Kruschev Is Killed At Stallingrad.

It's very unlikely Beria would survive a post-Stalin world. Everyone with the power to eliminate him wanted him dead and gone. Period.

And yet, playing with it... Is there a way he could be rendered... 'usefull' to someone, for a while at least? a way he could be 'indispensable'?

Anyone 'weak' to him, or such?
 
And yet, playing with it... Is there a way he could be rendered... 'usefull' to someone, for a while at least? a way he could be 'indispensable'?

Anyone 'weak' to him, or such?

Nope. He was seen as a mad dog who needed to be put down. He wasn't trusted at all by the military or his fellows in the government and was disliked by many for his liberal policies along with the terror his organization had instilled in many. He terrorized people for well over a decade, and wasn't going to be left alive to do it again once people got the chance to eliminate him. The best he would get is imprisonment and a forced resignation from politics.
 
It's very unlikely Beria would survive a post-Stalin world. Everyone with the power to eliminate him wanted him dead and gone. Period.

Agreed, he has to be in a situation where he has a chance to outmaneuver and outfight the huge amount of people that want him gone, the early years of a Beria leadership over the USSR would probably involve a major purge.
 
Agreed, he has to be in a situation where he has a chance to outmaneuver and outfight the huge amount of people that want him gone, the early years of a Beria leadership over the USSR would probably involve a major purge.

He would literally have to purge the entire military and communist party to achieve that, which the NKVD could never do.
 
He would literally have to purge the entire military and communist party to achieve that, which the NKVD could never do.

No he doesn't, the military isn't much in the way of a political force, it has been extensively seen to that it will be subordinate to the civilian government at this point in time and is thus a secondary concern.

As for the party, he has to purge some of the bigwigs and the most important figures in the party, the party is not some sort of autonomous hivemind, it can be cowed and made to fear a leader it cannot overthrow, Stalin did it, and Beria was the instrument of its implementation, he has the know-how and most likely the will.
 
In all likelihood either Molotov or Malenkov succeed Stalin. Beria living long past Stalin's death is extremely unlikely, to put it mildly.
 
No he doesn't, the military isn't much in the way of a political force, it has been extensively seen to that it will be subordinate to the civilian government at this point in time and is thus a secondary concern.

As for the party, he has to purge some of the bigwigs and the most important figures in the party, the party is not some sort of autonomous hivemind, it can be cowed and made to fear a leader it cannot overthrow, Stalin did it, and Beria was the instrument of its implementation, he has the know-how and most likely the will.

That is incorrect. The military was a key factor in the elimination of Beria, and in the power struggle following Stalin's death. Zhukov is the de facto head of the military and would never accept Beria in power. Hell, few generals would, since Beria terrorized them constantly.
 
That is incorrect. The military was a key factor in the elimination of Beria, and in the power struggle following Stalin's death. Zhukov is the de facto head of the military and would never accept Beria in power. Hell, few generals would, since Beria terrorized them constantly.

This is assuming a PoD somewhere around the one from the OP (i.e. around Stalingrad) during which Zhukov was that one dude at Khalkin Gol.
 
This is assuming a PoD somewhere around the one from the OP (i.e. around Stalingrad) during which Zhukov was that one dude at Khalkin Gol.

Erm, what? Zhukov was almost guaranteed to be a major figure in the army after Khalkin Gol brought him to everyone's attention. Stalin respected him persoannly and viewed him as a "real soldier" and he was able to get results. His determination and brutal commitment to victory made him someone Stalin could rely on to do what had to be done. Even if Zhukov isn't around for some contrived reason, there are hundreds of commanders who could have arisen (Vasilevsky, Konev, or Antonov is Vasilevsky is too mild mannered) and would have all agreed that Beria could not be left alive to take power.
 
Erm, what? Zhukov was almost guaranteed to be a major figure in the army after Khalkin Gol brought him to everyone's attention. Stalin respected him persoannly and viewed him as a "real soldier" and he was able to get results. His determination and brutal commitment to victory made him someone Stalin could rely on to do what had to be done. Even if Zhukov isn't around for some contrived reason, there are hundreds of commanders who could have arisen (Vasilevsky, Konev, or Antonov is Vasilevsky is too mild mannered) and would have all agreed that Beria could not be left alive to take power.

Yes, and who but Zhukov around the time of Stalin's death (leaving him, Molotov, Khruschev, and Malenkov as the mainstays in the civilian government) could have assumed that kind of power? These men were all loyal Bolsheviks who were in favor of the military's subordination to the civilian government.

Beria vs. Molotov or some sort of Troika is an entirely different scenario, but at this point in time it's one that the military is going to play a secondary role in, if it were an all-out grab for the top spot, Beria would be able to get rid of troublesome challengers from the military before they did the same to him.
 
Yes, and who but Zhukov around the time of Stalin's death (leaving him, Molotov, Khruschev, and Malenkov as the mainstays in the civilian government) could have assumed that kind of power? These men were all loyal Bolsheviks who were in favor of the military's subordination to the civilian government.

Beria vs. Molotov or some sort of Troika is an entirely different scenario, but at this point in time it's one that the military is going to play a secondary role in, if it were an all-out grab for the top spot, Beria would be able to get rid of troublesome challengers from the military before they did the same to him.

Without Zhukov any of the men I listed would have been just as likely to do what Zhukov did. "Loyal Bolsheviks" is quite the misonomer; most of the commanders of the Red Army were quite factionalist and without a doubt would have gotten rid of Beria. As I've said before, the entire Red Army's higher ranks would collectively leap at the chance to eliminate Beria quickly and restore the military to a more even position with the state and intelligence bureau as it was before the purges and was, to many, supposed to be after WW2 ended.

If we do conclude the men were all "loyal Bolsheviks" then they undoubtasbly would have eliminated Beria anyways, or at least supported others in eliminating him, as Beria in the vast majority of respects the antithesis of many core principles of Bolshevism along with being a murderous nutjob who everyone knows will gladly kill them all to secure his position.
 
Without Zhukov any of the men I listed would have been just as likely to do what Zhukov did. "Loyal Bolsheviks" is quite the misonomer; most of the commanders of the Red Army were quite factionalist and without a doubt would have gotten rid of Beria. As I've said before, the entire Red Army's higher ranks would collectively leap at the chance to eliminate Beria quickly and restore the military to a more even position with the state and intelligence bureau as it was before the purges and was, to many, supposed to be after WW2 ended.

If we do conclude the men were all "loyal Bolsheviks" then they undoubtasbly would have eliminated Beria anyways, or at least supported others in eliminating him, as Beria in the vast majority of respects the antithesis of many core principles of Bolshevism along with being a murderous nutjob who everyone knows will gladly kill them all to secure his position.

I agree that Beria would absolutely have been disliked by higher-ups in the Red Army, the only issue is that he is completely and entirely in charge of the intelligence service that can quietly take out the ones who oppose him most, he doesn't have to make the military like him, he has to make the military fear for their lives if they resist him, they've already been broken under the yoke for the most part by Stalin's actions.
 
Answering the OP, Beria would be banged up by everyone else and purged like OTL, Malenkov would briefly be at the top, but he would be outmaneuvered by Molotov, not Big K. Molotov rules until 1986 :eek:
 
Answering the OP, Beria would be banged up by everyone else and purged like OTL, Malenkov would briefly be at the top, but he would be outmaneuvered by Molotov, not Big K. Molotov rules until 1986 :eek:

Ah Vyacheslav Molotov, the unrepentant Old Guard Stalinist, the idea of helping someone like Imre Nagy or Alexander Dubcek to resist Soviet rule would be even more unthinkable to Western leaders than before.
 
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