Stalin has Heart Attack 45

Stalin dies RIGHT after the Fall of Berlin of a heart attack. Now, I'm guessing the Soviets finish up in Germany anything left, but what happens to post war Europe? Would Beria be more agreeable to the demands of the Allies? Has the Cold War been butterflied?
 
Well, seeing as how Beria was arguably more totalitarian and stubborn than Stalin as head of the Russian secret police, I don't think he would be more open to talks with the western allies, if you get my drift.

The Cold War won't be butterflied as long as authoritarian Socialist states exist alongside Capitalist, right-wing states. Which in 1945 was most certainty the case.

Glad I could help. :D
 
Well, seeing as how Beria was arguably more totalitarian and stubborn than Stalin as head of the Russian secret police, I don't think he would be more open to talks with the western allies, if you get my drift.

The Cold War won't be butterflied as long as authoritarian Socialist states exist alongside Capitalist, right-wing states. Which in 1945 was most certainty the case.

Glad I could help. :D

Yeah... well, it was an interesting thought.
 
Well, seeing as how Beria was arguably more totalitarian and stubborn than Stalin as head of the Russian secret police, I don't think he would be more open to talks with the western allies, if you get my drift.

The Cold War won't be butterflied as long as authoritarian Socialist states exist alongside Capitalist, right-wing states. Which in 1945 was most certainty the case.

Glad I could help. :D

That being said, Beria is the least ideologically committed to Communism. If you have Beria take charge and purge his rivals, he would be much more amenable to compromise than Stalin, at least on the international stage. If he can credibly promise to not try to export the revolution everywhere, and is willing to make Poland into a demilitarized neutral along with a united, neutral, jointly occupied Germany, you may have just butterflied away the worst of the Cold War. With Beria in charge and reforming the economy, the USSR could be an extremely powerful state with a real, working economy. This might also, paradoxically, lead to more socialism in Europe, as the Eurocommunists will be able to contrast themselves with Beria's hellhole more easily.
 
That being said, Beria is the least ideologically committed to Communism. If you have Beria take charge and purge his rivals, he would be much more amenable to compromise than Stalin, at least on the international stage. If he can credibly promise to not try to export the revolution everywhere, and is willing to make Poland into a demilitarized neutral along with a united, neutral, jointly occupied Germany, you may have just butterflied away the worst of the Cold War. With Beria in charge and reforming the economy, the USSR could be an extremely powerful state with a real, working economy. This might also, paradoxically, lead to more socialism in Europe, as the Eurocommunists will be able to contrast themselves with Beria's hellhole more easily.

There's the, relatively, happier picture I was looking for.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
Well, seeing as how Beria was arguably more totalitarian and stubborn than Stalin as head of the Russian secret police, I don't think he would be more open to talks with the western allies, if you get my drift.
Please bother to do some research, it saves us all a lot of trouble.

Beria was the one most open to cooperating with the West (he wanted in on the Marshall Plan) and the least eager to launch yet another nasty big Purge (Malenkov was way more gung-ho on it).

But this is all assuming Beria would take over, which he would not. Molotov would; he is the anointed successor until '48-'49, after which Stalin started looking for some younger blood (Khrushchyov and Malenkov). If there was one thing that could united the Politburo besides Stalin, it was opposition to a Beria dictatorship.
 
There's the, relatively, happier picture I was looking for.

I mean, other than the internally Stalinist USSR, ruled by a serial rapist. As well, if they aren't engaged in Europe as much, the USSR is going to be mucking around in Asia. Expect to see Mongolian and Xinjiang SSRs, maybe an "independent" Manchuria, and a possibly Communist Korea.
 
Please bother to do some research, it saves us all a lot of trouble.

Beria was the one most open to cooperating with the West (he wanted in on the Marshall Plan) and the least eager to launch yet another nasty big Purge (Malenkov was way more gung-ho on it).

But this is all assuming Beria would take over, which he would not. Molotov would; he is the anointed successor until '48-'49, after which Stalin started looking for some younger blood (Khrushchyov and Malenkov). If there was one thing that could united the Politburo besides Stalin, it was opposition to a Beria dictatorship.

Okay, what would Molotov do then?
 
Beria would likely be quickly eliminated and replaced with a Troika of Mikoyan-Molotov-Kaganovich with the Red Army in support.
 
The fight inside the Kremlin would consume most of the energy of the top contenders. There is no way they would just pass over all authority to one guy at this stage. After Stalin died in 53 the soviets were just not interested in trouble making for a while. They let Korea wind down, they began making various kinds of overtures.

So if Stalin dies in June of 45 Russia just plain has no time for weird adventures in the east.

Beria just gets shot that much earlier. There were lots of folks who had the knives for him.
 
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