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What if Stalin lived a few years longer, remaining basically in control of his physical and mental faculties for that period.

I'm curious how he would have handled various foreign policy and technical developments of the middle and even later fifties.

Now there has been the wonderful "Twilight of the Red Tsar" timeline but it has multiple dramatic and extreme elements I'm not seeking to explore.

Also, I am a skeptic of ideas that Stalin was readying to carry out a systematic anti-Jewish Holocaust or that he would deliberately start World War Three had he lived.

That said, there are innumerable international events coming up he would have to respond to. How might he respond similarly or differently in comparison to the collective leadership that took over after his death and then Khrushchev?

Here is what was coming up on the foreign policy menu:

a) Korean armistice in 1953

-In OTL, post-Stalin collective leadership went for it in July - would Stalin?

b) Iran coup in 1953

-In OTL the Soviet stance was completely passive, would Stalin have more "game" and pursue a more active policy?

c) Geneva Conference on Indochina in 1954

-In OTL the Soviets pushed for the compromise on the 17th parallel, would Stalin push for more, or for avoiding settlement altogether

d) Guatemala coup in 1954

-In OTL the Soviet stance was completely passive, would Stalin have more "game" and pursue a more active policy?

e) The Austrian State Treaty in 1955

-Are the Soviets staying in northeast Austria, and perhaps even attempting to build a Communist state, for as long as Stalin lives?

f) Germany joining NATO in 1955

-Does he react beyond diplomatic protest, harass or blockade Berlin?

g) Formalization of the Warsaw Pact in 1955

-does he take the same approach or leave things more bilateral and informal?

h) Nasser’s quest for weapons in 1955

-Does Stalin facilitate arms and political connections with Arab nationalists at this time, or abstain from involvement?

i) Retrocession of Manchurian ports to China in 1955

-Does Stalin hold on to these as long as he lives?

j) The Bandung Non-Aligned or Afro-Asian conference in 1955

-Moscow was not at all diplomatically hostile to this in OTL as it ended up being more anti-western and anti-colonial than anything else. Does Stalin take the same approach

k) Suez invasion in 1956 (if it happens)

-Does he stick his nose in it a la Khrushchev, or stand-off while others fight

l) Sputnik’s launch in 1957

-How does this success change his outlook in terms of strategic confidence

m) Quemoy and Matsu Crisis in 1958 (if it happens)

n) Iraqi revolution and US intervention in Lebanon in 1958

-Does he warn off western intervention in Iraq like Khrushchev did?

o) Would any uprising even start in the European satellite in 1950-1959

p) Cuban Revolution 1959

-OTL Soviet leaders, Khrushchev, Mikoyan and others got excited and enthusiastic to work with Castro once he reached out to Moscow. Would Stalin respond the same way or blow him off?

q) Would Sino-Soviet split become irreparable and public by 1959?

r) Would Stalin domestically allow any reallocation of investment from heavy industry and the military to the consumer sector and light industry?

s) Does Stalin increase welfare benefits as the 1950s Soviet leaders did?
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