Stalin dies; Roosevelt survives.

How would events in WW2 proceed if on the day FDR was supose to die he actually lives to see the end of the war, while Stalin dies (for whatever reason you can think of).
 
Hmmmm, interesting POD. For a start, I would presume that he wins the next election. He was farsighted enough to OK the atom bomb. Does he give more funding to rocket research, perhaps? Do we have an American on the Moon in 1964/65 instead of 1969?
 
I'm guessing there would be some sort of power struggle in the USSR, presumably disrupting the war effort a bit. I also think the balance of power in the red court was probably different to 1953 - so who takes over?
 

CalBear

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Stalin dies on 12 April of '45? The Soviets still finish off Berlin (they were already in the City on 4/12). Post war Europe may be different with the struggle between Beria and Molotov distracting the Party & NKVD. You may even see a military coup, provided the NKVD is sufficiently distracted to allow the Front commanders to pull a plan together.

Almost certainly the death of Stalin saves a couple million (or more) lives post-war as Stalin's rather idiotic "contamination" purges are never started and the Red Army PoWs are not sent to the Gulag.

The only war impact may be in the Pacific, where the USSR probably does not jump the Japanese on August 8th.. This could also eliminate the Korean War since the entire Peninsula now is occuppied by Allied troops.
 
Stalin dies on 12 April of '45? The Soviets still finish off Berlin (they were already in the City on 4/12).

No they werent. The battle for Berlin started on april 16 and it took 1 week to reach Berlin. Zjukov might not have pushed so much at Zeelow heights if Stalin were around so a few thousand soviets live a bit longer
 

CalBear

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No they werent. The battle for Berlin started on april 16 and it took 1 week to reach Berlin. Zjukov might not have pushed so much at Zeelow heights if Stalin were around so a few thousand soviets live a bit longer

My mistake.:eek:

I will stand on the no noteworthy impact on the end of the War in Europe statement.
 
The end of the War, but what of the aftermath. I remember reading somewhere that FDR was in favor of dismantling Germany and that Truman only "created" W. Germany as a countermove against the USSR. Am I right?
 
If Soviet military is needed on the homefront to keep Russia from going unstable, is there any chance that any countries in Eastern Europe get their democratic elections?
 
If Soviet military is needed on the homefront to keep Russia from going unstable, is there any chance that any countries in Eastern Europe get their democratic elections?

In OTL different Eastern European countries had different experiences in the immediate aftermath of 1945. Czechoslovakia had fairly free elections which the Communists legitimately won, or at least emerged as the largest party.

Plainly Poland was different. I am not sure about other Eastern European states but I think it is worth remembering that most had been Nazi allies.

Someone said that the USSR might not have declared war on Japan on August 8. I disagree. I believe that was part of the Yalta deal and a Soviet leadership would stick to it so they can get the rest of that arrangment.
 

CalBear

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In OTL different Eastern European countries had different experiences in the immediate aftermath of 1945. Czechoslovakia had fairly free elections which the Communists legitimately won, or at least emerged as the largest party.

Plainly Poland was different. I am not sure about other Eastern European states but I think it is worth remembering that most had been Nazi allies.

Someone said that the USSR might not have declared war on Japan on August 8. I disagree. I believe that was part of the Yalta deal and a Soviet leadership would stick to it so they can get the rest of that arrangment.


DECLARE war maybe. Wage it, probably not.

I'm not at all sure that a USSR in the midst of either a power struggle or, hopefully, a military coup to dislodge the Party, would have the ability to manage the rather impressive feat of transferring a couple of Armies, with all associated equipment, a quarter of the the way around Planet or so in less than three months.
 

sanusoi

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Let's skip tot he juicy bits of the campaign. We might see the germans take Berlina few days dater then OTL. Slow down due to infighting in the leadership. Once the War Ends, depending on who is incharge, you might get a beter deal for the Soviets.

Or you end up with a weaker Soviet leader who ironically helps the Soviet Union in the long term by giving more independence to the Warsaw Pact and it's leaders.
 
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