And that's a wrap on Phase Two! It's been one heck of ride to get here, but hopefully it was a fun ride for you all. We'll get into Phase Three in a few months, but for now, I'm contemplating publishing what I got so far as a physical book to purchase, possibly with some new content thrown in here and there to justify charging any money. This is by no means a for certain thing and I'll have to look over the financial side of things if I do go forward with publishing, but for the time being, would a physical copy of Man-Made Hell be something anyone is potentially interested in?
Man-Made Hell: The History of the Great War and Beyond
- Thread starter ETGalaxy
- Start date
The war would be done in four phases, wouldn't it? The Third Internationale being much more cautious yet atrocious in its campaign due to their army being annihilated and Germany entering its Juche phase surely prolonged the war once again. Now, the Titans have revealed their true forms to become the savage beasts that they would really be.
With the War of Resources though, won't the Second Internationale and the Fascists find allies overseas to distract each other with the creation of other fronts? Italy could persuade the Former Entente to aide the Fascists in helping them gain decisive control over the rest of the Mediterranean against the Third Internationale. A socialist revolution could then be orchestrated in Turkey due to strategic need first and foremost, which would then cause the nascent anti-Communist alliance to persuade Japan in declaring war against the Soviets. The Soviets, seeing the risk, then contacted the Kuomintang and Indian governments in the South for an alliance against Japanese aggression before proceeding to restart the fronts with the Entente.
That's still without imploding the Americans with Pelley, a supposedly Fascist machination to decisively bring the war of resources to the anti-Internationale's side, of which from that point on, everyone would just implode unto itself.
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So the tail is now wagging the dog. At it seems their vision of the New Western Civilization is a boot stomping on a human face, forever. It seems that the Commonwealth Navy's focus on big things and inability to effectively adapt to anti-submarine warfare is what crippled them. At least they live to fight another day, though they're now even more vulnerable to the German navy.
That was a brutal outcome to the battle of Berlin. Russia's army is in tatters and in no position to counterattack, though at least some of the leadership survived. Meanwhile, Germany herself is depleted after 15 years of war and has little hope of a reconquest of the east. All the while, the Rhine has become an impenetrable barrier through which neither side can move. Well, at least this means France can relocate more of its rapidly-shrinking adult population to the factories.
On the map it seems the front lines of Hungary (well, the Translethania whatever ) haven't moved at all since last updates. It sounded like there was significant fighting against Croatia, were things really that static there?
I'm surprised Berlin is even habitable after all that fire and poison bombardment.
Oswald Mosley as the govenor of scotland? I can totally see him having troublesome sympathies for the fascist Heilsreich.
So the war between the CPs and the Entente formally ends. Does the latter include Belgium? Because there were hints way back of a German invasion of the Belgian Congo.
Building up Siberia makes sense, though there's the question of how much risk of Japanese intervention there is. Italy building up the colonies is believable, though likely to be very brutal given their fascism- perhaps similarly to OTL Manchukuo. Speaking of Italian colonies, any risk of Mussolini trying to invade Ethiopia while the chaos has everyone else distracted? That would also give their colonies a little more strategic depth than just those coastal slivers.
Actually, how come Italy didn't lose their East African holdings to the Entente after they started their war agaisnt France and broke African neutrality? Did the Treaty of Bizerte formally halt the Entente-Fascist war before the Commonwealth could strike?
With the fronts in Germany not moving much, it figures all sides would go for low-hanging fruit elsewhere. And given hints of an incoming American Civil War, you bet all sides will take interest there. Hmm, let me consider how the factions are off resource-wise.
Soviet bloc/ "Eastern commies" Pretty well off with huge tracts of land and manpower. However, much of it is insufficiently ndustrialized and lacking in connecting infrastructure. Pretty good as-is if it holds together and can be built up.
Syndies/ "Western commies": Very bad situation, scotland for Algeria is a mediocre trade at best, with their territory and population pretty small already. At least the ceasefire with the Entente means they no longer need to worry about all their merchant ships getting destroyed, though Germany will still cause them problems. I'm sure that when America falls apart they'll be VERY eager to get that on their side.
Entente: Overall in a solid position, though somewhat underindustrialized, and the uprisings in Africa are going to cause them problems for a while. They're at peace now though, so they can likely keep what they have.
Central Powers/Fascists: Bad situation, they've got Italy, most of Germany, and part of the balkans, and the latter is vulnurable. Italy only has a couple tiny colonies, and given the ceasefire with the Entente it will be difficult to take advantage of the African Spring to expand said empire. They'll definitely try to get American reactionaries on their side.
One last thing: I am quite surprised that Red France didn't focus on driving out the Italians out of their last section of southern France before going for Algeria. As they're positioned right now, they're dangerously close to the major Mediterranean ports.
Trends I see in the future:
1. Soviets/Syndies work on improving logistics and expanding industries. They may move critical industries away from areas in bomber or naval gunfire range to more defensible or remote areas.
2. Entente/Central Powers will work on reconstruction and improving naval shipping and technolgies since they depend on the sea for supply lines. More developments in anti-submarine, submarine tactics and technologies and carrier based airpower. The Soviets and Syndies will also work on this in a more limited fashion.
3. Entente will need to improve labor relations and woman suffrage in order to prevent unrest. They may also try some sort of power-sharing agreement with remaining colonies.
4. All sides will work on better aircraft, aircraft detection and defense technologies.
5. Continued proxy wars and border clashes as older weapon systems are exported or sold to allies.
1. Soviets/Syndies work on improving logistics and expanding industries. They may move critical industries away from areas in bomber or naval gunfire range to more defensible or remote areas.
2. Entente/Central Powers will work on reconstruction and improving naval shipping and technolgies since they depend on the sea for supply lines. More developments in anti-submarine, submarine tactics and technologies and carrier based airpower. The Soviets and Syndies will also work on this in a more limited fashion.
3. Entente will need to improve labor relations and woman suffrage in order to prevent unrest. They may also try some sort of power-sharing agreement with remaining colonies.
4. All sides will work on better aircraft, aircraft detection and defense technologies.
5. Continued proxy wars and border clashes as older weapon systems are exported or sold to allies.
Brazil is riding high, comparatively speaking, which makes me think there's going to be a brutal fall before the Great War is finished. Their decision to throw in with the Entente suddenly makes a bit more sense; now that they've been instrumental in the battle of the Atlantic and reclamation of northern Britain, they are now the most powerful nation in the Entente by a substantial margin, and what was once an alliance of liberal-ish Western European imperial powers has become a sphere of influence for an authoritarian South American republic. In other words, it seems that Brazil realized that the Entente was the weakest of the existing power blocs and aligned with them not in spite of that fact but because of it, as Brazil gambled that they would be strong enough to tip the balance in favor of the Entente and (having not already thrown away a few million of their own men in Phase I) would thus be in a commanding position to shape the postwar outcome as the most powerful surviving member. It'll be fascinating to see what a strong Brazilian influence will have on their new clients, in particular how conceptions of Lusotropicalism and pluricontinentalism might interact and interfere with British (and remaining French) African imperial occupations.
I have to say I had a soft spot for the Workers' Commonwealth and it's a little sad to see them truncated so, but they seem to have gotten the best deal they could have given the situation. I don't believe for a moment that the 20-year truce will last, I'd bet that Phase IV settles the British Question one way or the other after one side manufactures a casus belli and blows up the armistice. Like a lot of other countries, they're absolutely scraping the bottom when it comes to manpower, I would think that Phase III (at least outside of the German-Soviet theater) will be something of a breather and shift to lower-intensity (probably colonial) fronts for enough time for the major belligerent countries to build up enough (now both male and female) bodies to hurl into the pit in a last devastating paroxysm in Phase IV.
Speaking of that German-Soviet theater, holy shit it just keeps going. The Fascists have pulled a blood-soaked rabbit out of a hat with the reduction of Berlin, and with the head now broken from the Soviet spear they've bought sufficient breathing room to regain some measure of strength and lunge eastwards again. Poor Poland, they've been washed over how many times now? I wouldn't be surprised if there are more Polish-speakers in the United States than Poland proper by the time the war is through. The shift from the war of ideology to the war of resources is more than a bit chilling, carrying as I read it the implication of an even more brutal total war in the East to the absolute end, war to the knife on three thousand miles of front. It also makes me think that colonial theaters are about to get a lot more important, especially for the Heilsreich, as they attempt to compete with the massive potential of Soviet natural resources and industry. This may also imply something of an Entente-Fascist rapproachment, as the Entente have the resources and no love for the Soviets (having signed their respective armistices with the Western socialists only), so we may see yet another swing in alliances to put the Soviets on the back foot once again, potentially with Japan asserting themselves in the East and the United States spiralling down into chaos on its own front during Phase III.
Thinking above about Phase III and speculating how it may be a switch to lower-intensity conflict out of exhaustion and necessity, the absolutely vicious fighting in and around Berlin made me think that perhaps certain theaters of Phase III/IV might take on the character of a non-nuclear broken-backed war (if any of you have played Twilight: 2000, think that sort of conflict), with each side continuing to fight with existing stockpiles even after their economic bases and higher-level command and control have been destroyed by aerial bombardment, gas attack, or other means. Intensity might rise and fall cyclically as local or distributed manufacturing and production capabilities are recaptured (again, probably in poor beleaguered Poland) but without either side being able to rebuild its transportation, standardized production, or distribution networks to enough of a degree to make use of them. At that stage you wouldn't see much difference between the loosely affiliated 'national' armies of the Heilsreich or Soviets and bandits or warlords, as all would have to live off the land to the highest possible degree, while prosecuting the war to the utter end. Others in this thread have doubtless compared the Great War to the Thirty Years' War, and such a scenario would be a bloodily faithful reenactment of its later years, just with rifles, tanks, and airplanes.
Anyway, excellent work as always, @ETGalaxy, as you can tell I've had a blast reading this and thinking about it. I'll admit I can't say I'd be super interested in a physical copy of the work at this stage in time, simply because it's unfinished, but I'd definitely be down for it if the numbers work out once it's a concluded story.
I have to say I had a soft spot for the Workers' Commonwealth and it's a little sad to see them truncated so, but they seem to have gotten the best deal they could have given the situation. I don't believe for a moment that the 20-year truce will last, I'd bet that Phase IV settles the British Question one way or the other after one side manufactures a casus belli and blows up the armistice. Like a lot of other countries, they're absolutely scraping the bottom when it comes to manpower, I would think that Phase III (at least outside of the German-Soviet theater) will be something of a breather and shift to lower-intensity (probably colonial) fronts for enough time for the major belligerent countries to build up enough (now both male and female) bodies to hurl into the pit in a last devastating paroxysm in Phase IV.
Speaking of that German-Soviet theater, holy shit it just keeps going. The Fascists have pulled a blood-soaked rabbit out of a hat with the reduction of Berlin, and with the head now broken from the Soviet spear they've bought sufficient breathing room to regain some measure of strength and lunge eastwards again. Poor Poland, they've been washed over how many times now? I wouldn't be surprised if there are more Polish-speakers in the United States than Poland proper by the time the war is through. The shift from the war of ideology to the war of resources is more than a bit chilling, carrying as I read it the implication of an even more brutal total war in the East to the absolute end, war to the knife on three thousand miles of front. It also makes me think that colonial theaters are about to get a lot more important, especially for the Heilsreich, as they attempt to compete with the massive potential of Soviet natural resources and industry. This may also imply something of an Entente-Fascist rapproachment, as the Entente have the resources and no love for the Soviets (having signed their respective armistices with the Western socialists only), so we may see yet another swing in alliances to put the Soviets on the back foot once again, potentially with Japan asserting themselves in the East and the United States spiralling down into chaos on its own front during Phase III.
Thinking above about Phase III and speculating how it may be a switch to lower-intensity conflict out of exhaustion and necessity, the absolutely vicious fighting in and around Berlin made me think that perhaps certain theaters of Phase III/IV might take on the character of a non-nuclear broken-backed war (if any of you have played Twilight: 2000, think that sort of conflict), with each side continuing to fight with existing stockpiles even after their economic bases and higher-level command and control have been destroyed by aerial bombardment, gas attack, or other means. Intensity might rise and fall cyclically as local or distributed manufacturing and production capabilities are recaptured (again, probably in poor beleaguered Poland) but without either side being able to rebuild its transportation, standardized production, or distribution networks to enough of a degree to make use of them. At that stage you wouldn't see much difference between the loosely affiliated 'national' armies of the Heilsreich or Soviets and bandits or warlords, as all would have to live off the land to the highest possible degree, while prosecuting the war to the utter end. Others in this thread have doubtless compared the Great War to the Thirty Years' War, and such a scenario would be a bloodily faithful reenactment of its later years, just with rifles, tanks, and airplanes.
Anyway, excellent work as always, @ETGalaxy, as you can tell I've had a blast reading this and thinking about it. I'll admit I can't say I'd be super interested in a physical copy of the work at this stage in time, simply because it's unfinished, but I'd definitely be down for it if the numbers work out once it's a concluded story.
Yep, four phases. "Juche phase" is also a pretty apt description for what's in store for Germany.
I can't reveal where exactly the Great War will expand to next, but you're right to guess that finding new allies to open up new fronts will be important going into Phase Three. The Entente and the Co-Prosperity Sphere are both pretty keen on neutrality for the time being, however, there are plenty of other nations around the world that could get pulled into the war.
The Workers' Commonwealth is definitely not in a good spot right now. Fortunately for the Brits, they're far from a priority for the Germans. And yeah, Brazil is now effectively the de facto leader of the Entente and its newfound military strength is the only thing really keeping what remains of the British and French empires from completely collapsing going into the 1930s.
Just edited the map to have the frontlines in Austria change down due to the Germans being able to repel the Transleithanians and Soviets from Vienna following the Battle of Berlin, however, otherwise, yeah, the frontlines there have been pretty stagnant. I will point out that I often retroactively change the frontlines depicted on maps once I further develop the situation there in later updates, however, broadly speaking the war in the Balkans is essentially a stagnant conflict between the Italian-backed Illyrians and Russian-backed Transleithanians.
Many parts of the city, particularly in the east, aren't habitable. The west just lucked out with mostly being away from the frontlines, and government offices like the Reichstag and Royal Palace were both far from the frontlines for most of the Battle of Berlin and lacked much strategic value, hence why the German government felt comfortable returning even if some of the neighborhoods in the city are still toxic.
Mosley's been someone I've been hinting at since Chapter One and I'm pretty happy that I got to finally put him in a position of prominence. Rest assured, this is not the last time he will play an important role ITTL.
Yes it does. The German invasion of the Belgian Congo back in the first Glimpse Into the Future was a concept I scrapped (those posts were mostly me trying to flesh out ideas for future chapters that I had at the time) because it didn't really fit anywhere in Phase Two, however, I will eventually shed some light on how the Belgian Congo is being affected by the African Spring.
Ethiopia is looking very attractive to the Italians right now. As for why the Entente didn't invade Italian colonies, it was both not a priority for either the Republicans or the Loyalists and the Italians only broke the neutrality of France's colonies. The Loyalists are still very much keen on keeping their empire away from the Great War.
This is a pretty accurate analysis of where the different factions, although I'd add that the only member of the Entente that is doing really well-off is Brazil. The French are in a pretty humiliating rump state position while the Loyalists will be consumed with rebellions in Africa for awhile.
Oh yeah, that little section has been stagnant for years. There's definitely a bit of an ideological reasoning behind why the Commune went after the Republicans first, however, it's also worth pointing out that the Italians have dug themselves pretty well into the Alps but aren't currently posing a significant threat to southern ports due to the war of attrition there. With that being said, a good chunk of the LGPF will be free to go after that holdout now that the Entente has left the Great War.
Don't want to comment on this too much due to spoilers, but what I will say is that one and four are more or less correct. Aircraft in particular is going to become pretty important going into Phase Three as the Great War becomes almost completely mechanized and dependent on building weapons that require less manpower and kill more enemy forces.
Brazil basically lucked out with how the Great War turned out for them. A good comparison for the current relationship with the Entente is that of the US with western Europe following WWII. The Entente is effectively dependent on the Brazilians to keep their colonial regimes intact and the Brazilian government is more than happy to assume this responsibility, given that, as you pointed out, Brazil is now not only poised as the most powerful member of the Entente but a commanding force across the world through its newfound sphere of influence.
I'm a bit of a sucker of the Workers' Commonwealth too, hence why I left a rump state around. The original plan was for the Loyalists to retake all of Great Britain, however, while developing the WC it became one of my favorite governments ITTL to develop and I went with the partition of Britain scenario instead. My hope is that the division of Great Britain will make things pretty interesting going forward, especially as North Britain succumbs Mosley's weird vision for Great Britain and the Windsor realms as a whole.
Wouldn't be an insane three decade-long WWI if the Eastern Front wasn't a seemingly internal mess, would it? And yeah, Poland's already a complete mess. I'd love to eventually do a short story ITTL of a Soviet officer stopping in Poland before heading out west to the Eastern Front and depicting the nation as a borderline post-apocalyptic landscape. Both it and Belgium in particular have had a very nasty last fifteen years. Your assessment of the Eastern Front basically being a gruesome fight to the bitter end at this point is pretty accurate, and the Western Front isn't all that much different either.
Hmm... interesting theory. I'll admit that I haven't developed the exact specifics of the very end of the war just yet, but I do like the concept of the war basically becoming a borderline post-apocalyptic fight between warlords.
Thank you! And good advice with the physical copy, I really appreciate feedback.
Nah, don't delude me. We all know how rearing Sao Paulo is for more wars to expand the sphere it surveys.
I am really in a quandary right now whether not taking Ireland first is a blunder on their part; on one hand, it would have provided a really good base to conduct a simultaneous amphibious campaign on the British Isle; on the other hand, a more widespread campaign could open them to be defeated in detail and would buy more time for the British Isles along with their industry that they would have had in Scotland and Northumbria, to say nothing of needing to pacify a bigger territory that would surely have resisted as much as Philippines did with the Japanese (much of the territories were left alone in favour of holding the strategic cities and ports due to the pro-American insurgency). Ultimately, It seemed that the glory-seeking of the Brits saved the day for them, the Entente.
I guess that a brutal paratrooper campaign would have made for a situation that would have made the most hardened of Viet Congs so blush and Nixon himself so disheartened.
I really guess that the entirety of Europe would have become the equivalent of the Middle East ITTL. By that Germany and the rest of Northern and Central Europe would become the equivalent of its Syria and Afghanistan, thanks to August Wilhelm's gambit making him a God among Germans.
Relating it to the OTL region helped me feel the suffering this timeline had entailed.
Oh, I almost forgot, the loss of so much personnel will definitely slow the development of its sciences and would severely hamper the development of its more novel weaponry (such as nuclear bombs and - more practically so - AA shells with proximity fuse and more advanced fire control) in favour of improving their tanks and airplanes into the ever-practical and efficient T-34 and Fw 190 equivalents, and even then there would be even less room to rectify fuck-ups with the designs that those could come up with thanks to the unreasonable quotas that would be ordered from them. More so, all that would be done while under so much duress from enemy actions, especially bombing runs - a situation far-removed from being free of such damage that the mainland US, and eventually and relatively so, Great Britain enjoyed IOTL.
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I can definitely see things fall apart as the main belligerents become too damaged to effectively hold control of the territory, and what's left of the civilian population finally has had enough. But I'd rather Europe didn't get too warlord-y, if only because otherwise it will be hard to pinpoint concrete end to the Great War.
Ironically Japan may be in the best position to develop stuff like proximity fuses and radar guidance in TTL, since they're the only major-ish power far from the front lines and will likely see a lot of scientists flee there- especially once the USA breaks down. Plus, Japan is still a relatively small country, so while they're still at peace (or at least, not at total war) there might be a big push to look for technological wunderwaffen that could even the balance of power if the Soviets or Entente come knocking.
Also, regarding a potential book: Personally I am not one of those people who purchase timelines in hard copy form once they're completed. Sorry.
Ironically Japan may be in the best position to develop stuff like proximity fuses and radar guidance in TTL, since they're the only major-ish power far from the front lines and will likely see a lot of scientists flee there- especially once the USA breaks down. Plus, Japan is still a relatively small country, so while they're still at peace (or at least, not at total war) there might be a big push to look for technological wunderwaffen that could even the balance of power if the Soviets or Entente come knocking.
Also, regarding a potential book: Personally I am not one of those people who purchase timelines in hard copy form once they're completed. Sorry.
Then, they could pose a threat to the totally inevitable Lusophone world order led by Brazil, who sure would be much more interested with those and would have surely researched those as fast as them if not for the haphazard nature of their industry. I'm sure that they'd had enough colleges already to produce competent enough engineers and physicists though.
Speaking of Brazilian scientific community: being the most war-like country, I guess that they would be the first one who would be interested with the prospect of nuclear weaponry. Considering that they managed to depreciate the price of labour so much by forcing much of the populace to work in slavish conditions, I assume that they would have enough funds and motivation to lavishly endow its researchers like how the Soviets did with American engineers under Stalin.
I'd understand if you'd see that as implausible given that Brazil had been so much of a dark horse. Who would have guessed that the country once used as an excuse to prolong the Entente's life would transform itself into such a monstrosity? They already did though.
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I am looking forwards to the Worker's Commonwealth doing more in the timeline. It's probably a good thing they survived with most of England. If they were totally conquered, the massive loss of industry and expertise, especially with aircraft, with hopelessly cripple the Western Internationale. At least France can probably hold the Rhine indefinitely with England backing them.
Given their relative lack of industry, I'm imaigning that the British Empire's dominance of the air over the atlantic was in part due to large floatillas of what we'd recognize as escort carriers. Since their fleet would include many old and slow battleships, the lack of speed of a CVE wouldn't be a huge issue and the battle wagons could be used as shield for the fragile flattops.
Also, another question: What is the Communard administration of Algiers like? What is the status of the indigenous Arab majority
Also, I'll indulge in a little speculation on the future of America. This is based a lot on the "glimpse into the future" update which was spoilered, so in respect I'll put this in spoilers too.
notable factions explicitly named are William Dudley Pelley's Holy Realm of America and Henry Blood's Western States of America. Presumably given the popularity of socialism, there will by some major socialist faction. Some remnant of the "legitimate" United States of America will likely also exist.
The Holy Realm is clearly fascist and very right wing. It doesn't seem to be in solid control of its territory, at least initially, as evidenced by Huey Long's holdout- and given Pelley's massive racism, probably will face a (socialist?) African-American insurgency. This sort of aggressive right-wing mania is very fascist, and the Central Powers will likely back them.
Regionalism would not be strong enough for a genuine independence movement in the west coast. So unless the "Western States" is just an informal nickname for an open claim to the United States' government, I'm guessing that Blood is the leader of a minor faction and only one of many in his "side" of the civil war. Blood in OTL seems to have been a fierce fiscal conservative but in no way fascist. In a civil war, he seems fit to become the sort of kleptocratic dictator that Brazil would admire. Because of that and the likely land border with Canada, this would be the faction the Entente backs.
Can;t guess much about the inevitable socialist faction, aside from being concentrated in the north. Presumably they'll be fans of Britain and France, who in turn will provide most of their support. American volunteers on the Western Front will return home, creating a bit of a manpower crisis.
Both the Central Powers' and Internationale's factions of choice are overseas. There will likely be naval fighting and convoy raiding between the Central Powers and the Internationale- I hope the latter can get their anti-submarine warfare skills up to par. The entente can mostly get around it with their land border, unless Henry Blood has major allies that don't border Canada.
Finally, the "legitimate" government. Given the themes so far of the co-prosperity sphere and allies preserving democracy in an insane world, I'm guessing the USA will be led by a legitimately elected president rather than the stereotypical MacArthur coup. Likely will be initially rather weak, with a pocket around Washington and scattered holdouts everywhere, including some West Coast cities (otherwise, the Japanese army would have to do some pretty difficult amphibious landings). They will be supported by the Co-Prosperity sphere, who sends troops to California and march east in order to stop their greatest partner from falling into the hands of a Great War belligerent.
The "Christmas 1942" update has Bing Crosby give a radio address that cheers on the communards, but sounds like America isn't fully involved in the war themselves. At the same time, this America isn't so anti-communist that he'd get in trouble for that sort of address. Unless America gets balkanized (which I doubt), it suggests that the legitimate USA or something similar ultimately comes out on top, and maintains its long-term neutrality.
The Holy Realm is clearly fascist and very right wing. It doesn't seem to be in solid control of its territory, at least initially, as evidenced by Huey Long's holdout- and given Pelley's massive racism, probably will face a (socialist?) African-American insurgency. This sort of aggressive right-wing mania is very fascist, and the Central Powers will likely back them.
Regionalism would not be strong enough for a genuine independence movement in the west coast. So unless the "Western States" is just an informal nickname for an open claim to the United States' government, I'm guessing that Blood is the leader of a minor faction and only one of many in his "side" of the civil war. Blood in OTL seems to have been a fierce fiscal conservative but in no way fascist. In a civil war, he seems fit to become the sort of kleptocratic dictator that Brazil would admire. Because of that and the likely land border with Canada, this would be the faction the Entente backs.
Can;t guess much about the inevitable socialist faction, aside from being concentrated in the north. Presumably they'll be fans of Britain and France, who in turn will provide most of their support. American volunteers on the Western Front will return home, creating a bit of a manpower crisis.
Both the Central Powers' and Internationale's factions of choice are overseas. There will likely be naval fighting and convoy raiding between the Central Powers and the Internationale- I hope the latter can get their anti-submarine warfare skills up to par. The entente can mostly get around it with their land border, unless Henry Blood has major allies that don't border Canada.
Finally, the "legitimate" government. Given the themes so far of the co-prosperity sphere and allies preserving democracy in an insane world, I'm guessing the USA will be led by a legitimately elected president rather than the stereotypical MacArthur coup. Likely will be initially rather weak, with a pocket around Washington and scattered holdouts everywhere, including some West Coast cities (otherwise, the Japanese army would have to do some pretty difficult amphibious landings). They will be supported by the Co-Prosperity sphere, who sends troops to California and march east in order to stop their greatest partner from falling into the hands of a Great War belligerent.
The "Christmas 1942" update has Bing Crosby give a radio address that cheers on the communards, but sounds like America isn't fully involved in the war themselves. At the same time, this America isn't so anti-communist that he'd get in trouble for that sort of address. Unless America gets balkanized (which I doubt), it suggests that the legitimate USA or something similar ultimately comes out on top, and maintains its long-term neutrality.
With the Entente calling it quits to recuperate, it opened a possibility for a realignment especially considering Brazil's fascist tendencies. However, the Central Powers are too boxed in Europe by the Internationale to contribute to the North American War in any meaningful way, not as long as they were holding off the deflated but still heavy weight placed upon them by their current homefronts. On the other hand, they can still be aided thanks to the Entente's control of the Atlantic, shipping through Italy, Scandinavia, and - que horror - Spain; it just needs to be remembered that it is done for Brazil to expand their own clout, doing so in the name of anti-communism and Brazilian Fascist supremacy.
If anything, I expect that it would be Brazil who would have first come up with the really good idea of supporting Pelley's America. Of course, the Empire of America will be involved since they are part of the Entente, though to much displeasure like how Austria-Hungary's war with Russia was received relatively blase compared to their adventurism in Serbia, which in this case would be Great Britain for them.
With all those however, it will only end in a quagmire that absolutely dwarfs the devastation we've seen in Europe, considering the global Alliance systems' ability to pool their resources together along with America's much heavier warmaking capabilities thanks to being a neutral merchant in the conflict.
EDIT: Anyways though, why would the Japanese go against Henry Blood's Western States? Aren't they interested in propping up a puppet at least up until the time the legitimist Feds got their shit together once again? Or is it because they are racist radicals from Oregon who would have joined Pelley if not for the geographic Isolation, and the Legitimists managed to hold onto California?
If anything, I expect that it would be Brazil who would have first come up with the really good idea of supporting Pelley's America. Of course, the Empire of America will be involved since they are part of the Entente, though to much displeasure like how Austria-Hungary's war with Russia was received relatively blase compared to their adventurism in Serbia, which in this case would be Great Britain for them.
With all those however, it will only end in a quagmire that absolutely dwarfs the devastation we've seen in Europe, considering the global Alliance systems' ability to pool their resources together along with America's much heavier warmaking capabilities thanks to being a neutral merchant in the conflict.
EDIT: Anyways though, why would the Japanese go against Henry Blood's Western States? Aren't they interested in propping up a puppet at least up until the time the legitimist Feds got their shit together once again? Or is it because they are racist radicals from Oregon who would have joined Pelley if not for the geographic Isolation, and the Legitimists managed to hold onto California?
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Sudden thought- the author HAS mentioned that France's tank development will parallel Germany's OTL work. As we know, in OTL later in the war Germany started focusing a lot on heavy tanks like the Panther, Tiger, and more that were notoriously expensive and inefficient to build. And unreliable. While the French in TTL will probably avoid the reliability issues by not rushing development, they'll probably still hit on the "big, expensive, and complicated" strategy anyway. Stuff like the Tiger, even with its main flaws corrected, will always be impossible to build in the numbers expected of a medium tank. But TTL's France is in a horrific manpower hole, so it will soon be unable to field large tank armies anyway even if they have a design that can be produced in great numbers efficiently. So they might instead focus on making each individual tank as tough and powerful as possible, to make use of what little they can bring to the field.
Hopefully this will be combined with something like OTL America's focus on making the tanks survivable and very easy to bail out of when they do get penetrated. Wet ammo racks, spring-loaded hatches, etc.
Hopefully this will be combined with something like OTL America's focus on making the tanks survivable and very easy to bail out of when they do get penetrated. Wet ammo racks, spring-loaded hatches, etc.
Italy, Brazil, and Spain (because why not?) will surely fuck them over once they exploit their numerical superiority to get around it, to say nothing of their Mediterranean coast being blockaded.
It sounds like France has naval superiority, at least in the western Mediterranean, based on their ability to invade Algeria. Though given Italy hasn't done much land fighting lately and has more resources to spare in general, who knows how long before the French navy gets eclipsed?
And yeah, if Spain decides to put full effort to fighting France, than France is toast. Then again, I half-expect some alternate Spanish Civil War to break out if Spain looks like it's about to go fascist.
Woah, I wasn’t aware this was a thing! It sounds like the creator is unaware of my TL, but the fact that the name even has “Hell” in it is a bit of an impressive coincidence, to say the least.
Also, to everyone who’s been commenting on the TL between chapters, it’s been a busy week, but I’ll be sure to get around to responding to recent comments soon.
All of the socialist republics in India are very close, both in terms of their relations and political structures, but the main reason that there aren't talks to form some kind of pan-Indian federation ATM is because there isn't any strong pan-Indian national identity outside of the Indian Union, in large part due to the fact that Madras and the smaller republics in southern India are all formed out of local administrations and princely states.
Yep, the Commune is very lucky that the Commonwealth didn't completely fall. On top of its industry and expertise, the Worker's Commonwealth doesn't have nearly as bad of a manpower shortage as France, and alongside the forces of the Socialist Republic of Ireland, the Worker's Model Army is crucial to the survival of the Third International on the Western Front.
That, and heavy assistance from Brazil gave the Loyalists the edge they needed to win in the Atlantic. When the bulk of your military infrastructure is half a decade old, it really helps to get some fresh equipment into the mix.
While the Communard annexation of North Africa is very close to the end of Phase Two and therefore only in its beginning stages, thus far things have been running relatively smoothly. The Commune is perfectly fine with integrating its new territory through the establishment of local communes and worker councils run by the Arab majority, although many major North African cities remain under Communard military occupation. There has also not yet been much in the way of rebuilding North Africa from the Great War, both due to a lack of resources to spare from the war effort and a lack of interest for a national government still more or less completely focused on fighting the Central Powers.
I can't really respond in detail to either of these, in part because that gets into massive spoiler territory and in part because a lot of the details for North America are still being developed, but I really like seeing these theories.
This sort of "make each individual tank as powerful and survivable as possible" is basically where France is going. This has essentially been their strategy for all of Phase Two, it's just that simply having an emphasis on tanks up to this point has been enough to check the "as powerful and survivable" boxes when the German ground forces are still not very mechanized.
It was a lot less naval superiority in the western Mediterranean as a whole and a lot more naval superiority over the French Republic. Italy currently boasts the largest naval force in the Mediterranean Sea but has primarily used it for defensive purposes to the west due to simultaneously going on the offensive against the Communards and Republicans being a bit of a logistical nightmare and the Central Powers as a whole having bigger fish to fry during the North African Front.
France is really, really fucked six ways to Paris Lumiere by the end of the Third Phase.
To be honest though, it all comes together once you consider the motivations and reality of Brazil and the rest of the Entente. It's not a matter of if, not even a matter of when especially when the Central Powers are smart enough to reach out for them, but largely a matter of execution and how they are going to surprise the Internationale and the Americans with, perhaps a string of Pearl Harbour events.
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