The Soviets and the Americans in 1972 proposed a nuclear treaty which would begin to decrease the world’s nuclear weaponry. Great Britain and France were open to this as well due to their economic recessions, but the Germans, distrustful of anything that would lead to a repeat of World War 2, refused to be part of it. And so, the everyone other than Germany (including Italy and Hungary) generally started decreasing their military spending. While nations avoided treaty obligations, which would incite the Germans, it became understood that it was Germany (and its dominated central European partners) against the world. And so, Germany wanted the nuclear capability to fend off all of the world’s powers, as well as the precision weapons systems to fight off any potential attacks east or west. Approximately 25 percent of their GDP was on military expenditures, and despite a robust exporting economy, the pinch on the average German (even with a large amount of national debt) was acute.
The Soviets and Korean Empire invested increasingly in computers (as the Americans had a decisive edge in electronics). The Silicon Valley of the second world was essentially in Seoul, though the Soviets generally exchanged for Korean electronics (both consumer and military) industrial equipment and advanced weapons systems. The Korean videogame system called “Nintendo” and it became a big hit throughout the world.
A large degree of paranoia started to strike in both the Soviet Sphere as well as in the United States, that being, the ascendance of East Asia. While popular culture retained its largely Japanese flavor in East Asia, the pretense of the Korean Empire actually being Japanese had long evaporated. It was essentially an Asian Czeckoslovakia where high living standards and a totalitarian, meritocratic government, prevented nascent nationalism. The Japanese Home Islands’ economic boom was hitting full swing, but it found its customers being mostly Eurasian. The American market was largely cut off from them. Separatist groups started arising, and though this was against Soviet policy, the Korean Empire (being independent) happily sold arms to Japan.
The United States did not want this and brutally repressed Japanese resistance movements, both peaceful and violent. The RFK administration was careful not to threaten the Korean Empire, as the United States had been functionally isolationist for decades and this was the default foreign policy. However, Ronald Reagan vocally criticized RFK for being “weak on the Japs” and complained, “What did we fight the war for if we are going to simply let the part of Japan we never beat to fight us with one hand tied behind our back?” He also made embarrassing references to storming the beaches on D-Day, something he had never done.
The Germans, a military dictatorship, had made it a matter of dogma to at every opportunity subvert the West. And so, they applied diplomatic pressure upon RFK not to interfere with the Korean Empire, guaranteeing military protection to the Korean Empire. In exchange, they were given preferable trade relations with mainland China (a move which would otherwise be viewed by the Korean Empire as subversive). Reagan accused RFK of appeasement and called him, “Today’s Wilt Chamberlain,” a famous gaffe which should have revealed his early senility, as he was surely referencing Neville Chamberlain. The American people, never the most intellectual nor attuned to history outside their own borders, met the gaffe with either ignorance or with some amusement.
Malenkov understood that the USSR had improved dramatically through alliances, friendship, and trade and gambled on a totally defensive posture. The USSR would not interfere with the affairs of other nations unless a direct threat on their own territories was perceived. The Korean Empire and even Germany to some extent have had decades of friendly relations, something Malenkov did not want to squander.
Certain Soviet hardliners, due to their justified paranoia of East-Asian ascendancy, warned if the USSR did not “contain” the Korean Empire now, that they would ultimately lose territories such as Manchuria. Mikhail Gorbachev ingratiated himself to Malenkov with the pretense of Orthodox piety and with his laissez-faire approach. It became clear the Gorbachev would become Malenkov’s successor and this increasingly minimized the influence of the hardliners.
Ronald Reagan won the US Presidential election with a protectionist emphasis and a muscular foreign policy. He increased military spending and started running budget deficits for the first time since World War II. The size of the standing army was dramatically increased and a massive investment in the United States Navy with the goal of modernizing its fleet was begun. When the USAF shot down a Korean Airlines passenger Jet en route from Taiwan to Vladivostok, it nearly triggered an international incident. Reagan immediately sent much of the United States Navy (which at this time was small, due to it being not much since invested in since WW2 and the modernization program requiring nearly a decade to bear fruit) which merely worsened matters, leading the Germans to send their aircraft carriers to the Korean Empire’s defense. Great Britain and France, whose economies were largely stagnant due to not being internationally competitive and distrustful of the Germans, stood out.
Reagan’s saber rattling, somewhat contained as he was not yet willing to risk nuclear war, was dedicated to brutalizing the Japanese populace. The American people, who had only recently made progress in their own race relations, while avoiding the interning of their own Japanese Americans a second time, were otherwise unfeeling towards the brutality exacted on the Japanese people. Some questioned what the point of it all was, as the average American still was able to buy most of what he needed from America and had no real need for Japanese goods. Reagan won re-election (which had become customary for Presidents) but the Democrats took the Congress. Reagan vetoed any bills which did not include his increased military expenditures.
In 1986, German-backed Arab forces invaded Israel (who ironically also had German weapons, though they paid for these). Reagan, seeing the ability to interfere with German dominance, sent weapons to Israel helping save them from national destruction. Stinger missiles were by far the biggest difference maker and the Germans did not have a suitable equivalent.
During this time, Saddam Hussein took the opportunity to invade Iran. The Germans took the Iranian side while the Americans stood out as the Iraqis offered material support to the Arab invasion of Israel. When OPEC met, a wholesale embargo of Germany and the United States was called for. Furthermore, the OPEC members divested themselves of dollars and marks, in exchange for the Ruble and Won (i.e. the currency of the Korean Empire).
This triggered massive economic recessions in Germany and the United States. Asian markets, with the exception of Manchuria, took a slight hit due to their reliance upon German-Axis trade (American trade was mostly irrelevant). Reagan responded by adding a major tariff on the Japanese Home Islands (to protect American automotive and electronics manufacturers) with Democratic support. Germany started facing civil unrest, as inflation was increasing much higher than wages. Lauri Torni seized power and exercised brutal repression on dissidents. Italy and Hungary, whose economies were also hit significantly due to their use of the mark, likewise had unrest—but it was not as brutally repressed. By the late 1980s, a massive brain-drain of central European intellectuals started going to Moscow (the real adventurous engineers of the bunch took jobs in Seoul). A few made it past immigration quotas to the United States.
In 1988, Ronald Reagan was extremely senile and not knowing he was speaking to a hot mic, made the reference that “the bombs were gonna drop in five minutes.” Nothing occurred, but Torni took this as overt provocation and openly started giving material support to Fascist revolutionaries in Nicaragua. At the same time, the biggest Hollywood blockbuster was Sylvester Stallone’s “Red Dawn,” which was about a United States’ commando’s experience in fighting a successful guerilla war against a Nazi invasion of New York. Ironically, the top grossing movie in German cinema the year before was Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Der Sturmer” (a reference to the defunct newspaper) who likewise plays a commando fighting American, French, and British forces attacking the city of Kiel in 2021.
Despite Germany’s heavy investment in their military, they were rebuffed by a surprising show of force by the United States to prevent an arms shipment to Japan. Japan was at this point in open rebellion, but it was blockaded and its economy was in shambles. This merely helped swell Japanese “terrorist” ranks. When Korean equivalents of Stinger Missiles started downing American aircraft, Reagan threatened the Korean Empire with war. As the weeks grinded on, American and Germans ships started firing at one another, though no ship was sunk. The Korean Empire activated their air force to show support to the Germans at this juncture.
Malenkov flew to Seoul in a matter of hours (the USSR introduced hypersonic passenger flight) and pled with the Korean Empire’s first Korean Prime Minister, Kim Jae-gyu, to stop selling weapons to the Japanese and stay out of the German-American conflict. Malenkov, who appealed to Kim’s Orthodoxy (he was a rather late convert in 1981), asserted that there was not enough material gain in selling weapons to Japan to come out ahead in a brewing conflict.
It was believed within Soviet circles that with the Korean Empire’s GDP now exceeding the USSR’s (both had GDPs approximately of four trillion OTL dollars, and this included Manchuria in the USSR), it was likely that Korea would not be so subservient. Malenkov secretly had taken an oath to step down and seclude himself in a monastery after the meeting, as he was aware that the USSR was being eclipsed (despite their own economic miracle). As if an answer to prayer, Kim agreed, Malenkov stepped down, became a novice, and died three months later. He has since been canonized in the Orthodox Church as “equal to the Apostles, enlightener of the Chinese and Koreans.” Kim himself was assassinated himself by a lone Buddhist gunman during the 1990s, and he was too canonized, but as a martyr, though there was little indication that the killing was religiously motivated--though the assailant was Buddhist.
Generally, there are “October Surprises” in American political elections. Vice President George HW Bush was running against Walter Mondale and it appeared that Mondale would lose due to the popularity of Reagan’s aggressiveness (the FCC had also clamped down on “treasonous” media and the IRS just so happened to audit “treasonous” people at a high rate). On October 31s, 1988, a German military satellite detected what appeared to be multiple ICBM launches. Torni, who was immediately reached, authorized a full nuclear retaliatory strike. Reagan, was campaigning for Bush and could not be reached in a timely manner. Torni was informed that the German satellites were in error, and though bombers were called back, there was no calling back the missile launches. A frenzied call was made to the United States and by the time Reagan was reached, he had ordered a full nuclear response. However, German decapitation strikes successfully took out Washington DC, New York City, and many military installations. The American response devastated Germany, along with Italy and Hungary (American doctrine presumed that they would all be relevant during a nuclear conflict, when in fact both Italy and Hungary lacked ICBMs and nuclear weaponry of their own, though they had bombers capable of reaching the United States). Rome was destroyed as were major cities within their empire in Africa.
This was not 1946. Nuclear war was many times more destructive. While Torni survived in a nuclear bomb shelter, he was immediately assassinated. The United States had largely fragmented as there was no clear succession (though Reagan, who survived the exchange as he was campaigning in Pennsylvania, asserted the right to rule). In effect, the more left-leaning states amicably formed their own system of government while the right-leaning states formed their own. Southern states, who largely survived nuclear destruction, reformed their earlier Confederacy.
Due to the humanitarian disaster that unfolded in Central Europe, Soviet, French, and British troops occupied the countries and provided humanitarian aid. The Korean Empire was busy providing aid to Japan and a wave of Japanese immigration to Korea followed.
Gorbachev, the new Soviet premier, increasingly reformed the Soviet economy, bringing in Japanese and Korean central bankers to help introduce window-guidance to the Soviet Economy. The USSR helped invest more heavily in automotive manufacturing (which was still significantly backward) and electronics. British and French intellectuals, still heaving socialist in their bent, viewed window-guidance as exploitive. However, by the turn of the millennium, they too would follow the Korean model.