What if in 1936-7, Hitler declared that any further purchases of arms by Chinese forces had to be finalized by the redemption of certain "coupons." Specifically, the heads of various Chinese Communist leaders (by name).
This Xanatos gambit has several possible long-term outcomes, contradictory, but all beneficial:
1: The Young Marshall shoots Chiang Kai-Shek, and the warlords fragment. The Japanese carry all before them in China.
2: Those (verified) heads are handed over, and Goebbles can broadcast to the World (especially Spain) that "Stalin Sold Out Mao!" Cue the Spanish Republicans falling apart two years early, meaning that Franco has far less of a repair job, and far less of a leg to stand on in terms of avoiding entanglement in WWII.
3: Mao and company flee into Mongolia and the Soviet Union. It's only a matter of time before Mao becomes more trouble than he's worth, and Stalin purges him, not to mention all that loss of goodwill from the peasants in the wake of the Long March.
Questions? Comments? Flames?
This Xanatos gambit has several possible long-term outcomes, contradictory, but all beneficial:
1: The Young Marshall shoots Chiang Kai-Shek, and the warlords fragment. The Japanese carry all before them in China.
2: Those (verified) heads are handed over, and Goebbles can broadcast to the World (especially Spain) that "Stalin Sold Out Mao!" Cue the Spanish Republicans falling apart two years early, meaning that Franco has far less of a repair job, and far less of a leg to stand on in terms of avoiding entanglement in WWII.
3: Mao and company flee into Mongolia and the Soviet Union. It's only a matter of time before Mao becomes more trouble than he's worth, and Stalin purges him, not to mention all that loss of goodwill from the peasants in the wake of the Long March.
Questions? Comments? Flames?