manav95
Banned
"How did this happen?" This question was asked by many survivors of the Second American Civil War as they celebrated New Years Eve in 2012. For the survivors in Times Square, this dominated their minds as the time ball signified 2013 was now here. Even if the war was over, what future existed for them? Their country had been devastated and was still liable to collapse again. It would take centuries for the US to recover from the war, by which time the world would have surpassed the US. Many contemplated suicide while others were determined to endure. "How did this happen?" dominated their thoughts, regardless of their motivation to stay alive. The Nation of Islam claimed the whites had oppressed the black man for far too long and thus deserved their punishment from the war. The few remaining fundamentalist Christians claimed it was God's punishment for abandoning him and wallowing in sin. The Marxists claimed it was the only way to rid the country of capitalism. Unsurprisingly, most Americans refused to accept this. An answer would have to come from a town in California.
Hollywood was perhaps the least miserable place in America. The war never reached it despite being a base of the DSA at one point, and it still churned out movies. The answer came from a director named Christopher Nolan. After the success of Inception in 2004, Nolan sought to do a film about the war. But even Hollywood suffered commercial disruption, causing his script to languish in development hell. In the meantime, Nolan produced the Prestige and 3 Batman films, but none of them truly motivated him. With the war over, Nolan decided to make a new script. He realized, after Dark Knight Rises' mediocre reception, that people did not want psychological thrillers. Many had seen their homes destroyed, their relatives murdered, and even their towns reduced to rubble. They simply wanted entertainment. Feeling disappointed yet determined, Nolan decided to make a documentary analyzing the war and why it happened. To do that, he needed to study the turbulent American politics of the later 20th century and find a cause for all this. His choice, the Wannsee Conference of 1942.
The Wannsee Conference was much different. At the conference, Himmler and Goring debated about what to do with the Jews. While the plan to exterminate all of them was appealing, Germany faced a war with the Soviets, British, and Americans. Although Himmler was fanatic about murdering them, he realized Germany needed all of its resources now that America had joined the war. For this reason, he suggested to Hitler to postpone all their plans once Germany won the war. Hitler actually agreed, knowing America was the biggest threat to his power. Killings of Jews died down as resources were diverted into the war effort. Germany was able to last longer. The Germans even try an invasion of Britain, called Operation Sealion. It fails miserably.
Moscow itself fell and Stalin dies, replaced with Zhukov. The Soviet Union fought the Germans to a draw until 1945, when they started pushing west. The Allies did not conquer North Africa until 1944, and conquered half of Italy by 1946. A landing at Calais took place on November 1946, as Normandy was heavily guarded in anticipation of an Allied attack. Even though it was successful, the Germans are still able to stall the Allies. The Germans fighter jet technology enables them to continue fighting and also delays an Allied victory. The Pacific War ends with a Japanese defeat by invasion in 1948. By the end of 1948 the Allies conquer France, but they still see significant resistance in Germany. The Manhattan Project is delayed until late 1948 as resources are diverted to fight a stronger Germany, with 4 functional bombs by the beginning of 1949. The Russians reach the border of Germany by this time, determined to end the war. They also accelerated their nuclear program, having a bomb by late 1948. The Allies agreed to nuke German cities and gave the Soviets the first shot. In February 1949, the Soviets nuke Stettin and the Allies nuke Frankfurt. Altogether, 300000 people die in the war. Hitler is undaunted and refuses to give up. Some generals kill him in a coup and then a mini civil war erupts in Germany. In the chaos, the Allies quickly capture Berlin and put an end to the chaos. The last faction of Germans surrenders on April 4,1949, bringing WW2 to a close.
The Soviets and the Americans all had a relatively smooth negotiation President Truman, who took power after FDR died in 1946, had been forced to work with the Soviets and was able to negotiate with them. Also, Zhukov was more friendly than Stalin and willing to negotiate. Germany was kept intact, but like Japan was forced to demilitarize. France, Britain, US, and the Soviet Union divided it into occupation zones, but they would reunite it in 1955. The Nazis were tried for war crimes in Nuremberg and Germany lost the Saarland to France, East Prussia to the Soviet Union, and much of its east to Poland. The Baltic states remained independent while the Soviets did not gain much after the war. Czechoslovakia was split into a Czech republic, a Slovak republic, and a Sudeten republic for the Germans. Austria gained Southeastern Bavaria. The Yugoslav nation was split after horrific ethnic fighting during WW2. Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Macedonia, and Bosnia were created. A referendum was to be held in Kosovo, which in ITL had almost equal populations of Albanians and Serbs. where each district would choose whether to join Albania or Serbia. Greece, after a short war with Turkey in 1949, was given Turkey's territory in Europe, including Istanbul. Most of the Turks fled the land, with Greeks moving in and happily reclaiming their old capital. Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria did not gain anything, with the land the Soviets got in OTL forming a Ukranian republic and a Belorussian republic. The creation of all these new states reflects the prolonged war, causing the Allies to honor ethnic claims to prevent war from consuming Europe.
The Cold War would not be as vicious as it was in OTL. Crises would erupt, but both states wold keep their cool and stop the tension. But what contributed to internal tension in the United States was the influx of Jews after the war. 1.5 million Jews had died in WW2 as the Nazis decided not to systematically kill them. Most had been concentrated in places that saw relatively little bombing, minimizing the deaths there. However, anti-Semitism had been ingrained in the Red Army, despite Zhukov's efforts to eradicate it. Facing another round of persecution, millions of Jews in Eastern Europe fled to Western Europe along with other ones fleeing Communism. Zhukov, though not as bad as Stalin, had still set up Communist puppet states like in OTL and was still pretty dictatorial in these countries. The Western European nations, battered by the war, could not adequately provide for them. Even with Eisenhower Plan funds flowing to all of Europe, it would take years to recover from the prolonged war. The United States decided to take them in, resulting in an influx of 8 million Jews and 10 million other European refugees into the US by 1955. Immigration from Europe would continue at high levels as European countries struggled to recover, sending many poor immigrants into the US. Social tension would erupt with this influx, contributing to the Civil War.
In November 1949, Earl Warren was participating in a parade in California welcoming returning soldiers. Optimism was high as the war had finished. Public opinion of the refugees had not yet soured and the economy was growing by leaps and bounds. The Baby Boom was also beginning, with many young babies destined for what seemed at the time to be a bright future. The Soviets were not as feared, with Communism hysteria at low levels. Earl Warren pondered what could possibly go wrong. Suddenly, he heard a bang and felt a sharp pain in his chest. Blood seeped through his shirt and he felt dizzy. As he started losing consciousness, another shot rang. As the bullet
entered his head, blood started dripping down his face and covered it. His life was eradicated by the indifferent bullet, not caring what kind of man he was As he hit the ground with a thud, no one would know just what the Governor would have done. Without him, civil rights was doomed from the start and the nation was set on a path ending in civil war. His assassin was Louis Till, father of one Emmett Till. In OTL, he had killed a women in Italy and was executed for this. In this timeline, he had become a Communist after contact with several British Communists. Once he returned home, he felt like killing someone and chose Earl Warren. The murder of Earl Warren would lead to a Red Scare, but more importantly would lead to greater opposition to Civil Rights that would stymie it and lead to greater racial tension.
Nolan already had the first part of a story down. He had pinned down the beginning of the path that led to the civil war. His patience and determination would guide him down the rest of the path.
Hollywood was perhaps the least miserable place in America. The war never reached it despite being a base of the DSA at one point, and it still churned out movies. The answer came from a director named Christopher Nolan. After the success of Inception in 2004, Nolan sought to do a film about the war. But even Hollywood suffered commercial disruption, causing his script to languish in development hell. In the meantime, Nolan produced the Prestige and 3 Batman films, but none of them truly motivated him. With the war over, Nolan decided to make a new script. He realized, after Dark Knight Rises' mediocre reception, that people did not want psychological thrillers. Many had seen their homes destroyed, their relatives murdered, and even their towns reduced to rubble. They simply wanted entertainment. Feeling disappointed yet determined, Nolan decided to make a documentary analyzing the war and why it happened. To do that, he needed to study the turbulent American politics of the later 20th century and find a cause for all this. His choice, the Wannsee Conference of 1942.
The Wannsee Conference was much different. At the conference, Himmler and Goring debated about what to do with the Jews. While the plan to exterminate all of them was appealing, Germany faced a war with the Soviets, British, and Americans. Although Himmler was fanatic about murdering them, he realized Germany needed all of its resources now that America had joined the war. For this reason, he suggested to Hitler to postpone all their plans once Germany won the war. Hitler actually agreed, knowing America was the biggest threat to his power. Killings of Jews died down as resources were diverted into the war effort. Germany was able to last longer. The Germans even try an invasion of Britain, called Operation Sealion. It fails miserably.
Moscow itself fell and Stalin dies, replaced with Zhukov. The Soviet Union fought the Germans to a draw until 1945, when they started pushing west. The Allies did not conquer North Africa until 1944, and conquered half of Italy by 1946. A landing at Calais took place on November 1946, as Normandy was heavily guarded in anticipation of an Allied attack. Even though it was successful, the Germans are still able to stall the Allies. The Germans fighter jet technology enables them to continue fighting and also delays an Allied victory. The Pacific War ends with a Japanese defeat by invasion in 1948. By the end of 1948 the Allies conquer France, but they still see significant resistance in Germany. The Manhattan Project is delayed until late 1948 as resources are diverted to fight a stronger Germany, with 4 functional bombs by the beginning of 1949. The Russians reach the border of Germany by this time, determined to end the war. They also accelerated their nuclear program, having a bomb by late 1948. The Allies agreed to nuke German cities and gave the Soviets the first shot. In February 1949, the Soviets nuke Stettin and the Allies nuke Frankfurt. Altogether, 300000 people die in the war. Hitler is undaunted and refuses to give up. Some generals kill him in a coup and then a mini civil war erupts in Germany. In the chaos, the Allies quickly capture Berlin and put an end to the chaos. The last faction of Germans surrenders on April 4,1949, bringing WW2 to a close.
The Soviets and the Americans all had a relatively smooth negotiation President Truman, who took power after FDR died in 1946, had been forced to work with the Soviets and was able to negotiate with them. Also, Zhukov was more friendly than Stalin and willing to negotiate. Germany was kept intact, but like Japan was forced to demilitarize. France, Britain, US, and the Soviet Union divided it into occupation zones, but they would reunite it in 1955. The Nazis were tried for war crimes in Nuremberg and Germany lost the Saarland to France, East Prussia to the Soviet Union, and much of its east to Poland. The Baltic states remained independent while the Soviets did not gain much after the war. Czechoslovakia was split into a Czech republic, a Slovak republic, and a Sudeten republic for the Germans. Austria gained Southeastern Bavaria. The Yugoslav nation was split after horrific ethnic fighting during WW2. Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Macedonia, and Bosnia were created. A referendum was to be held in Kosovo, which in ITL had almost equal populations of Albanians and Serbs. where each district would choose whether to join Albania or Serbia. Greece, after a short war with Turkey in 1949, was given Turkey's territory in Europe, including Istanbul. Most of the Turks fled the land, with Greeks moving in and happily reclaiming their old capital. Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria did not gain anything, with the land the Soviets got in OTL forming a Ukranian republic and a Belorussian republic. The creation of all these new states reflects the prolonged war, causing the Allies to honor ethnic claims to prevent war from consuming Europe.
The Cold War would not be as vicious as it was in OTL. Crises would erupt, but both states wold keep their cool and stop the tension. But what contributed to internal tension in the United States was the influx of Jews after the war. 1.5 million Jews had died in WW2 as the Nazis decided not to systematically kill them. Most had been concentrated in places that saw relatively little bombing, minimizing the deaths there. However, anti-Semitism had been ingrained in the Red Army, despite Zhukov's efforts to eradicate it. Facing another round of persecution, millions of Jews in Eastern Europe fled to Western Europe along with other ones fleeing Communism. Zhukov, though not as bad as Stalin, had still set up Communist puppet states like in OTL and was still pretty dictatorial in these countries. The Western European nations, battered by the war, could not adequately provide for them. Even with Eisenhower Plan funds flowing to all of Europe, it would take years to recover from the prolonged war. The United States decided to take them in, resulting in an influx of 8 million Jews and 10 million other European refugees into the US by 1955. Immigration from Europe would continue at high levels as European countries struggled to recover, sending many poor immigrants into the US. Social tension would erupt with this influx, contributing to the Civil War.
In November 1949, Earl Warren was participating in a parade in California welcoming returning soldiers. Optimism was high as the war had finished. Public opinion of the refugees had not yet soured and the economy was growing by leaps and bounds. The Baby Boom was also beginning, with many young babies destined for what seemed at the time to be a bright future. The Soviets were not as feared, with Communism hysteria at low levels. Earl Warren pondered what could possibly go wrong. Suddenly, he heard a bang and felt a sharp pain in his chest. Blood seeped through his shirt and he felt dizzy. As he started losing consciousness, another shot rang. As the bullet
entered his head, blood started dripping down his face and covered it. His life was eradicated by the indifferent bullet, not caring what kind of man he was As he hit the ground with a thud, no one would know just what the Governor would have done. Without him, civil rights was doomed from the start and the nation was set on a path ending in civil war. His assassin was Louis Till, father of one Emmett Till. In OTL, he had killed a women in Italy and was executed for this. In this timeline, he had become a Communist after contact with several British Communists. Once he returned home, he felt like killing someone and chose Earl Warren. The murder of Earl Warren would lead to a Red Scare, but more importantly would lead to greater opposition to Civil Rights that would stymie it and lead to greater racial tension.
Nolan already had the first part of a story down. He had pinned down the beginning of the path that led to the civil war. His patience and determination would guide him down the rest of the path.
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