October 1950-McArthur has ignored orders to stop before the Yalu. Chinese troops pour over the border, sending the UN forces back. POD: Instead of nukes McArthur asks for chemical weapons.
Truman approves the use. Chemical weapons will stop the invaders, and the US has never had the mass exposure to chemical warfare that Europe had.
Bombing begins of the narrow neck of the Korean peninsula where it meets China. Thousands of farmers become ill with blistered skin. Nerve gas simply won't last long enough: Mustard gas is the chosen agent. The Chinese invasion is halted. The UN forces push up, and the Korean war is over. But the South decides to expell the US afterwards in protest. Civil Wars might be nasty, but if your cousin is on the other side, odds are you aren't going to use the really ugly weapons. Protests in the US are muted: Victory has been achieved at few US lives.
Did I say UN forces? Well, the Europeans pulled out of NATO in protest. The USSR introduced a resolution in the General Assembly calling on the end of chemical and biological warfare. The US vetoes it.
Germany reunites: With the collapse of NATO there is no need to refuse the Russian offer of an independent, reunited, Germany. GB does not get the hydrogen bomb, as VX doesn't get invented.
While the West is split they are still anti-communist. And so Vietnam evolves as IOTL, until Rolling Thunder becomes Rolling Death. The gassing of Ho Chi Min city is a war crime plain and simple. And with a military that learned how to keep things out of the news, the Vietnamese response is a surprise.
Nerve gas is very simple to make. A V-2 is a little harder, but the Vietnamese manage it. And so Ubon airbase is anhilated: A V-2 containing a cluster weapon loaded with nerve and mustard gas hits it. Every pilot, mechanic, and soldier is incapacitated, either dead (easy to deal with if you are not the Americans) or wounded(taking up valuable resources). The US retaliates with more gas. And so the USSR issues an ultimatum: Agree to the Chemical Warfare Treaty or face destruction.
Truman approves the use. Chemical weapons will stop the invaders, and the US has never had the mass exposure to chemical warfare that Europe had.
Bombing begins of the narrow neck of the Korean peninsula where it meets China. Thousands of farmers become ill with blistered skin. Nerve gas simply won't last long enough: Mustard gas is the chosen agent. The Chinese invasion is halted. The UN forces push up, and the Korean war is over. But the South decides to expell the US afterwards in protest. Civil Wars might be nasty, but if your cousin is on the other side, odds are you aren't going to use the really ugly weapons. Protests in the US are muted: Victory has been achieved at few US lives.
Did I say UN forces? Well, the Europeans pulled out of NATO in protest. The USSR introduced a resolution in the General Assembly calling on the end of chemical and biological warfare. The US vetoes it.
Germany reunites: With the collapse of NATO there is no need to refuse the Russian offer of an independent, reunited, Germany. GB does not get the hydrogen bomb, as VX doesn't get invented.
While the West is split they are still anti-communist. And so Vietnam evolves as IOTL, until Rolling Thunder becomes Rolling Death. The gassing of Ho Chi Min city is a war crime plain and simple. And with a military that learned how to keep things out of the news, the Vietnamese response is a surprise.
Nerve gas is very simple to make. A V-2 is a little harder, but the Vietnamese manage it. And so Ubon airbase is anhilated: A V-2 containing a cluster weapon loaded with nerve and mustard gas hits it. Every pilot, mechanic, and soldier is incapacitated, either dead (easy to deal with if you are not the Americans) or wounded(taking up valuable resources). The US retaliates with more gas. And so the USSR issues an ultimatum: Agree to the Chemical Warfare Treaty or face destruction.