Hrvatskiwi's Reverse Cold War

Hi Y'all Comrades,
I was recently reading Megaman's reverse cold war and it made me want to make my own. I felt that it was too analogous to OTL, but I thought it was a good idea, so here's my timeline. I did have a version on the ASB thread, but apparently it's not really ASB, so I've moved it here.
 
1950

In this timeline, it is 1950 and the Cold War is just starting to heat up. In Europe, the United Soviet American Republic (USAR) has installed puppet regimes in Western Europe. The governments of those nations have fled either to Russia or to the colonies. The Belgian government relocated to Kinshasha, the French to Hanoi, the British to Delhi and the Dutch to Jakarta.

in North Africa, the Americans set up the Arab Republic, in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and the Sudan. In the Levant, Israel was established, with the Labour party in power, although this has caused some tension with the Arab republic. The Hashemites are in power in Iraq and Jordan. Syria and Lebanon are part of the republic of Syria.

In Asia, the Russians intervened in the Chinese Civil War in 1947. With this help, the Koumintang won and Mao's communists fled to Japan, under American occupation.

Both superpowers possess atomic weapons.

On the map, Bright red is the USAR, dark red is allied to the USAR. Bright blue is Russia, dark blue is allied to the RF(Russian Federation). Turqoise is democratic or right-wing authoritarian. Orange is independent communist states.

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THE BACK-STORY

The POD is the October revolution. Alexander Kerensky's provisional government crushes the Bolsheviks in St. Petersburg. The government moves it's seat to Moscow. Kerensky adopts dictatorial powers. Kerensky reincorporated Finland, the Baltic States and the Caucasus into the Russian Federation. When WWII breaks out in Europe, Russia stayed neutral, until they were invaded in August 1940. They had to retreat at first, but by late November there was a relative stalemate, only broken in June 1943 by a Russian offensive, which gradually rolled back the Nazis and liberated much of Eastern and Central Europe, Even pushing into Northern Italy. They met up with Americommunist forces and Germany surrendered after the victorious battle of Lubeck.

In Britain, before the onset of WWII, the British Union of Fascists, led by Oswald Mosley, with the support of the aristocracy, especially King George VI, formed a new government, friendly to Germany, joining the Axis when France was invaded, occupying Brittany.

In America, during the Great Depression, 1931 to be specific, the communists were gaining a major following among the proletariat of teh East Coast and Detroit. Although failing to win elections and important positions of power, major uprisings in the East Coast cities, including New York and Washington D.C. turned into a coup, and President Herbert Hoover, losing confidence for his ability to alleviate the economic crisis, and unwilling to send the troops to open fire on his own people, gave CPUSA leader Alfred Wagenknecht the chance to create a new government, with himself at the head. The communists nationalised large corporations, whilst maintaining very close relations with revolutionary Mexico, which was successful due to American support. to hunt down fleeing American capitalists, communist forces invaded Haiti, the Dominican republic and overthrew the Batista regime in Cuba. When WWII arrived, they stayed neutral until Japan decided to attack the Philippines, ruled by a puppet communist regime. The Americans invaded Axis ally Canada, annexing it. Then they attacked North Africa. After some preparations, they invaded Britain from bases in Iceland. After encountering some harsh resistance, the Americommunists won. Whilst preparing for an invasion of France, they further built up industrial capacity and increased subversion in Latin America, with communists fighting a guerrilla war in Brazil against the military dictatorship. When they were ready they invaded France, landing on the Pas de Calais. They took over France, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium, incorporating the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg into Belgium. The Germans, weakened by fighting in the East, were defeated relatively easily. The Americans used forces in North Africa to invade Sicily and Southern Italy. They then turned their attention to Japan, occupying Korea and Japan, although the Russian operation September Storm took Manchuria, which was transferred to Kuomintang control.

Both America and Russia installed puppet regimes in their conquests. Italy, Germany, Japan and Korea are still under occupation from their conquerors.

Note the Southern dominions were not loyal to Britain, and remain regional powers.
 
1952

The superpowers continued to fund movements in the other's sphere of influence to a small degree, but still focused on Europe. Iberia was an anomaly in post-war Europe. Portugal and Spain were still dominated by Fascists. Although they tended to get some aid from the Russians, they were not particularly well-liked by either bloc. The Americans used border incidents in the Pyrenees and the presence of Nazi fugitives in Spain as well as extrappolations of Spanish crimes against Basques and a lack of opportunities for Catalans as an excuse for a full-scale cross-Pyrenees invasion. They swept away Spanish resistance very quickly, although the Fascists had a somewhat successful counterattack South of Barcelona, but failed to retake the city. After the occupation, there was some guerrilla resistance from Falangists in Galicia, but the Spanish communists put in power wholheartedly agreed with the American decision to give independence to Catalans and Spanish Basques. Thus the nations of Catalonia and Euskadi were born. A lack of true communists in these countries meant the leadership were radical leftists, but they had to follow certain guidelines dictated by the Americans. In Spain itself, Dolores Ibárruri became the new leader of Spain. In Italy, on 12 August, the Russians established a puppet regime in the North of the country, with two capitals, an Administrative capital in Milan and a Legislative capital in Rome. The monarch was left as head of state to keep public support. He lived in Rome. The party in power is the Democrazia Cristiana. The political system is democratic, but, in a controversial move, the communist party was banned in October, leading to many communists joining the Socialist Party, and the hardliners operating underground.

The Russians couldn't do much for the Spaniards, but reinforced the Portuguese with aid. Allied Free French forces moved into the Spanish colonial possessions to deny them to the Americans.

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1953

In the Western Hemisphere, pro-US communist regimes have come to power in El Salvador and Panama, promising to bring the peasants into the 20th century and redistribute their wealth. Colombia, the military government moved towards the Russians, seeing the new American political presence in as dangerous t their security. Tensions between the superpowers increased. Colombia would cause more consternation in the future. Meanwhile, a similar revolution occured in Bolivia. But this revolution was financed clandestinely by Yugoslavia, after top revolutionaries, including leader of the revolution Jose Barrios 'Bolivar' met with Tito and Milovan Đilas. They were impressed by his revolutionary zeal, but considered him a bit naive. The Yugoslavs sent the Bolivians old WWII German weaponry which had been abandoned. The revolutionaries overthrew the presidency of Victor Paz Estenssoro. The Americans had priorities elsewhere, and while concerned about the pro-Titoist revolution in Bolivia, they didn't want to do anything.

The reason for this was that their was not very good relations between Tito and Wagenknecht. Tito's independent policy didn't go down well with Wagenknecht. In November, underground Ustashe. These 'Crusaders' as they called themselves became embroiled in an insurgency. Having been former guerrillas themselves, the communists knew how to deal with the 'Crusaders'. Although they had a little success early on, their work was being undone very quickly. By December 17, there were only 650 crusaders left.

In Africa, the exiled allied forces were still in control of Sub-Saharan Africa, but they were thinly stretched. In Madagascar, nationalists started an uprising in the Centre and the East. Although they were mainly concerned with becoming independent, ideologically they naturally aligned with the West, due to the anti-colonialist doctrine of the communists. The Americans supplied them with a small number of advisors and a significant amount of small arms, including 1,600 M14 rifles and 80,000 rounds of ammunition.

In Persia, Russia began supporting more heavily the Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammed Mosaddegh, a relatively liberal reformer, due to heavy Russian investment in British Petroleum operations in Iran (BP was still run by exiled British investors). A treaty of friendship was signed in June, and in September, Persia, Russia, and the British signed the Middle East Collective Security Charter (MECSC), which stated that any aggression on one would be considered an attack on all.

In Israel, the Labour party was ousted from power in the elections and was replaced by a conservative, isolationist government, which moved away from the Russians.

The Hashemite monarch of Jordan, Abdullah I, was assassinated on 18 March by a pro-Arab Republic socialist. The Jordanian king had stated in his will that if he died, his kingdom should go to his beloved brother, King Faisal II. As Faisal was only 16, his uncle and regent, 'Abd al-Ilah, formed the Arab Union, with Faisal as king, but with him controlling the country. He also cracked down on socialists and sympathisers of the Arab Republic, increasing tension with the Arab Republic.

Indonesia was in turmoil, also. The Dutch had to deal with a large Javan rebellion. Although the Dutch killed many more Indonesians than they were killed, the numbers started to tell, despite superior equipment. The Australian public became sympathetic to the Indonesians on their northern border, but the government was concerned at the dominant position of Marxist-Leninists in the leadership of the nationalist organisations. The British were also reluctant to intervene. In Northern Sumatra, Aceh nationalists revolted, but they were led by radical Muslim Imams, rather than socialists.
 
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1954

In 1954, the Indonesian War of Independence continued, pushing the Dutch forces out of all the major Islands except for Borneo, with the Dutch administering the island from Banjarmasin. The Dutch have employed emergency controls, allowing arbitrary action against any citizens. The oppressive rule of the Dutch in Borneo has caused widespread discontent, with many locals quietly waiting for their liberation by rebel forces. The Aceh rebels have also established a de facto state in Northern Sumatra, ruled with strict Shar'ia law. Despite open enmity between the revolutionaries and the imams, the two have only had a few border skirmishes, with the two understanding that the Dutch are their main enemies. The Dutch have tried to no avail to play them off against each other. The Dutch asked for Russian support but the Russians have prioritised the stability of Afghanistan, which, whilst having cordial relations under an autocratic, yet until now stable regime, is starting to break apart due to clan and ethnic rivalries and religious extremism. The largely Orthodox Russian leadership fear that the Afghan Imams will incite Jihad in Central Asia. Already, Islamist insurgents control much of the central countryside. Marxists have taken a few enclaves, but are unlikely to have any major successes, cut off from any possible support by Islamist forces and pro-Russian 'progressionists' in the North, who receive funding from the Bezopasnost' Rodiny i Centr Svedenij (or BRCS, Motherland Security and Intelligence Centre). They also receive arms, including the brand-new Kazackij (Cossack) assault rifle, with superior accuracy, ammo capacity and reliability to the American M14 rifles. Oman and the Saudis are becoming increasingly radical and antagonistic, Saudi Wahhabism clashing with radicalised Shi'a teachings.

In Israel, the conservative government have been confiscating land off of Palestinians, and on some occasions, Jewish terrorists have massacred Arab villages, such as Muqeibila. With only token action from Israeli authorities. The Arab Republic has denounced them and are taking preparations for an invasion of Israel. The Arab Union, whilst not supporting Israeli actions, are suspicious of the Republic's power. They are entering secret negotiations with the Zionists. The Saudis are also anti-Israeli, and support fundamentalist factions in the Palestinian movement.

In Africa, the Madagascan revolt has been successful. The new communist government has murdered the Merina king, considering him a traitor to the Malagasy people. Madagascar has been declared the Malagasy People's Republic (MPR). Russian intelligence reports that the Americans have already got a naval presence in Toamasina, the MPR's chief port. After revolts in Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, the local British authorities have invited in independent Rhodesian forces, dominated by a white-only government. The tough and ruthless Rhodesian army used brutal terror tactics to suppress the rebellion. They then declared the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, which also included Botswana. The British government-in-exile accepted this, as their forces were being overstretched and at least the territories were taken by a friendly regime. But many of the fleeing rebels, who had formed the African National Congress and it's paramilitary arm, the Black Liberation Impis, named after the famed Zulu soldiers who defeated the British at Isandlwana, fled to Portuguese Mozambique, finding refuge with an underground revolution in it's infancy, led by FRELIMO, the Liberation Front of Mozambique and it's leader Samora Machel. These Marxist rebels started collecting arms and organising themselves in the jungle.

In South America, the Colombians and the Russians have been increasing ties. They both signed a treaty of friendship, the Bogota treaty. The Colombians have also leased two Colombian ports, one on the Pacific side and one in the Caribbean. This has caused an outrage in American political circles, who have seen it as a direct threat, and have been shadowing Russian ships.

NOTE: The green on the map are Islamists.

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1955: The Afghan civil war is over. The Islamists and the Progressionists have made peace with an uneasy truce. The Islamists, with their power base amongst the Pashtun people, the most populous in Afghanistan, have set up the Jomhūrī-ye Eslāmī-ye Pashtunistan, or the Islamic Republic of Pashtunistan. Their oppressive regime, which uses particularly strict Shari'a law, is far more stable than the old Afghan government, lacking ethnic separatist groups of Kyrghyz, Tajik, Turkmen, and other groups whose homelands lay inside Russia. Russia annexed these areas to their autonomous Central Asian republics. The Progressionists set up two small states in the centre of Afghanistan: Aimakistan and Hazarastan. Due to the weakness of the two states, these areas (while independent in name) are essentially autonomous republics in Russia.

In Mozambique, the rebels rose up in February, originally in the North-West, near the border with Rhodesia-Nyasaland. They initially experienced rapid success, but the Portuguese government has cracked down hard, and it's turning into a prolonged guerrilla war. Meanwhile, due to Portugal's focus on Mozambique, nationalists in Cabinda have established a socialist state. America has proclaimed support for the Cabindan government, warning the Portuguese against attacking such a small country. Although Russia, it's Eastern European allies, America and America's Western European allies have recognised Cabinda, the European governments-in-exile have not.

In Indonesia, the Borneans have rebelled against repressive Dutch rule and overthrown the Dutch administration. Their leaders pledged allegiance to the leaders of the Javan rebellion. The Russians sent royal marines to evacuate the Dutch royal family, now living in St. Petersburg. The Americans have made a deal with the Indonesians to make a base on Riau Island, near Malaysia. The Indonesian communists are now focusing on consolidating power, and have enacted purges of non-communists from the nationalist cause.

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1956

In Portuguese Africa, Portugal has lost control of Guinea-Bissau to local Marxists, as the Portuguese Army has been bled by the Mozambique rebel movement. The Angolans have also taken advantage of the weakness of the Portuguese to revolt. The Angolan rebel forces have also revolted, taking countrol of the entire countryside between June and September, leaving the Portuguese with only a strip of land along the coast. Sensing an opportunity, the Americans have been sending arms, ammunition and money to the rebels. The Russians also considered taking such action, but the Russian dictator decided that Portugal was too valuable an ally, as an island of capitalism in Western Europe. The British occupation forces, having noticed a rise in the tide of nationalism in Somalia, have given the Somalis independence, in March. The Somalis immediately annexed Djibouti as well. The French were displeased, but could not have taken any action without British agreement. In October, Siad Barre took control of Somalia, instituting socialist reforms.

In Belgium, Wallonian students have been protesting in Brussels, complaining particularly about censorship in regards to foreign media and literature. The Communist Belgian government has cracked down on the students, and their shootings of the unarmed students has lead to a widespread revolt against the iron-fisted rule of the dictator, Ernest Burnelle. To stop the collapse of the government of Belgium from collapsing at the hands of rebels, mysteriously armed with Cossack rifles, the American government has sent in the Revolutionary Marines, which have crushed all resistance. But to keep dissent at the minimum, the Americans have divided the nation into Flanders and Wallonia.

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None of this really strikes me as plausible, nor strictly alternate history. What it is seems to me to be a series of events revolving around a concept and maps, which considering the times you're writing about, don't really make sense. Exactly why this is happening seems to emanate from the absence of butterflies in your scenario. For example:

So far, this makes sense (to some degree.) But then you jump twenty years ahead:

Now, this leads me to wonder what has exactly happened within Russia during the interim two decades to permit WWII actually happening. Why are the Russians invaded in August 1940 by the Germans? What has happened inside Germany to make me believe that they'd go around and invade their massive eastern neighbour? If Germany is led by the Nazis, why am I to suppose the POD led directly or indirectly to the invasion occuring?

Well, it was just a short backstory, and I'd rather not go into ridiculously high detail about Russian politics. The only thing that you really need to know is that there were no purges of the Russian military. The Germans are still invading Russia because A) they have shown some support for the French and German spies have discovered plans to mobilise the Russian army. The German general staff decided to plan a pre-emptive attack B) Hitler's hatred for the Slavs means he has fully thrown his support behind an attack on Russia (remember just because Russia isn't communist, doesn't mean he likes it).

Again, why has Fascism suddenly become popular in the UK? And, if the British are at war with France...why have we occupied Brittany? What does the UK gain from that?

That one was a little bit of a stretch, but it's not so much that Fascism has become popular amongst the populace of the UK, but the British leadership were very disturbed by the communist takeover of the world's largest industrial power. They became very interested in quasi-Fascism, which is why the king asked Mosley to make another government, especially after they saw Chamberlain's weakness, but they still didn't want war with Germany. Chamberlain's government fled to the colonies, and claim to be the legitimate, elected government.

They attacked Brittany in support of the German invasion of France. They don't really gain much, but the Aristocracy supported the idea, due to Brittany's historic ties with Britain.

If the Communists do not have a popular mandate- indicated by their inability to win elections, assuming they're not doctored- why are they able to sustain a successful coup d'etat? Why does Communism even have a mass following in the United States when it has patently failed to achieve anything since 1920 in Russia, or anywhere for that matter? And why is Herbert Hoover POTUS when you have a point of divergence at the end of the First World War? Why does the Great Depression still even happen in roughly the same time period?

They are able to establish a successful coup d' etat because Herbert Hver is unwilling to have a civil war. He failed in his projects to revive the economy after the depression, and is starting to wonder whether communism would work in America. Some states were considering secession, but did not since Hoover gave control of all political institutions (including the army) to the Communists. I don't see how communism failing in Russia means it has just died. Why wouldn't the Depression occur in the same time period? And I'm not sure what POTUS means:confused::p.

Why is a Second World War occuring on exactly the same tactical model as its counterpart in our timeline?

Because, good tactics and strategy aren't any difference whether you're capitalist, communist, fascist etc. And there were significant differences, such as the failure of Germany to go anywhere near as far as they went against Russia OTL. The Americans still attacked Italy, France etc. Because that is the easiest way to defeat the Nazis. And the Japanese still had the same difficulties with the communists as they did with America OTL. I'm not trying to make this timeline analogous to ours, but I'm trying to make it realistic. There are definitely some similarities, and differences.

And pretty much again...

However, there does seem to be hope in the way you've portrayed the internal politics of certain nations. For example:

Although there's little detail, you've painted (with a very broad brush) the post-independence dilemma Indonesia found herself facing in our timeline. With Afghanistan too, you achieve roughly the same measure of plausibility. Nevertheless, I highly doubt that dilemma I described with regards to Indonesia would occur in the same way with a POD in 1918.

I apologise that I've painted with a bit of a broad brush, but I was trying not to have a timeline which is ultra-detailed, to the point where it is just making stuff up entirely, with no logic, as there is no way we could predict that much. It IS all hypothetical. Thanks for that limited compliment, but I'm curious as to how you think that the Indonesian rebellion would occur differently. I know that the European powers will want to hold onto their colonies far harder, and we will see evidence of that soon.

In all, what I see with this are multiple portrayals of postwar situations that occured in our timeline that remain unconnected in any logical way, through cause and effect, to the POD itself. Until you amend that, this should remain in ASB.

Thanks Simon, and I acknowledge to a certain extent what you are trying to say, although I don't necessarily agree. There are many differences from our postwar situations, and not every event has to be connected to the POD. I'd rather just get on with the timeline, rather than explain the cause and effect of everything. I personally don't feel it is ASB, although I have been a little stuck on the decolonisation question. Because of the lack of a UN in this timeline, many issues in the timeline are regional, so arent directly connected to each other. Thanks for your interest though, and I appreciate your POV. Please note this is my first real timeline and I'm not exactly a master yet :).
 
Who on earth is Simon?

Just a little joke, referencing Simon Cowell:p

Have you heard of something called the Butterfly Effect? Because it's something that successful and widely-read timelines on the Board utilise to accord them a logical base.

Of course I have.

The problem is, unless a country or region is so isolated from the state in which the 'Point of Departure' occurs, it is bound to be affected by the Point of Departure. Why? Because of a logical progression of cause to effect.

For example: let us suppose that in one alternate universe, Duke William of Normandy is killed at the Battle of Hastings. In the immediate timeframe, King Harold II of England has thus successfully defended his country from invasion and prevented it from being forcibly dragged into the Continental socio-cultural-economic sphere. A host of English kings- William II, Henry I, Henry II- are never born, because their ancestor has just been whacked clean over the head on Senlac field, and thus their accomplishments, or at least not in the same form in which they were propogated, disappear, or as we like to say on AH.com, are 'butterflied away.' And with that, the effects of their kingships toward wider Europe are also 'butterflied away,' because they never existed. Thus, events in England's neighbours- Ireland, Flanders, France etc- will appear altered from how they occured in our universe. And because the events in those countries are altered, the effects of the initial POD will have wider and wider knock-on effects, like a chain of dominoes if you will. Eventually, the wider effects of the initial change- William getting killed at Hastings- will be too wide for historians to impartially judge, which is where speculative writers like you and myself step in and construct a fictional timeline, which follows the same logical rules as the historian promotes, but in nice and snazzy ways to compell your readership to...well, read on.

Yet, in this scenario which I laid out above, there are chances that the knock-on effects of the POD will not hit them for years, decades, maybe centuries. Think of the Incas. They have not heard of Duke William; they are in no way affected by his existence. In our timeline, they won't have contact with anyone European (or Asian) for centuries. You could argue that their futures will be changed by the climactic effects of the point of departure- people living different lives = things are a bit rearranged on the ground = different cloud patterns- but I don't usually go for that because that's really hard to measure. But even so, that is still a very valid argument for longterm change.

The problem with your point of departure- Kerensky emerges supreme over Lenin immediately after the end of WWI- is that it occurs in a world where such barriers, limiting the effects of a POD, are as near to non-existent as you can get. Although thanks to the First World War, the globalisation of the turn of the century had been ratcheted back a few notches, this was still a world where nations, including the Soviet Union, interacted with each other not only on a diplomatic level, but on a financial, military and cultural level too. The ripples are thus going to be immense.

Yes they are. One of the major things that make it hard to get it as high-quality as you want is that it is almost impossible to pinpoint with much detail what will occur.

The first thing that occurs to me is that you've butterflied away the existence of the USSR. A platform for the propagation of international Communism on the Asian continent will now not exist. The knock-on effects of this will not only be felt in the interior of Russia, but across both the Asian and European landmasses. Poland is likely not to be invaded in the same way as it was by the Soviet Union; Pilsudski's ambition to break up the Russian Empire and great his own little mittelleuropa will not come into conflict with any Soviet aspiration to spread the revolution westwards, but instead a natural Russian desire to secure its own borders, and so in all probability it'll end up turning into a border conflict. In any case, war or no war, relations with Poland are going to be a little different than in our timeline. If a border war does happen, is Vilnius ever stolen from the Lithuanians by the Poles? Is the Curzon Line ever drawn? Are the Poles within this new Russia herded into autonomous districts, only to be dispersed and massacred during an analagous Great Purge? Does Felix Dzerzhinsky return to his homeland to lead the revolution there, or does he remain watched by the new states security apparatus?

Well, I think that it is still possible for an ideology to be crushed in a revolution but rise again. Constitutional Democracy would be one that did do that. And I DID try to use a VERY broad brush. That may not be to your taste, but I feel it covers relevant information.

And this isn't even mentioning the amount of lives saved in the Russian Empire. You have just butterflied away the Russian Civil War. So, are the 300,000 lives of the men killed in action saved? And if they are, where do they go; what do they do? Do the thousands of 'White Russians' flee their homeland to Berlin, to Paris, to New York, and if so, will Nabokov begin his literary journey thinking up ideas under Cambridge spires? Or do they look at Kerensky's regime and think, I can live with this, instead of looking back at a Leninist or a Stalinist regime in abject horror, as Igor Stravinsky did, as Marina Tsvetaeva did? Will the poems of Anna Akhmatova continue to influence the petty writing of thousands of confined Russian housemaids, or be suppressed by a brutal cultural nomenklatura? Will there be 7,000,000 street children by 1921 on Russian streets? Will 3,000,000 die of Typhus? Will Trotsky live, or Lenin die?

How on earth am I supposed to know whether 3,000,000 will die of Typhus? To be honest, I think the detail that is being asked here is a little OTT.

What about Germany. You say Hitler rises in your timeline. The very ideology of Nazism is likely to be altered by your POD, because there is an argument out there that suggests that the flood of White emigres fleeing the Russian Civil War to Berlin, and strains of anti-Semitism brought over by some of that group, buttressed and unified Nazi viewpoints on both the Jews and Communism. Reading this essay might help on exploring that topic. So, is Nazism more anti-Semitic ITTL, or less? And with no example of a Communist juggernaut in the East threatening European security, and only one far away on the North American continent by 1931, are the Nazis warnings of a Communist conspiracy taken as seriously as they are by the German electorate? Do Communist organisations invoke that much fear, or attract that many members?

I think that with a Communist America, the threat is still there. But it is not as direct a MILITARY threat, but an economic and societal threat. And I personally don't consider White Russian views on Jews to be as influential, but we all have our own opinions on history.

For that matter, does a Great Depression still occur circa 1930? Does the opening up of Russia to full-scale industrialisation, toward Capitalism instead of Communism, in any way affect the global economy? Will Russian grain, oil and coal compete with their Canadian, American and British variants, or remain within the borders of the motherland? In fact, will Russia ever achieve the heights of production she did by 1956- able to export 3.5 million tons of grain annually- by not collectivising? Does the Holomodor happen?

Now here is something I think is a valid point. I have ignored the Russian economy and the potential effects of a State Capitalist Russia. I have fleetingly mentioned Russian investment in Persia etc., but I haven't really said much about it otherwise. I ask you a question here because I'm not quite sure: 'Do you think that the Russians would have more or less waste economically from a non-Communist Russia?'

There are countless other questions I can ask in order to confirm the plausibility of what you have written. You could also argue that the butterfly theory is, in itself, flawed to some degree. You could argue that the same people present in our timeline as in theres will make the same decisions as they would have done, because it was in their nature when, confronted with the dilemmas they faced in their lives, they acted on the decision they made. However, through such massive ripples in time, you have not only altered the path of their own lives, but saved lives and killed others who would have affected the course of the decisions and actions made by the same people who appear in our own timeline. Millions of lives unextinguished, interacting with others to work toward a different world.

I just feel that alternate history, by it's nature, is largely theoretical, so we can't possibly know much about the possible, PLAUSIBLE effects of minor historical figures, especially as, even if we have a name, it is difficult to find information about such minor figures to make an educated guess on the effects.

What you could produce with such a point of divergence as you have chosen could be wonderful, a beautiful analysis on divergences in Russian culture, in European politics, in the course of science, architecture and economics; in short, a different 20th Century that, as the ripples become harder and harder to identify, could become a convincing analysis of what a world might look like without Soviet Communism. And you'd be able to do it, judging by your analyses of Afghanistan and Indonesia at certain points in their existences, and judging by the fact that I am by no means an expert on any of this, but have the wherewithal to provide posit questions with background evidence (I.e all the Wiki links). But you haven't. What you have done is linked islands of events that happened in our timeline through a concept- the swapping of Communism from Asia to North America- and maps, and because of that, I think plausibility in your scenario is lacking.

I don't know if I agree totally, and this is MY timeline. But I understand that your criticism is in essence constructive and that you are trying to improve the quality of this timeline. And the maps were just for illustrating clearly the situation, I fail to see whats really wrong with that. The idea of this timeline was to create an alternate cold war from a geo-political viewpoint, not social, architectural etc.
 
Reverse worlds strike again! Now I just have to find the bozo who started it all.... <glances around in a paranoid fashion>
 
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