alternatehistory.com

Hello everyone, I have been reading this forum for years and I have finally summoned up the courage to post the alternate history project that I have been writing and researching on-and-off for the past four years or so.

This is yet another alternative Second World War but with this project I worked backwards. I imagined an alternate world in 1975 and then worked backwards to fill in the details to reach this world. I wanted an alt-hist WW2 world where:
- The USSR continued to exist as a major power
- Britain retained at least a vague semblance of the Empire
- Nuclear power played a more active role
- China was split between the Communists and Nationalists

I split this project in multiple parts to make it easier for me to organize.

1. The timeline
2. National profiles for the major nations
3. OOBs for the major nations
4. A short history of space exploration
5. An overview of the Axis automotive industry

I'll post the initial timeline and two of the national profiles first, if you all are interested I'll post the other information. I have tried to keep everything as plausible as possible but there are parts that I know are not as strong as others. I believe the parts dealing with Japan and China are the weakest. Hopefully you all can help me refine and strengthen this fictional world. :)

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Timeline
-Italy does not invade Greece in 1940-
December 7th, 1941 – Japanese forces invade Thailand, Malaya and the city of Hong Kong. Allied forces are unable to stop them and soon Japanese troops are sweeping through Southeast Asia. U.S. President Roosevelt protests publicly but the American people are not interested in joining a war to defend European colonies on the “other side of the world”.

Winter 1941-1942 – German and Soviet forces clash in brutal battles along the Eastern Front. A Soviet counter-offensive barely saves Moscow from capture.

Spring 1942 – The German spring offensive on the Eastern Front makes strong gains in southern Russia but the battle lines stabilize into a stalemate situation along the central and northern fronts.

August 22nd, 1942 – The USS George Jameson, a freighter carrying locomotives, is sunk by a German U-Boat within sight of New York harbor. 32 sailors die during the sinking and the event is widely publicized in American papers. American public opinion begins to favor war and President Roosevelt announces that American Destroyers escorting ships to Britain will now “actively pursue enemy warships” attempting to sink unarmed merchant vessels.

September 9th 1942 – The USS Lansdale, a Benson class Destroyer, is sunk after a short battle with the German Light Cruiser Nürnberg while escorting a convoy of American freighters. The event drives President Roosevelt to declare war on Germany on September 10th 1942.

Late 1942 – Japanese forces have almost completely driven the Allies out of the Southwestern Pacific and now control all of the Dutch East Indies and Indochina.

December 2nd 1942 – Japanese bombers attack Australia. They cause only minor damage but the attack greatly alarms President Roosevelt, who wishes to enter the war and assist his struggling allies. While the U.S. is now allied with Britain against Nazi Germany, Roosevelt can’t find enough public and political support to join the British in their war against the Japanese as well.

Spring/Summer 1943 – German and Soviet forces engage in several massive battles. The Battle of Tula ends with the Soviets barely stopping the German advance. In the south, a Soviet attempt to recapture Kharkov ends in disaster, with over 300,000 Soviet troops surrendering when fast moving German divisions encircle them. The failure of the Soviet southern offensive is a massive blow to Soviet morale and manpower. In Moscow there are whispers of a possible ceasefire with the Germans as both nations slowly bleed each other dry. Several influential German commanders also express their wishes for a ceasefire with Wehrmacht Chief of Staff Wilhelm Keitel. With America now in the war, the Germans fear a possible cross-channel invasion might crush any dreams of the Reich surviving the conflict.

British and American bombers begin attacking German cities and industrial centers in large daylight raids.

October 11th 1943 – After several widely publicized incidents with Japan (including the sinking of an unarmed passenger ship) President Roosevelt formally declares war on the Empire of Japan and sends American forces to assist British and Commonwealth troops in the Southwestern Pacific. The declaration of war is met with only lukewarm support by the American people, with isolationist politicians and celebrities leading protests outside the White House.

December 20th 1943 – Soviet leader Josef Stalin dies of a sudden heart attack at his Moscow dacha. Lavrentiy Beria and his supporters take control and announce a “massive new counter offensive” will be taking place within the coming month. In the wake of several recent disastrous military campaigns, many Soviet politicians and generals know this “offensive” is a charade and decide to act before the nation collapses. On January 19th 1944, a group of Soviet officers enter the Kremlin and arrest Beria. Beria is executed within an hour and the coup conspirators select Georgy Malenkov to become the new head of the nation. Malenkov is believed to be a weak-willed bureaucrat who will be easily controlled by Mikoyan, Molotov, Kaganovich, Zhukov, Khrushchev, Bulganin and other key members of the Soviet state. The Soviet military is in a state of chaos as a result of several military failures in the past summer. Through the Bulgarian Embassy, the Soviet government begins to send messages asking for ceasefire talks with the Germany. The first message is ignored by the Germans but the second and third messages are met with warmer responses. Hitler is reluctant to begin ceasefire talks but he is convinced after the impassioned pleas of several of his most trusted advisors (Speer, Keitel, Jodl and von Rundstedt being some of the most adamant supporters of the peace deal).

February 1st 1944 – German and Soviet peace delegates meet in an abandoned Tsarist dacha outside the city of Orel. Both sides are pleased to find that they both agree on the same set of terms: a “white” peace along the current frontlines and mutual exchange of prisoners. The Soviets also agree to accept any refugees forced from conquered lands now under German rule. Two days later the peace treaty (known as the Treaty of Orel) is announced and the fighting stops. The new German-Soviet border is drawn at Leningrad-Smolensk-Rostov, with the Soviets retaining control of those cities. Almost immediately, the Germans begin expelling millions of Slavs from the territories they hold. The Soviets have lost the Baltic States, Poland, Belarus and most of the Ukraine region to the Germans but they have managed to hold onto all of “traditional” Russia, the Caucasus region and the Central Asian republics. The treaty sparks intense debate in the Soviet leadership but military necessity wins out and the Soviets accept the fact that they must give up the German-occupied regions. In the German High Command, a few generals wish to continue the war but most are elated at their immense victory. The Reich has almost tripled in size and huge swaths of fertile land and abundant resources are now open to “Aryan settlement”.

Spring/Summer 1944 - 1945 - The Germans begin to shift hundreds of thousands of soldiers and thousands of tanks and planes from the Eastern Front to France and the Low Countries to face the expected Anglo-American invasion. After a long and somber meeting, Roosevelt and Churchill decide that the planned invasion of Europe will likely not be successful and it is cancelled. With the Soviets out of the war and the cross-Channel invasion cancelled, the two Allied leaders begin to question their ability to defeat Hitler’s Germany.

The Philippines are captured by the Japanese after a long and bloody six month battle with American, Filipino, British and Commonwealth forces. The disastrous land campaign is only partially compensated by two decisive Allied naval victories: the Battle of the Sulu Sea and the Battle of the Sanda Sea. These two battles result in the sinking of three Japanese carriers, two battleships and two heavy cruisers but with each passing day the Japanese solidify their holdings. The British public, relieved by the end of the fighting in Europe, now begin to question the country’s involvement in the protracted and bloody Pacific war. The 1944 American presidential election is won by Republican Thomas E. Dewey who runs on the campaign slogan: “Peace abroad, prosperity at home”. Dewey and Churchill meet in London to discuss the future of the war and both agree to approach the Germans and Japanese with “status quo” terms like the Soviet Union and Germany had both agreed on a year earlier. Such a peaceful settlement will allow both sides to keep “face” in the eyes of their citizens. Beginning to feel the effects of the massive Anglo-American bombing campaign, the Germans are eager to join peace talks. The Western Allies and Germany agree to peace on February 2nd, 1945 (Treaty of Lisbon) and the Western Allies and Japan agree to peace on March 10th, 1945 (Treaty of Zurich). The Second World War is over.

The rest of 1945 is a year of peace, demobilization and prisoner-exchanges for the major powers. The Soviet-German border becomes a heavily fortified no-mans land even as millions of Soviet citizens flee into Russia to escape the brutality of the Nazi occupiers. Millions of refugees are directed towards Siberia and the Central Asian republics, where they being to toil in newly settled farming, mining and factory towns. Many of these refugees will be sent to the Kazakh SSR where the population will quadruple in the coming years. The Soviet Union has lost almost 500,000 square miles of land to the German Reich. The conquered areas are twice as large as Germany proper and the new border is over 1,000 miles long.

The Soviet Union remains a powerful force but the Germans are confident that they will be able to control and eventually overpower the devastated nation. Hitler views the Soviet Union’s survival as a motivator to keep the German people constantly vigilant and prepared for future conflict, he remarks: “A civilization without enemies will become weak and degenerate. The German people must perpetually be ready for war.”

1946-1950 - The years between 1946 and 1950 are a time of rebuilding and cooling politician tension. While most of the powers begin rebuilding diplomatic relations, the Soviets and Germans continue to fortify the border zone and menace each other. Malenkov tours Communist China (North China) and meets with Premier Mao. Mao and Malenkov agree to forge closer ties and strengthen the Communist cause. Malenkov also pledges to send Mao weapons and aircraft for use against Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalists. American-Japanese relations remain tense but the Americans are allowed to ship food and medical supplies to the Philippines. Agents of the OSS infiltrate the country and begin to secretly assist Filipino resistance groups.

The Pacific War is over but the United States and Japan still greatly distrust each other. Prisoner exchanges occur and the first American observers arrive in the Philippines to ensure the safety of Filipino civilians but their efforts are hampered by the Japanese occupation army. When U.S. President Dewey hears that Filipino villages and towns are being pillaged by Japanese soldiers he orders the US Navy to move off the coast of Manila and escort freighters loaded with grain as they unload. The Imperial Japanese Fleet sorties battleships to block the US fleet from reaching the Philippines but when a dozen US carriers and battleships are reported forming up at Hawaii the Japanese back down. The American freighters, loaded with grain, arrive in Manila and the food is distributed throughout the island nation. President Dewey proclaims over radio that the US will do “everything possible” to ensure the Filipino people are treated with respect and dignity.

The Japanese rule their vast empire brutally and millions of non-Japanese Asians suffer from famine as the occupiers confiscate agricultural goods to feed the Home Islands. They also begin exploiting the vast resources of Asia to feed their growing economic power. The Japanese appoint puppet rulers in their new colonies to help maintain order.

As the years pass, the Germans, Italians and Japanese begin to consolidate their new colonial empires. The Germans embark on a brutal system of depopulation and colonization in the eastern lands of their sprawling empire. Millions of people are deported across the Soviet border and millions more simply disappear. The Germans blame the disappearances on “poor communication” in the brutalized eastern lands but rumors abound of “death camps”. The Soviet Union faces deadly food shortages as it struggles to cope with missions of displaced refugees flooding across the border. These famines are alleviated by American food shipments and new farms being established in the Central Asian republics.

In Africa, the Italians pursue an aggressive program of colonization and depopulation of natives to build their colonial empire. Mussolini works to gain favor with Arab leaders and appoints several Muslims to ranking positions in the colonial administration. In Italian Ethiopia, the Christian natives (Christians being the group most loyal to exiled King Haile Selassie) are treated harshly and forced out of the cities into desolate rural areas. Muslim natives are treated much better, with several remote Muslim regions being given limited autonomy.

Britain and the US lead the Western World with strong economic growth and home prosperity. The British hold onto their Empire by allowing certain colonies self-determination in exchange for military alliances. The dominion states of Canada, Australia and New Zealand join the United Kingdom as partners, helping form a buffer against the Axis powers. A general uprising in India is averted only by diplomatic talks that result in the nation becoming independent but still remaining a vital ally of the Commonwealth. The new India becomes a prosperous member of the Commonwealth and British goods flow into the country. In exchange for independence and generous amounts of developmental assistance the Indians remain loyal allies of the Empire.

On June 19th, 1947, the United States detonates the world’s first atomic bomb. The development of this revolutionary weapon having been delayed by significant technical difficulties.

1951-1955 The Third Reich and United States are the top military powers in the world with Britain, Japan and Italy trailing behind.. The Soviet Union continues to rebuild from the ceasefire. New mines, farms and factories in the Caucasus region, Siberia and Central Asia begin to produce huge amounts of resources. Extensive oil fields are found in Kazakhstan and the Caspian Sea. The United States and Great Britain send the Soviet Union teams of expert engineers and complex machinery to help exploit these energy resources.

Mao’s Communist forces invaded Tibet in 1952, sparking a minor crisis as Japan and the West found themselves in the awkward position of both protesting politically. The Republic of China launched its own pre-emptive invasion to secure several areas in Eastern Tibet before they could be captured by Communist troops. Troops from North and South China exchanged small-arms fire and artillery bombardments during the short invasion but pressure from the Soviet Union and the United States kept the war from spilling into a full conflict. Under American pressure, the Republic of China agreed to implement several economic and political reforms in order to receive military assistance shipments.

In the post-war period, Italy managed to settle over 100,000 new colonists in their colonial lands. A geological survey in Libya and Tunisia uncover oil deposits and the Italians move to quickly exploit these new finds. Italian efforts to establish colonial settlements in East Africa steadily move along but are hampered by corruption and sporadic native resistance.

By 1955 the war has been over for a decade, Axis and Allied relations continue to improve with the exception of German/Soviet contact. Even the US and Japan come to a settlement. The Japanese continue to hold the Philippines but newly elected President Kefauver manages to push forward a treaty that allows large numbers of Filipinos to immigrate to the United States. Some of these Filipino refugees later return to their home nation clandestinely as American spies. The US continues to supply food and medical supplies to the nation along with secret military assistance to resistance groups.
British, American and German relations also improve as business groups in the Western nations move to work once more inside Germany. Lufthansa resumes flights to the United States in 1953 and England in 1954.

Adolph Hitler dies in 1952 and is replaced by his shrewd accomplice, Martin Bormann. Bormann leads a government composed of Goring, Rosenberg, von Ribbentrop, Rudolf Hoess, Odilo Globocnik and Joseph Goebbels. Reinhard Heydrich takes command of the SS after Heinrich Himmler dies in a 1949 plane crash.

The Nazi Empire expands as “Aryan” colonists repopulate the lands once part of the Soviet Union and Poland. Pro-Nazi loyalists from Denmark, Norway, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands are also encouraged to settle these areas. Hundreds of miles of new Autobahn are built and the revitalized city of Germania (Berlin) is a glorious showpiece for the Reich. German continues to deny any allegations of “massacres” and “death camps”, writing them off as Soviet propaganda. To help divert attention, the Germans extensively (and publically) investigate sites of Stalinist terror located in the Soviet regions they occupy. International journalists are shown excavated mass graves and forensics evidence linking the Soviet state to numerous massacres. The prestige of the Reich is further increased by the first test of a German atomic bomb on March 7th, 1952. The United States responds by conducting the first test of a hydrogen bomb on May 16th, 1952. The United Kingdom tests its first atomic bomb on August 10th, 1953.

As the great powers continue to expand their global influence, new areas of conflict open up in Africa, Central America and South America. The Axis and Allied (UN) power-blocs try to convert neutral nations to their ideological cause. In South America, Brazil is a powerful ally of the West while Juan Peron’s Argentina openly courts the Third Reich. In 1952, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Cuba, Peru, Venezuela and Colombia sign the United Americas Treaty (UAT), this military and economic alliance is intended to counter Axis influence in Central and South America. Large amounts of American developmental assistance money flows southward into UAT member states.

1956-1965 – The years of uneasy peace continue as the two world blocks (Axis and Allied) struggle to build up their own economic, political and military strength. In South America, Argentina continues to draw closer towards Japan and Germany as Uruguay and Chile also court the Axis powers. The American-led UAT alliance also grows in economic prosperity and military strength.

The German-Soviet border is a fortified and heavily mined no-man’s land that runs for over 1000 miles. The border area is defended on both sides by hundreds of thousands of troops and thousands of tanks and guns. The border is only crossed by groups of Slavic refugees fleeing (or being expelled by) the German occupation authorities. In the years between 1945 and 1965 nearly twenty million people flee across the border into the Soviet Union. This exodus is one of the largest in human history and places a massive burden on the Soviet Union as the nation struggles to provide enough food, shelter and work for the refugees. Many of the refugees are directed to the rapidly expanding cities in Central Asia, Siberia and the Urals region of Russia. The Soviets remain allies of the United States and Great Britain but they begin to move towards a more independent “third” path that places emphasis on self-reliance and a historical view of the war that casts doubt on the commitment of American and British leaders towards defeating the forces of Fascism. Several books published in the USSR even go as far to blame the Western powers for the nation’s war-time tragedies; claiming that “Western capitalists” were plotting to allow the Soviet Union to be defeated in order to make a separate peace with Hitler.

In the Pacific, Japan and the United States remain adversaries but there are moves towards demilitarization of certain areas and the Japanese even begin to loosen some of their stringent restrictions on Filipino citizens although the country remains under their firm control. The Japanese also reward some of their most loyal “allied governments” with limited autonomy although many low-level resistance groups operate in the occupied Asian nations. In the immediate post-war years, a renewed offensive by the Communists and KMT had freed coastal areas of China, pushing the Japanese back to the Manchurian border. Tensions between Mao and Chiang Kai-shek were soon approaching open conflict but before open war, the two Chinese leaders agreed to a ceasefire with the Japanese, who were also hoping for an end to the resource and manpower draining struggle. After the ceasefire, Chiang Kai-shek and the nationalists retained control of southern China (south of the Yangtze River), with Mao controlling the north and Japan dominating Manchuria. Mao’s People’s Republic of China (North China) became a loyal ally regime of Stalin while Chiang Kai-shek’s Republic of China (South China) became a pro-Western regime supported by the United States.

1965-1970 – In 1966 the final manifestation of the British Empire emerges as the “Commonwealth Federation”. Under this system, all overseas bodies will be given self-rule but they can decide on their future connection to the United Kingdom. Full entry into the Federation entails: supporting British foreign policy and joining in a formal military alliance with Britain, allowing British military bases to be established on their territory, joining Britain in an economic and trade partnership, agreeing to joint citizenship and customs discussions, accepting the British monarch as a symbolic “head of state” and accepting the British Privy Council as the body for final court appeals. In exchange for this, the nation would gain: military protection and assistance from Britain, preferential trade agreements, development assistance, a yearly quota for students to study at British universities and eased paths for immigration to the British Isles. The second option was similar but would allow the nation to pursue a fully independent foreign policy at the expense of not joining the formal military alliance (and thus not having guaranteed protection from the British armed forces) and having less preferential trade agreements. The third option was full and complete separation from the British Empire as it existed in 1965.
India did not take part in this world-spanning referendum, having agreed to a separate settlement with Britain years early. India had joined the United Kingdom in a military defense pact, a trade and customs treaty and allowed Britain to lease several base in India. Nations voting and ratifying “Option One” would be represented on a newly formed Commonwealth Council by two voting members. Nations voting for “Option Two” would get one voting member and less power in the council while nations choosing option “Option Three” would only get observer status membership and the limited power to raise issues before the council. Anguilla, Bermuda, Diego Garcia, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, the Falkland Islands, Montserrat, the Pitcairn Islands, the Saint Kitts and Nevis Islands, Saint Helena, the Sandwich Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands remained as “dependent territories”, under the complete control of the United Kingdom.

The results of the vote were as follows:

Option 1 – Total entry into the Commonwealth Federation
-Canada
-Australia
-New Zealand
-Trinidad and Tobago
-Jamaica
-Union of Arab Emirates
-Kuwait
-Guyana
-Barbados
-Mauritius
-Samoa
-Bahamas
-Seychelles
-Gambia
-Maldives
-Sierra Leone
-Ghana
-Solomon Islands
-Grenada
-Grenadines Islands
-Antigua and Barbuda
-Belize
-Saint Lucia
-Dominica
-Comoros
-Réunion

Option 2 – Entry into the Commonwealth Federation but retaining a fully independent foreign policy
-Nigeria
-Sudan
-Kenya

Option 3 – Full separation
-South Africa
-Rhodesia
-Tanzania
-Sri Lanka
-Pakistan
-Zambia
-Malawi
-Uganda
-Namibia
-Botswana

Small nations and the “settler” nations (with majority European populations) were quick to join the Federation while larger “post-colonial” states opted for the second form of membership or total separation. South Africa and Rhodesia opted for independence from the Commonwealth Federation but retained cultural and economic links with the United Kingdom. The citizenship process between the Commonwealth members and the UK was streamlined and immigration quotas were increased for favored member states.

In 1969, several prominent professors and researchers at Columbia University released a controversial paper known unofficially as the “Columbia Report”, which claimed 15 million people (7 million Jews, 2.5 million Soviet POWs, 4.5 million non-Jewish civilians living in conquered Soviet lands and 1 million Gypsies and others) died as a result of Nazi policies between 1939 and 1959. The report claimed that these deaths were the result of the following factors: starvation, harsh forced labor conditions and death from exposure and disease as a result of living in squalid conditions. The report also concluded that at least 2 million of these victims died as a result of execution by firing squads and “other means”. The report, which took almost 9 years to complete, was compiled from over 1000 interviews, meticulous research on pre- and post-war census data and Soviet government records concerning displaced refugees. The report also claimed that the Germans were able to dispose of the massive amount of bodies quickly through the use of “large crematoriums”. The report’s release was met with shock in the Western world and Soviet Union. Germany quickly denied the report’s findings and claimed that many of the deaths were indirectly caused by disease and Allied bombing raids on rail lines that supplied food to Jewish population centers. The German government also claimed that Soviet refugees interviewed for the report had been instructed by Moscow to grossly inflate the number of reported deaths. A massive anti-Nazi demonstration outside the German embassy in Washington D.C. was attended by almost 100,000 people. The U.S. government, acting in the desire for détente with Nazi Germany, only issued a statement decrying the report’s findings and called for Germany to admit any wrongdoing. Requests by the American government to allow investigative teams to visit the Eastern provinces of the Reich were quickly rejected by Berlin. Jewish groups within the U.S. were outraged and the Soviet Union was greatly disappointed at the lukewarm American condemnation. British PM James Callaghan became popular on both sides of the Atlantic after he strongly condemned the Nazi regime in light of the report’s findings.

1971-1975 – By the early Seventies, the Japanese Empire had been forced to take further actions to appease its large and restless colonial population. The state of Thailand had become almost fully independent and was a client of Japan, while the island of Java received autonomy as a reward for the population’s loyalty and pro-Japanese attitudes. Burma also received limited autonomy although Japan retained a large military presence in the area and dictated the state’s economic and foreign policy decisions. The unstable situation in Vietnam was placated as Japan granted autonomy to the government in exchange for an unalterable military and economic alliance. Vietnam was also forced to agree to house a large number of Japanese military personnel. Korea, Manchuria (Manchukuo), Hainan and Formosa remained under complete Japanese control. Anti-Japanese resistance movements remained active in occupied areas of the Philippines, the East Indies and New Guinea.

Worldwide trade dropped slightly in the 1970s with Britain facing the most significant economic problems of the capitalist nations. The Soviet Union, buoyed by slowly rising world oil prices, continued to grow as a credible “third” bloc although the nation still maintained a firm anti-Axis and pro-UN diplomatic stance. Facing the growing power of North and South China, along with a powerful Soviet Union, the Japanese sought to build their nuclear arsenal and increase the power of their Asian client states (especially Thailand and Vietnam). The world struggle between the various powers had also moved into other fields, such as space exploration, scientific discoveries and influence in the neutral parts of the world.
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