little while. And I just gotta say, Great work. Very interesting TL so far.
How are some of Japan's biggest companies otl faring so far ITTL? Nintendo, Sony, Panasonic, Bandai, Toshiba, etc.
Does Anime/Manga or an equivalent exist ITTL?
I'm hoping that Japan-US stay strong ITTL... and don't sour.
Who's the current leader of Korea? Japan?
I can't remember if you've mentioned this, but what's the fate of Hirohito? I presume he was taken out of power, am
I correct?

 

[Alpha-King98760]

I feel as though Korea fill in that role ITTL.

 

[GDIS Pathe]

This reminds me of AANW where the US simply bombed and bombed and strafed Japan for a full year with a famine that killed over 10 million before Japan surrendered. It ended with Japan still recovering from 3rd World status be the end of the 20th-century Japanese culture is not gonna look like anything OTL most of those creators are probably busying trying not to die due to nukes famine and various other nasties.

 

[Shogo]

A question I've been meaning to ask . . . The thing that allowed the Nazis to win the war was the nuking of Leningrad and Moscow.

How powerful were the Nazi nukes? I've been assuming they were comparable to either Fat Man or Little Boy, but curiosity has compelled me to ask for clarification.

Also . . . Were they ground bursts or air bursts? I also ask this about the nukes America dropped on Japan. Ground bursts or air bursts?

 

[Bookmark1995]

I do appreciate all the good discussion, even if I sometimes don't have much really substantial to say in response. I do agree that the Holocaust Museum in DC is fantastic, and I'd like to eventually go back and spend a whole day there, rather than just a morning.

Additionally, expect more of these narrative interludes in the future. I think they're more effective in describing life behind the Atlantic Wall than simply talking about it textbook-style. "Showing versus telling" and all that.

I agree. A good alternate historian makes his stories authentic by giving a human feel to it.

I hope I can do that with what I write.

 

[Prince Daemon Targaryen]

Not a good idea to try Emperor Hirohito. A lighter hand should have been used. I also wouldn't have given China back Formosa - the communists are allies against the Nazis but I still wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them

 

[Deleted member 100251]

Been a reader of the TL for a little while. And I just gotta say, Great work. Very interesting TL so far.
How are some of Japan's biggest companies otl faring so far ITTL? Nintendo, Sony, Panasonic, Bandai, Toshiba, etc.
Does Anime/Manga or an equivalent exist ITTL?
I'm hoping that Japan-US stay strong ITTL... and don't sour.
Who's the current leader of Korea? Japan?
I can't remember if you've mentioned this, but what's the fate of Hirohito? I presume he was taken out of power, am
I correct?

I Just reread the update. And Hirohito was convicted.
Oops

 

[Dlg123]

I like it. Watched.

 

[Teshuvah]

This TL is awesome! Looking forward to more updates.

So I guess US policy towards Latin America ITTL tolerates neutral countries but doesn't allow for Nazi-aligned ones?

Also, what countries in Europe still have Jews living in them? I'm guessing UK, Ireland, Portugal? Were the Finnish Jews exterminated?

 

[SirPaperweight]

Sorry for not posting an update on Monday, it's been a busy week.

Interesting development. Me think a fascistic party in Japan could rise to power in the future when the United States isn't looking.

I'm guessing Norodom Sihanouk has been ousted in the former Collaborationist Kingdom of Kampuchea?

If so then hopefully a certain man hasn't come to power.

Pol Pot is not in power, luckily for the people of Cambodia. Currently, Son Ngoc Thanh is the Cambodian president.

Been a reader of the TL for a little while. And I just gotta say, Great work. Very interesting TL so far.
How are some of Japan's biggest companies otl faring so far ITTL? Nintendo, Sony, Panasonic, Bandai, Toshiba, etc.
Does Anime/Manga or an equivalent exist ITTL?
I'm hoping that Japan-US stay strong ITTL... and don't sour.
Who's the current leader of Korea? Japan?
I can't remember if you've mentioned this, but what's the fate of Hirohito? I presume he was taken out of power, am
I correct?

Japanese companies are surviving, but often operating at a loss. In order to promote commercial activity and revitalize the economy, the government has nationalized a number of industries.

Anime/Manga exists, but with most Japanese concerned with surviving and putting food on the table, there is little room for that kind of entertainment.

The president of Korea is Yun Posun. Japan is governed by the Diet, which makes pretty much all important governmental decisions. The monarch is merely a figurehead.

Hirohito was tried and removed from power.

This reminds me of AANW where the US simply bombed and bombed and strafed Japan for a full year with a famine that killed over 10 million before Japan surrendered. It ended with Japan still recovering from 3rd World status be the end of the 20th-century Japanese culture is not gonna look like anything OTL most of those creators are probably busying trying not to die due to nukes famine and various other nasties.

Yep, most Japanese people are struggling to make it to the next day. Things like art and entertainment are not high priorities at the moment.

A question I've been meaning to ask . . . The thing that allowed the Nazis to win the war was the nuking of Leningrad and Moscow.

How powerful were the Nazi nukes? I've been assuming they were comparable to either Fat Man or Little Boy, but curiosity has compelled me to ask for clarification.

Also . . . Were they ground bursts or air bursts? I also ask this about the nukes America dropped on Japan. Ground bursts or air bursts?

They were all air burst bombs. The Nazis' bombs were indeed comparable to Fat Man and Little Boy, but America's were more powerful, being a decade more advanced.

This TL is awesome! Looking forward to more updates.

So I guess US policy towards Latin America ITTL tolerates neutral countries but doesn't allow for Nazi-aligned ones?

Also, what countries in Europe still have Jews living in them? I'm guessing UK, Ireland, Portugal? Were the Finnish Jews exterminated?

Thanks!

The US would prefer Rio Pact-aligned countries, but will settle for neutral governments if necessary. Axis-aligned regimes are a HUGE no-no in Latin America.

The UK and Ireland are the only two countries with a surviving Jewish population. All Axis nations capitulated to Germany regarding their Jews. Countries that tried to hold out were ultimately coerced into submission with a combination of economic sanctions and military intimidation.

 

[GDIS Pathe]

So Even Finland?

 

[SirPaperweight]

Chapter XXIV: Checkbook Diplomacy

With the fall of the Japanese Empire, the US saw an opening to curry favor with the nations of Asia. Washington saw Asia as the eastern bulwark against fascism, and saw a vested interest to promote democracy in the Asian nations in order to keep them from the influence of the Axis. Senator Henry M. Jackson had an idea on how to resolve the issue. He believed that the US should use economic investment as a way to promote liberty and democracy in Asia; additionally, doing so would open up those markets to American commerce, replacing the trade America previously enjoyed with most of Europe. He emphasized that aid would only go to countries deemed to be free and democratic, thus creating an incentive for other nations to shift away from totalitarianism.

The "Jackson Plan" had skeptics, of course. Fiscal conservatives disliked the enormous price tag, and others did not trust the recipient countries to use the money properly. President Warren and Senate Majority Leader Knowland agreed with the idea, though, and managed to convince enough naysayers to get the Jackson Plan through both houses of Congress in October 1958. The aid originally went to Vietnam, Cambodia (the pro-Japan governments of both countries did not outlast their patron), Burma and Republican India. The aid came with strings attached; American envoys would work with local governments to ensure that the money was distributed responsibly and in a way that maximized its economic benefit.

Some Congresspeople had even grander ideas for the project, however. J. William Fulbright wanted to expand the program to the communist nations of China and the Soviet Union. He argued that the communists were a lesser evil than the fascists, and that bringing them into the American sphere of influence would bolster the US position in Asia. On this, he clashed with Jackson, who opposed giving aid to any country that dabbled in totalitarianism. This debate continued back and forth amongst the American public, with the majority opinion being that China and the USSR had to reform before they could receive US aid. Ultimately, the Fulbright Plan did not have enough votes to pass the Senate.

This pressure to liberalize sparked an open debate within the socialist blocs about the power of the people versus the power of the government. In China, disastrous agricultural and industrial policies finally incited a nationwide famine in the summer of 1957 that killed millions. Mao's reluctance to do anything about the famine (or the previous outbreaks of famine earlier in the 1950s) hemorrhaged support for him amongst the communist party elite. The addition of American pressure to reform galvanized the opposition to Mao Zedong. Figures like Deng Xiaoping, Zhou Enlai and Liu Shaoqi proposed that socialism not be imposed from the top down by party bureaucrats, but instead should come up from the workers and peasants. They formed a faction known as the Red Banners, supporting a line of democratic socialism in opposition to the oligarchic rule of CCP bureaucrats.

This position was unpopular with hardline communists, who believed that efforts to reform amounted to capitulation to the demands of foreign imperialists. Mao Zedong in particular said that "an element of imperialist sympathy has sprung up within the Chinese Communist Party. It must be liquidated." Mao attempted to purge the CCP leadership of this moderate faction, but found himself unable to; resistance was too strong. In March 1961 a group of senior military leaders (Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, Ye Jianying, Liu Bocheng, Xe Xiangqian and He Long) led a segment of the People's Liberation Army to arrest Mao. The operation was successful and a "people's government" was installed to operate until a new constitution could be drafted. The coup was bloodless, and marked the end of a bloody reign of terror and incompetence in China.

The great irony of the Red Banners Revolution (as the events of mid-1961 were called) was that it was initiated not from the workers and peasants of China, but instead from senior military commanders dissatisfied with Mao's rule. Nonetheless, it sparked a great change in Chinese society. No longer would dissent be crushed at gunpoint; contrasting opinions and ideas could now be debated openly. Under the Constitution of 1961, a bottom-up structure of government, desired by the Red Banners, was implemented. Local associations of laborers would elect municipal and provincial representatives to the Congress of the Workers and Peasants, the primary legislative body of the People's Republic of China. The Congress would then elect a Premier to act as head of government and primary executive head. The first elections were held in 1962, and although only left-wing candidates were allowed, already there was strong satisfaction with the outburst of democracy in China. The first premier was Zhou Enlai, a leader of the Red Banners. Once sworn into office, Zhou and the Congress applied for aid from the US, a measure that received congressional approval.

Zhou Enlai played a key role in Mao Zedong's rise to power, as well as his fall from it
​

The Soviet Union was not so tolerant of democratic socialism. Mikhail Suslov's regime relied on terror and murder to maintain power, with wide purges of government ranks occurring on almost a yearly basis. By the 1960s, there were almost no major figures left to seriously challenge Suslov's will. However, while the Communist Party supported Suslov enthusiastically, the people themselves grew deeply disappointed. The average Soviet citizen still felt intense hardship despite years of peace; the winter of 1959-1960, in which thousands were left without reliable heating due to various shortages, remains an infamous example. Food shortages too were common, and what food was available was almost always of poor quality. For years, meat was a luxury.

It is thus no surprise that a strike at an aircraft assembly plant in Yekaterinburg spread like wildfire through the industrial cities of the Soviet Union in the early months of 1961. the workers' demands were not revolutionary or particularly political; indeed, they were quite simple: more food, more pay and fewer hours. However, the hyper-paranoid Soviet government saw the strikes as the beginning of a counterrevolutionary uprising. Soldiers were ordered to crack down on the protesters, but in a familiar refrain in history, the soldiers mutinied and joined the protesters. In Omsk, KGB agents clashed with mutinying soldiers and strikers in city streets. In Novosibirsk, statues of Lenin, Stalin and Suslov were torn down by furious mobs. As the Red Banners Revolution unfolded in China, the strikers and their allies found inspiration in democratic socialism.

Russian demonstrators clash with Soviet troops in Novosibirsk​

The Russian Provisional National Unity Government, established in August 1961, was primarily an institution that gave a voice to the urban poor who resisted the Soviet regime. Of course, its authority was non-existent outside of a few urban centers, but its support among the revolutionaries gave it legitimacy. As the last vestiges of the Red Army retreated to regroup in the wilderness, the RPNUG was working with the mutinying soldiers to organize and train militias. The work was slow and difficult, but time was on their side, and a trickle of material and financial assistance from America went a long way to building a proper fighting force.

Another problem that plagued the new Russian leadership was its lack of strong governing figures. Almost everyone in the government was a member of the urban poor, who by some circumstance or another managed to rise to something resembling leadership. While this meant that the RPNUG was closely-associated with the people it was trying to represent, it also meant that the government lacked talented statesmen to take the helm. As a consequence, in its early years the RPNUG struggled to accomplish even basic legislative functions; it took nearly four months before the government began regularly paying its soldiers, and even longer to establish something approaching a judicial system.

Still, most Russians had high hopes for the new government. The new constitution, drafted and put into law in the summer of 1962, promised basic political freedoms that were previously nonexistent. Terror as a political tool ended, and elections were held for a number of local and national offices (of course, the logistics of managing said elections were a nightmare for the RPNUG). US assistance steadily flowed into the country, and talks began for Russia to sign on to the Jackson Plan.

The Soviets, however, were not completely defeated. The Red Army was indeed starved of manpower and basic necessities, but it was still a dangerous threat to the RPNUG. Communist guerrillas aggressively harassed government militias, forcing troops to spend valuable time and money putting down the uprisings. In addition, the Soviet Union still survived as a government, with most ministers refusing to take part in the RPNUG. Thus, the Soviet guerrillas, despite their chronic lack of basic materials, were well-organized and well-coordinated. While they did not pose an existential threat to the new Russian government, they were a constant menace.

 

[Prince Daemon Targaryen]

Good on China. Not far enough for my liking but they are beginning to turn away from Communism so that is a good thing. So the USSR is under civil war?

 

[Bookmark1995]

This chapter makes me fall in love with your TL, because it proves you're trying to create a balance vision of the Nazi victory world:

Yes their victory over Europe is a horrific tragedy, as is the almost total decimation of Europe's Jewry.

But you are making things better in Latin America, Asia, and to a lesser extent Russia.

The fact that Vietnam, America, and China can join hands and walk together (as they should have been OTL) makes me smile.

Considering the brutal defeat the USSR suffered ITTL, I'm surprised this dissident movement didn't erupt sooner, or at least until after Stalin died. Did any Soviet Jews escape from Eastern Europe to Siberia, or were they also sold to the Nazis?

Just for extra irony, why not have the Communist guerrillas be backed by the Nazis.