Fate Works That Way: A Bloodier 20th Century

Israel

Israel

Excerpt from Between the Bricks: Europe and the World, 1985 to the Present by Prof Timothy Ash​

"The 1980's were not the Soviet Union's best years. Three of their Secretary-Generals (Lenod Brezhnev in 1982, Yuri Andropov in 1984, and Konstantin Chernenko the following year) died. A war in Afghanistan was raging, with no end in sight. Food prices soared.

"So, the Soviet people would have wanted someone to give them hope. Someone who would represent something other than the cynical bureaucrat who hardly represented the Leninist pioneer in the propaganda films.

"There was a figure like that, in the form of Mikhail Gorbachev. Since 1971, he was a member of the Central Committee, serving on various positions. Andropov actually wanted Gorbachev to succeed him, but Chernenko filled the Secretaryship for some months.

"And so, it was rather fateful that Gorbachev, the youthful and charismatic ideologue, was to be killed when a drunk driver smashed into him that night in Odessa in December of 1984. But it was certainly tragic what came after."
 

Thothian

Banned
So I'm guessing you're thinking that a hard line communist arranged for the "drunk driving accident" that killed Gorbachev? Then old school Stalinist style throwbacks take power and start a conventional WW 3, while announcing that they will not be the first to use WMDs, but will retaliate in kind if such are used against them

the obvious fronts for a Soviet attack ITTL

All along their borders with NATO

strategic bombing of NATO cities in Europe

subs hit Nato shipping in the Atlantic, Black Sea fleet raids Turkish coast

USSR goads North Korea into invading S Korea

strategic bombing of Japan and Alaska

Soviet Pacific Fleet engages US Pacific Fleet

Soviet subs hit shipping on the US West Coast

and to grab a warm water port and screw with the flow of oil, Soviets invade Iran, mercilessly engaging in wholesale slaughter in retaliation for Iranian resistance

also maybe pushing Saddam to attack Turkey from the south
 
Israel

Israel

Thothian said:
So I'm guessing you're thinking that a hard line communist arranged for the "drunk driving accident" that killed Gorbachev? Then old school Stalinist style throwbacks take power and start a conventional WW 3, while announcing that they will not be the first to use WMDs, but will retaliate in kind if such are used against them
Click to expand...

Nope, it actually was just an unfortunate accident.

the obvious fronts for a Soviet attack ITTL

All along their borders with NATO

strategic bombing of NATO cities in Europe

subs hit Nato shipping in the Atlantic, Black Sea fleet raids Turkish coast

USSR goads North Korea into invading S Korea

strategic bombing of Japan and Alaska

Soviet Pacific Fleet engages US Pacific Fleet

Soviet subs hit shipping on the US West Coast

and to grab a warm water port and screw with the flow of oil, Soviets invade Iran, mercilessly engaging in wholesale slaughter in retaliation for Iranian resistance

also maybe pushing Saddam to attack Turkey from the south
Click to expand...

Wow, those are good suggestions!

You will have to wait and see what happens, though...
 
Israel

Israel

Excerpt from Communist Party Politics in and Outside the Soviet Union by Robert J Alexander​

Upon the death of [Mikhail] Gorbachev in Odessa, the field of candidates for the Secretaryship widened considerably. The primary front-runners were Grigory Romanov, one of the youngest members of the Politubro, and Viktor Grishin, the Chairman of Moscow's C.P. Central Committee.

Romanov, deeply embedded within the Party "establishment," spared no time in his quest to assume power, even though the ill Chernenko was not yet on his deathbed. He called in all favors, especially from the C.P.'s elders and most powerful statesmen.

And while by February it seemed that he all but secured the Politburo's favor, he faced a challenge if there ever was one, in the form of Gromyko. The long-time Foreign Minister was more friendly towards Gorbachev, and did not seem enthusiastic at all about Romanov. During a private meeting of the Central Committee, he said, "I thought we wanted someone with sense."

However, he would not let himself be deterred, even by a threat as great as that. In front of the Politburo, he engaged in a fire-hot denunciation of the "pragmatic" elements, making indirect but obvious insinuations toward Gromyko. The American Ambassador, Arthur Hartman, remarked in a cable, "it's very clear the direction he's taking."

The moderates and reformists kept their cool, believing that Romanov's decision to entertain the hardliners would do no good for him. Gorbachev was the number-one candidate, and someone akin to him would be selected.

But once Chernenko died and the mourning ceased, Romanov told the assembled Politburo, "make your choice." and they did. The firebrand from Leningrad was chosen as the next Secretary General of the Communist Party.
 
Konrad Sartorius

Konrad Sartorius

Banned
Israel said:
Excerpt from Communist Party Politics in and Outside the Soviet Union by Robert J Alexander​

Upon the death of [Mikhail] Gorbachev in Odessa, the field of candidates for the Secretaryship widened considerably. The primary front-runners were Grigory Romanov, one of the youngest members of the Politubro, and Viktor Grishin, the Chairman of Moscow's C.P. Central Committee.

Romanov, deeply embedded within the Party "establishment," spared no time in his quest to assume power, even though the ill Chernenko was not yet on his deathbed. He called in all favors, especially from the C.P.'s elders and most powerful statesmen.

And while by February it seemed that he all but secured the Politburo's favor, he faced a challenge if there ever was one, in the form of Gromyko. The long-time Foreign Minister was more friendly towards Gorbachev, and did not seem enthusiastic at all about Romanov. During a private meeting of the Central Committee, he said, "I thought we wanted someone with sense."

However, he would not let himself be deterred, even by a threat as great as that. In front of the Politburo, he engaged in a fire-hot denunciation of the "pragmatic" elements, making indirect but obvious insinuations toward Gromyko. The American Ambassador, Arthur Hartman, remarked in a cable, "it's very clear the direction he's taking."

The moderates and reformists kept their cool, believing that Romanov's decision to entertain the hardliners would do no good for him. Gorbachev was the number-one candidate, and someone akin to him would be selected.

But once Chernenko died and the mourning ceased, Romanov told the assembled Politburo, "make your choice." and they did. The firebrand from Leningrad was chosen as the next Secretary General of the Communist Party.
Click to expand...

May I ask, how would the US ambassador know what was said in a private Politburo meeting.
 
Israel

Israel

Excerpt from The Functioning of Centralized Governments by Raouf Abbas​

"When [Grigory] Romanov seized power, he did what any political despot would do: he re-shuffled. Of course, unlike his most recent of predecessors, this reshuffle saw several high-ranking Communist Party members vanish.

"Ivan Polozkov, at first, wouldn't have been give the time of day by anyone of importance at the Kremlin. A high ranking member of the R.S.F.S.R. Communist Party, he was little known in other circles.

"But he was a hardliner, and that is exactly what the Soviet's newest Secretary General needed. Calling him to his office, he proposed that the local official apply his 'patriotism' elsewhere: that is, in the restructuring of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

"Indeed, the M.V.D. was extremely corrupt and inefficient. Some members of the militsiya once mugged a K.G.B. agent. Romanov understood that after years of bureaucratization, neither agency was under his control.

"Within three months, Polozkov has cleaned up the Ministry, now called the Ministry of Public Safety. The profiteers, the criminals' contacts, even those who were not 100% indoctrinated upon birth were purged from the ranks.

"Then they expanded their efforts. The M.P.S.' powers were broadened, to some sections of state security which were beforehand left completely to Intelligence. Using that, Polozkov methodically got rid of anyone Romanov told him to.

"Viktor Chebrikov, the Chairman of the Committee for State Security, was retired. His colleagues were only told that he was in Siberia, 'wishing' to be left to peace. Yes, he most probably in Siberia. Yes, he most probably found some peace.

"By 1986, there were over three thousand staff members in the Soviet government who fell victim to Romanov, the greatest internal purge in fifty years. Party elders, K.G.B. agents, and anyone else who for the last twenty years used the system to scavenge influence and power, now found themselves back in an old position. One could've appreciated the irony, had so many not suffered as the result."
 
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