Hot Potato: A Korean War TL

Are you freaking serious?

About?

Northern Limit Line? Hello? You were 95% done and you ABANDONED the TL?

Don't remind me.

I'm reminding you right now.

Ok. Now don't remind me.

What about your ASB TL?

I updated that last week... And I'm already writing a new update for it.

You're going to college soon. Shouldn't you be concentrating on one TL instead of two?

Naw. I have to do this TL.

Your reason?

Because Turtledove utterly failed at writing his latest book, but he had an interesting concept.

So, this TL is going to be about the Korean War turning into a Hot War?

Yep. Except I did more research than Turtledove. To be completely honest, all he did was launch nukes whenever he felt like it and made them land wherever. I mean. The entire West Coast being hit? Salt Lake City? A Soviet bomber pretending to be an American bomber at least 5 times and blowing up Paris?

So yeah. Will be coming to the Alternate History website near you.
 
Funny enough, The Hot War is the first Turtledove novel I've really enjoyed in a good while. The War That Came Early was just awful...
Looking forward to this TL
 
Funny enough, The Hot War is the first Turtledove novel I've really enjoyed in a good while. The War That Came Early was just awful...
Looking forward to this TL

A decent book. But it's basically ASB.

The Soviets had way too many nukes. The US apparently doesn't have an air force. And the US didn't launch a mass retaliatory nuclear strike after losing Los Angeles.
 
How would that work if me assuming MacArthur still may be in command, not too many peopled liked MacArthur and thought he was delusional because MacArthur basically had a bunch of G-2's who fed him the information he wanted to hear, that and his insubordination. Unless for some reason MacArthur decides actually take the information of Chinese troops seriously that it's escalates into a war between China the DPRK and the U.S and ROK?
 
Shit man. What's the university?
So nukes during the Korean War...now the war definitely won't be forgotten.

UC Santa Cruz :)

Chances are, it'll never be forgotten.

How would that work if me assuming MacArthur still may be in command, not too many peopled liked MacArthur and thought he was delusional because MacArthur basically had a bunch of G-2's who fed him the information he wanted to hear, that and his insubordination. Unless for some reason MacArthur decides actually take the information of Chinese troops seriously that it's escalates into a war between China the DPRK and the U.S and ROK?

MacArthur isn't in command in this TL. Just a forewarning.
 
Hot Potato: World War III

+++++

Chapter 1: Before the Korean War

Many people wonder how the Korean War escalated into a full scale war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. After all, the Korean War was a rather local conflict without the direct intervention of the Soviet Union up until the day the Cold War collapsed. However, these people fail to realize that the Korean War was the first "hot" point of the war between two ideologies; communism and capitalism. The Korean War was a test for the United States to see if they were willing to commit on defending democracies abroad, the Soviets purposely poking the Americans to see how they would react. At that time, both countries would have never imagined the war to escalate so quickly and cause so much destruction only 6 years after the Second World War started.

Backtracking to the surrender of Japan and the occupation, it is notable that perhaps General MacArthur's death by a Japanese right wing fanatic was one of the most important events before the war actually began. On January 21st, 1950, General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers and over watching the occupation, was killed by Masaki Osato, an embittered veteran that fought in the Philippines against the US forces. He was part of the Daitōjuku, a group of traditionalist Japanese who believed that the US was tainting their land with "Western culture." The assassination took place right in the heart of Tokyo, as the assassin rushed MacArthur and stabbed him several times with a katana. Osato managed to kill 2 nearby officers and injure several more before being shot to death by nearby soldiers. This would spark a crisis within the Truman administration, as it clearly showed that extremism and militarism in Japan wasn't being solved. And with the death of MacArthur, various protests by traditionalists and right wing military group began to remove the US occupation. It was rumored that the Soviets were attempting to stir up and encourage the communists within Japan and left wing extremists as well, placing more and more fear of a possible rise of another aggressive Japanese Empire. As a result, Truman himself ordered martial law of the Japanese Home Islands and worked with General Walton Walker, the new Military Governor of Japan, to stamp down dissent and make sure that Japan remained a peaceful and non-aggressive nation in the future. Seeing that it was the remnants of Japan's imperial past that was fueling the protests, Walker proposed a controversial act to permanently remove the Imperial Family and completely uproot the government. Truman, at first, believed that this was too extreme. However, with the growing amount of protest and the call to arms to restore the Emperor, Truman realized that he needed to act swiftly to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control. The US army, largely cut down to the bone after WW2, was in no shape to put down rioters or fight. This pushed Truman to do deliver, in which he did on March 22nd of 1950.

The Okinawa Protocol of 1950 saw the end of the Imperial Family and the complete liquidation of Shinto (this included an addition to the previous Shinto Directive). The Imperial Family was removed and evacuated to the United States to prevent the protesters from having a rallying call. Additionally, the US army saw expansion to contain any riots or destruction that may be caused by the extremists. This was needed, because the United States decided to completely destroy the Japanese Empire and all of "former" Japan itself. After a month of destroying any Shinto monuments, temples, and worshiping grounds, along with putting down the rioters and protesters, Military Governor Walker declared that Japan was now to be the "Republic of Japan." The new RoJ would be very similar to the US form of government, with the federal government being seated in Tokyo and Japan containing different states and territories. Elections for the Diet would happen every 2 years and elections for a president would happen in every 4 years. Many Japanese civilians were angered and hostile toward the new laws and changes, but US censorship and re-education triumphed. Any protesters or people who were critical of the occupation were taken down quickly, in an effort by the US to firmly prevent any uprisings. Troops from Korea were transferred out to help with the occupation, as the atmosphere turned hostile towards the occupying US soldiers. This would have tremendous changes in the future Korean War, as South Korean volunteers were unfit to fight and the US troops that were left behind were unable to provide effective resistance against the invading communists.

Seeing this as a chance to expand communism, Josef Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union, agreed to help the North Koreans invade South Korea. Stalin, believing that the US would be too preoccupied with Japan, decided to send weapons, supplies, and vehicles to aid the North Koreans. And once the last bastion of capitalism fell in the East Asian mainland, Stalin believed that the expansion and success of communism was inevitable.

With the Soviet's blessing in the war, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea invaded the Republic of Korea on May 15th of 1950 at 7:00 AM. The border guards were caught off guard and Seoul fell within 2 days. The Rhee government moved to Pusan, but after 3 weeks, only the city of Pusan remained in Korean hands. In those three weeks, Truman made a firm decision; to aid and save the Republic of Korea. In any means possible.​
 
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Truman banned the Shinto religion?? Seems very unenforcable.

Still, an interesting idea, and a thank you for the review on the new Turtledove series.
 

Raunchel

Banned
Banning Shinto would be a bit extreme, but I can see the reasons for the removal of the emperor and declaring a republic. That way, all traces of militarism can be removed.
 
Truman banned the Shinto religion?? Seems very unenforcable.

Still, an interesting idea, and a thank you for the review on the new Turtledove series.

Well. Technically, Truman could've done it to Japan in OTL. Nobody but MacArthur would've stopped him. And in TTL, since Right Wing Japanese politics take off a little early (in OTL, this happened around the 50's), it would give plenty of excuses to crush all of Japan's former traditions for good. With MacArthur, a beloved general from WW2, dead, Truman would have no troubles on implementing a republican Japan. Of course, the Japanese would resist, but it's hard to resist when your opponent has mountains of weapons and you don't.

Banning Shinto would be a bit extreme, but I can see the reasons for the removal of the emperor and declaring a republic. That way, all traces of militarism can be removed.

It did happen in OTL. The Shinto Directive. However, it would make sense since in TTL, it seems like that nationalism and right wing politics is "back on the rise" in Japan.

I suppose Soviets would later get some support from the vengeful Japanese people?

Ah... You have seen nothing yet :)
 
So I just read it. MacArthur getting killed by a radical is a good POD, an excellent one actually - I'll remember to use it later myself. A few nitpicks -
1. What is Mao's opinion on the matter? Stalin can help in the air but Kim would need Mao's agreement if the plan goes to hell.
2. There was constant border clashes and hostility along the 38th parallel. Small towns and hills being captured and recaptured was common occurrence. That was partially why the reaction was so slow - everyone thought it was just business.
3. Pusan's the only city left? What happened to Taegu? Who's leading the UN coalition now?
 
Interesting TL; so this will be a more realistic version of Turtledove's recent Korean War AH?
 
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