Next up is Sledgehammer, to be divided up into four parts: Balkans, Caucasus/Central Asia, Northern, and Central.
New Deal Coalition Retained Pt II: World on Fire
- Thread starter Prince Daemon Targaryen
- Start date
An old TL where, apart from amenities like Bokassa emperor of the French, Jim Jones POTUS and Chikatilo as Soviet leader, the world was very more divided and hostile than OTL. After WWII US and the European allies get separate, and the latter found the Amsterdam Pact, which doesn't include post-fascist nations of Westphalia and Italy. Then also the Amsterdam Pact collapse, with France coming nearly to nuclear war with her allies in less than a year. It's an "everyone against everyone else" world.
manav95
Banned
Basically it falls off a cliff and ends up being something that could win a Vlad Tepes Award.
Jacques Massu
The Passing of a Titan
On the dark night of February 11, 1991, the person likely to claim the title of the most influential Frenchman in the 20th Century made his ascent to Valhalla. General Jacques Massu, two time President of the Council, decorated war hero of WWII and the Algerian War, founder of the National Front, and the Commander of French forces in WWIII passed away in his sleep. Putting finishing touches on war plans for Sledgehammer that would see the French Army advance into the Ukraine, the octogenarian Massu simply never woke up. Colonel John Roland would famously remark "He did his duty and saved his land. Now he joins the gods of old in eternal reward of Asgard's halls." Flags across the Allied world would be flown at half mast while the French assembly would declare a week's mourning, voting that his body be interred in Les Invalides, an honor only granted to Napoleon Bonaparte and a few other French military heroes. The Soviet state media organization TASS released a statement that the "Imperialist crusader now rots below the ground where he belongs, and soon the remaining capitalist invaders will meet a similar fate." French bombers subsequently assaulted Sevastopol in a furious terror bombing. French Mediterranean Army commander Lt. General Michel Roquejeoffre replaced Massu as French Supreme Commander.
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So the Soviets don't give even token respect to departed enemy commanders, huh? Jerks.
I'm not sure why y'all are surprised/disgusted by this. It's the middle of WW3, it's not like the Soviets are gonna declare a day of mourning for an enemy commander who has repeatedly blunted there offensives.
Well, if I were them, i would of given a terse statement acknowledging his death and be done with it. They also could of just failed to acknowledge his death,which would also work. The response they gave makes them look more fanatical and that's not a good way to keep nations neutral.
manav95
Banned
If they were sane people, they would have surrendered to the Allies already. And not purged the "moderate" Communists.
The realm of Peter the Great is indeed in a tight situation.
Admiral Halsey
Banned
Just had a thought for the future. If Powell runs for president at some point TTL could we see the first ever clean sweep of every state plus DC?
Hey, they're also in denial, given the war hasn't been a real..... success.
manav95
Banned
And this is what's held Russia back. It's autocratic leaders held back on introducing new ideas from the West, especially the idea of a constitutional monarchy with a popularly elected legislature. This made Russia reliant on the individual skill and talent of their rulers. And given that there were bad tsars like Nicholas 2, this lead to Russia lagging behind and being unable to adapt to changes in technology and geopolitics.
End result: the Bolsheviks came to power but they wound up being just as authoritarian as the Tsars were. They also took over the economy and tried to make all the planning and production decisions. This led to Russia not being as innovative or dynamic as the West because each economic and political decision went through layers of bureaucracy. Even though Russia had a well-educated, talented workforce, they weren't able to work to their full potential because of the rulers. And a lot of them were purged for all sorts of political reasons as well.
Things were stable in Russia for a while but then they went downhill with the military budget draining and the Afghanistan war. Then it all collapsed and Russia tried to liberalize their economy in the 1990s but failed miserably. And then Putin took over and made things somewhat better, but it's clear Russia OTL won't be catching up to the West anytime soon.
As you probably know, IOTL (and presumably here as well) the Soviet Union built lower quality versions of its more complicated equipment (tanks, IFVs, jets etc.) primarily for export, the so called “monkey models.” Ad an aside , some believe it was the West’s encounters with this watered down gear that gave Soviet equipment such a bad rep, when in reality top of the line vehicles and aircraft were largely at parity with their NATO counterparts. I’m not so sure about that, but IMO their shit was a LOT better than most people think.
Anyways, another reason this was done was so that production could be sustained during an extended land war, as we’re seeing here. My question is: has NATO been forced to do so here, and to what degree of sophistication has their equipment suffered? Given the absolute meat grinder this war has been on a global scale and the devestating impact on even the US homefront, I think it’s safe to say that it’s impossible for any NATO country in 1990 to be churning out tanks and jets in quantity and quality to what was being made even five years prior, even at total war levels.
That being said, I still think NATO monkey models will still have a technical edge over Soviet monkey models.
Anyways, another reason this was done was so that production could be sustained during an extended land war, as we’re seeing here. My question is: has NATO been forced to do so here, and to what degree of sophistication has their equipment suffered? Given the absolute meat grinder this war has been on a global scale and the devestating impact on even the US homefront, I think it’s safe to say that it’s impossible for any NATO country in 1990 to be churning out tanks and jets in quantity and quality to what was being made even five years prior, even at total war levels.
That being said, I still think NATO monkey models will still have a technical edge over Soviet monkey models.
The M-47 and M-60 are the most common tank on the Allied side along with the British Centurion and German Leopard I. Most US forces in South America and British/French units in Africa were equipped with Centurions so that the more advanced models could be concentrated in Europe.
Probably. Especially considering that Powell will probably perform worse with Southern whites than any other demographic.
Just like Ike.