End the Cold War very early

Why not keep the price of oil low? The USSR benefited greatly from the oil shocks that occurred in the 70s which gave it some much needed cash to continue. Look at the economic problems Russia is going through now, and then add the fact that it has half a continent wanting to get out from under its boot.

USSR collapses a decade earlier in 1981.

This is a good suggestion, they were buoyed by high oil prices.
 
If you believe that the Reagan military build-up, with Star Wars, Trident, Peacekeeper, B1B and all the rest played a major part in causing the collapse of the Soviets perhaps this can occur earlier.

Perhaps a less traumatic Vietnam coupled with a less traumatic Suez for Britain could lead to the widespread deployment of precisely the military forces the Soviets would struggle to cope with: F111/TSR2, carriers, AEW and the like. As a result of trying they burst a proverbial vein and collapse.
 
The de-Stalinisation crisis of 1956 escalate, leading to an earlier collapse of the
Soviet-bloc. POD can be, that the Soviets try to remove Gomulka with force from power, leading to a total Polish uprising. A Polish and a Hungarian uprising at the same time may be provide the critical mass for a general uprising in Eastern Europe, which will eventual spread to the USSR himself.
 
The de-Stalinisation crisis of 1956 escalate, leading to an earlier collapse of the
Soviet-bloc. POD can be, that the Soviets try to remove Gomulka with force from power, leading to a total Polish uprising. A Polish and a Hungarian uprising at the same time may be provide the critical mass for a general uprising in Eastern Europe, which will eventual spread to the USSR himself.

A mass uprising is probably the most possible solution. Remember when talking about economic problems that a totalitarian system that can set price controls and is centrally planned can survive as long as it has power, the USSR didn't collapse because of its economic woes but because of the forces unleashed by Gorbachev. A decrepit USSR under conservative leadership might have survived.

Another idea: Stalin decides that the cold war ought to go hot in the 1940's after WW2, and loses. Allies liberate Eastern Europe. Though this is probably a dream scenario considering Soviet military power.
 
Total destruction of the USSR and preventing its existence I feel are not satisfactory answers to the OP. I am starting to like the idea of killing Stallin in early '45 though. I just wonder if it's too big of a POD to accurately figure out what happens?

Also will be interesting to go from Yalta (FDR, Stalin, Churchill) to Potsdam (Atlee, Truman, Beria(?)).

That leads to the question of who succeeds Stalin in '45: Malenkov? Beria? IIRC Khrushchev was in Ukraine at the time.

What if Stalin has a stroke in early January 1945. But rather than one person being able to quickly claim and consolidate power the USSR divides into factions and descends into civil war.

The Russian drive on the Eastern front stalls as supplies stopping reaching the front and troops desert with no clear leadership from back in Moscow. Hitler decides to put all the available German forces into a counter-attack on the Eastern front with the idea they can get the Russians to surrender and then turn all their attention back to the west and win WWII. The Germans initially make limited advances, but then stall due to lack of fuel and other logistics. Meanwhile the weakened forces on the Western Front are rolled back by the US/UK.

In May 1945 US/UK troops enter Berlin and Hitler kills himself in his bunker. With the USSR still in disarray the western allies restore the governments and borders of Poland, Baltic states, etc. as things were pre-WWII. In the pacific theater the USSR never enters the war and the Nationalists are able to wind up in control of China.
 
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