This is my new Alternate history scenario set during the cold war, the point of divergence is in 1902 when George Marshall is killed during his service in the Philippines, this leads to no Marshall plan being put into effect and Communism Pushing Farther into Europe. The second point of divergence is Stalin dying of Lung Cancer in 1947. Please tell me if anything is unlikely or inaccurate, I'm still working on this timeline.

Eastern Bloc

Soviet Union

In November 1946 Stalin fell Ill with Lung Cancer, during this period he was no longer able to govern the Soviet Union properly. a power struggle ensued as all the powerful and important members of the politburo raced to become the new premier. Stalin, as he began to fall ill, Issued what he believed would be his final Testament. a transitional body was set up to transition power it was to be lead by three important Soviet leaders, Georgy Malenkov, Vyacheslav Molotov, and Anastas Mikoyan. Prominent members of the Red Army soon began scheming to become the new leaders of the Soviet Union. In February of 1947, Twenty-one Soviet officials not included in the Transitional Committee met in a small apartment on Arbat street, the group became known as the Arbat Group. The most Important members of it were.

Kliment Voroshilov - Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union Since March of 1946, Marshal of the Soviet Union.Nikolai Bulganin - Marshall of the Soviet Union. Member of the Orgburo since March 1946Georgy Zhukov - Marshall of the Soviet Union.Maksim Saburov - First Deputy Chairman of Gosplan since 1941, member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR since 1946.Nikolay Shvernik - Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet since March 1946, Chairman of the Presidium of the Soviet of the RSFSR.Mikhail Pervukhin - Minister of Chemical Industry from since 1942, Deputy Chairman of the People's Commissariat from 1940 to 1942.Nikita Khrushchev - Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine since January 1947Andrey Andreyevich Andreyev - Head of the Central Control Commission of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union since 1939.Nikolai Voznesensky - Chairman of Gosplan since 1942, First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Peoples Commissars since 1941.

In June of 1947 after a number of meetings the Arbat group struck. The current head of State of the USSR Levretniy Beira was arrested in his apartment at 6:00 AM on the 23rd of June 1947. Red army Garrisons all across Ukraine and Belarus were ordered to arrest all Stalin Loyalists in their local central committees at 6:30, this was carried out at 7:00. Malenkov who was at the time in Poland negotiating with the Local Government was arrested by his own bodyguards at 7:15 in the scuffle he was shot in the forehead and killed. When the Supreme Soviet convened at 9:00 that morning they were met with the full force of the red army. Those still loyal to the Transitional Committee were arrested then. The coup was finished around 11:00 when the order was given for the Red Army guards protecting the Comatose Stalin were ordered to kill him. Bulganin became Premier of the Soviet Union the following day on the 24th of June.

Bulganin decided the following month to step down from the role of General Secretary and premier. he would be given the General command of the Southern regions of the USSR (Caucuses and Central Asia) Voroshilov assumed control of the Northern Comand (Karelia and the Baltics) and Khrushchev was sworn in as the new leader of the Soviet Union.

Khurschev soon began the programs of Destalinization in 1949, until then most of the Soviet Unions foreign policy remained the same. In 1949 along with the Balkan Union and Albania he intervened in the Greek civil war allowing the Communists to win in that conflict. In 1952 a Miltary Junta took over the Turkish Government backed by the United States. The Turkish Communist Party (TKP) soon took to the streets along with other Communist Groups. They occupied Mosques such as the Hagia Sophia and the Blue mosque, along with Government buildings such as the Istanbul City Hall. The Soviet Navy lead by Nikolai Kuznetsov sailed into the Turkish straits that year at the request of the TKP, the Istanbul region was seized by the Soviet Navy and reestablished as the Soviet Bosphorus-Dardanelle International Zone (SBDIZ) which was managed by a commissioner elected by the Istanbul City council now called the Peoples Assembly of the SBDIZ and approved by the General Secretaries of the TKP and Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) this triggered a minor diplomatic crisis as the united states ordered the Soviet out of the Turkish Straits, the Soviets refused and the Americans conceded after losing a vote in the UN on a resolution to force out the Soviets.

In 1953 Khruschev in response to NATO formed the Fifth international to act as both a political alliance between communist parties and a military alliance between the Communist States. this organization was officially created by the treaty of Minsk. In 1961 the Soviets constructed the Berlin Wall in East Germany.

Italy

In the 1953 Italien General election, the Communists and Socialists chose to unite, as the Italien United Workers Party (PLUI) they proceeded to win the 1958 Election bringing them into power. The Government in Italy launched ambitious social programs and began joining the greater Eastern Bloc. A new Italien Constitution was written in 1960 and in 1961 Italy signed the Minsk treaty. Italy would become one of the first democratic societies behind the iron curtain.

Balkan Union

Following world war, II Yugoslavia was lead by Josep Broz Tito well Bulgaria was headed by Georgi Dimitrov the two met in Bled, Slovenia in 1947 to discuss possible unification. eventually, an agreement was reached and in 1949 the Two states merged into the Peoples Balkan Federation. Albania lead by Enver Hoxha decided to intervene in Greece later that year, the Balkan Union soon came to their aid.

In 1950 Conflicts inside the Yugoslav peoples Congress resulted in a split between those who supported Tito and anti-Titoists. The Soviet Union in 1950 trying to gain more control over Yugoslavia ordered Tito to comply with a short list of demands including Political and economic concessions. When Tito refused KGB agents had him killed and he was replaced soon enough with Valko Chervenkov from Bulgaria. Chervenko ruled with an Iron hand, and when in 1956 he attempted to arrest key party members, he was forced out. Chervenko was replaced with Vladimir Bakarić, Bakarić was far more liberal than his predecessors complying with orders from Moscow to loosen restrictions on the press and Political arrests. Bakarić resigned in 1960 to be succeeded by Petar Stambolić. In 1961 the Balkan Federation was officially renamed The Peoples Union of Balkan Socialist Republics (UBSR).

East Austria

In 1950 the Allies joined their occupation zones together in both Germany and Austria in violation of the Potsdam conference, the Soviets reacted by creating two separate Governments In East Germany and Austria. The Austrian Zones of occupation was allowed to have elections. The Elections were "Won" by the Communist Party of Austria (KPO) by 96%, The KPO was then merged with the Social Democratic Party (SPO) creating the United Austrian Workers Party (VOAP) Karl Renner became the first President, but it was decided he was not fit for the job and was arrested in December 1950. Johann Koplenig took over as Chancellor and would lead East Austria until 1968.

East Germany

The East German government was established in 1950 in response to the formation of the West German Government. The first Head of state was Wilhelm Pieck former leader of the German Communist Party (KPD) and now the leader of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) he led East Germany with increasing Authoritarianism from 1950 to 1956 when he suffered a fatal Stroke killing him. A new struggle emerged between the more Authoritarian half of the SED; the former members of the KPD, and the more democratic half; the former members of the SPD. Eventually, the Authoritarian Half of the Party won out and Walter Ulbricht became the new General Secretary in September of 1956. Well, Ulbricht had the support of the Party elites, former leader of the SPD, Otto Grotewohl had the support of the people. Grotewohl began agitating against the SED leadership demanding he is recognized as General Secretary of the Party. In 1958 Grotewohl was arrested by the Stasi. When the population of East Germany herd of Grotewahls arrested they began to riot, the largest demonstrations took place in Leipzig. After Peaceful protestors were shot at on May 7th, 1958 in Dresden the Protests and riots escalated into a full-blown revolution. Prison guards who were loyal to Grotewahl broke him out of prison on June 20th, 1958 and brought him to Moscow were he gained Khurschevs backing. Now he returned to East Germany with both the Publics and Soviet support.

Ulbricht resigned on the 18th of August 1958 ending the SED's domination of East German politics. Open and free elections were held and Grotewalh and his SPOD won the Elections by a margin of 62%. East Germany would remain one of only Five democracies behind the Iron Curtain before the 1968 revolutions. in 1962 Grotewahl retired allowing the KPOD to win the next Elections Willi Stoph became the new Chancellor of East Germany. Khruschevs handling of the East German revolution was long criticised and was one of the reasons for his removal in 1964.

Poland

Poland's first Communist Leader was Bolesław Bierut he lead Poland with a fierce Stalinist line until 1947 when Khruschev determined he was too pro Stalinist and had to be removed. MGB agents in Poland soon initiated the coup, Marian Spychalski a prominent Polish military officer and Aleksander Zawadzki chairman of the polish council of state, were both informed early on of the Red army and MGB's plan to overthrown Bierut. Both men signed off on the plan and on the 11th of January 1948 MGB agents killed Bierut well he was sleeping in the early morning. Red Army forces along with Polish Peoples army forces stormed the Polish parliament at around 12:00 that day. Politicians who opposed the Coup were arrested and brought to stand trial in Moscow by the MGB. Adam Ciołkosz was selected as the new premier of Poland and Aleksander Zawadzki was selected as the new General Secretary of the Communist party. The Two would share power until 1960 when Ciołkosz was forced to step down by Zawadzki.

Hungary

Mátyás Rákosi was the brutal leader of Hungary after World War Two. But after Khrushchev's reforms in the soviet union, he was forced to resign, Rákosi returned in 1953 after he gained support in the Hungarian Central committee to return. when the August protests broke out in July of 1956 chaos filled the streets of Budapest. Rákosi horribly handled the protests allowing them to grow into mass riots and demonstrations, some in the Hungarian central committee believed Hungary was on the verge of revolution. Rákosi was forced out by the Politburo again on the 30th of August 1956 to be replaced by Interior minister Ferenc Münnich. Münnich brutally cracked down on the protests forming a coalition of foreign powers made up of Romania, Albania, Czechoslovakia, The Soviets and Poland. The Coalition brutally suppressed the Uprising, Leader of the Hungarian Revolutionaries Imre Nagy fled to the East German embassy in Hungary requesting asylum, This triggered a minor rupturing in the Eastern Bloc when Khrushchev orders the East Germans to kick Nagy out of the Embassy. When East Germany refused Khruschev threatened to force them out of the Fifth International. East Germany complied. Loyal workers in the Embassy snuck him out of the embassy a day before the public learnt of him being expelled, Nagy would escape to Haiti where the Hungarian government no longer saw him as a threat. he wouldn't return until the Hungarian revolution of 1974.

Romania

The first leader of Romania post-war was Constantin Ion Parhon he did not leed for long resigning in 1952. Parhon was succeeded by former prime minister Petru Groza. Groza spearheaded the Unpopular Intervention into Hungary and conducted repressive attacks against his own people, trying in many ways to emulate Stalin. His unpopularity led to what was know as the Gang of 8 overthrowing him in a bloodless coup backed by the Soviets in 1957. The Romanian constitution was rewritten and the Gang of 8 took all key government positions.

  • Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej became General Secretary of the Communist Party.

  • Chivu Stoica became Prime minister.

  • Ion Gheorghe Maurer became President of the Great National Assembly.

  • Email Bodnăraș became Chairman of Central Committee of the Communist Party.

  • Iosif Rangheț became Minister of the Interior.

  • Manea Mănescu became Minister of Finance.

  • Constantin Pîrvulescu became Speaker of the Great National Assembly.

  • Ștefan Voitec became Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The most Powerful position was General Secretary of the Party and it was agreed that the position would pass along every two years amongst the Eight men. In 1959 Stoica became the New General secretary, followed in 1961 by Maurer. Maurer died of a stroke a month after taking office so the position passed to Bodnăraș. By 1962 all of the other members of the Gang of 8 had either been forced out of their positions themselves or were no longer interested in the top job. This lead to the currently serving Chairman of the Central Committee, Nicolae Ceaușescu to take power.

Czechoslovakia

The 1948 Coup solidified the Communist Party led by Klement Gottwald power over the country. Gottwald was recalled to Moscow in 1950 by Khruschev over alleged abuses against Soviet expats in Czechoslovakia, Gottwald denied the accusations and denounced Khrushchev. Gottwald was found dead two days later in his hotel room. Antonín Zápotocký took over from Gottwald, he favoured a Khruschevian reform program for the country but was overshadowed by the Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia at the time Antonín Novotný a fierce Stalinist Hardliner. In 1957 Novotný forces Zápotocký out of office assuming both positions of Prime Minister and President, he was elected General Secretary of the Party a week later.

Albania

Following World War II Enver Hoxha took over as leader of Albania, his brutal dictatorship would be one of the worst in the Eastern Bloc. In 1954 members of the Presidium of Albania attempted a coup against Hoxha with backing from Greece and Austria. Spys withing the coup organizers though revealed the plot to Hoxha and it all unravelled, the Coup had to be rushed and Greek Land forces weren't able to cross the border in time. Without wanting for it to look like an Invasion, Greece removed its backing for the Coup. In 1960 Hoxha aligned himself with the Chinese in the Sino-Soviet Split.

Greece

Following World War II, The Greek Communist Party (KKE) and the retuned monarchy entered into an Intense civil war. In 1949 when the KKE was falling back to the Far Northern Mountains, Yugoslav, Albanian and Soviet Troops intervened. The war pushed south to a stalemate around the city of Arachova. The Battle of Arachova saw intense fighting and Human Rights abuses on both sides. Eventually, the KKE broke the Stalemate and advance on Athens. King Paul upon hearing of the fall of Arachova he abandoned the capital with his royal bodyguard and fled to France, he established a government in exile. Princess Catherine, sister to Paul and her husband Richard Brandram were the only members still in Greece when Paul fled. Richard Brandram with support from the United Kingdom in the form of about 300 Marines. The forces landed in the town of Kineta, south of Athens. The forces were quickly defeated and King Richard was executed.

The leadership of the New Nation was taken up by Nikos Zachariadis. Zachariadis began his leadership by executing anyone loyal to the former Government and hunting down anyone in Greece believed to have Familial ties to the Monarchy, this was called the Greek Red Terror and in total around 1000 People died. Zachariadis was quite popular at first but his Political repression made him more and more unpopular. With support from Moscow, he resigned from office in 1953. Markos Vafeiadis became the new prime minister, leading Greece until 1961 when he resigned from office to be replaced by Charilaos Florakis.

Finland

The 1950 presidential election in Finland was very impactful. Polls predicted massive wins for the Moscow backed Finnish Peoples Democratic Leauge (SKDL). The Americans fearing a domino effect in Scandinavia began doing all they could to keep the SKDL from winning, American CIA agents at first provided massive monetary support to the National Coalition Party on the centre-right led by Juho Kusti Paasikivi. Soon the Americans began modelling in the election itself, funding a propaganda campaign throughout Finland. On December 20th 1949, the SKDL candidate Mauno Pekkala was arrested and beaten to death by CIA agents, his death was covered up by the Finnish government. Eventually, this all progressed into outwrite bribes being passed to vote counters and widespread vote falsification.

All American involvement in the election was recorded by the foreign minister of Finland Carl Enckell in a massive file including transcripts of meetings and letters from the CIA. The Files were stolen by an SKDL sympathizing Janitor in Enckell's office, he escaped to the Soviet border and brought the documents to Klement Voroshilov. Voroshilov then met with the new Leader of the SKDL Hertta Kuusinen, and they agreed to publish the documents. When the documents were publicised, outrage spread throughout Finland, President Passsikivi resigned on the 9th of February 1950, he was followed into office by his the leader of the opposition Agrarian Party Urho Kekkonen. Mass protests sparked Revolution in February and Red Army forces under Voroshilov were called in to establish a Communist government. Second elections were held and the former SKDL now called ht communist party of Finland won 46% of the vote, bringing them and their leader Hertta Kuusinen to power. Finland would remain a democratic state despite being behind the Iron curtain similar to Italy, or East Germany.

Kuusienen won the next election in 1955, she resigned due to poor health in 1956. The Agrarian Workers Party (ATP) won the next elections led by Aimo Aaltonen. Aaltonen was incredibly unpopular for his failed economic reformers and lost reelection in 1960 to the SKP now led by Ville Pessi.

Sweden

Finland from early on after their revolution fought to Make Sweden communist. In 1954 C.-H. Hermansson was exiled from Sweden to the Finnish controlled Åland islands. his exile was caused by his organization of the largest Coal miners strike in Swedish history, when things became violent with the police he was ordered to leave the country. From exile, he travelled around the world he met with leaders of the French and Brtish communist Parties, Maurice Thorez and Harry Pollitt in Belgium 1956, they agreed to form a new International Workers Union, The International Workers Confederation. (IWC) A year later the IWC and the IWW became the United International Workers Union (UIWU) but remained functionally separate.

With financial backing from the UIWU and Finland, he returned to Sweden in 1958 he soon became the leader of the Sweedish Communist party, he then Used the IWC to spearhead the largest general strike in Swedish history. Voroshilov and his Contingent of the Red Army crossed the border from Finland in June to aid the strikers. This began the Sweden crisis as Voroshilovs presence in the country constituted war with the Soviet Union. Things only escalated in Septemeber when Voroshilov overthrow the Swedish government bringing Hermansson to power. Britain and West Germany soon brought the issue to the International court claiming Voroshilov breached Swedens sovereignty. With heightening tensions British marines landed in Gothenburg, on October 3rd. This led the Soviets to meet with the Americans on October 16th in Neutral Geneva Switzerland. An agreement was hashed out with the following points.

  • The government of Sweden will remain both Communist and Democratic based on the Finnish model.

  • The Soviet Union will not place nuclear weapons in Sweden

  • All foreign armies will withdraw from Sweden

  • Sweden will not join the Fifth International.

  • Public elections will be held overseen by a foreign delegation from the United Nations
It was soon determined that the presence of this treaty superseded the need for a court case, and the International Court case was dropped. Sweden would remain a democracy in accordance with the treaty of Geneva. The Peoples assembly of Sweden was the highest legislative body and was elected every four years. The Head of State and the Head of Government was the Premier of the National Congress, a position elected every twelve years. The National Congress was an assembly of the twelve most powerful ministers in Sweden and would oversee the conduct of the Peoples Assembly. The Three largets Political Parties in Sweden where the Swedish Communist Party led by C.-H. Hermansson, The Swedish Peoples Democrats led by Bert Lundin and the Labour Party of Sweden led by Lars Warner. The 1960 election was won by a coalition of The Peoples Democrats and the Communist Party, Hermansson was sworn in for another two-year term. The Communist Party was renamed the National Workers Party in 1961. Conflicts in the Coalition led to it splitting latter in 1961. Hermansson was able to pull together a coalition made up of 6 Far Leftist Parties called the National Progress Coalition; It was made up of,

  • The National Workers Party

  • The Democratic Farmers League of Sweden

  • The Liberal Workers Party of Sweden (Political wing of the IWC)à

  • The New Communist Party of Sweden

  • The Soviet Workers Party

  • The National Industrial Workers Party
The Progress Coalition slimly lost the 1962 election to Labour Party of Sweden, Lars Werner became the new Premier.

Denmark

In 1957 Danish election, the newly formed Peoples Social Democratic Party won, with 39% of the vote. A coalition was formed with the Social Democratic Party. Aksel Larsen former leader of the Danish Communist Party (DKP) was sworn in. He had disavowed communism in 1956. This still made the CIA quiet nervous and they established a number of agents all across Denmark. An IWC strike in 1960 clashed with Fascist "Black Militias" this led to the death of Edvard Clausen a 23-year-old striker at the hands of the Black Militias. this sparked mass demonstrations in solidarity. This soon evolved into open conflict between the Black Militias and the Communist Red Militias, this was known as Bloody August. On August 12th the Danish Military with American backing forced Larsen to step down in Favor of the leadership of General Otto Blixenkrone-Møller. The Conservatives were given 90% of the seats in Parliament undemocratically. The violence that seemingly hit Denmark out of nowhere and this bloody coup shocked outside observers and led to much academic studying. The red militias were able to gain funding from Sweden and Poland and could pressure Blixenkrone-Møller's government in September to surrender power back to Larsen. Larsen in this time had re-radicalized and was know once again and unabashed communist.

The new Communist Government of Denmark set up a system similar to Swedens and Larsen became the first Premier of the National Congress. He was defeated by the other largest Party in demark in the 1961 election, the Democratic Peoples Party.

Any Events that you see as unlikely please tell me, I'm still working on this timeline.
 
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