German Insurrection during the Cold War

Already brought it up, they're looking for a red insurrection.

Which still counts. It was a mass uprising of worker against the Stalinist regime. Sure it was mainly a spontaneous movement but the organized core it had constituted of Union activists and people with a general "Red" background.
 
Something like the Viet Cong. It won't be identical, but there will be certain parallels between the two.

The Vietcong is a very bad blueprint for German rebells.
Germany is an industrialized country with a conservative peasantry, a very good infrastructure and a massive and efficent bureaucray.
It is near impossible to get a real guerilla going in most of the country and the areas where that might be possible where either ultraconservative or part of East-Germany (Thuringia).

Does Berlin '53 not count?

Which still counts. It was a mass uprising of worker against the Stalinist regime. Sure it was mainly a spontaneous movement but the organized core it had constituted of Union activists and people with a general "Red" background.

Actually an 50s communist rebellion in Germany should roughly look like the anti-communist rebellions in Berlin & Czechia.
But with some more guns & organisation thanks to East-German support.
The Asturian Rebellion might be another role model.
 
Here's something I jotted down at work. I would have posted it sooner, except I kept forgetting to bring it home. Anyway, the whole German "War" looks like this (I'd have to do some serious detail work before I can even call it an outline, much less a proper work):

1973: This would be when the DDR begins to move to infiltrate various groups in the BRD. They organize a bunch of protests, anti-nuclear and the like.

Also during the year, I have the West German economy take a down turn. I'm not sure how much the oil embargo hit Europe compared to America (long lines at the gas station and all). You end up with more and more unemployed and faster than Bonn can deal with.

1974: The protests get worse and more frequent, two ending in riots (Hamburg and Dussledorf). A nation-wide strike starts on May 1st. East Germany continues to expend resources to subvert the West German Left. The Left does grow thanks to continuing economic problems, and the apparent inactivity of Bonn.

1975: After seeing Saigon fall and the US do nothing to stop it, DDR plans to set in motion an insurrection against Bonn in hopes of toppling the government. Now Moscow does step in here, trying to subvert the DDR's plans. The Soviets wants a neutral Marxists government in West Germany, kind of like Yugoslavia. It'd make for a nice buffer zone.

East Germany begins to smuggle arms into the West to various cells organizing in industrial cities as well as attempting to establish themselves in rural farming villages.

1976: Rhineland riots turn violent. Protesters begin to open fire on the police. Martial law is declared, etc, etc. The Volksarmee West is "founded" (it's been in the works for a while now). At the time, it's seen as little more than a terrorist organization.

It starts out with bombings and assassinations, but grows to open rebellion in some states.

1977: Carter announces that he won't send soldiers into another Vietnam. That being said on TV, he does quietly authorize the USAFE to aid the BRD. There is a lot of concern from other NATO members from American inactivity. I'm not sure exactly what the North Atlantic Treaty says about internal threats, so I'm using that this isn't a foreign invasion as the American excuse to its allies.

1978: As the Insurrection grows, motions in the UN are started for a UN peacekeeping force. The USSR uses its veto to kill that idea.

Actual fighting in 1977 and 1978 isn't all that thought out yet, except one big thing.

The Oktoberfest Offensive (please, not jokes abouts liberating beer) sees the VAW launch mutliple offenisives against West Germany's largest cities. The offensive sees the Fall of Munich, and people's tribunals and all those executions in the Olympic stadium. The VAW also has gotten its hands on its own aircraft and Bavaria is declared a no-fly zone. These are really piloted by East German pilots.

1979: The Siege of Ramstein AFB sparks outrage in America as the public demands action. The VAW being dumb enough to attack an American faclity gives the USAE the excuse to throw its own weight into the game. France also sends in the French Foreign Legion.

West German F-104s shoot down a Hungarian air liner (at Tu-154) that strayed into the no-fly zone. Why? Many of the VAW's fighters evade NATO fighters by crossing into East Germany. This Tupolev was on the general same heading. It was all a navigational error, but it sparks outrage in the East.

In 1979, solid evidence that East German soldiers were aiding the VAW is discovered and the whole thing threatens to spiral out of control. The superpowers meet in Kopenhagen for a summit. It's here that Carter proposes that both Germanies should become neutral and that the superpowers should remove their forces from them, sort of a superpower demilitarization. Breznev rejects the idea.

Now at this point, I ran out of room on my scrap paper and haven't gone past this point. Do try to keep in mind I jotted this down a piece at a time while working, so it's not as good as it could be.
 
How about having the student movement delayed or repeated? Or maybe an economic downturn that leaves many unemployeed (but not too many, nothing like a depression) and Bonn has to tighten its belt due to tax revenue loss? That would give a perception that the West German government doesn't care about the workers.

The thing is, you would have to be a long lasting depression and horribly incompetent leadership. If it's just people losing jobs and prices rising slightly, that probably won't warrant much of a revolt, maybe protests at the extreme end, but more likely a change over government at the next election. People will grumble and complain but things but would more than likely wait for things to come right again. Remember, things need to be really, REALLY shit in WG before people will take up arms or whatever en mass.
 
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I'll have to take a further look of economic conditions in the 1960s then. Give them a few year long depression instead. Anyways, the DDR was mostly aggitating and causing general annoyance in the beginning. Still, like with most works, it'll need more research.
 
Sorry but communist uprising in 70s west Germany is as realistic as black or KKK uprising in USA at the time.

Maybe with Morgenthau Plan going on something could happen but don't expect communist guerillas to rise in well prospering democratic state.
 
I'll have to take a further look of economic conditions in the 1960s then. Give them a few year long depression instead. Anyways, the DDR was mostly aggitating and causing general annoyance in the beginning. Still, like with most works, it'll need more research.

It will be hard to change the economic situation in West Germany to such an extent that a communist uprising happens without affecting other European countries (including Warsaw pact states) even more and having riots start there much earlier than in Germany.

Additionally, a problem will be to get enough communists into Southern Germany...
 
Sorry but communist uprising in 70s west Germany is as realistic as black or KKK uprising in USA at the time.

Maybe with Morgenthau Plan going on something could happen but don't expect communist guerillas to rise in well prospering democratic state.

But it's still more realistic than the backgrounds in recent AH novels by well-known authors...
 
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