Hey again! I'd like to thank everyone for their input in this old thread (https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?p=3771633#post3771633 ) and, after some reading, thinking and typing, I updated it to try and make it a bit more realistic while still trying to do some interesting and cool things. Check it out and tell me what you think.
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Point of Deviation: The Soviets win the Soviet-Polish War. Stalin is killed in the lien of duty and Trotsky becomes the primer of the USSR. Poland becomes an independent socialist nation called the Socialist Republic of Poland. A peace accord between Poland, Ukraine SSR and Germany redraws the lines.
After much deliberation, Lenin (then Trotsky) decides to focus spreading Marxism-Leninism to Baltic states (Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia) and Finland. The two are also formed into two separate republics, The Union of Socialist Baltic States and the Socialist Republic of Finland by the end of the long, bloody war in the early 1930s. Meanwhile, Mongolia and Tuvu are absorbed and become SSRs.
During all this, Moscow tries to fund a second Spartacus uprising in Germany. This backfires in Moscow’s face as the Wertheim Republic is put on lockdown and devolves into a generic, nationalist totalitarian state. Nazism never takes hold in Germany. War seems imitate, but Germany is still too economically repressed to go to war while the USSR is too focused on Finland and the Baltic States. A peace accord is signed. Germany regains some territory from Poland and the USSR promises to not to interfere with German affairs. Even with this in play, the doesn’t stop the German/Polish border from being one of the most defended borders of the 20th century.
After its long and bloody wars around the Baltic Sea, Moscow decides to regroup and focus on building its infrastructure and tapping into its massive economic potential.
As in our time line, Fascism becomes the norm most of the same European nations--Italy, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Austria, et al. This also includes French fascists winning an election in the late 1930s and Brazilian fascists seizing power.. These fascists, while they despise the USSR, are more focused on internal issues and dealing with problems inside of their own border.
Hitler emigrates to the United Kingdom after evading the German police due to dissident political activity and remains there for the duration of his life. He lives his entire live in obscurity as a window washer. Hipsters will ultimately bring back the toothbrush mustache in the late 00s.
The Empire of Japan makes the same bid for expansion as it did in our timeline, albeit they’re a bit more wary of the British and the USSR and focus on Manchuria and China.
USSR, seeing a bit of an opportunity, decides to fund a war in China, creating a Socialist East Turkmen Republic in our time line’s Xijiang and forging an alliance with what they perceive to be the more powerful Chinese nationalists. The war heats up and by 1940, the Sino-Japanese War evolves into the Great Pacific War between Japan, the USSR, Manchuria and SETR. It’s a long and brutal war, with Japan making some impressive gains early on, but eventually being defeated by Moscow when uses discovers and uses a sole atomic bomb on the city of Kyoto in 1947. The Japanese Emperor is executed via atomic hellfire, whom was visiting the city at the time. Japan, Manchuria, Korea, Okinawa and other Japanese territories becomes Marxist nations. As per the agreement, China becomes a nationalist nation though Trotsky is already concocting ways into making the massive nation into a communist one.
The USSR goes into a quiet period, activating their own Marshal Plan of sorts They purposely short-change China in hopes of spurring on a Marxist revolution. It does create a minor uprising lead by Mao, but the fear of being lead out of Moscow leads to a quick and easy defeat of the Maoists. China remains a nationalist nation. Trotsky is furious, but the nation is too broke and war-weary to do a damn thing about it.
Germany holds its first democratic elections since the 1930s in 1949. The Christian Democrats win by a landslide.
The British Empire becomes fearful that Trotsky is hell-bent on Marxist domination of India as well, despite the lack of evidence. The Crown assassinates Gandhi in 1950 and all of India is in a brutal uproar. The Indian Revolution lasts until 1953 with heavy losses on either side, but ends up a victory in India’s favor. Ceylon remains a British colonial possession while a much more united India becomes the Union of India. Pakistan and Bangladesh never becomes nations, but instead is are autonomous states. The Union of India remains a secular, economical liberal democratic nation. Burma is peacefully granted independence during the proceedings.
The British Empire is the second nation to develop the atomic bomb in 1953 just after India becomes an independent nation. They’re soon followed by United States in 1954, Fascist Italy in 1956 and Sweden in 1958.
Trotsky dies Christmas day in 1958 due to natural causes. His historical legacy is mixed. While he industrialized his own and various communist nations, he’s seen as a war-monger, a cliché villian bent on global domination. Moscow is without a leader for almost two years, but by 1960 a more liberal minded Nikita Khrushchev becomes the Primer.
The USSR undergoes a series of reforms that puts it more in with Market Socialism. The Soviet economy explodes and its satellite states soon follow suit with the policy.
Mussolini dies in 1960 after an arduous battle with prostate cancer. Italy peacefully reverts to being a democratic nation. Democratic Socialists are elected into most offices. Debate rages whether Italy should give up its nuclear arsenal or retain it. The latter is official decided. The new democratic Italy holds a referendum in its Libyan and Ethiopian colonies on whether it should be independent or remain apart of Italy. Obviously, they vote for the latter despite of the fact the two are rather Italianized.
America’s GDP finally surpasses that of the United Kingdom in 1959 and continues to climb. Many start to see the United States as the third superpower comparable to that of the UK and the USSR. The international press dubs America “the Quiet Beast”.
In 1960, the United States finally joins the League of Nations.
The United States also becomes heavily involved in Indian manners, financially backing pro-capitalist candidates in elections
Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico become the 49th, 50th, and 51st states. The Philippines operates as a protectorate of United States and a base to help combat the growing influence of the USSR.
Massive industrial efforts in fascist Brazil also puts it on the world stage, making it the most powerful nation in the region and major player on the world stage. Considering its Interalgalistic nature and the growing middle class, most people are happy with the arrangement, but Brazil continues to battle various pockets of resistance in the Amazon.
A communist movement led by Ho Chi Min starts in Fascist French controlled Siam through-out most of the sixties. The war is dubbed the “Frenchmen’s Folley” by the international press. Siam is subjected to a drawn out war that creates a strong backlash at home. This culminates as a violent uprising that lasts from 1967 to 1969 between three factions--an Anglo-American backed Republican faction, a Soviet backed Marxist faction and the Fascists. The Republican faction wins out, mostly due to the efforts of the United States to divide the Marxist faction into smaller groups that fought against each other. France holds its first official election in 1972.
Meanwhile, back in South East Asia, the war becomes a bloody affair between various pro-democratic, pro-nationalist and pro-communist factions that are further divided by native Laotians, Cambodians and Vietnamese seeking independence with certain sides getting funding and weapons from the Soviets and the Americans. Thousands of immigrants flee to China, Thailand and the US-controlled Philippines. Vietnam becomes a Marxist nation while Cambodia becomes a nationalist nation. Cambodia also gave birth to the Laotian genocide, the worst atrocity in the latter half of the 20th century.
The ineffectiveness of the League of Nations to prevent the genocide as well as its inability to address problems through out the world forces the international organization to reorganize in 1974. This results in massive failure and the LON is official dissolved by 1975. There’s no UN to replace it.
After much debate, France decides to let go of its colonies in Africa, due to its inability to pay for its continuous upkeep involved in holding onto its colonies. Decolonization starts to spread like wildfire through Africa and Asia The breakup is mostly peaceful except the British Empire early on, which tries to retain its African colonies, but ia granted a heavy blow and low popular support at home Thee UK, USSR and the US continue to pull the strings behind the scenes and use Africa and Asia to play out various ideological battles. Ceylon finally becomes an independent nation. The United States continues to hold onto the Philippines as a protectorate, which the UK and the USSR seems as a bit hypocritical, but the Philippines don’t mind the relationship. By 2010, Madagascar, Mali and Zaire become communist nations.
In 1978, the Union of India is toppled by a military junta after a questionable election that was voted in favor of a seemingly unpopular incumbent. Various Anglo-American think-tanks proclaim the USSR was behind it, purposefully aiding the junta in order to destabilize the Indian market and make them the economic powerhouse of Asia. Indian conspiracy theorists blame the British. Marxists proclaim it was America’s fault, as India’s purported choice from Prime Minister was a socialist and that the Junta was a pre-planned event.
In 1979, a popular uprising in Japan comes underway. Tired of dealing with oppressive government, the Japanese people take to street and start making demands for democracy. A sympathetic element of the Japanese military (which also happens to be the slim majority) soon joins in and the Japanese Civil War starts. The Soviet Union--not keen on loosing its biggest ally--joins in the fray to keep the Japanese population under control. The United States proclaims Soviet Adventurism. Japanese exiles in the Philippines and Hawaii are given weapons and aid by the United States government to help out the cause of Japanese democracy. Japan is comparable to our timeline’s Soviet involvement in Afghanistan. The war ends in 1991 with a Japanese victory and several pissed off Soviet allies. Japan is attempting to rebuild is ruins while the USSR is damn near crippled by the experience.
In 1981, the last fascist government on Earth, Brazil, finally gets it rude awakening. An economic recession coupled with an ineffective and unpopular leader leads to uprising which oust the leader. War goes underway. Determined not to have another socialist government formed in the Western Hemisphere, the United States sends troops to aid a weak and ailing pro-capitalist faction. The Soviet Union decries the move as American Adventurism, but can’t commit any troops as it and other communist nations are dealing with the Japanese Civil War. The War is a long and bloody one, but by 1987 the Brazil becomes the Democratic-Republic of Brazil.
In 1991, the Soviet Union goes on a process of further liberalizing its economy, hoping to get the same boost it did when it became Market Socialists back in the 1960s. It also becomes a bit more lenient with certain states like Poland, Finland and Manchuria, while remaining on tight grip on others like SETR, Korea and USBS. The former had free elections by 1995. Regardless, the move toward liberalization was successful and to this day Moscow continues to proverbial jiggle the carrot in front of its citizens while beating it with a stick if it doesn’t follow the party line.
---------
Point of Deviation: The Soviets win the Soviet-Polish War. Stalin is killed in the lien of duty and Trotsky becomes the primer of the USSR. Poland becomes an independent socialist nation called the Socialist Republic of Poland. A peace accord between Poland, Ukraine SSR and Germany redraws the lines.
After much deliberation, Lenin (then Trotsky) decides to focus spreading Marxism-Leninism to Baltic states (Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia) and Finland. The two are also formed into two separate republics, The Union of Socialist Baltic States and the Socialist Republic of Finland by the end of the long, bloody war in the early 1930s. Meanwhile, Mongolia and Tuvu are absorbed and become SSRs.
During all this, Moscow tries to fund a second Spartacus uprising in Germany. This backfires in Moscow’s face as the Wertheim Republic is put on lockdown and devolves into a generic, nationalist totalitarian state. Nazism never takes hold in Germany. War seems imitate, but Germany is still too economically repressed to go to war while the USSR is too focused on Finland and the Baltic States. A peace accord is signed. Germany regains some territory from Poland and the USSR promises to not to interfere with German affairs. Even with this in play, the doesn’t stop the German/Polish border from being one of the most defended borders of the 20th century.
After its long and bloody wars around the Baltic Sea, Moscow decides to regroup and focus on building its infrastructure and tapping into its massive economic potential.
As in our time line, Fascism becomes the norm most of the same European nations--Italy, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Austria, et al. This also includes French fascists winning an election in the late 1930s and Brazilian fascists seizing power.. These fascists, while they despise the USSR, are more focused on internal issues and dealing with problems inside of their own border.
Hitler emigrates to the United Kingdom after evading the German police due to dissident political activity and remains there for the duration of his life. He lives his entire live in obscurity as a window washer. Hipsters will ultimately bring back the toothbrush mustache in the late 00s.
The Empire of Japan makes the same bid for expansion as it did in our timeline, albeit they’re a bit more wary of the British and the USSR and focus on Manchuria and China.
USSR, seeing a bit of an opportunity, decides to fund a war in China, creating a Socialist East Turkmen Republic in our time line’s Xijiang and forging an alliance with what they perceive to be the more powerful Chinese nationalists. The war heats up and by 1940, the Sino-Japanese War evolves into the Great Pacific War between Japan, the USSR, Manchuria and SETR. It’s a long and brutal war, with Japan making some impressive gains early on, but eventually being defeated by Moscow when uses discovers and uses a sole atomic bomb on the city of Kyoto in 1947. The Japanese Emperor is executed via atomic hellfire, whom was visiting the city at the time. Japan, Manchuria, Korea, Okinawa and other Japanese territories becomes Marxist nations. As per the agreement, China becomes a nationalist nation though Trotsky is already concocting ways into making the massive nation into a communist one.
The USSR goes into a quiet period, activating their own Marshal Plan of sorts They purposely short-change China in hopes of spurring on a Marxist revolution. It does create a minor uprising lead by Mao, but the fear of being lead out of Moscow leads to a quick and easy defeat of the Maoists. China remains a nationalist nation. Trotsky is furious, but the nation is too broke and war-weary to do a damn thing about it.
Germany holds its first democratic elections since the 1930s in 1949. The Christian Democrats win by a landslide.
The British Empire becomes fearful that Trotsky is hell-bent on Marxist domination of India as well, despite the lack of evidence. The Crown assassinates Gandhi in 1950 and all of India is in a brutal uproar. The Indian Revolution lasts until 1953 with heavy losses on either side, but ends up a victory in India’s favor. Ceylon remains a British colonial possession while a much more united India becomes the Union of India. Pakistan and Bangladesh never becomes nations, but instead is are autonomous states. The Union of India remains a secular, economical liberal democratic nation. Burma is peacefully granted independence during the proceedings.
The British Empire is the second nation to develop the atomic bomb in 1953 just after India becomes an independent nation. They’re soon followed by United States in 1954, Fascist Italy in 1956 and Sweden in 1958.
Trotsky dies Christmas day in 1958 due to natural causes. His historical legacy is mixed. While he industrialized his own and various communist nations, he’s seen as a war-monger, a cliché villian bent on global domination. Moscow is without a leader for almost two years, but by 1960 a more liberal minded Nikita Khrushchev becomes the Primer.
The USSR undergoes a series of reforms that puts it more in with Market Socialism. The Soviet economy explodes and its satellite states soon follow suit with the policy.
Mussolini dies in 1960 after an arduous battle with prostate cancer. Italy peacefully reverts to being a democratic nation. Democratic Socialists are elected into most offices. Debate rages whether Italy should give up its nuclear arsenal or retain it. The latter is official decided. The new democratic Italy holds a referendum in its Libyan and Ethiopian colonies on whether it should be independent or remain apart of Italy. Obviously, they vote for the latter despite of the fact the two are rather Italianized.
America’s GDP finally surpasses that of the United Kingdom in 1959 and continues to climb. Many start to see the United States as the third superpower comparable to that of the UK and the USSR. The international press dubs America “the Quiet Beast”.
In 1960, the United States finally joins the League of Nations.
The United States also becomes heavily involved in Indian manners, financially backing pro-capitalist candidates in elections
Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico become the 49th, 50th, and 51st states. The Philippines operates as a protectorate of United States and a base to help combat the growing influence of the USSR.
Massive industrial efforts in fascist Brazil also puts it on the world stage, making it the most powerful nation in the region and major player on the world stage. Considering its Interalgalistic nature and the growing middle class, most people are happy with the arrangement, but Brazil continues to battle various pockets of resistance in the Amazon.
A communist movement led by Ho Chi Min starts in Fascist French controlled Siam through-out most of the sixties. The war is dubbed the “Frenchmen’s Folley” by the international press. Siam is subjected to a drawn out war that creates a strong backlash at home. This culminates as a violent uprising that lasts from 1967 to 1969 between three factions--an Anglo-American backed Republican faction, a Soviet backed Marxist faction and the Fascists. The Republican faction wins out, mostly due to the efforts of the United States to divide the Marxist faction into smaller groups that fought against each other. France holds its first official election in 1972.
Meanwhile, back in South East Asia, the war becomes a bloody affair between various pro-democratic, pro-nationalist and pro-communist factions that are further divided by native Laotians, Cambodians and Vietnamese seeking independence with certain sides getting funding and weapons from the Soviets and the Americans. Thousands of immigrants flee to China, Thailand and the US-controlled Philippines. Vietnam becomes a Marxist nation while Cambodia becomes a nationalist nation. Cambodia also gave birth to the Laotian genocide, the worst atrocity in the latter half of the 20th century.
The ineffectiveness of the League of Nations to prevent the genocide as well as its inability to address problems through out the world forces the international organization to reorganize in 1974. This results in massive failure and the LON is official dissolved by 1975. There’s no UN to replace it.
After much debate, France decides to let go of its colonies in Africa, due to its inability to pay for its continuous upkeep involved in holding onto its colonies. Decolonization starts to spread like wildfire through Africa and Asia The breakup is mostly peaceful except the British Empire early on, which tries to retain its African colonies, but ia granted a heavy blow and low popular support at home Thee UK, USSR and the US continue to pull the strings behind the scenes and use Africa and Asia to play out various ideological battles. Ceylon finally becomes an independent nation. The United States continues to hold onto the Philippines as a protectorate, which the UK and the USSR seems as a bit hypocritical, but the Philippines don’t mind the relationship. By 2010, Madagascar, Mali and Zaire become communist nations.
In 1978, the Union of India is toppled by a military junta after a questionable election that was voted in favor of a seemingly unpopular incumbent. Various Anglo-American think-tanks proclaim the USSR was behind it, purposefully aiding the junta in order to destabilize the Indian market and make them the economic powerhouse of Asia. Indian conspiracy theorists blame the British. Marxists proclaim it was America’s fault, as India’s purported choice from Prime Minister was a socialist and that the Junta was a pre-planned event.
In 1979, a popular uprising in Japan comes underway. Tired of dealing with oppressive government, the Japanese people take to street and start making demands for democracy. A sympathetic element of the Japanese military (which also happens to be the slim majority) soon joins in and the Japanese Civil War starts. The Soviet Union--not keen on loosing its biggest ally--joins in the fray to keep the Japanese population under control. The United States proclaims Soviet Adventurism. Japanese exiles in the Philippines and Hawaii are given weapons and aid by the United States government to help out the cause of Japanese democracy. Japan is comparable to our timeline’s Soviet involvement in Afghanistan. The war ends in 1991 with a Japanese victory and several pissed off Soviet allies. Japan is attempting to rebuild is ruins while the USSR is damn near crippled by the experience.
In 1981, the last fascist government on Earth, Brazil, finally gets it rude awakening. An economic recession coupled with an ineffective and unpopular leader leads to uprising which oust the leader. War goes underway. Determined not to have another socialist government formed in the Western Hemisphere, the United States sends troops to aid a weak and ailing pro-capitalist faction. The Soviet Union decries the move as American Adventurism, but can’t commit any troops as it and other communist nations are dealing with the Japanese Civil War. The War is a long and bloody one, but by 1987 the Brazil becomes the Democratic-Republic of Brazil.
In 1991, the Soviet Union goes on a process of further liberalizing its economy, hoping to get the same boost it did when it became Market Socialists back in the 1960s. It also becomes a bit more lenient with certain states like Poland, Finland and Manchuria, while remaining on tight grip on others like SETR, Korea and USBS. The former had free elections by 1995. Regardless, the move toward liberalization was successful and to this day Moscow continues to proverbial jiggle the carrot in front of its citizens while beating it with a stick if it doesn’t follow the party line.