"For A Better America, A Better World” Collaborative Timeline

President Benedict Arnold · Dec 25, 2016

"For A Better America, A Better World”
- President Henry A. Wallace

This is a collaborative timeline with a few guidelines and rules:

Please PM me before posting radical changes, assassinations, declarations of war, or anything that would make a shocking political shift. Battles, scandals, policies, and such things are always fine and need no approval.
Every major world figure will have successes and failures, this is not a Molotov-wank, a Wallace-screw, or anything like that.
Please keep your posts between 100-500 words. I would like to encourage the writing of titles as newspaper headlines and articles, but it doesn’t have to be.. I’d prefer just a bit of detail instead of just headlines, but I also don’t think that you should post novels.
Keep everything sequential. Set your post no more than a week after the previous one, but it can be the same day as another.
If people want, I can make a separate OOC thread. Just say so here if you want.

While I do not want this to be structured with an ultimate goal, I would prefer a lesser or nonexistent Cold War.

Now onto the POD.

Terror at Tehran Conference!

November 30, 1943

In the early evening of November 29th, tragedy struck the secret conference between the heads of states of the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and our own United States. Prime Minister Winston Churchill, General Secretary Josef Stalin, and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt were slain by an unknown number of gunmen along with an unknown number of others. The identity of the killers are not yet known, but the Iranian government has been quick to respond, denouncing the Nazi Regime as the perpetrators of this horrific crime and cutting off diplomatic ties. Henry A. Wallace has been sworn in as our new President of the United States. It is not yet clear who will replace the late Prime Minister and General Secretary, but all of us at the New York Post would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the people of the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. May God guide us through these dark times...

____

Enjoy!

President Benedict Arnold · Dec 26, 2016

Clement Attlee Confirmed as New Prime Minister!

December 2, 1943

Today Clement Attlee, Leader of the Labour Party and Deputy Prime Minister to the late Winston Churchill, has been confirmed as the new Prime Minister in a swift Parliamentary vote. Attlee had little to say about his new position as acting Prime Minister, focusing far more on the war effort and honoring the memory of his personal hero, Winston Churchill, over the politics of the Leader of the Labour Party having come to power over a coalition that had been lead by the Conservative Party up until now. Anthony Eden, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, was briefly considered as Churchill’s replacement by the Conservative Party dominated Parliament. Expected to become the new Leader of the Conservative Party, Eden said he would serve as Prime Minister if that was what parliament wanted. The MPs outside of the Conservative Party almost universally rejected this decision, calling for new elections if Eden was made acting Prime Minister. It was due to this political pressure that Attlee was even in the consideration for being Churchill’s replacement...

Jaguars4life · Dec 26, 2016

From History Channel's the Presidents

Vice President Henry Wallace was visting his daughter whille the event happened a during dinner a Secret Service agent tap mr Wallace on the back and told him to go into the living room ASPAP.

So he received the news that the President had been killed and around that time and for the first time since John Quincy Adams a president was sworn in without a bible.

Whiteshore · Dec 26, 2016

December 1, 1943

Vyacheslav Molotov named General-Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Today, Vyacheslav Molotov has been named General Secretary of the Soviet Union and Premier of the USSR. This comes after the assassination of Joseph Stalin at the Tehran conference.

Jaguars4life · Dec 26, 2016

December 1st 1943: President Wallace returns to Washington DC to officially take office as president.

In a address to the nation he says America will unite and destroy who did this.

President Benedict Arnold · Dec 27, 2016

Regime Change in Bolivia!

December 3rd, 1943

A new regime has taken power in Bolivia. Two political parties, Radepa, and the MNR, have come together to seize power from the dictatorial President Enrique Peñaranda. The new regime is far more left wing and internationally focused than Peñaranda’s and has proven this by declaring war on the Axis Powers and declaring their undying support for the United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union, which has been well received in these dark times. Bolivia will be joining Brazil and Colombia as the third South American nation to join the Allied forces. The government of Bolivia has not yet been recognized by any of these major countries, so it is unclear how this will turn out...

r1ncewind · Dec 27, 2016

December 5th

Seven members of the SS dressed in mexican army uniform opens fire on a crowd of people standing in line outside a movie theatre in an american city near the mexican border. Causing severe civillian casualties they manage to escape after killing several police officers.

Jaguars4life · Dec 27, 2016

(BTW here something that is like this https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/we-need-willkie.406125/)

History Learner · Dec 27, 2016

Andrews, Daniel. “The Last Prussian: A Biography of Erich von Manstein”. California: Hollinger Publications, 2004. Print.
From page 241:

01/12/1943,

Have received confirmation from headquarters that intercepts of Soviet communications suggesting some event of great importance in Persia is accurate. It is currently believed that a rather grand sum of enemy leadership has been killed in some sort of operation, up to and including heads of states. More information on this is expected later, although I am more greatly concerned on the currently unfolding situation around the Dnieper.

Given the jubilant atmosphere in Berlin, it is my hope the Grofaz will be more amendable at this time to releasing the 40th Panzer Army for use in the coming counterattack. I expect to hear from his personal headquarters within the next few hours…….

____________________________

"The Winter Stalemate along the Dnieper, 1943"
By Oliver Alexanders, Historic.com (2011)

“Following an agreement to release the 40th Panzer Corps for use in the Kiev counterattack by a ecstatic Hitler (Whom was enraptured by the success of the Tehran Operation), the German counterattack was initiated following the hardening of the terrain in the first week of December on the 5th. Having achieved surprised, the reinforced assault quickly began to inflict a devastating fight upon the forward elements of the Red army as the offensive developed. Fastov was reclaimed following a short fight, with counterattacks efforts by the 7th Guards Tank Corps serving only to exhaust the unit under heavy attrition. Elsewhere, the Soviet 60th Army outside of Korosten along with the 13th Tank Corps would be encircled by the rapid German thrust, adding to the growing chaos at Vatutin’s headquarters as it appeared a disaster could be in the making.

Requests to STAVKA for additional reinforcements were temporarily ignored, as the loss of Stalin placed a great deal of confusion upon the command as to whom was actually in charge. This lack of decisive action would force Vatutin into ordering a withdrawal by his forward forces back into Kiev, where he expected to have to mount a defense of the reclaimed city. Luckily for him, the intense combat operations combined with the distanced covered had likewise drained the Germans, who were also forced to slow their advance in order to divert units to reduce the pocket of surrounded Soviets near Korosten. The desperate breakout attempts by the 60th and 13th Soviet armies within the aforementioned pocket threatened the increasingly stretched German logistics train, thus forcing Manstein to reluctantly order a slowing of the advance in order to deal with the threat. By the time the pocket had been reduced, STAVKA had finally agreed to release the 18th and 1st (Tank) armies to Vatutin. With their arrival, any threat by the Germans to retake Kiev evaporated, ending the battle and enforcing a stalemate.

Although Heer recon elements had reached the outskirts of the city and a few ineffectual artillery bombardments would be attempted, the Wehrmacht and SS would never again set foot inside the city. Thus, the Soviets had achieved their strategic goal in reclaiming the city, but the extensive losses sustained in the operation precluded further offensive action along the Ukrainian front until after the end of the Spring Rasputitsa in 1944. Following the Soviet summer offensives of that year, Manstein and the rest of Army Group South would withdraw into the Foscani Gap Line within Axis-aligned Romania, where they would hold out into 1945.”

President Benedict Arnold · Dec 28, 2016

Notes from the Havana Conference from December 6th to December 16th, 1943

Following the Tehran Massacre, the first time the new heads of state of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union met was at an emergency secret conference in Havana, Cuba. The conference went exceptionally well, as Wallace, Attlee, and Molotov did not have nearly as contentious of a relationship as what existed between Stalin and Churchill. Attlee and Molotov shared a mutual distrust that Wallace would occasionally be a mediator but it was nothing compared to the outright hostility that existed between the late heads of state. There were a great number of things that had to be achieved at this conference and many were, with the rest being pushed off to another conference that would be held in March of the next year. At this conference, it was decided that the planned invasions made for May of 1944 at the Tehran Conference should be delayed until June of 1944 to allow for further planning and adjusting by the new leadership. It was also decided that Germany would be partitioned into several states and have its key industries weakened or removed to prevent them from developing such a powerful war machine ever again. The specifics of what this would mean would be decided at the next conference in March. It was also decided at this time that there must be an international union of governments, like the League of Nations but stronger, formed after the war...

Jaguars4life · Feb 1, 2017

Like to restart this

Jaguars4life · Feb 2, 2017

December 8th 1943-
NEW YORK TIMES
PRESIDENT WALLACE TO PROCESS AMENDMENT TO NOMINATE NEW VP.

Henry Wallace proposed to congress a new bill that would allow the President to nominate a new Vice President in case something happens to the presidents and would allow the Vice President to becoming acting president if the president is unavailable.

Jaguars4life · Feb 5, 2017

(BTW here is a new TL https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/quitting-at-the-wrong-time-a-timeline.409256/)

President Benedict Arnold · May 19, 2017

Ok, so sorry for reviving this old thread, but I had a number of ideas for what could happen in an alternate, moderated Cold War period that I think would be interesting to share with everybody.

What I envisioned was a sort of three way tension of influences, with the US and USSR on better terms due to their shared tragedy and an extremist anti-colonial nationalist faction replacing the Non-Aligned Movement.

Some PoDs I was considering:

Wallace holds off on using the nuke and invades the island of Shikoku before caving to the generals and bombing Hiroshima. A lot of Americans died, but Japan surrenders unconditionally after just one nuke due to the invasion.
Attlee stalls giving up India peacefully and a mostly bloodless coup results in India becoming independent. The new government of India, drew a few members from the Axis-aligned Indian National Army (only a handful of leaders from there at first, but more than what the West was comfortable with).
The KMT wins the Chinese Civil War in 1953 due to Molotov having a falling out with Mao and the Chinese Communists, agreeing with the US to not intervene, and the US secretly supplying and supporting the KMT anyway. KMT China is borderline fascist, has cordial relations to the US and USSR, and has good relations with India.
The USSR is able to be convinced to allow Poland to have free elections, with Władysław Raczkiewicz becoming its first post-war president and steering the country in a neutral direction, adopting a lot of socialist policies while remaining a capitalist democracy.
The USSR puts communist puppets in charge of the rest of Romania, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Albania, and Korea. Yugoslavia and Greece (where communist rebels won the civil war) are the other two communist countries in the world. The US is unhappy about it overall, but it doesn't cause another Red Scare like when China became communist.
Germany is completely screwed by the Allies, who dismantle the national war machine and make it a neutral democratic state with no right to a military for a treaty time of 40 years, a very decentralized constitution, and have it be a shared occupation by US, Soviet, and British troops (not completely mixed but more scattered than IOTL).
Charles De Gaulle becomes the leader of France and steers it in a similar direction to Poland, with the two becoming allies. They both fear American and Soviet influence and begin to lay the groundwork for what would become TTL's EU.
Henry Wallace, as President of the United States, drags the country even more to the left during his years in office. There are a lot of people who are discontented by the communists having so much power abroad, and Wallace seeming to be a close ally to them. His landslide victory in the '44 election quiets these voices and gives the New Dealers the numbers they need to pass strong social programs like public healthcare after the war. The post-war boom keeps Wallace popular enough and he wins in '48, and gets assassinated by an anti-communist in early 1952, while considering a run for a third term. American democracy is pretty damaged by having been lead by the same coalition for twenty years and having had its past two presidents lead until they are killed, with seemingly no regard for any sort of ideal of a term limit anymore. Republicans attempt to pass an amendment to codify one into the Constitution, but they don't get enough states to ratify it in time.
In the early 1950s, China and India sign a formal alliance, with the leader of one of the two countries making a provocative speech denouncing the West's imperialism, and including the USSR in that denouncement. Imperialism, in his speech, is not just over territory, but over economics and ideology. He claims that communism and Soviet puppet governments are no different from the protectorates of capitalist countries.
Decolonization in Africa and Asia is a lot worse than IOTL. With close ties between the East and West, a lot of independence movements turn away from communism and are courted by the growing third pole of ethno-nationalist authoritarianism that is lead by India and China. Their fiery anti-Western ideals lead to an easing of even more tensions between the communist and capitalist countries. They refer to themselves as the Liberators (not in English, but whatever the dominant local language is).
The United Nations is established post-war with the US, UK, and USSR being the first permanent Security Council members. There is a clause that others can be added with the approval of a supermajority of the Security Council and no veto by existing Security Council members.
The 1950s see an increasing fear of third world nations over fear of communist ones. The USSR inventing a nuke in '51 is big news, but is soon overshadowed by India developing one in '55.
A treaty similar to the Baruch Plan goes into effect in '53, which gives the United Nations power over its members nuclear stockpile as well as making regular inspections over facilities capable of developing nukes mandatory. There is a clause that suggests that other countries developing nukes should be limited, causing India to withdraw from the United Nations.
Tensions rise as more Liberator aligned rebellions start. In '58, France goes through a constitutional crisis as it fights off such a movement in Algeria, with De Gaulle seizing power from the increasingly authoritarian government writing a new constitution, and offering Algeria significant autonomy, but not independence.
The Cuban Revolution is never as fanatically opposed by the US, and so never goes communist. Cuba has periodic economic troubles, but not the same level of economic stagnation as in real life. Bolivia under the MNR replace Cuba under Castro as the main New World antagonizer to the United States. The MNR, which at times was accused by the US of being too fascist and too communist, is one of the most hardline Liberator countries in the world.
The Vietnam War happens somewhat similar to OTL, but with Chinese backed ethno-nationalists going up against France and then the United States. The war contains many tragedies and results in the sparking of the Anti-War Movement in the US.
The 1960s in capitalist countries are marked by a massive swing to the Left. People increasingly embrace communism and communistic ideologies in the US and capitalist Europe, and there is even a movement that see fears of the Liberators as having its roots in racism, with some seeking detente with India and China. The Civil Rights Movement in the US goes slower due to the rumors of affiliation with the Liberators.
As the '60s were a time of liberalization for capitalist countries, the 70s were the same for communist ones. With the first one taking this up being Czechoslovakia in the Prague Spring in 1968, the entirety of the USSR maintains a slightly more capitalist form of its state run industries while offering more in terms of freedom of speech and expression. There are still significant controls on what is allowed, with there being the freedom to make whatever political party you wish so long as it has its roots in a communist ideology and the freedom to criticize specific leaders and policies, but not the communist government itself. Freedom of movement is slightly relaxed within a country, but emigration is still restricted.
The previous treaties limiting nuclear weapons became largely in the late '60s and '70s in the US and USSR. India and China were building up nuclear stockpiles and they began to do the same to counter them.
The period from 1974-1979 was the greatest period of tension between the Liberators and the West. Iran's government, which had been a center-left democracy for decades, was overthrown in a military coup that began to align itself with the Liberators. A takeover by rioting protesters at the American and Soviet embassies resulted in dozens of citizens from both countries being taken hostage. After a standoff where the US and USSR seemed just about ready to nuke Iran, China, and India, and vise versa, India issued a statement demanding Iran free the hostages.
After Franco dies, Spain, which has been ruled by fascist leaning political leaders since the Spanish Civil War, briefly considers bringing back the monarchy before a general strike forces the leadership to resign. Felipe Gonzalez, a member of the recently legalized Socialist Workers' Party, became Prime Minister of Spain and lead the country away from Francoist domination.
The European Economic Community, which has already included France, Poland, Italy, Norway, and the Netherlands since its founding in '53, grows to include Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Portugal, Iceland, and Spain in '79.
The US goes through less severe economic woes in the 70s, but has a smaller economic boom in the 80s. The New Deal consensus is never broken by Reagan, as the political beliefs he held when he got elected to Governor of California IRL are too far to the right ITTL and he never rises to the national stage.
In the mid-1980s, the Soviet Union began to economically liberalize as stagnation crept in. Their policies became sort of in line with modern China's economy, except with far better rights (if not wages) for the workers.
1985 is seen as a big year across the world, as it includes the set dates where Germany and Japan are no longer obligated to keep no military or sign any alliances. Germany quickly joins the EEC, with only some controversy from the US, and Japan passes a law banning the creation of a military forever (in reality, all you would have to do to be able to make one is overturn that law, but it's more of a symbolic thing).
The EEC grows again in '86 with the USSR allowing Czechoslovakia and Hungary to join. The communist East and capitalist West were growing ever closer to the point of neither really being that recognizably different.
The '90s are a time of increasing moderation among the Liberator countries, as global capitalism takes more root there. Most of these countries have democratic functions to them, even if a lot are dominated by hardline dictators, so over the course of the late '90s, a lot of the old hardline leadership are replaced with more moderate, Western friendly ones. Dictatorships are reformed to be more democratic and China even replaces its entire constitution with a new one.
Historians mark April 22nd, 1997, the day the new Chinese Constitution is signed and peace prevails, as the end of this period in history. This period is usually known as the Cold War or Decolonization Era.

The 21st Century will have its own challenges, but this is as far as I brought this world in my notes, so I hope you enjoyed.