Map Contest Two: Round One

[Scarecrow]

First here are the rules again in case you have forgotten them.

You have one week to finish this challenge. Round three maps must be in by 1200 GMT next Tuesday. Remember you can post your map at any time but the first map you post is the one we are going to accept (any additional ones will be ignored). New contestants are welcome.

***Remember to use the Map Contest Discussion thread for all comments as we don't want to clutter up this thread with comments.***

The first map challenge:

A post-1900 POD: In 1935, a significant player in the outcome of World War Two dies. Your map is to be set in 1950.

Good Luck!

 

[Bockop]

The POD is that FDR got assassinated on the 2nd of September 1935. Huey Long travels to Washington to attend his funeral on the 8th and thereforth avoids being assassinated. Long wins the '36 election and begins a non-interventionist policy. He presses Poland to give in to Germany's demands, and WWII begins in 1940 when Germany attacks Alsace-Lorraine.
Germany and USSR signs a different M-R pact which divides the Baltic states between them (Germany gets Lithuania and Courland).

Meanwhile Poland falls to a communist coup and joins the Comintern. Soviet also wins the Winter War. In '42 Germany attacks Soviet and makes it to Leningrad and Crimea, but the British lands troops in Bordeaux and begins the slow but steady reconquista of Europe.

Meanwhile in Asia, Japan conquers China early and stays neutral until '44 when they attack the Reds. The Allies doesn't get involved however, because they need all the troops for Europe.
The Japanese pressure makes the Soviets weaker than TTL, so they just get to the easternmost parts of Europe. After Germany was finished, in late '47, the Allies attacked Japan which is still resisting in the early 50s.

The European democracies founded the EA, and Denmark, Norway and Sweden founded the Scandinavian defense pact in fear of the SU.

Argentina was German allied but got defeated too.

 

[Nicole]

The POD is the death of Josef Stalin. The Soviet Union experiences a period of instability and civil war before order is finally found again. Hitler gets his Nazi-Soviet Pact, but it is even better towards him as the USSR's weak status leaves it a less major player. When Operation Barbarossa begins, it is far more successful, leaving the USSR with far less of Europe when the peace conferences begin.... the Allies have liberated Germany and the bulk of Poland, and the Iron Curtain is drawn farther East...

 

[Thande]

Map is in the next post, so you don't have to scroll back and forth to read the text.

Who dies? Mussolini.

This plunges Italy into a civil war similar to that of Spain in OTL, with communists coming out of the woodwark and the remaining Fascist leadership unable to enforce the rule of law. The Spanish Civil War does also break out a year or two later, but is seen as a sideshow. Hitler uses the Italian conflict as another excuse to rearm, and the Western allies, fearful of Soviet puppets on their doorsteps, continue to see him as the lesser of two evils.

Czechoslovakia and Austria are anschluss'd 37-38 "to protect the German people from Bolshevist elements", as the Communists begin to gain the upper hand in the Italian Civil War with direct support from the Soviet Union. Finally in July 1939 the remaining Fascist leadership virtually invites the Germans in to take over. The Wehrmacht is sent in and the Luftwaffe bombs communist-dominated cities, eventually creating ATL Italian versions of Guernica. However, the new blitzkrieg tactics are of limited use in Italy's often rocky and defendable terrain, and communist guerillas help to bleed the Germans by the death of a thousand cuts.

Hitler blames all of this (with some justification) on the Soviets, and orders the German General Staff to draw up a plan for the invasion of Russia, Operation Barbarossa. At the same time, but not publicly (as at this point they still want the West on side), the Nazis plot the expansion of their racial purity laws into the east, and the idea of depopulating Russia and using it as lebensraum. Poland, Romania and Hungary are bullied into permitting the passage of German troops, but no attempts at an annexation of Poland are considered - the Nazis reason that this will be much easier to accomplish when there is no Soviet Union to worry about and Poland is surrounded, plus they cannot afford to fight a two-front war with the Western nations that have guaranteed Polish independence.

Meanwhile, the communist-leaning Republicans win the Spanish Civil War and Franco's Nationalists are exiled to Spain's colonies and the Balearics. They are propped up with small numbers of German troops, with the result that Germany effectively has bases in Spanish Morocco and Spanish Guinea.

German Intelligence fears that Stalin is already planning an attack of his own, but in October 1939 those forces go to Finland instead. The Finns put up a stiff resistance, aided by the Germans, British, French, and unofficially the Swedes. The Red Army bogs down in Finland and Stalin rages more about traitors and purges, but continues a slow, grinding advance.

In May 1940 the Germans launch Operation Barbarossa. The Wehrmacht is more cautious than OTL, due to the lack of experience with the Blitzkrieg, but the fact that the attack is launched earlier means that they manage to reach Moscow by December. The less well trained Red Army is largely encircled or destroyed, but occasional reports of heavy Soviet tanks, easily outmatching the German Panzer IIs and IIIs, circulate. The Germans take Moscow with heavy losses but find it a pyrrhic victory -as in 1812, the Russians use scorched-earth tactics to prevent Moscow being of any use to the enemy. The Germans' Army Group Centre suffers comparable losses to Napoleon's Grand Armée as they retreat to secured German positions, against Hitler's orders.

Stalin is killed in the battle of Moscow, sparking a succession dispute. Molotov attempts to seize power but is defeated by a junta of generals and marshals, fed up with Kremlin political interference, and their political head is none other than Leon Trotsky, having survived several attempted assassinations and returned from exile. The Soviets begin duplicating their industry east of the Urals (the move not being as complete as in OTL) and producing more of their T-34 and KV-1 heavy tanks. Unlike German hopes, the USSR does not disintegrate.

Meanwhile, reports of the Final Solution leaking out means that both France and Britain break diplomatic relations with Germany, and collaboration with the Nazis in Russia (particularly after Stalin's death) is practically nil, but Hitler is convinced by now that the war is practically won. He orders an invasion of France drawn up to reverse the losses of Versailles. Army High Command does so, though believing that the plan is for several years in the future.

At the same time, in 1942 thanks to the US and Europeans cutting off oil and steel supplies for the Chinese war effort, the Japanese attack British, French and American possessions in the Pacific and attempt to seize the Dutch East Indies. They manage to occupy large parts of the latter, Malaya and Indochina, but the British hold on to Singapore and the French to Kampuchea. The Japanese later stage an unsuccessful but destructive invasion of Burma. A mainly American force systematically destroys the IJN one battle at a time, illustrating America's industrial capacity, and Japan is conquered by 1946 (the USSR declaring war in 1945 and scooping up Manchuria, Korea and Hokkaido).

The Soviets slowly grind back the German war machine, assisted by the treasury of Italy, smuggled out of the country by the last few members of the communist government. Roosevelt is unable to convince the American people that Germany is a threat worth a preemptive attack, but the Jewish vote and other factors mean that the USSR is sold trucks and other nonmilitary units for low prices.

In 1943, after being pushed out of ruined Kursk and Stalingrad and their siege of Leningrad relieved by the Red Army pocketed in Finland at the start of the war, Hitler gives orders to gain some propaganda victories. Specifically he orders the total annexation of Poland and the Final Solution, so far carried out purely by fascist Polish proxies on a limited basis, to come to fruition. In response to this insane order, a secret group forms within the German army to...discuss a future without Hitler, led by Manstein, Guderian and Rommel. In response to the invasion of Poland and reports of the Final Solution, Britain and France declare war on Germany in November 1943. Based on analysis of the eastern war, France has abandoned its former defensive doctrine. In April 1944, French and BEF armies beat off a German attack - though one panzer force does make an embarrassing penetration through the 'impossible' Ardennes - and into the Saarland and Rhineland. The fresh RAF and ADA dominate the skies against the depleted and mostly deployed to the east Luftwaffe.

With the Soviets marching through Poland in 1945, the coup takes place. Hitler and other senior Nazis are assassinated and a military junta takes over under Manstein. A quick peace is reached with the West, the Nazi past is disowned (similar to Khruschev and Stalin in OTL) and, beating back the Soviet armies one last time, the Treaty of Warsaw surrenders all of eastern Europe and East Prussia to the Soviets. Bohemia-Moravia is "Finlandised" as we would say, while Finland becomes Soviet.

This map depicts the resulting cold war, with limited independence movements in the Far East, a Dominion of India with separate princely states, and a Trotskyite reformed "International Union of Socialist Republics" with a less centralised structure and no separate allied states, all one union. The German military regime has promised to restore Weimar democracy by 1960. There is a European Defence Pact, somewhat developed from the Anti-Comintern Pact, which includes Scandinavia due to the proximity of Soviet Finland.

 

[Thande]

...El Mappo:

 

[Highlander]

Here is my entry.

Hitler is killed early in 1935, much to the shock of his close allies and supporters. Nonetheless, they see this as a sign and decide to not make a large military confrontation if possible. Instead they chose to promote their agenda diplomatically and politicaly, taking small military action whenever necessary. A few years later, Mussolini's Italy descends into civil war, and he is disposed of. The powers in the region rush in to stake their claim but Germany wins over all, splitting the country up into four regions.

At this time we see that several German states are actively seeking independance and are likely to get it.

 

[EdT]

Here's mine... (Note: The original text is in Russian, but through the miracle of trans-dimensional technology it appears in English )

PoD: In the spring of 1935, FDR dies suddenly in his sleep of a massive stroke. John Nance Garner’s Presidency is a relative success and he successfully wins re-election the following year, although he is never as popular as his former boss. Little changes in Europe, and the war begins on schedule; the first major wartime divergence comes in 1940, when the Garner Administration’s efforts to ‘lend-lease’ equipment to Britain are emasculated by an impassioned speech by the leading Republican Candidate for the November elections, Senator William Borah.

The subsequent Republican victory delays US intervention in Europe for a time, and Borah’s subsequent death only months after inauguration makes him a martyr, impelling the isolationist Vice-President Thomas Dewey into power and rendering American entry almost impossible. War comes to America however; Japan’s surprise attack on Manila harbour draws the US into a Pacific struggle. With the fighting in the west occupying their minds, the US public becomes even less willing to aid Britain and the USSR against Nazi Germany.

In the end, the fighting peters out in the mid 1940’s. Japan is crushed by overwhelming force in 1945, as the US Marines bludgeon their way onto the Home Islands; for all the destruction in Asia however, Germany suffers worse. Pushed back in Africa and the Eastern Front, the Wehrmacht is eventually ground to a pulp by the combination of the massed bombing of the RAF and the manpower of the Red Army. Finally, in the Spring of 1947 Germany collapses amidst a hail of ‘Tube Alloys’; the Soviet flag cannot be raised above the Reichstag, because most of Berlin is a radioactive crater. An emergency British thrust across the Channel ensures that the Allied armies meet each other at the Rhine.

Soon Eastern Europe, the Balkans and much of Scandinavia are entrenched in the Soviet Sphere; in 1949, the brief Italian civil war forces the King to flee to Sicily and ensures that that country comes under the thumb of Moscow as well. By 1950, the Darlan regime in France is tottering and Soviet influence has almost reached its zenith; while the ‘Paris Spring’ in 1959 would bring Moscow’s unquestioned power on the continent to an end, for now the slogan on this propaganda poster is justified;

 

[TheLoneAmigo]

Yamamoto dies in 1935; without his influence, Japan ends up in a war with the United States much earlier - in 1938, before the tripartite pact. They do well enough; managing to keep the American military beast firmly focused on Asia for three years. Lend-Lease is greatly reduced, and America never gets involved in the war in Europe. Eventually, the Germans develop the first atomic weapons and devastate Britain and Russia with atomic fire in 1946. In 1950, they begin to tighten their grip on the African continent, fighting brush wars with American-funded partisans across the continet.

 

[Berlin89]

POD: FDR Dies in 1935
Through butterflies, Huey Long is in Washington trying to become President, and thus spends less time in Louisiana, and the subsequent Assassination attempt. He goes on to win the Presidency with his Share Our Wealth Program. Rev. Gerald K. Smith also manages to convince Kingfish to advocate military build up as another way in addition to The Share Our Wealth Program. Huey wins the election, and starts to push through his program. After staunch opposition, Kingfish dismisses Congress, and declares Martial Law, and suspends Habius Corpus. Huey Long manages to bribe the four Judges on the Supreme Court to always vote in his favor. As a result, when Martial Law is declared, the Judges don't complain. Sensing opportunity, President Long enacts his program without the consolation of Congress or the Cabinet. Hitler, following his crazy racial policies, decides not to sign the Anti-Com intern Pact. Further More, concentration camps are set up for political prisoners. This takes about a year to do from the time when Kingfish was elected president. By this time, Britain condemns the United States 'for threatening world peace'.

During the same period, Hitler occupies the Rhineland, and faces no resistance. Hitler promptly starts fortifying the Rhineland.

Meanwhile, in the United States, where President Long has grabbed supreme power, the draft was initiated, along with a general expansion of the Army. Huey Long then forces the Military to swear an oath of Allegiance to him.

In 1937, Hitler who has been studying what is going on in the United States, goes to Washington to announce a "Pact of Steel" which calls for increased cooperation between Germany and the United States. A year later, Italy joins the Pact of Steel. Britain, sensing her weakness, starts to cozy up to Japan, causing even more Anti-British feeling in the United States. In addition, Mexican-American relations are as cold as the South Pole, thanks to American Business interests being harmed. After the United States send an Ultimatum, demanding that those activities be stopped. Mexico responds with indignation, and Declares war on the United States. In the subsequent war, The United States utterly destroys the Mexican Army's ability to resist, through the First use of Armored Warfare, which the World characterizes as the first use of Blitzkrieg. The World is stunned as Mexico is defeated within a month.In Europe, Things go more or less Like our timeline, so by the end of 1938, Austria and Sudetenland is German Territory. Unlike OTL though, Hitler never gives his last territorial demand pledge. Poland, seeing how Britain and France sold out the Czechs, Refuse any assistance from them. By 1940, Poland is under Nazi Rule. When Hitler holds a victory perade in Warsaw however, A former Polish Soldier shoots Hitler, and kills Hitler. By 1950, The Axis have settled down, to digest their conquests. Partisans still remain a threat, especially in Mexico.

Map in next post.

 

[Berlin89]

Map coming tomorrow...

 

[Berlin89]

And the map!

 

[Othniel]

Hideki Tojo dies while in service in Manchuria. The result leaves a more cautious man in office, resulting in the attack of the Phillipeans, and not Pearl Harbor. While the US declares War without its 'Day of Imfamy' the US population remains unglavenised. Germany never declares War on the United States.

With lesser motivation the US pushes the Japanesse Empire into conditional surrender leaving Free Republics throughout East Asia.
In the meanwhile the German Army tamed Europe. The Soviet Union lies defeated with various unconquered nations within the Soviet Union declaring independance, though most becoming American or German satillite states, or Remenants of the Soviet goverment. The United Kingdom agreed to terms of peace with pushing from the US, keeping most of their materail through US backing, while recognizing areas in the US's sphere of influence as independant, such as Iceland, and Suriname.

The United Kingdom failed to partition India before Indepedance, and is on the verge of breaking apart completely, the United States and Germany are working with various rebel groups were.

A Cold War now dominates the world with Nazi Germany and the United States, who has been relucantly drawn in as the world's allie. The United States is the only nation with the bomb, though who knows for how long it will stay that way. The Nazi's allies are threatening to break ties with the fascist reigm in Berlin, as Europe's greatest nation's grip weakens. War appproaches, and the world is nervous.

Map dated 1956 A.D.

 

[Glen]

For Want of a Churchill

POD - Winston Churchill dies in 1935.

Timeline goes much as ours until 1940, when the delay in choosing a unity government in the UK and the subsequent selection of Lord Halifax leads to a negotiated settlement between Germany and the UK. The rise of Fascism in Ireland leads to an ill-planned intervention in the North, that is then crushed and the UK, taking a harder stance to redeem the losses in the face of the Germans, retakes Ireland in its entirety. I am certain you can imagine the rest.

 

[Diamond]

POD: Heinz Guderian dies in a training accident in 1935.

Without Guderian's bringing together of the various tactics then taking form, there is no strategy of Blitzkrieg. Germany's various annexations of Austria, the Sudetenland, etc, go more or less according to schedule, but there is no Phony War - Poland is not invaded in 1939. Instead, by some herculean efforts, Hitler's generals manage to convince him to wait and build up Germany's strength some more.

France finds itself increasingly isolated in Europe, as Britain has its hands full handling a full-scale uprising in Ireland (instigated, some say, by German agents). French communism grows in popularity, as many people see an alliance with the Soviet Union as the only way to off-set German might. In 1945, France finally goes Red, in a mostly bloodless coup.

War erupts the next year, and Germany once again finds herself fighting a two-front war against France and Russia. But this time, there is no Britain to help even the odds, and both Italy and Germany have had six more years than OTL to improve their militaries (equipment- and manpower-wise; strategically, things are little changed from the first Great War).

In this timeline, the Maginot Line does what it was intended to do - stop a German invasion cold. In the spring of 1950, three and half years into the Second Great War, the Western Front is a nightmare of mud, blood, and death. In the east, the Germans have swallowed huge chunks of Soviet territory, but their advance has stalled, and in places is being slowly rolled back.

Hitler is in ill health; rumors abound that he is on death's door, and various factions throughout the Reich prepare to seize the reins of power if and when the Fuhrer dies.

And in secret labs in the Reich, scientists led by Werner Heisenberg are perhaps a year away from completing work on a new type of bomb, one which will alter the course of world events forever...

 

[Susano]

Mucho texto...

Charles de Gaulle dies in 1935.

Now personally, I do not think he himself plaid much of a role in WW2. The Resistance was not that important a factor. However, in this timeline the anti-German forces have no leader after 1940. Rear Admiral Emile Muselier fled with the ship Voisin to Great Britain, but he did not manage to inspire a large following. Furthermore, he fell out with Great Britain after the British sunk the Vichy France fleet. In reaction to that, the French freed Edouard Daladier and Paul Reynald, the two last Prime Ministers of the 4th Republic, but this was soon proven to be a bad move: They were rather unpopular, and also could not get along with each other, or with Muselier. As a result, there is not much „Free France“ in this timeline. Worse, the constant problems the British have with their French exile leaders inspire Hitler, who now works to win the French as an ally. True, they are not Germanic, but Romance is still better than Slavic, especially if they can fight the Bolshevist menace.

Hence the Fuhrer starts a policy of gradually restoring souvereignity to (Vichy) France. An exception to that is Brittany, which due to German pressure gains considerable autonomy in a divida et impera fashion, and Nord-Pas de Calais, which remains German occupied and administered. By 1943, France is a full axis member, and substiantially contributes troops to the Russian campaign, which also receievs more Italian, Hungarian and Romanian troops (and even some few Slovakian and Croatian troops) due to France's new political weight in the Axis. Barbarossa is thus hugely more popular, and Moscow, Stalingrad and Leningrad all fall during 1943. Stalin is killed, and the USSR falls into disarray. The Axis troops still meet resistance, of course, but it is uncoordinated and badly supplied. The Caucasus Republics are granted indepenance, and Georgia is made a kingdom under a German prince as an act of appeasment on Hitler's part towards the conservative-reactionary forces within Germany.

Of course this all does not effect the USA in the slightest, and also not the German declaration of war on America. And thus, 1944, while the Germans ever march on in Russia, the Americans, British, Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders land in France. It has been determined before that France is to be treated as a hostile nation, and not as a nation to liberate. Hence, Franco now sees his opportunity to seize a bit French land, and joins in with the Allies. Nontheless, resistance is heavy. The Axis has more support now, and does not need worry so much about the East. French and German troops mount heavy resistance to the Allies, leadng to devasting battles. Wishing to spare himsel, Prince Umberto Of Italy acts to stage a coup against Mussolini: On 9 June, his father Victor Immanuel II. abdicates, on 10 June he assumes the throne without much ceremony, and on 14 June, Mussolini is ousted and allied troops are called in. The coup happens much smoother as IOTL – there is no confusion in the Italian Armed Forces, which largely support their new king, as he has made sure of before. As IOTL, though, German special forces free Mussolini, and establish a republic under his leadership in North Italy. At the same time, the Allies use Italy (and even more importantly, Albania) as a base of operations to support Tito in Yugoslavia, and to stage the liberation of Greece.

Hitler sees this as a call to clean house, also administratively. Alsace-Lorraine, Luxembourg, North Schleswig, Flemish Belgium, the Netherlands, the General Governate and some conquests in the East are officially annexed, and the „Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia“ fully integrated into the Reich. Wallonia is created as a vasall state - much smaller than IOTL Wallonia, as of course Hitoer has quite extended the borders of Flemish Belgium, but it gains Nord-Pas de Calais as compensation. Forced resettlements start.

1945 the USA uses nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, at that time Germany already has the bomb, too, due to scientifical cooperation between Germany, France and Italy. Germany shows that to the world by using it at Kirov. The world thus dances near the abyss of nuclear destruction. In October, USA and UK threaten to nuke Germany should its armies cross a line consisting of the rivers Volga, Kerzhenets, Sukhona and Severnaya Dvina. Naturally, Hitler does not pay much heed to that, and consequently, the Allies and Germany exchange three nukes each. The latest Allied bomb hits Nuremberg at a time of a NSDAP rally. Conspirators in the Wehrmacht use that: While naturally not every NSDAP grandee has been killed at Nuremberg, the conspirators proclaim just that, and kill those who have not themselves. Within two months, Germany and its occupied territories are under control of the „Kommitee für Öffentliche Sicherheit“ (Committee for Public Safety/Security) of the Wehrmacht. Already during the Putsch, the conspirators agreed on an armistice with the Allies, who in turn agreed to that out of fear of an all-out nuclear war. This is the First Armistice of Stockholm, 14. November 1945.

The KÖS begins reordering Germany, stopping the Final Solution and other atrocities (but keeping the camps out of fear their secret could leak out). It keeps all trappings and symbols of the Nazi state, but de facto de-nazifies the country. Not towards democracy, of course, but the Party itself and the SS basically lose all power, while the regular administration is strengthened, and the worst and/or most high-ranking party members are purged in a Stalinesque maneer. Of course, the Waffen-SS units in the field are a kind of problem, and indeed they begin to de facto build up an own state on the Crimea. KÖS and SS eventually come to an agreement, in which the former recognises „Neugotenland“ as an independant state, and the latter promises to not cause the KÖS any trouble. The remaining occupied lands in the east are annexed as special administrative parts – mostly the Reichskommisariate continue to exist, but there is also an autonomous state created for the Cossacks and Kalmyks, and the Baltic Lands are returned to a rule of the local German nobility in a „Generalkomturei“ (a name reminiscent of the Teutonic Order).

Furthermore, the German Sphere of Influence is reordered. An agreement is made with France, in which it gains some NW Italian territories still occupied by Germany, and Sardinia (with which the Allies simply had not bothered). Croatia had managed to become more and more souvereign itself as Italiana nd German troops where more and more needed elsewhere, a process the KÖS now finishes, so that Croatia can fight against Tito. Thus Croatia turns from a vasall to a full ally. The occupied Thracia is awarded to Bulgaria (except the border strip Greece won from turkey in WW1, which together with some East Aegean Islands is gifted to Turkey), which also secures some Greek border territories. In rteurn, bulgaria now actively fights the allied advance in Greece. Hungary finally is given the German occupied Serbian Banat. Quisling in Norway is toppled, and a new vasal state is established there, the „People's State“ of Norway. This is a direct counter of the allied landing in South Norway, where the monarchy has been restored. On allied side, borders change, too, as Spain gets Rouissilion (and the French Head of State's position as Co-Prince of Andorra goes to the Spanish Head of State), and Greece Epirus from Albania.

Finally, on 6th January 1946, the Second Armistice of Stockholm is signed, pacifiyng all of Europe (except the Soviet-German front and the Yugoslavian partisans) for the moment. The Secodn Armistice is built on the first, includes allies on both sides, and also regulates complicated topics like limited transfer of PoWs, rules for future engagments, etc. The military leadership of Germany gets to present itself as something new and more honest than their precedessors. This (coupled, of course, with thge still present German threat) works, and the Western Allies put pressure on the Soviets to also make an armistice with the Germans. As the new FCSR is completly dependant upon them, they finally, agree, and the Third Armistice of Stockholm of the 27th April 1946 sets the German-Soviet front/border at the Four Rivers Line. The FCSR is the consolidated soviet state, much less centralist than its precedessor. Basically, it is kind of like the communits having said: „Okay, we got a bad start, let's try this again from the beginning“, and the result is the FCSR.

In the meanwhile, the Allies order France into occupation zones. Except for Brittany: If it now was to be re-integrated into France, Brittany surely would ebcome a bastion of pro-German sentiment. Also, France is to be treated as defeated nation anyways, so 25th February 1946, the Republic of Brittany is declared. Furthermore, as it seems clear Denmark will not be freed any time soon, Iceland, greenland, the Faroers and (originally Norwegian) Jan Mayen are taken together into an exile-Danish federation, the Danish Federal Free State. The 4 starts of its flags do not stand for thsoe 4 territories, by the way, but for the four peoples of the federation – Danish, Icelanders, Faroese and Greenlanders (Inuit).

Now that there is peace all across Europe, negotiations start for peace, or at least an even more encompassing armistice. During this negotiations, a coup supported by Germany and Turkey happen in Iraq, which seriously threatens the peace even in Europe. In the end, a compromise is found. Great britain allows Iraq to shift to the Axis side, mainly because the coup was swift and very sucessful, ousting the British occupation troops in a broad sweep, but it loses much land to Syria (by now a British mandate. Also, in Algeria, José Aboulker is very sucessful with his liberation movements, fighting against both the Allies and Vichy French forces. But eventually, 23rd August the Third Stockholm Armistice is made. The Axis, clearly weaker, make some territorial cocnessions. The German occupied territories in NW France and NW Italy are given up, Allied occupied France nwo directly borders Wallonia, and the Kingdom of Italy now directly borders the French Republic (by now officially the Fourth Republic with a new, semi-democratic constitution and seat of government in Lyons). Also, to calm british worries about a German rpesence at the Channel, a „Neutral Free State of Calais“ is created, including Cambrai as an exclave (frontline went right through it, and both sides wanted to maintain its old city). And furthermore, Tito's „Socialist Fedreation of Yugoslavia and Albania“ is recognised by all sides, a thorn in the Axis's side, geographically. In return, ethnic Germans are transported back from Siberia and given into the hands of the Reich, which settles them at the Volga March. Aboulker's „Republic of African France“ is recogniced by all sides, too.

While peace is progressing in Europe, in the Middle East there is war. Turkey, Iraq and Azerbaijan have allied in the Trabzon Pact, and on 14th August invaded Armenia and Persia. Armenia is quickly overran, while Persia receives substantial US/UK-help. Further complicating the situation is a media awareness campaign by private groups and persons in the USA and UK about the KZs and the Final Solution. Anti-German rage reaches a new height, but the reality of the nculear threat remains, so war is not renewed. In the meanwhile, all sides massively stock up nukes. So far, the USA, the UK, Germany and France are nuclear powers, while the FCSR, a newly created Spanish-Italian pact, Canada and ANZAC together and even also the SFYA have nuclear programm. This nuclear tension helps progress peace, though. The Trabzon War soon threatens to spill over to Europe again, and British-American plans to create an „Israel“ and a pro-Axis coup in Egypt do not quite help, either. Negotiations for a new trety soon begin again. The Fifth Stockholm Armistice is signed 5th February 1947. It includes the Middle East, resettlement plans for the remaining Jews and Gypsies in Germany and its sphere of influence, and it sets guidelines for negotiations for a final peace treaty. Though initially neutral Calais was planned to be a location for just that, it is too near to the other side for everybody, and so everybody stays in Stockholm.

Of course, those negotiations are not without problems, either. On the allied side, the Italians and Spanish join their zones to the Bizone. On 10th May Franco declares the Kingdom of Spain – a „Kingdom“ with vacant throne similar to Horthy's Hungary, with him as regent. On 12th May, the Bishop of Urgel abdicates as Co-Prince of Andorra, leaving Franco as remaining Prince of Andorra, a position he transfers to the non-existant king, too. And on 16th May, the Bizone is declared to be the Kingdom of France in „personal union“ with Spain – an affront to the French Republic. Furthermore on Axis side, the State of Israel is created 30th May 1947, toegther with the Free City of Jerusalem on the same date. On Axis side, the Germans launch the Romanian Expedition in June, after they have discovered that the Romanians and the Allied had secretly conspired to have Romania switch sides. Romania is dissolved: Hungary regains even more of Transylvania, Bulgaria even more of Dobrudja, and the rest is split in Wallachia and Moldavia.The expedition is swift and hugely sucessful. Despite this setbacks for peace, negotiations continue. As there de facto is already peace, most aspects are about honour/prestige and how to keep peace.

In the end, Calais does get its role in the peace process, as some protocols are signed there. The Peace of Stockholm and Calais of the 25th September 1947 officially ends World War II in Europe. The moribound Leage of Nations is replaced with the Organisation of Collective Peace Maintenance (Organisation der Kollektiven Friedenswahrung), seated in Calais, which uses a much more pragmatic and less idealtsic-pompous approach. Wallachia and Moldavia are officially recognised by everybody, and the Kingdom of France is „accepted“, that is, nobody will do anything it.The only true territorialc hanges happen in the Middle Eats, where the peace treaty also officiallly ends the Trabzon War.

The nations and blocs now have time for interior worries, and for reconstruction, of course. The Anglophone allies would liek to create an own state in France, but they are deeply divided about how it is supposed to look. The British and Canadians favour an Orleanist Monarchy, the Americans and Australians a Democratic Republic as ideological counter to both Lyons and the Kingdom of France. They do manage to build up a interzone French Civil Adminsitration, with interzonal tariffs and monetary union, but they do not manage to create a souvereign state. That they thus keep their part of France under occupation of course only fuels Lyons' propaganda. Armenia gets a further German Prince to become King. Mussolini's Social Republic of Italy works to become self-reliant again, but is plagued by internal problems. Turkey and Azerbaijan unite in the aftermath of the Trabzon war, connected now by formerly Persian Azerbaijan. Of course, this unification is rather Turkey abosbring Azerbaijan. Spain and Italy gain the bomb in June 1948, and three months afterwards, with help of data spies stole from those two countries, so does the SFYA. Canada and ANZAC have the bomb by this time already. Cooperation with China leads to the new People's Republic there and the FCSR gaining nuclear technology in February 1949. Generally the FCSR is getting connected more and more to China, due to the huge chinese ressource base they so desperatly need. It is difficult to tell which side domines which in that alliance, as the PRC in return needs soviet technology. But it is foreseeable that Mao will slowly gain the upper hand in the alliance...

And after all this blabla, the map:
http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/3909/nucleareuropelc1.jpg

Yeah, too big to be attached. If anybody could host it Id appreciate it. Imageshack is not really reliable (Photobuckets worse, though)

 

[Shadow Knight]

Just a reminder round one ends tomorrow. No late entries allowed.

 

[Dutchie]

Canada misses the party

POD: Sir William Lyon Mackenzie-King, Prime Minister of Canada dies at Christmas, 1938. James Garfield Gardiner is chosen by the Liberal party to their leadership, and becomes the new Prime Minister in the Dominion's 19th Ministry.

On September 3rd, 1939 Britain declares war on Germany. PM Gardiner follows immediately on September 4th (rather than the 10th, as OTL) in a show of solidarity with King & Country (Gardiner isn't as concerned about showing independence as Mac-King was. The Dominion isn't able to buy $20 Million in arms from the United States in that week that they were 'neutral').

Gardiner is also not as sensitive to the concerns of the Quebecois, nor does he feel beholden by Mac-King's promise not to enact conscription. He does start the draft in November, 1939, over the objections of his caucus, in an effort to rapidly build up the Canadian forces, sadly diminished since WWI.

Conscription is fiercly resisted in Quebec. Resistance leads to protests, protests to mass demonstrations. Gardiner again mis-judges the true mood of the populace, and tries to crack down harshly on the 'traitors in this our time of war'. Troops are sent into Montreal, Quebec City, & Trois-Riviers to impose order. Duplessis, the popular leader of the Quebecois people, is unfortunately killed by a young soldier in Montreal by a blow to the head. He instantly becomes a martyr to the french-canadians, a symbol of their independence from les Anglais.

By the Spring of 1940, the insurrection in Quebec is full-scale, and most of Canada's troops are actually fighting at home, rather than abroad. Distracted by this, the war effort is curtailed and the Dominion is not able to support the mother country with arms and materiel. The Republic of Quebec formally declares independence on August 11th, 1940, though it is not able to press home it's claims to the entire territory of the former province of Quebec.

With the loss of an important part of the empire, and the industrial might and manpower that it could draw upon, the war doesn't go well for Britain. The loss of Canadian airplanes alone is a big blow, and the Battle of Britain goes against the RAF. The Battle of the Atlantic is also hard going, and much of the shipping that is sent from America goes to the bottom of the sea at the hands of the German u-boats. Sealion is still a failure, but in the end Great Britain can only maintain a defensive position, and never invades the continent.

The US stays out of the European war, disturbed by the mess to it's north, and because the Nazi's don't declare war after Pearl Harbour, happier with their position against the British. Lend-lease still continues, but shipping is more dangerous.

The US does step in to Africa, declaring the west African French colonies to be a 'protectorate' for the republic-in-exile. The Germans claim the north African colonies, but don't push southwards so as to keep the US out of the War. They do, however, claim Madagascar and the other IO French posessions.

The western front secured, the war ground on in the East. In 1949 the Germans and Soviets declared an Armistice, but never settled a true peace.

Today the Soviets and Brits struggle for influence in Persia.

India and Egypt were given Dominion status in 1949 and 1952 respectively. Australia was given Protector status for the Dutch East Indies, with the Dutch Queen Beatrice in Jakarta.

Japan, not having strong oppostion from the Brits or French in SE Asia were able to hold claims in China and Indochina, but fought a difficult war with the US in the Pacific. An armistice and peace were declared in 1944 and 1946, ending hostilities before a great deal of land fighting was necessary. However, the greatest naval battles of the war, and loss of sailor lives, was found in the Pacific.

In 1952, Turkey invaded and annexed Syria, a troubled nation that had struggled since the fall of it's French patrons.

 

[Scarecrow]

Ok folks, the contest is now...closed.

Watch this space for further developments!