Stalin dies in 1945

IOTL Stalin had a heart attack in October of 1945. What if that heart attack had killed him?

How does this affect the Cold War? Germany still partitioned as OTL? Who is likely to succeed him?
 
Andrei Zhdanov is the most likely person to succeed Stalin at this time, but he was a pretty serious alcoholic and would probably die around his OTL death date of 1948. The next most likely person to succeed Stalin would be Molotov, and in all probability there would be some type of collective leadership. In terms of the Cold War it would probably be less tense, but still there. A lot of the problems of the Cold War were caused by differences in the interests of the post-war powers, and a lot of those differences remain (also Stalin's successors would still view the world through Stalinist lenses, which say that war between the West and the USSR is inevitable). Germany would probably still be divided up.
 
With Stalin dead the USSR has the opportunity to change, at least a little bit. If nothing else, there would follow a power vacuum, allowing for experimentation with new policies and orientations, as well as more flexibility for foreign communists and Soviet allies. In addition, the timing of the death coming at the conclusion of the Great Patriotic War could make it easier for the Soviet people to process the memory of Stalin by ending on a somewhat good note.
 

Genghis

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With Stalin dead the USSR has the opportunity to change, at least a little bit. If nothing else, there would follow a power vacuum, allowing for experimentation with new policies and orientations, as well as more flexibility for foreign communists and Soviet allies. In addition, the timing of the death coming at the conclusion of the Great Patriotic War could make it easier for the Soviet people to process the memory of Stalin by ending on a somewhat good note.

Depends on how close to the end of the war it is. Have it be week or few days after the end of war and you will soon have legend like how Stalin only allowed himself to die once SSSR won.
 
With Stalin dead the USSR has the opportunity to change, at least a little bit. If nothing else, there would follow a power vacuum, allowing for experimentation with new policies and orientations, as well as more flexibility for foreign communists and Soviet allies. In addition, the timing of the death coming at the conclusion of the Great Patriotic War could make it easier for the Soviet people to process the memory of Stalin by ending on a somewhat good note.
Agreed, Stalin's legacy will be much more positive ITTL (of course the Purges will remain a bone of contention).
 
Also with Stalin dead early enough the idea of unifying Germany as a neutral buffer state some time after it's division would given more thought here.
Molotov and Beria being proponents of it.

Also wasn't there an idea that was being floated around that time about the creation of a jewish Crimean SSR.
I think I recall Molotov's wife being involved with that.
Anyway its a possibility if Isreal fails now Stalin is out of the way.
 
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We might see a situation where the Soviet Union is much more deeply enmeshed in the system of post-WW2 institutions. In OTL, the Soviets were active in the process of institution-building, but Stalin pushed his diplomats to play hardball, as he was growing increasingly suspicious that Soviet membership in these institutions would result in US domination of the SU. Eventually, this meant the Soviets did not commit to many of these initiatives.

So, with Stalin dead earlier, we might see Soviet participation in the Bretton Woods system (and thus membership of the IMF and World Bank, which would have rather large implications on how the Rouble would work as a currency and how the Soviet banking system would evolve).

And that's just one example...

fasquardon
 
As long as Chiang Kai-Shek is in charge, certainly.
Depends if Stalin's successor still hands Manchuria to Mao. Without that boost it will take longer for the communists to get as powerful as they did and may buy Chang time to either squash them, win hearts and minds or both.

Also Stalin is probably remembered in russia more like Mao in china, he's well thought of for industrialising Russia and winning the war with his actions in the purge seen as an aberration or the actions of subordinates that got out of hand. In Russia he's 70% good 30%bad, but outside he's looked on with askance and his many crimes are still well known.
 
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