Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukah all. Here's the last update of Act 2, the moment Fascism reaches its zenith. Act 3 will begin at the start of next year and will end in the early 80s with a few follow up clarifiers to show the current state of the world. Thank you all for giving me the motivation to continue writing this - I promise not to abandon this Timeline.
The Cool War
Extract from 'The Still Sun: The British Empire after WW2' by Cecil Moore
Eden, flushed with a spike in the opinion polls, wished to strike while the fire was hot and called for another election for June 1957, hoping this time to gain a majority government. Unfortunately, at the exact same time, an equally emboldened Mossadegh wanted to press his own advantage. South Iran was in the throes of popular pride at their successful invasion of Iraq and Arabia, creating two puppet kingdoms that made the average South Iranian feel like even with one-hand tied behind their back in the form of the Red occupation up North, that Iran was back on the world stage. His approval ratings sky-high, Mossadegh now demanded of Britain a fair cut of Iran’s oil, without BP’s monopoly. The British, certain of their own steel after the Second Arabian War, were unafraid and talked tough in the negotiations. However, after weeks of negotiations, the plan went nowhere – Britain was still insisting on a humungous share of the oil and a payout for what it lost. It was then that negotiations stalled. Then, on May 14th, Eden was informed of the news: Mossadegh had nationalized BP in Iran, Iraq and the Kingdom of Arabia. In his outrage, he attempted to contact the Shah, hoping he could quash Mossadegh (as he had the constitutional right to) – but not only did the Shah laugh it off, Eden soon received even more astonishing news – the Italians had landed in Bandar Abbas. The British had underestimated how unpopular they were in the region, especially in denying the South Iranians their own oilfields after they were flushed with the pride of vanquishing the Arabs. The Italians announced that it was, ‘Ludicrous to laugh off the valid claims of the mighty Persian people, the ancient savior of Israel and allies against Arabian darkness.” Mossadegh, from the centre of Tehran, announced that South Iran was leaving ITO, and was instead joining the Roman Alliance, where she could keep her own oil, pledging to pay pittance to the British just so they could leave, while at the same time redoubling their efforts against Communism and their hopes to free North Iran from ‘The Red Plague’. To that end, the British were given ten days to leave South Iran or war with the Roman Alliance would result. Eden was mortified by the turn of events but knew it was hopeless. Though America was sympathetic, it would not commit troops to attack a country where the hand of Communism or the Soviets could not be found; the American public opinion was not in favour of a gigantic war with the nuclear Roman Alliance, especially one that had significant sympathy from both the Italian and Jewish communities. In the following days, Britain would begin a humiliating pullout from South Iran. Mossadegh would formally join the Roman Alliance by mid-year, and succeeded in holding and winning a referendum that made him ‘Prime Minister for Life’. The Shah was guaranteed to endure as a ceremonial heirloom, though he would not have nearly as much power as Mossadegh himself, or indeed his younger brothers who ruled their respective Arab prizes like feudal fiefdoms.
But the most important thing that would result from South Iran’s defection from ITO to the Roman Alliance was the creation of OPEP (L'Organizzazione dei Paesi esportatori di petrolio, or Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) in October 1957. This was Mussolini’s ultimate plan from the start, and one he had dreamed of even before the Second Arabian War had begun. Mussolini wanted Italy to become the third greatest power on Earth behind the Americans and Russians – Britain standing in the way. In terms of military, Britain could project power farther than Italy could due to its navy. Mussolini went back to the drawing board and pondered how Italy and the Roman Alliance at large could possibly hope to match the power projection of Britain, asking all available branches of government. That’s when it struck him that the world’s economy depended increasingly on oil, and that if he could get enough of it, he could use it to make and break economies at his will. And of course, where could you find more oil than the Middle East? The West wanted to play tough? They could see how tough they really were once the price of gas doubled. From there, they could change the price of oil at will to bully smaller nations into towing their line, as well as wreaking havoc on Soviet oil exports by manipulating prices. “Control the world’s oil,” Mussolini told Balbo, “and you control the world.” But he could not do this openly, as Britain would obviously object. Instead, he hatched a devious plan in conjunction with the South Iranians. Mossadegh, under the guise of being ITO’s representative in the region, would get as much of Iraq and Saudi Arabia’s oil locked up under puppet regimes. Italy would grab whatever else it could. Mossadegh was a nationalist and resented British rule in the region. At the same time, he was attracted by the liberty with which Roman Alliance nations (whose names weren’t ‘Greece) could conduct their own affairs. He needed little further encouragement to become Dictator – he had more than enough popular support for it, and decided to base his government on the Mussolini model, given that Mussolini had turned an international lightweight into a global leviathan. After he gained his new domains, South Iran would flip to the Roman Alliance, thus giving them all the oil they could desire. Amazingly enough, the plan actually worked, with Mossadegh in Rome that October to announce the beginnings of a great alliance between Rome and Bandar Abbas.
The founding members of OPEP were Italy, Portugal (owing to their oil in Angola), Iran, the Kingdom of Hejaz (effectively a Turkish proxy), the Kingdom of Iraq and the Kingdom of Arabia. But quickly, it was expanded. That December, the Right-Wing dictatorship of Venezuela announced that they would join OPEP, going as far as to join the Roman Alliance by December, with Italian military advisors proving instrumental in suppressing a 1958 democratic insurgency within the country. By now, a majority of the world’s oil was being controlled by a handful of Fascist dictatorships doctrinally committed to the destruction of Communism, the cajoling of the democracies, and of course, their own supremacy. In the years after the Second Arabian War, a global boom would rocket across the global economy, turning OPEP into a veritable license to print money. The world’s oil industry had become a front for Fascism, financing its vanity projects, its colonial bloodshed and recruitment efforts around the globe. In 1957, with South Iran, Venezuela, Greece (formally), Lebanon, and the Kingdom of Saba being added to the Roman Alliance, historians generally regard this period as the peak of Fascism. Even if it would certainly find success in the coming years in various fields, it would never again reach the same level of ascendency, certainty, and protection.
In response, the British began to rally their own oil-producing regions. Kuwait, the UAE, Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar were reinforced, much to the delight of local Emirs (especially the Sunni Monarchy of Shia-majority Bahrain), with oil facilities being developed as quickly as could be. Gaitskell won the ill-called 1957 election in a landslide with nearly 370 seats, not only trouncing the Conservatives but reducing the now reviled Fascist Party to a mere ten seats and single digits worth of votes (though Mosley, hailed as a God in the BUF, hung on). Gaitskell had slammed the Tories in the campaign of ‘Doing more for the Italian Empire than the British’ (an attack richly supported by having Fascists as coalition partners), arguing their obstinacy on the BP issue had pushed South Iran into the arms of the Roman Alliance, and that this was proof too much colonialism was equally as bad as too little. The Conservatives were cast into the electoral wilderness, with Harold Macmillan inheriting the Tory Party mantle later that year, the party now possessing no more illusions about Italy or Mosley. A new consensus had emerged in Britain that the Roman Alliance were an actively Anti-British group no less dangerous than the Soviets, forcing a change in foreign policy consensus. One of the main points of consideration was Colonial Policy, particularly in areas close to the Roman Alliance. It was agreed by the Labour cabinet that while the old system of colonialism was unsustainable, some form of compromise was necessary to ensure Fascism didn’t walk over a weakened, de-colonized Africa. The first underpinnings of this policy were seen in performing referendums in the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, and Cyprus with the question of whether they wished to be fully-fledged members of the United Kingdom, or maintain their lesser status. The former two overwhelmingly accepted their ascendency to full status in the UK with their own MPs. Malta actually had their own referendum on the subject in 1956, narrowly approved within the turnout requirements (dropped in subsequent referendums) due to fears of war in the region that ultimately came true. Cyprus was a far more contentious location, and the vote quickly became a source of ethnic tension as the Greek population mostly supported membership of the UK (not seeing anything desirable about the collaborationist state that called itself their homeland), while the Turks of the island wanted to join the Roman Alliance. Roughly 60% of Cyprus voted to join the UK, but the Turkish community, much like the Irish Nationalist community of Northern Ireland had not forgotten their origins. The moves enraged all the respective Roman Alliance powers that had their eyes on the territories, notably Argentina, Spain and Turkey – with Italy having been quite annoyed at Malta solidifying itself into the UK bosom. While Gaitskell was comfortable with giving some of the smaller areas of the British Empire the formal right to join if they so wished, he knew that for larger territories, the only real option was independence with a strong degree of cooperation. Ceylon and Burma were given independence on January 1st, 1958 (long-delayed due to the chaos in India requiring a forward base), both establishing British military presence and alignment to the Commonwealth. Malaya was given her independence later that year after the Communist insurgency in the country was finally and totally extinguished, leaving South-East Asia what Vietnamese Emperor Bao Dai would proudly declare ‘A Red-Free Zone’. Africa, by contrast, was a much trickier game given the significant presence of Roman Alliance nations (Italy, Spain and Portugal). Ghana would gain its independence in 1958, but those regions, such as Sudan or Kenya that bordered the Fascist nations would have to make do with full dominion status until a common policy had been decided. This was okay with the natives, who had seen what happened to the Arabs when they fought the Roman Alliance and were terrified a similar fate would befall them if they threw out the British and left themselves prey for the Fascist lions. However, given the relative success of Ceylon, Malaya and Burma, all remaining Pro-British and integrated to the Commonwealth, a valid pathway out of the ‘Colonial Question’ had been shown. Unfortunately, the Dutch and Belgians could not depend on the resources of Britannia …
Extract from ‘False Hope: The USSR 1953-1957’ by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
The only surprising thing about the coup against Khrushchev was that it took so long. It is quite the miracle he wasn’t deposed during the Budapest Conference, or even during the Second Arabian War itself. The war had eroded every facet of the USSR’s credibility, respect, and self-esteem. Just ten years before, it seemed that Stalin, aided by the equivocation of a foolish US President, a seemingly unstoppable Red Wave in China and opposed only by a divided, shattered Europe was going to sweep to Lisbon. Yet in ten years later, the US was an eternal enemy, all of Asia south of the Yellow River was an enemy, India was an enemy, the only people left alive in the Middle East were enemies, and even those who had once called themselves Communists now called themselves ‘enemies’. The Soviet economy had been pulled asunder, its moral reputation was nonexistent, its projection was laughable. In short, despite having a new legion of puppet states, the USSR was probably in its worst position (outside of WW2) since the 1920s. It was ridiculous to blame the situation on Khrushchev, much less his reforms, which were finally starting to encourage hope of a better future. Yet perhaps it was precisely because of that he fell. He never criticized Stalin (though there are rumors he planned to give a speech on the subject) but his reforms were an obvious break. To the Troika of 1957 of Suslov, Molotov and Malenkov (also known as ‘The Final Troika’), something had to be done, but only Suslov seemed to know what could take its place. It seemed clear to Suslov that what the Soviets needed was a sort of ‘Stalinism without Stalin’, where they would mimic the ironclad control, foreign policy and decisions of the Stalin years without Stalin’s personal ‘eccentricities’ as Suslov described them. To that end, of course, Khrushchev would have to go.
On June 3rd, 1957, tanks were seen overflowing the streets of Moscow, with troops storming buildings and arresting people seemingly at random. It wasn’t until evening that terrified residents (and baffled Western observers) were finally told what had happened – Nikita Khrushchev was dead, of a heart attack. Of course, the only thing that attacked Khrushchev’s heart was the bullet that went straight through it (thankfully avoiding the face so that the state funeral could still happen). Khrushchev was chronically unpopular by the end of his reign, especially among the hardliners in the Kremlin, but killing him had definitely been a far tougher decision. According to Molotov, Suslov was insistent that Khrushchev be killed, Malenkov wanted mercy to set a new example and Molotov himself only mildly supported Malenkov’s more merciful position. Assuming we believe Molotov, we can perhaps glean that Malenkov’s more merciful change of heart began with Khrushchev, though we can hardly ascertain
why it began here. Perhaps their mutual conspiracy in having killed Stalin had made him feel close, or perhaps he simply never wanted to go through something like the death of Stalin again. Regardless, Molotov says that eventually Suslov stopped talking with Malenkov and trying to convince him. The young Stalinist eventually told Molotov the truth that Khrushchev only being deposed without being killed would hideously endanger the entire Soviet system, as Khrushchev knew about the true nature of Stalin’s death. Given that the last Soviet leader was killed and had it covered up over unfavorable circumstances, it didn’t seem too absurd to argue the same thing was warranted here. Malenkov was considered too stupid and spineless to put up much of a fuss in any event. Indeed, it would turn out to be the case, at least for the moment. With Khrushchev unceremoniously dragged from his office and shot beneath the Kremlin, Malenkov realized how isolated he had become in the ruling council. It was at this point that he entered what he called, ‘The Valley of the Shadow of Death’. Nevertheless, he held onto a diminished role in the ruling council. Thus Suslov, the most energetic and wily of the three, became both the most powerful man in the USSR and the true successor of Stalin. Whatever reforms Khrushchev had begun, political or economic, were thrown into the fire before they could get a chance to breathe. A new era of darkness had descended on the Soviet Union, after a false ray of light. But most cruelly of all was how this cruel era began.
On October 4th 1957, Sputnik went into space, the first man-made satellite. The Americans, Italians and British were all so distracted among themselves with wars that Khrushchev’s greatest achievement fell into the hands of Suslov as his own propaganda tool. The flight of Sputnik did two things, both of which would change the fate of the Soviet Union. The first was that it confirmed Suslov’s belief that a return to the ‘Socialism in One Country’ model, now taken to its logical extreme was the best foreign policy strategy. Many Western schoolchildren know it as the ‘Silence (‘Tishina‘) Strategy’. It emphasized that there was a fundamental conflict between the Fascist and Democratic states, but that they united when the opponent was the Soviet Union. To that end, a surprisingly simple solution was sought – not making any noise internationally. Funds, desperately needed in any case, were no longer sent to Communists around the world, who would be left to their own devices. As well as saving on money, they hoped that as the Soviets became quieter and quieter on the international scene, there would be less reason for the Fascist and Democratic nations to unite, thus making it likelier that there would be a conflict. In that time, the Soviets would focus on rebuilding, until they were once more a world power to be reckoned with. The second important change of policy was that it made the Space Race as it would become known an issue for which the Soviets would desperately pursue every means they had to get to the top. For the Soviets, this was a discreet way of re-establishing credibility after the humiliating retreats of the Khrushchev years. It certainly shocked everyone concerned. The United States, Great Britain and Italy were all flabbergasted and began to create their own campaigns. The United States would create NASA, Great Britain (with the help of her Commonwealth) would form ‘The Ministry of Space Exploration’, which was helped in no small part from German rocket scientists like Werner Von Braun, and Italy would form the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI). All three parties were caught off-guard by Sputnik but vowed never to be humiliated like that again. Little did any of those countries know, and how much less did Suslov know, that it was the Space Race of all things that would be the death of the USSR.
Extract from 'Cold to Cool: American Foreign Policy in the 20th Century' by Vince Ingels
As Patton prepared to leave the stage in 1956, he would tell Dewey that ‘I’ll never talk about politicians like they had it easy again’. The world seemed very different to him from 1948 to 1956. Back in 1948, he reassured himself with the simplicity and certainty of the world, that the dividing line of the good and the bad was simply whether a country was Communist or not. He had certainly achieved much of what he wanted to accomplish. Communism had gone from an ideology that seemed to be on the verge of conquering the world to one that had been reduced to a scorned monster. Communist parties were dead outside of where they hung to power by the gun. Europe, Asia, the Middle East were all resolutely united against the Red Menace and tied to alliances that made it impossible for it to advance, with the Western Hemisphere Red-free. America had recovered its certainty and credibility, and they’d run every Communist sympathizer out of the government, unions and everywhere else. He’d killed the Party that he considered a nest of treachery, got the economy moving again, won in China and had done the right thing on Civil Rights. But at the same time, he was haunted by the end of his time in office, feeling like he hadn’t done enough, almost regretting he had agreed to term limits. The South was torn apart in Race feuds, Communism still existed, and the Western Alliance was beginning to fragment from the split between Fascism and Democracy. All in all, Patton left with a heavy heart – indeed he wouldn’t survive to reach 1958, dying on December 10th, 1957 of a heart attack. His funeral was attended by Churchill, De Gaulle, Mussolini and others; the Soviets offered to send Molotov to attend but in his will, Patton specifically stated that ‘No Commie bastard will be allowed to attend my funeral.” Patton was and remains adored by the American public, with polls placing him either second or third in terms of greatest Presidents alongside Abraham Lincoln. However, much like Churchill in Britain, his status is far more hotly contested by historians for his more questionable acts, like supporting Colonialism, his reckless approach to policymaking like Civil Rights and many of his strategies in China. Regardless of the nature of his legacy, it would certainly be a big one – and any subsequent President had a lot to live up to.
The 1956 election was at once a watershed but also a progression of events that had already been happening for years. The election was between the youthful Joseph Kennedy and Richard Nixon in one corner representing the Republicans, and Storm Thurmond and Al Gore for Vice-President (Gore having been chosen to deflect charges that the Freedom Party supported the Klan). The mood in the US had changed since the beginning of the Troubles – there were definitely fewer attacks than before, increasingly localized as well, but the conflict had gained a sense of being permanent. While business in California or the North East went on without issue, the South had remained stuck in the quagmire of businesses and millionaires fleeing the war-torn area, starving the area of investment. Kennedy argued for harsh policing policies by federal troops in the area with incentives for businesses to arrive and get the economy moving again, while Thurmond argued for harsh local policing and significant federal investment in the South. Of course, federal troops were seen as more sympathetic to blacks with local police more sympathetic to whites. When it came to the Second Arabian War, Thurmond supported American military involvement (notably performing a speech in Richmond after the Yom Kippur Nuclear Strikes that ‘The towelhead Commies had it coming’ and that ‘it’s crazy that American soldiers are pointing guns at their own citizens while a bunch of A-rabs are running around killing Christians where our Lord was born’) while Kennedy stressed caution and that after China more American lives. The Black Fascists under Little, though Little himself was always desperate to avoid killing white civilians for fear of the maelstrom of vengeance that would fall on them, had expanded to the point where individuals could not be restrained. Thus, first policemen and politicians hostile to blacks were killed, then those who aided or supported the Klan, until finally, random killings of whites, some of whom were outright hostile to the Klan and segregation, were reported in scattered areas of the south. Things got even worse when a police station in New York was attacked with a bomb on October 2nd by a local claiming allegiance to the Black Fascists. While federal troops had focussed more so on the Klan before, the Black Fascists now received full attention. Over the course of October, their organization was given the lion’s share of targeting (a change of targeting that Hoover greatly enjoyed). Little himself would be forced to seek shelter, making an escape to Texas in December, claiming that he was innocent of all wrongdoings and that it was set up by ‘The Slaver in Chief, Patton!’ The Black Fascists more sadistic turn that year had also led to a new surge in recruitment to the Klan, who likewise underwent a short revival in fortunes.
On election night, both Kennedy and Thurmond had something to be happy about. Kennedy had of course won the election, but Thurmond had won all the old states of the Confederacy, plus West Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri and Oklahoma for 166 electoral votes. Of course, given that most of the whites that voted Republican had already left the south, this was not as incredible a victory as Thurmond trumpeted it to be, but he had polarized the electoral map in a way that maximized the gains a southern party could reach. At the same time, Thurmond boasted to his associates that, ‘The President eight years from now will be whistlin’ Dixie’. Squeezed under the FPTP US electoral system, the brief challenge from the States Right’s Party was annihilated, ironically often due to blacks holding their nose to vote for the Freedom Party. The balance of the House and Senate stayed the same, with strong Republican majorities in each, though supermajorities were the thing of the past. Joseph Kennedy was consequently inaugurated as the 36th President of the United States on January 20th 1957, the first President born in the 20th Century. His inaugural speech would be the first to explicitly mention the Civil Rights movement, and was indeed primarily based on the subject. Stressing the need for healing, Kennedy made his first bold move when, in reference to the terrorism of the Black Fascists claimed, “There is no help Fascism can give anyone in the United States, White or Black, Rich or Poor, Jew or Gentile.” This would trigger a newfound shift in American foreign policy that would be matched by the change in Britain’s government the same year, with America’s foreign policy elite worrying less and less about the emasculated Soviets and more and more about the surging Fascists. But it wasn’t until the complete breakdown of Democratic-Fascist relations after the South Iran fiasco that American policymakers determined to take active steps to rein in Fascism. Then of course, came the critical day, on March 5th 1957 when, speaking at Westminster College in Fulton Mississippi on a day mostly to do with improving race relations in the South, Kennedy would say the famous line that ignited a new phase of Cold War conflict. “We are not, perhaps in another Cold War with the Fascists, but I believe you can say that we are in the midst of a Cool one”. In 1958, the ‘Cool War’ had begun, and its first battlefield had already been decided: Cuba.
