Basically four German soldiers like this.
Results of World War 2 aren't that different.
And thanks, but I hope to make sure this doesn't becomes another post-WW2 American politics dystopia.
Don't Change Horses Midstream
- Thread starter Aaaaasima
- Start date
Basically four German soldiers like this.
Results of World War 2 aren't that different.
And thanks, but I hope to make sure this doesn't becomes another post-WW2 American politics dystopia.
Well, a big reason for the Tito-Stalin split was Tito attempting to make Albania and Greece Yugoslavia's puppets, thereby hurting the USSR's influence. With Greece going communist (which they would had the US never gave them aid, and the UK IOTL at this time had a poor economic showing) Yugoslavia, one of the biggest funders of the KKE takes advantage of this and Greece begins to align with Belgrade rather than Moscow, which makes Stalin angry and as such the Tito-Stalin split still occurs.
Holy cow! (Because for one thing, I could
see such an event causing a HUGE up-swing
in anti- semetism in the U.S., with the most
unpleasant of consequences. Second, I can
also see this butterflying away the U.S.'
very quick recognition of Israel in 1948, which could change the whole subsequent
pattern of US- Israeli relations, which could
also effect huge changes in the Mid-east.
Like I said, holy cow!) (Wouldn't have minded seeing more of a President Wilke
though...)
see such an event causing a HUGE up-swing
in anti- semetism in the U.S., with the most
unpleasant of consequences. Second, I can
also see this butterflying away the U.S.'
very quick recognition of Israel in 1948, which could change the whole subsequent
pattern of US- Israeli relations, which could
also effect huge changes in the Mid-east.
Like I said, holy cow!) (Wouldn't have minded seeing more of a President Wilke
though...)
Last edited:
Chapter 3: Indian and Pakistani Politics
For around forty years starting in the early 1900s, there has been a demand for an independent Muslim state. The idea was dismissed, but it began to pick up steam and in 1940 with the Lahore Resolution, the All India Muslim League, a party formed originally for Muslim rights and interests in India. Their argument was that Muslims would be persecuted in Hindu majority India and as such it would be in the best interest of the Muslim population in India to have a separate state. The Indian National Congress, the AIML’s secular opposition, vehemently opposed this idea. However, in 1945 Indian Constituent Assembly elections were held, and the AIML under its leader, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, won every Muslim majority seat by landslides. It was clear that Muslims wanted a Pakistan, and Congress saw the writing on the wall and let a Pakistan go through. However, negotiations were postponed for some time in the summer of 1946 in respect for the death of a prominent leader of Congress: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
There was also talk of a new independent state, one centered in Bengal. Bengali politicians, both in the Indian National Congress such as Sarat Chandra Bose, and in the All India Muslim League such as Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy (who was also Prime Minister of Bengal at the time) began to demand for an independent Bengali state, which would comprise of Bengal, Assam and Tripura. Assamese leaders tried to fight this, but soon it became clear that if Bengal were to become independent Assam would become a part of it. Clarification on the status of Bengal had they become independent (dominion of Britain or not?), along with support from non-Bengali leaders such as Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Mohandas Gandhi, both from the AIML and INC respectively, led to it becoming a reality on August 13th, 1947. Pakistan became independent on the 14th, and India became independent on the 15th. The Prime Minister of Bengal at the time, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, was pretty unpopular amongst the large Hindu population in Bengal. With Assam beginning to agitate for independence Suhrawardy knew it was only a matter of time and didn't want to be seen responsible so he resigned and give power to Sarat Chandra Bose.
However, problems rose with the Princely states. Princely states have been given very little autonomy by the British colonial government. By the time the British had left the princely states had three options: Accede to Pakistan, Accede to India, Accede to Bengal or become independent. Three princely states: Junagadh, Hyderabad and Jammu and Kashmir were the most notable of them all.
Jammu and Kashmir does not exist today, but the legacy it left still does. Jammu and Kashmir’s Maharaja (prince), Hari Singh, wanted independence. However, a rebellion in Poonch by Muslims made the situation tense. Nehru, seeing a dispute arising talked to the Pakistani government, and they both agreed that a plebiscite must be held. However, a Pakistani funded Muslim rebellion in Jammu and Kashmir broke out. Singh and his Dogra forces began to attack the rebels, and Pakistan declared war on Jammu and Kashmir. Seeing as how the war would likely end in Pakistani victory Singh acceded to India, making the war a lot closer. Eventually, a UN mandated peace deal divided Jammu and Kashmir into two lines of control, yet Pakistan and India kept their claims on all of the borders of the former princely
On January 31st, 1948, Mohandas Gandhi, an influential figure in the INC was shot and killed by Imran Haider, a member of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. Anti-Muslim riots began to break out, despite Nehru’s best attempts to stop it. Some local leaders of Congress began to tell the rioters in their town where Muslims in the town lived. The riots lasted until February 4th, and by that time 9,564 Muslims have been killed, hundreds of Mosques had been destroyed, hundreds of Muslim owned business had been destroyed and thousands fled to Pakistan and some went to Bengal.
With Junagadh being lost to Pakistan and Nehru trying and failing to stop the anti-Muslim riots, Nehru’s position was extremely weak. Nehru resigned on June 30th, 1948, and the Indian Minister of Finance, John Mathai became the Prime Minister.
On September 8th, 1948, the Nazim of Hyderabad acceded to Pakistan. Hyderabad had no land or sea connection to Pakistan and was far away, and as such Pakistan couldn’t defend Hyderabad like they did with Junagadh, but even if they could, the Hindu population in Hyderabad would had still broke out in rebellion. Hindu nobles seceded from Hyderabad and made their new princely states accede to India. The Indian government, not wanting another Junagadh situation, sent troops on September 10th. After 39 hours, Hyderabad fell to India. Pakistan protested, but silently conceded after a while.
In the mean time in Bengal Assamese leaders now began demanding independence for Assam. Support for Assam being integrated into India was gone as they felt Congress betrayed Assam by not speaking up more for their cause. An insurgency began, which was supported by India. Bengali atrocities in Assam led to the UN demand a plebiscite. India supported it, Pakistan opposed it. A plebiscite in Assam happened anyway, and the result was 99.78% for independence. Bengali Prime Minister Sarat Chandra Bose's government collapsed, and so did the Bengali National Congress. Elections were held in 1952 to decide Bengal's new Prime Minister. The Krishak Sramik Party, which was Social Democratic, lost thanks to Muslim Nawabs lending their support to the BML and Hindu voters choosing to support the Bengali Hindu Congress, seeing as how the leader of the KSP, A. K. Fazlul Haq, support a separate Muslim state before the idea of an independent Bengal arose.
Results of the 1952 Bengali General Election:
Bengali Muslim League (Led by Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy)-102 seats, 40.9%
Krishak Sramik Party (Led by A. K. Fazlul Haq)-68 seats, 30.7%
Bengali Hindu Congress (Led by Trailokyanath Chakravarty)-30 seats, 23.2%
There was also the issue of Sylhet, which was given to Assam. Assamese Prime Minister Gopinath Bordoloi wanted to give it to Bengal in order to make Assam more ethnically homogenous, and the fact the Sylhetis were pro-Bengali, but seeing how fast Bose's government collapsed following the secession of Assam changed his mind. Bengal still claims Sylhet, and the Bengali-Assamese dispute over Sylhet could be compared to the Indian-Pakistani dispute over Jammu & Kashmir.
In the meantime in India, elections were held in 1953. Many Muslims were distrustful of Congress following the 1948 riots, and as such the Indian Union Muslim League began to take up a lot of their votes. At the same time, a fiscally conservative yet still secular party was formed by former Indian governor general Chakravarti Rajagopalachari named the Swatantra party, made in opposition to Prime Minister Mathai's socialist economic policies. Rajagopalachari won the election.
Results of the 1953 Indian General Election:
Swatantra (Led by Chakravarti Rajagopalachari)-247 seats, 33.5%
Congress (Led by John Mathai)-178 seats, 30.8%
Indian Union Muslim League (Led by Abdul Wahid Owaisi)-45 seats, 10.9%
In the mean time in Pakistan, a constitution was made in 1950, with it being supported by most of the country. In 1952, elections were called. The Pakistan Muslim League controlled most of the country, and most of the Pakistan left wing had been cracked down due to the failed 1951 USSR backed left wing military coup against Liaquat Ali Khan. The only Left-wing party was an ethnic (in this case, Pashtun) nationalist party led by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. The Muslim League won in landslides in the 1952 election. In the 1957 election, the left had regrouped into a "Popular Front" led by Sajjad Zaheer, but it failed to get a sizeable amount of votes due to infighting in the Popular Front, as they had Communists (Sajjad Zaheer was a Communist so that didn't help matters), Secular Socialists, Islamic Socialists, Liberals, Democratic Socialists, Liberals etc.. In the end the Popular Front turned out to not be so "popular" after all.
Results of the 1952 Pakistani General Election:
Pakistan Muslim League (Led by Liaquat Ali Khan) - 252 seats, 50.3%
Jamaat-e-Islami (Led by Syed Abul A'la Maududi) - 27 seats, 20.1%
Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (Led by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan) - 10 seats, 12.9%
Results of the 1957 Pakistani General Election:
Pakistan Muslim League (Led by Liaquat Ali Khan) - 213 seats (-39), 44.1% (-6.2%)
Pakistan Popular Front (Led by Sajjad Zaheer) - 40 seats, 25.2%
Jamaat-e-Islami (Led by Syed Abul A'la Maududi) - 39 seats (+12), 25.1% (+5.0%)
Pakistan's leaders were sympathetic to America from day one. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan, governor general of Pakistan from 1947-1950 and president from 1950 until his death in 1951 gave a radio address to both the people of America and Australia. When Pakistan became independent Liaquat Ali Khan was invited to both Moscow and Washington, and Liaquat Ali Khan went to Washington. Pakistan signed pro-western treaties, and as such the USSR and India began to become friendlier and friendlier with each other. In fact, the USSR was trying to inflame Pashtunistani sentiments in Pakistan's Northwest. Pashtunistan was also supported by Afghanistan, the only country to oppose Pakistan's entry into the UN. Afghanistan refused to recognize their border with Pakistan as the legitimate border, and from 1952 to 1955 border skirmishes broke out between the two.
Pakistan's pro western leanings and conservative economic policy led to heavy investment in Pakistan by Western Businesses, and soon Pakistan experienced an economic boom. Pakistan was seen as a rising country, many began to call it a "New United States in South Asia". However, economic growth began to have a slight slump for some time when Liaquat Ali Khan was overthrown by the army due to Liaquat Ali Khan wanting to punish Afghanistan for support Pashtunistan in the Northwest. The final straw was when a Pashtunistani militant shot Liaquat Ali Khan but thankfully didn't kill him. The army advised against this, but Liaquat Ali Khan had made his mind. When Liaquat Ali Khan tried to dismiss Chief of Army Staff Mohammad Musa Khan Hazara the army overthrew him, claiming Liaquat Ali Khan was mentally unfit. However, Liaquat Ali Khan was still popular amongst Pakistanis and Liaquat Ali Khan certainly didn't look mentally ill, which didn't help matters. However, the curtailing of civil liberties led to the silencing of discontent, and Liaquat Ali Khan was thrown in prison. However, he was still popular, which would prove to be a problem for the Musa Khan if he messes up.
As for Pakistan’s Eastern neighbor: Rajagopalachari began to crack down on Communist groups and banned the communist party and strengthened ties with the US, yet the US was beginning to favor Pakistan over India. He was shot and killed by a deranged man while visiting Maharashtra in 1955, and was replaced by Minoo Masani, who began a program to research mental health (In fact, mental health research today would be severely different had it not been for the contributions of Indian scientists) who called elections in 1956 and lost to Morarji Desai. A big factor in Masani's defeat was the secession of Nagaland earlier in the year. Nagaland, being separated from India due to the existence of Assam, and because of the fact they were majority Christian, and because the Naga people developed a sense of Nationalism during the British Raj saw the ineffectiveness of India addressing their needs and the fact that they had no border with India as the final straw.
Indian troops were blocked from accessing Bengal due to bad blood between Bengal and India, and Assam only gave Indians access very late because there was still a large feeling of anti-India sentiment in the country, with many Assamese politicians believing in the "Indian betrayal" line of thought. Desai has been trying to reach a detente with Pakistan and an easing of tensions, but the 1958 coup might hinder his progress...
Results of the 1956 Indian General Election:
Congress (Led by Morarji Desai): 357 seats (+178), 49.9% (+19.1%)
Swatantra (Led by Minoo Masani): 66 seats (-181), 20.7% (-12.8%)
Indian Union Muslim League (Led by Abdul Wahid Owaisi): 25 seats (-20), 6.9% (-4.0%)
There was also talk of a new independent state, one centered in Bengal. Bengali politicians, both in the Indian National Congress such as Sarat Chandra Bose, and in the All India Muslim League such as Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy (who was also Prime Minister of Bengal at the time) began to demand for an independent Bengali state, which would comprise of Bengal, Assam and Tripura. Assamese leaders tried to fight this, but soon it became clear that if Bengal were to become independent Assam would become a part of it. Clarification on the status of Bengal had they become independent (dominion of Britain or not?), along with support from non-Bengali leaders such as Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Mohandas Gandhi, both from the AIML and INC respectively, led to it becoming a reality on August 13th, 1947. Pakistan became independent on the 14th, and India became independent on the 15th. The Prime Minister of Bengal at the time, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, was pretty unpopular amongst the large Hindu population in Bengal. With Assam beginning to agitate for independence Suhrawardy knew it was only a matter of time and didn't want to be seen responsible so he resigned and give power to Sarat Chandra Bose.
However, problems rose with the Princely states. Princely states have been given very little autonomy by the British colonial government. By the time the British had left the princely states had three options: Accede to Pakistan, Accede to India, Accede to Bengal or become independent. Three princely states: Junagadh, Hyderabad and Jammu and Kashmir were the most notable of them all.
Jammu and Kashmir does not exist today, but the legacy it left still does. Jammu and Kashmir’s Maharaja (prince), Hari Singh, wanted independence. However, a rebellion in Poonch by Muslims made the situation tense. Nehru, seeing a dispute arising talked to the Pakistani government, and they both agreed that a plebiscite must be held. However, a Pakistani funded Muslim rebellion in Jammu and Kashmir broke out. Singh and his Dogra forces began to attack the rebels, and Pakistan declared war on Jammu and Kashmir. Seeing as how the war would likely end in Pakistani victory Singh acceded to India, making the war a lot closer. Eventually, a UN mandated peace deal divided Jammu and Kashmir into two lines of control, yet Pakistan and India kept their claims on all of the borders of the former princely
On January 31st, 1948, Mohandas Gandhi, an influential figure in the INC was shot and killed by Imran Haider, a member of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. Anti-Muslim riots began to break out, despite Nehru’s best attempts to stop it. Some local leaders of Congress began to tell the rioters in their town where Muslims in the town lived. The riots lasted until February 4th, and by that time 9,564 Muslims have been killed, hundreds of Mosques had been destroyed, hundreds of Muslim owned business had been destroyed and thousands fled to Pakistan and some went to Bengal.
With Junagadh being lost to Pakistan and Nehru trying and failing to stop the anti-Muslim riots, Nehru’s position was extremely weak. Nehru resigned on June 30th, 1948, and the Indian Minister of Finance, John Mathai became the Prime Minister.
On September 8th, 1948, the Nazim of Hyderabad acceded to Pakistan. Hyderabad had no land or sea connection to Pakistan and was far away, and as such Pakistan couldn’t defend Hyderabad like they did with Junagadh, but even if they could, the Hindu population in Hyderabad would had still broke out in rebellion. Hindu nobles seceded from Hyderabad and made their new princely states accede to India. The Indian government, not wanting another Junagadh situation, sent troops on September 10th. After 39 hours, Hyderabad fell to India. Pakistan protested, but silently conceded after a while.
In the mean time in Bengal Assamese leaders now began demanding independence for Assam. Support for Assam being integrated into India was gone as they felt Congress betrayed Assam by not speaking up more for their cause. An insurgency began, which was supported by India. Bengali atrocities in Assam led to the UN demand a plebiscite. India supported it, Pakistan opposed it. A plebiscite in Assam happened anyway, and the result was 99.78% for independence. Bengali Prime Minister Sarat Chandra Bose's government collapsed, and so did the Bengali National Congress. Elections were held in 1952 to decide Bengal's new Prime Minister. The Krishak Sramik Party, which was Social Democratic, lost thanks to Muslim Nawabs lending their support to the BML and Hindu voters choosing to support the Bengali Hindu Congress, seeing as how the leader of the KSP, A. K. Fazlul Haq, support a separate Muslim state before the idea of an independent Bengal arose.
Results of the 1952 Bengali General Election:
Bengali Muslim League (Led by Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy)-102 seats, 40.9%
Krishak Sramik Party (Led by A. K. Fazlul Haq)-68 seats, 30.7%
Bengali Hindu Congress (Led by Trailokyanath Chakravarty)-30 seats, 23.2%
There was also the issue of Sylhet, which was given to Assam. Assamese Prime Minister Gopinath Bordoloi wanted to give it to Bengal in order to make Assam more ethnically homogenous, and the fact the Sylhetis were pro-Bengali, but seeing how fast Bose's government collapsed following the secession of Assam changed his mind. Bengal still claims Sylhet, and the Bengali-Assamese dispute over Sylhet could be compared to the Indian-Pakistani dispute over Jammu & Kashmir.
In the meantime in India, elections were held in 1953. Many Muslims were distrustful of Congress following the 1948 riots, and as such the Indian Union Muslim League began to take up a lot of their votes. At the same time, a fiscally conservative yet still secular party was formed by former Indian governor general Chakravarti Rajagopalachari named the Swatantra party, made in opposition to Prime Minister Mathai's socialist economic policies. Rajagopalachari won the election.
Results of the 1953 Indian General Election:
Swatantra (Led by Chakravarti Rajagopalachari)-247 seats, 33.5%
Congress (Led by John Mathai)-178 seats, 30.8%
Indian Union Muslim League (Led by Abdul Wahid Owaisi)-45 seats, 10.9%
In the mean time in Pakistan, a constitution was made in 1950, with it being supported by most of the country. In 1952, elections were called. The Pakistan Muslim League controlled most of the country, and most of the Pakistan left wing had been cracked down due to the failed 1951 USSR backed left wing military coup against Liaquat Ali Khan. The only Left-wing party was an ethnic (in this case, Pashtun) nationalist party led by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. The Muslim League won in landslides in the 1952 election. In the 1957 election, the left had regrouped into a "Popular Front" led by Sajjad Zaheer, but it failed to get a sizeable amount of votes due to infighting in the Popular Front, as they had Communists (Sajjad Zaheer was a Communist so that didn't help matters), Secular Socialists, Islamic Socialists, Liberals, Democratic Socialists, Liberals etc.. In the end the Popular Front turned out to not be so "popular" after all.
Results of the 1952 Pakistani General Election:
Pakistan Muslim League (Led by Liaquat Ali Khan) - 252 seats, 50.3%
Jamaat-e-Islami (Led by Syed Abul A'la Maududi) - 27 seats, 20.1%
Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (Led by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan) - 10 seats, 12.9%
Results of the 1957 Pakistani General Election:
Pakistan Muslim League (Led by Liaquat Ali Khan) - 213 seats (-39), 44.1% (-6.2%)
Pakistan Popular Front (Led by Sajjad Zaheer) - 40 seats, 25.2%
Jamaat-e-Islami (Led by Syed Abul A'la Maududi) - 39 seats (+12), 25.1% (+5.0%)
Pakistan's leaders were sympathetic to America from day one. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan, governor general of Pakistan from 1947-1950 and president from 1950 until his death in 1951 gave a radio address to both the people of America and Australia. When Pakistan became independent Liaquat Ali Khan was invited to both Moscow and Washington, and Liaquat Ali Khan went to Washington. Pakistan signed pro-western treaties, and as such the USSR and India began to become friendlier and friendlier with each other. In fact, the USSR was trying to inflame Pashtunistani sentiments in Pakistan's Northwest. Pashtunistan was also supported by Afghanistan, the only country to oppose Pakistan's entry into the UN. Afghanistan refused to recognize their border with Pakistan as the legitimate border, and from 1952 to 1955 border skirmishes broke out between the two.
Pakistan's pro western leanings and conservative economic policy led to heavy investment in Pakistan by Western Businesses, and soon Pakistan experienced an economic boom. Pakistan was seen as a rising country, many began to call it a "New United States in South Asia". However, economic growth began to have a slight slump for some time when Liaquat Ali Khan was overthrown by the army due to Liaquat Ali Khan wanting to punish Afghanistan for support Pashtunistan in the Northwest. The final straw was when a Pashtunistani militant shot Liaquat Ali Khan but thankfully didn't kill him. The army advised against this, but Liaquat Ali Khan had made his mind. When Liaquat Ali Khan tried to dismiss Chief of Army Staff Mohammad Musa Khan Hazara the army overthrew him, claiming Liaquat Ali Khan was mentally unfit. However, Liaquat Ali Khan was still popular amongst Pakistanis and Liaquat Ali Khan certainly didn't look mentally ill, which didn't help matters. However, the curtailing of civil liberties led to the silencing of discontent, and Liaquat Ali Khan was thrown in prison. However, he was still popular, which would prove to be a problem for the Musa Khan if he messes up.
As for Pakistan’s Eastern neighbor: Rajagopalachari began to crack down on Communist groups and banned the communist party and strengthened ties with the US, yet the US was beginning to favor Pakistan over India. He was shot and killed by a deranged man while visiting Maharashtra in 1955, and was replaced by Minoo Masani, who began a program to research mental health (In fact, mental health research today would be severely different had it not been for the contributions of Indian scientists) who called elections in 1956 and lost to Morarji Desai. A big factor in Masani's defeat was the secession of Nagaland earlier in the year. Nagaland, being separated from India due to the existence of Assam, and because of the fact they were majority Christian, and because the Naga people developed a sense of Nationalism during the British Raj saw the ineffectiveness of India addressing their needs and the fact that they had no border with India as the final straw.
Indian troops were blocked from accessing Bengal due to bad blood between Bengal and India, and Assam only gave Indians access very late because there was still a large feeling of anti-India sentiment in the country, with many Assamese politicians believing in the "Indian betrayal" line of thought. Desai has been trying to reach a detente with Pakistan and an easing of tensions, but the 1958 coup might hinder his progress...
Results of the 1956 Indian General Election:
Congress (Led by Morarji Desai): 357 seats (+178), 49.9% (+19.1%)
Swatantra (Led by Minoo Masani): 66 seats (-181), 20.7% (-12.8%)
Indian Union Muslim League (Led by Abdul Wahid Owaisi): 25 seats (-20), 6.9% (-4.0%)
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Chapter 4: Marshall Administration and 1948 Presidential election
George Marshall became president at a troubling time for America. The economy had been going down, racial tensions were growing and multiple countries were falling to communism. Following the assassination of President Willkie by Lehi, anti-semitic hate crimes experienced an uptick of occurrences. George Marshall was expected to find a way to fix these problems in the United States, yet his refusal to run for re-election gave him little time to do so. Still, it is not to say he didn’t try. He cracked down on anti-semitic groups, increased aid to Europe and declared the “Marshall Doctrine”, which would be American foreign policy following that declaration, that countries in risk of falling to communism would be given aid in attempts to suppress communism. As such, countries such as Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, South Korea and Japan were given quantities of aid. The Kuomintang in China was given aid as well.
In the Middle East, America’s foreign policy began to move in a more Islamic direction. Israel remained unrecognized by the United States until Marshall left office, and ties with the Arab World were strengthened. Alongside this, America had been trying to influence Pakistan, a land bridge between the Middle East and the Far East, into its influence. Pakistan, for some time, was non-aligned until the late 50s when the pro-American Suhrawardy was in power. To counter this, the USSR began to bring Israel into it’s influence, and Soviet-India relations were beginning to grow.
However, the economy did not get any better despite Marshall’s best attempts. Labor strikes, along with racial tensions as well. Marshall caused a racial controversy on June 26th, 1948 by desegregating the army through an executive order. Many southern politicians, all Democrat, decried the order as “an injustice against the natural order of things” and the Democrats in the 1948 election played on these fears in the South, yet kept quiet about it in the North.
The 1948 election was a Republican victory from the beginning, no question about it. Fears of communism and a worsening economy led to an easy Republican victory. Harold Stassen caused some controversy amongst left leaning and libertarian circles when he declared he would ban the Communist party, but that didn’t stop him. The Democrat’s loyal base in the South led to them winning most states and giving them 2nd place in the electoral vote. The Liberals suffered a shellacking in the electoral college (just two states!) due to vote splitting yet came in second in the popular vote. The GOP achieved a supermajority in both the House and Senate. It appears that for the next four years whatever agenda the GOP has will be passed.
Harold Stassen/John Foster Dulles (Republican)-413 Electoral votes; 22,015,643 popular votes (45.12%)
Happy Chandler/Mike Moroney (Democratic)-106 Electoral votes; 11,495,757 popular votes (23.56%)
Hugh Mitchell/William O. Douglas (Liberal)-12 Electoral votes; 14,135,487 popular votes (28.97%)
In the Middle East, America’s foreign policy began to move in a more Islamic direction. Israel remained unrecognized by the United States until Marshall left office, and ties with the Arab World were strengthened. Alongside this, America had been trying to influence Pakistan, a land bridge between the Middle East and the Far East, into its influence. Pakistan, for some time, was non-aligned until the late 50s when the pro-American Suhrawardy was in power. To counter this, the USSR began to bring Israel into it’s influence, and Soviet-India relations were beginning to grow.
However, the economy did not get any better despite Marshall’s best attempts. Labor strikes, along with racial tensions as well. Marshall caused a racial controversy on June 26th, 1948 by desegregating the army through an executive order. Many southern politicians, all Democrat, decried the order as “an injustice against the natural order of things” and the Democrats in the 1948 election played on these fears in the South, yet kept quiet about it in the North.
The 1948 election was a Republican victory from the beginning, no question about it. Fears of communism and a worsening economy led to an easy Republican victory. Harold Stassen caused some controversy amongst left leaning and libertarian circles when he declared he would ban the Communist party, but that didn’t stop him. The Democrat’s loyal base in the South led to them winning most states and giving them 2nd place in the electoral vote. The Liberals suffered a shellacking in the electoral college (just two states!) due to vote splitting yet came in second in the popular vote. The GOP achieved a supermajority in both the House and Senate. It appears that for the next four years whatever agenda the GOP has will be passed.
Harold Stassen/John Foster Dulles (Republican)-413 Electoral votes; 22,015,643 popular votes (45.12%)
Happy Chandler/Mike Moroney (Democratic)-106 Electoral votes; 11,495,757 popular votes (23.56%)
Hugh Mitchell/William O. Douglas (Liberal)-12 Electoral votes; 14,135,487 popular votes (28.97%)
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Question: why didn't Dewey get the G.O.P.
Presidental nomination in this ATL in 1948?
IOTL his loss to FDR in 1944 didn't hurt him
very much- since it had been a war-time
election it was considered a special case, not
to be held against the loser too much. Dewey was also well-known & had a very
well-oiled little political machine @ his dis-
posal. Finally, while Stassen in 1948 was
certainly still taken seriously IOTL- & thus in
this one too- I doubt he was wildly popular.
Or if not Dewey, why not Taft? (I could see the Tepublicans deciding to, in these cir-
cumstances, shift to the right)
Again, just a question I have(because a new
President who isn't Stassen will of course
act differently than I presume you will have
Stassen acting)
Presidental nomination in this ATL in 1948?
IOTL his loss to FDR in 1944 didn't hurt him
very much- since it had been a war-time
election it was considered a special case, not
to be held against the loser too much. Dewey was also well-known & had a very
well-oiled little political machine @ his dis-
posal. Finally, while Stassen in 1948 was
certainly still taken seriously IOTL- & thus in
this one too- I doubt he was wildly popular.
Or if not Dewey, why not Taft? (I could see the Tepublicans deciding to, in these cir-
cumstances, shift to the right)
Again, just a question I have(because a new
President who isn't Stassen will of course
act differently than I presume you will have
Stassen acting)
So basically Dewey is routed by Stassen in the GOP Oregon debate and wins the primary handily (I forgot to mention this, but presidential debates become a thing earlier in 1948, yet it's by radio. Stassen, Chandler and White debate). Taft's loss in his senate election in 1944 made him irrelevant, and Stassen won in a landslide of that magnitude due to vote splitting.
Oh God, that bloodbath is still going on.
How many millions have died because of the extra 2+ years of war?