A scenario that is often brought up in theory but not discussed in detail is that if the UK had made piece with Nazi Germany in 1941, or if the US had not entered the war, and the Soviet Union had still managed to defeat the Nazis, they would have conquered their way all the way to the Atlantic. Imagine they did so. Soviet troops march into Berlin in 1946, and Paris not long after that. I'd assume that the liberated areas would go communist as quickly as the areas the Soviets liberated in OTL. But how would red Europe evolve in the long term?
Some factor to consider: The Soviets would have much less to fear from the West without NATO and American ground troops on the continent. And the power of the non-Soviet part of the communist bloc in Europe would be a lot higher than today. With those combined I would expect a lot less Soviet military presence in the territories they limited, and perhaps less, or at least less successful, interference with their politics as well. What would an independent communist France or Italy get up to? Would the liberalization of the kind that was crushed in OTL by possible?
Some factor to consider: The Soviets would have much less to fear from the West without NATO and American ground troops on the continent. And the power of the non-Soviet part of the communist bloc in Europe would be a lot higher than today. With those combined I would expect a lot less Soviet military presence in the territories they limited, and perhaps less, or at least less successful, interference with their politics as well. What would an independent communist France or Italy get up to? Would the liberalization of the kind that was crushed in OTL by possible?