Preview Chapter: Just what the hell happened?
Map of the world 1936
In 1936, Europe was on the brick of war once more. The Germans, who with the treaty of Brest Litovsk had managed to gain much influence in Poland, the Baltics and Ukraine, had slowly lost almost everything in the 20's. With the threat of the Western Entente on one side and the evergrowing communist threat waging war on Germany's satellite states, it was forces to grant independence to Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltics. However, of the three only the latter managed to maintain its independence from the Soviets, who managed to win the Civil War in Russia. Germany was forced to cede all of its colonies to the Entente, but remained a monarchy, while also keeping Poland as an highly independent vassal state. The German National People's Party managed to rise into power, inspired by Italy's rise of Fascism. However, it was far more tame compared to Italian fascism, and the Kaiser still had a bigger saying compared to the King of Italy, and it's main objective was the destruction of the Communist ideal. With the Entente not being able to limitate the German armed forces, nor to stop its aereal or naval programs, it seems like revenge against the Bolsheviks is near.
Austria-Hungary was on the verge of collapsing. After the Great War was over with a limited Entente Victory, it was allowed to keep the majority of its territories, but had to cede land to both Italy and Serbia, with the latter being a major beneficter, forming the kingdom of Yugoslavia. Austria nearly collapsed if it wasn't for Germany's intervention, but it was forced to cede Galicia to Poland. While at first hurt by Germany "stab in the back", relations with the German empire soon become cordial once the new government realized it had less ethic groups trying to shoot against Austrian soldiers. However, while also looking east wary of the new Soviet regime, it seems like Romania, having been neutral during the Great War and having occupied Bessarabia out of sheer opportunism during the Russian Civil War, have some idea of its own to expand to what seemed like an unstable empire. However the new nationalistic Fatherland Front had managed to turn Austria-Hungary into a formidable nation, alongside integrating all various ethnic groups within the empire.
Italy was one of the members of the Entente, but it did not receive the lands she desired. The region of Dalmatia, part of the regions who were to be granted to Italy for contributing to the war effort were given to Serbia, as the British had little intentions to turn the Adriatic sea into an Italian lake. The Mediterranean was Britain's main shortcut to the jewel of the Empire, India. They had little intentions to give it up to the Italians. However the people of Italy were outraged by this "Mutilated Victory", and due to the internal tumoil of the Italian peninsula, a new strong government was needed in this time of Chaos. Italian Fascism, born with Benito Mussolini "Partito Fascista", aimed to solve Italy political situation, quickly rised to power in the unstable country. It aimed to restore Italian greatness to levels similar to the Roman empire, and despite intial contrasts with its old enemies, Germany and Austria, Italy was largely forgiven by the Central Powers. It was realized that the old Austrian government stubborness had alienated the Italians, and was decided that whenever Yugoslavia was to be invaded, an equal partition would occur. Italy would finally gain Dalmatia, while Austria would annex the lands it owned before 1920, while also creating puppet states with the remaining territories.
While both Italy's and Germany response were aggressive to the end of the war with the election of far right nationalist governments, they were mild compared to what happened in France, although the ideology was the opposite. France felt betrayed by all members of the Entente, having lost more men than any other nation in the faction, and gaining little to nothing, and with Germany still a military threat. Alsace-Lorraine was retaken, but Germany had still a strong army, and the French started to believe that the "huns" would not had had much difficulty taking it back. Inspired by Soviet successes in retaking the land the Germans had gained in the East, the French Communist Party, leaded by Maurice Thorez, declared a second revolution against the French Republic. Very soon the French Commune begun to infiltrate agents in the Benelux and Switzerland, causing communist revolutions in these countries. France avoided the temptation of demanding French inhabited areas from its new allied states, and supported the Soviets in the spread of communism among the Chinese warlords. They even support a communist takeover in Mexico, which caused much fear among the Central American Banana republics. So much that El-Salvador Leader, Maximiliano Hernández Martínez, proposed a federation between Guatemala and Honduras called the Central American Republic, with San Salvador as its capital. France has begun a program of massive mechanization, and by 1936, its mechanized armies had little to no rival, with the exception of the Germans themselves, who kept very little in the West, aiming to struck the Soviets as soon as possible.
The Soviet Union had a turbolent history, having to push the Germans out of Ukraine and Belarus and dealing with a coalition army supporting the White movement, and become significantly more militaristic, aiming to spread the Communist revolution to the entire world. After the death of Lenin, Leon Trotsky rised to power, more than intent to spread communism to the whole world. Opposing him was mainly Germany, as he realized that he may never fully complete his task with the vengeful Germans watching every Soviet move, waiting for the opportunity to strike. He knows the Soviet Union has many enemies, but none are as formidable as the Germans, and definitely not even as half as motivated. However recently Trotsky had committed the terrible mistake of purging part of the Red Army, fearing for possible German sypmathizers within Soviet ranks. The Purge has largely been exagerated in the recent years, but still a considerable ammount of experienced personell was executed or exiled. Still, the Soviet Red Army is one of the largest on the planet, although not as motorized or even equipped as many of its enemies.
China since the 1915's has hadly been considered a nation and more like a failed state. Warlords had for many years ravaged the land, all competing for the right to rule the nation. However in the recent years an unexpected faction seemed to have gained a position of power within China. The Chinese Communist Party, leaded by Mao Zedong, had managed to gain much territories in northern and central China, greately supported by both the French and the Soviets. However the sheer number of Chinese Warlords had managed to partially stop the Communists, until the Japanese invaded Manchuria on 1931. Soon Japan become the common enemy between the various Warlords, who decided to ally with the Peoples' Republic of China out of sheer opportunism. Japan was scarcely condemded by the nations of the world, with Germany in particurally praising the Japanese for stopping the Chinese communists in a way or the other, even if it meant the creation of a puppet government in Manchuria. Combined with the fact that the various Warlords started to lose their fear of the Japanese, the People's Republic of China started to lose the majority of its power. With many of its soldiers not even believing in the ideology of communism, poor infastructure and lack of military organization, the People's Republic of China is by far the weakest member of the Communist front, but makes up with large numbers.
The Ottoman empire was a state which risked to collapse at any moment before the 20's. Nicknamed the "Sick man of Europe", it had to deal with constant Arab, Kurdish and Armenian revolts, and had a weak government. Germany attempted to invite the Ottomans into the Great War, but were unsuccessfull in their attempt. While the Germans and the Entente fought each others, the Ottomans continued to modernize and improve themselves, and by the 1930 the Ottomans were considered a respectable force, although still unexperienced regarding modern warfare. None the less, they wished to test their military strenght against Iran, aiming to conquer various areas inhabited by Arabs, Kurds and Arzebajiani. As a second target, they aimed for the subjugation of the entire Arab peninsula, wishing to kick the British out of Arabia. They have a powerful army, and their mechanized troops are well supplied by the Empire's vast oil deposits, taken also from the recently conquered kingdom of Najid.
Now that we have a general understanding of the political climate of 1936, let's see how the timeline largely went:
31 April 1937 Signing of the Axis Pact, an extention of the Central Powers to include Japan and its puppet States
12 march 1938 The Central Powers declares war on the Soviet Union, but ignore France at the moment. France itself, on its own purge situation, although far smaller than the Soviet one and busy supporting the Spanish Republic, seems neutral alongside its allied Communist States. Germany does some pushes in the polish-russian border. A few months later Tannu Tuwa and Mongolia enter the war on the Soviet side.
21 april 1938: China declared war on the Japanese, believing them weak in the Chinese-Manchurian border. Around the same time France, Switzerland and the Benelux also joins the war, pushing very deep in the Rhine because of the very few German division present there. They found a much harder time pushing in Italy only because they have fewer troops there and because of the mountains.
22 june 1938: The spanish civil war hasn't ended yet, and Nationalist Spain joins the axis, while Republican Spain joins the comintern.
12 september 1938 the french have reached bavarian territories, but are stopped by several german troops which were pulled back from the eastern front.
30 september 1938: The UK and it's colonies join the war to protect the Central Powers. They don't trust the Central Powers, but see the communists as the greater threat. A few days later Romania joins the comintern to claim several land in transilvania.
11 november 1938: the Ottoman empire, taking advantage of the war, invades Iran.
24 november 1938 Brazil declares war on Bolivia. At the same time, Peru invades Equador and swear alliance to the Axis.
28 november 1938 Yugoslavia, following the example of Brazil and the Ottoman empire, declares war on Albania, believing that they might not get involved in the war. Albania joins the Central Powers.
29 november 1938 Japan start to retreat from siberia, creating a defensive line, and focuses on China.
04 dicember 1938 The british land on Normandy. Republican Spain capitulates to Nationalist Spain.
15 dicember 1938 The Soviet Unon declares war on Afghanistan, aiming to gain a shortcut to British Raj. Afghanistan joins the Allies.
19 december 1938 France launches one last major offensive in Germany, the battle of the Bulge, near Hannover. It fails miserably.
01 march 1939 The Central Powers manage to counter in Northern Germany. Luxemburg capitulates.
23 may 1939 Austria start to push deeply in the soviet territories along side Germany and it's very near to Crimea. Romania capitulates.
07 June 1939 the United baltic nations form between Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, and remain neutral in the conflit. America start land lease programme to Europe.
23 July 1939 Mexico invades the United Central American Republic. They join the war on the comintern side. America intervenes fearing to lose its influence in Central America.
09 August 1939 Belgium and the Netherland capitulates. France finally surrenders after a large part of its army is encircled near Paris. Now the Axis-Allies alliance can start a full-on invasion of the soviet union.
28 August 1939 Ukraine has completely fallen under the hand of Austria and Germany. The germans in particular are very close to Moskow.
01 September 1939 China is on the verge of capitulation.
02 October 1939 Russia and the last remaining members of the Comintern surrenders. Peace treaty of Mexico City.
Map of the world 02 October 1939. Light Purple are areas largely occupied by Britain, Light Blue are areas largely occupied by America, Light Grey are German Puppet States, with the exception of Russia, who is simply for the most part occupied by Germany.
With the end of the Second World War, Germany ended its position as a dying nation and become a dominating power alongside Austria-Hungary, Japan and Italy. Very soon concerns regarding Germany dominating Europe returned, and the British and American, having become the dominant democratic nations in the world, created a block aimed to contain Germany and its allies from further expanding. The Anglo/American-Central Powers Cold War was born.
I hope you guys like this new update! Be sure to like(if you like it), comment(please comment so I can learn what your opinion is) and.....follow I guess.
