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So a while ago I posed a question about the best way to give more sway to globalism and the UN and it was suggested to me that was only possible if we somehow removed Russia / the Soviet Union. Now that I am on my laptop and not on my phone, I was able to do a little digging to make an OP. The first person I looked up is Zhukov, since I've seen all of you mention him a lot.

The idea came pretty quickly after that, as I saw Zhukov's good personal relationship with Eisenhower as something that could be a boon to international peace in the 1950s (butterflies notwithstanding). However, I did notice that Zhukov didn't really seem to have any political power in this particular era - 1945 which I am picking because the '45-'49 was when we really started to see an escalation from WWII to the Cold War.

Zhukov did eventually gain power as Khruschev recognized his political potential, but Khruschev himself isn't in Moscow politics until the early 1950s. Before Khruschev came back to Moscow, the two other power players were Beria and Malenkov - both of whom hated Zhukov. So herein lies the problem and indeed something of a challenge for the rest of you.

Of course, it doesn't have to be Zhukov. I see some inklings that Beria did try some reforms during his brief tenure as Premier. Not because he was a nice guy, mind you, but to pass off blame for his crimes onto the late Stalin. Khrushchev was apparently afraid that Beria was planning a military coup, which is where the title of this thread comes from.

All that is to say, the main goal here is a Soviet Union that is more amenable to the West. Not saying anything ASB like they should roll over and let the West run rampant, just less outright antagonism and maybe under someone like Zhukov a true development of the "World Policemen" idea that FDR had...

Some other points of interest: Beria apparently wanted to re-unite Germany in order to get concessions from the West. Could be interesting. Also a Marshall Plan extended as far east as Poland would be cool as well.

Have fun!
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