The North Star is Red: a Wallace Presidency, KMT Victory, Alternate Cold War TL

BigBlueBox

Banned
It looks like North Greece is going to re-unite the country. Even if North Greece is “Titoist” this looks like a disaster for the West. Greek Communists probably have the same view on Cyprus as the Royalists and probably have a mutual hatred with Turkey, so they might re-align with the USSR.
 
It looks like North Greece is going to re-unite the country. Even if North Greece is “Titoist” this looks like a disaster for the West. Greek Communists probably have the same view on Cyprus as the Royalists and probably have a mutual hatred with Turkey, so they might re-align with the USSR.

Yes, my impression is that the Greek Communists would have the same views...they'd just be less intense about it because they have fewer ultranationalist Greek Cypriots in their government.
 
Chapter 149 - The Three Power Conference
The Three Power Conference
Although he had ridden quite high after the end of the Three Years War, General Secretary Laventry Beria found his power continually diminishing. The humiliation of both the United States and France beating the USSR to space created a widespread impression among the Soviet nomenklatura that Beria's USSR was falling behind the West. In response, Beria blowed large amounts of state funding for scientific development, including promising a "Five Year Plan" that would end with the Soviet Union reaching space. Ironically, growing prosperity in the Soviet Union made Beria's brutal NKVD even more hated, as improving technology actually made it easier to spread tales of NKVD brutality. In addition, Beria''s "Georgia Mafia" monopolized state positions and often abused them for their own profit. Aware that his political power was diminishing and aware that his typical modus operandi of terror and torture wasn't actually working as well as it used to.

However, this also meant motivated and capable young Georgians could easily rise through the Soviet oligarchy. One profoundly ambitious Georgian Communist, the 34-year old Eduard Shevardnadze, had already risen to a high position in the Soviet diplomatic corps. Indeed, it would be Shevardnadze's memo to Beria that changed the trajectory of several nations. Shevardnadze pointed out his belief that the "Western alliance" was actually fraying and that even the Western Europeans could be divided. The memo cited two foreign leaders as particularly pliable with realpolitik. Just to see if this idea would go further, the Soviet diplomatic corps send missives to both leaders. Much to the surprise of Beria, both leaders responded positively, albeit it for different reasons.

The first leader, President Sun Fo of the Republic of China (South China), could be easily swayed. Namely, the Soviets had the ultimate trump card: North China. The second leader was a more enigmatic figure: Prime Minister Charles de Gaulle of France, who had once taken France into a war to fight the Soviet Union. However, de Gaulle was known to be exceptionally swayed by concerns of geopolitics - he entered the Three Years War not due to anticommunism, but due to fears of Soviet domination of Europe. In contrast, the Soviets had three cards to play, namely East Germany, Algeria, and Syria, that if properly played, could assuage De Gaulle's concerns. Beria's geopolitical goal was through by any means, create a totalitarian state that could rise to the level of development and national unity of a nation like, well, France. The brutal repression of minority groups was part of this agenda, especially in the Baltic States, where the NKVD responded to the Forest Brothers with mass killings on a truly staggering level, a reality that was not to be revealed until several years later. In addition, if a few "pawns" had to be discarded towards those purposes, so be it.

In perhaps the ultimate humiliation to the British Empire and to an outraged United States, the largest international event of 1963 was scheduled actually before the Battle of Souda, but took place just a week after. Meeting in "neutral" territory, a majority of the members of the UN Security Council met in Tehran, namely the Soviet Union, France, and China. The French and South Chinese delegation were shocked at how much the Soviets were willing to concede. For both delegations, it seemed that the Soviets were willing to fix every major geopolitical problem they had, at the relatively low cost of infuriating the Americans. For example, the conference actually had a fourth guest - representatives from the Algerian Communist Party.

For the South Chinese, the Soviets promised to pull out Soviet troops from North China, Port Arthur excluded. Although they obviously wouldn't be able to effectuate a change in the North Chinese government, they vaguely hinted at pressuring a more reformist government to come in charge. In exchange, only one minor concession had to be given: the South Chinese trade embargo on the People's Republic of Korea had to be dropped, which meant recognizing it as the official government of Korea. As the Soviets could not promise to withdraw from North Japan due to the lack of a North Japanese military, the two powers could not make a similar deal on North Japan. In addition, North Japan was significantly smaller than South Japan. In contrast, the ROK-Jeju was seen as an almost irrelevant backwater island nation. and ROC diplomats generally mocked the Jeju government - the idea of an anticommunist remnant hiding on a small island to "retake" the mainland seemed utterly laughable to the Republic of China. However, dropping the embargo on Mainland Korea essentially ruined the embargo against North Japan, because Mainland Korea was North Japan's closest trading partner. Through this phenomenon, the Chinese and Soviet blocs essentially established commercial relations, using Mainland Korea as their conduit. The South Chinese took the deal.

For the French, their concerns were more complex. First, Charles de Gaulle desperately wanted an "out" from Algeria, but one that wasn't pure defeat. Ironically, even though the French had more or less negotiated a detente with Syria, the Syrian conquest of North Israel had inspired other Arab ultranationalists, chiefly those within the FLN in Algeria, away from a negotiated peace with France. That meant the other main group willing to make peace with the French was the PCA, the Algerian Communist Party. Luckily for De Gaulle, he understood that the PCA more or less took marching orders from the Soviets - and could be forced into a peace by Moscow. PCA delegates had arrived to the Second Tehran Conference, brought by Beria to negotiate the terms of peace with France. Second, the French were afraid that Communist rebels in Lebanon would threaten their influence in Lebanon. The French had already come to an agreement with Syria, but this was seen as fragile, especially because the Syrians were more acceptable than the French expected. A planned Soviet withdrawal from North China was viewed by the French as a likely death knell to North Chinese intervention in the Middle East. Third, France was now tied at the hip with West Germany, with the Bundeswehr and French Army closely connected. By offering a Soviet withdrawal from East Germany, Beria could essentially crown De Gaulle as the elder statesman of Western Europe, especially as he could contrast the tranquility of France with....whatever the heck was going on in Great Britain. All the French had to do acquire this was to open up economic relations with the Soviet Union, including transferring large swaths of military and civilian technology. The French took this deal.

The results of the Tehran Conference, closely guarded by Soviet, French, and South Chinese officials, shocked and horrified most of world leaders. First, the Americans were obviously horrified. President Kennedy viewed this as two stabs in the back by two nations that the United States had aided and helped recover. That being said, the French betrayal was much worse to the Americans, since they were openly allowing a Communist government to come in charge. Kennedy was deeply unhappy with the ROC for recognizing the PRK and opening commercial relations, but it wasn't as outrageous as actually trading off an entire nation.

Second, most Eastern bloc nations were horrified. East Germany had no intention to go quietly, nor did North China. A secret agreement between various Communist states bypassing the "revisionist madman Beria" was immediately signed. North China, East Germany, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and much to the surprise of even the other plotters, Bulgaria-Macedonia all signed on to a secret agreement (interestingly, the Macedonian leaders all signed on, though not any Bulgarians). Foreign Minister Molotov was so outraged, he resigned on the spot, something he realized was a terrible idea when the NKVD was dispatched to his location. He barely escaped with his life and only by fleeing to North China, which angrily refused to return him. Molotov may have been an old guard, but his opinions were widely shared in the Soviet officer corps. Third, similar fierce outrage exploded in France itself, where many locals saw De Gaulle seemingly throwing Algeria over to Beria's Communist friends, which was exceedingly loathed by certain quarters, especially those that were not going to forget Stockholm. In contrast, there wasn't much rage in South China over the deal with Beria - the Three Years War was after all, not directly waged between the USSR and South China. The South Chinese were very much more focused on North China.

Interestingly, most Algerians also loathed the deal, which harmed the popularity of the PCA. After all, De Gaulle chose to make peace with the PCA, nor the FLN, which allowed the FLN to denounce the peace as one-sided neocolonial. In addition, under the Tehran Accords, most of the weapons of the pro-French security forces in Algeria would be turned over to the PCA, which outraged the (generally anticommunist) pied-noirs as well as the Americans. Finally, the Tehran Accords allowed the French to keep an enclave on Oran, as well North Algiers (Algiers had to be partitioned, as neither side was willing to let go of the symbolic nature of Algiers being the capital of Algeria), and the Sahara itself (the PCA was actually convinced that it was worthless). The PCA desperately did not want to concede coastal enclaves, but Beria essentially strongarmed them. Beria's ability to strongarm the PCA into what was seen as a deeply disadvantageous was in fact why De Gaulle responded so positively to overtures from the USSR. The FLN responded by declaring war on the PCA as well, as well promising to throw the French out of coastal Algeria. In practice, as the French walled off their enclave in Oran, it would be largely an Algerian Civil War, one that put American and French secret services on opposite sides.

In contrast, the conference was actually pretty popular among citizens and intellectuals across the world, who saw the Soviets pull out from East Germany and North China and the French make peace in Algeria. In addition, intellectuals were lured by the fact that the three parties had agreed to a nuclear arms reduction treaty. Ironically, having more or less murdered millions of people through the use of nuclear weapons, Beria was quick to agree to nuclear disarmament, since he viewed the number of nuclear weapons as not so-important compared to the deterring fact that everyone knew the USSR to be a nation that would use a nuclear weapon. This was seen as a horrible outcome by not only the Americans, but pretty much every nation aligned against the USSR, from Yugoslavia to Israel to Sweden.
 
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BigBlueBox

Banned
Does South China’s resumption of trade and diplomatic relations with the PRK result in a de facto resumption of trade by the entire Busan Pact with the PRK? How are India’s relations with the Communist Bloc?
 

AeroTheZealousOne

Monthly Donor
In contrast, the ROK-Jeju was seen as an almost irrelevant backwater island nation. and ROC diplomats generally mocked the Jeju government - the idea of an anticommunist remnant hiding on a small island to "retake" the mainland seemed utterly laughable to the Republic of China.

I know of no timelines where any parallels to this have occured. Absolutely none at all. :p
 
Poor Algeria, caught in the tangled web.

I know of no timelines where any parallels to this have occured. Absolutely none at all.
It's a novel concept, I have no idea where he got it from.

That said, speaking of parallels that are actually pretty unexpected. I never expected Beria and Molotov to end up in a Stalin-Trotsky situation. Especially not with Molotov being on the Chinese side of a Sino-Soviet split. That's actually a really really interesting turn of events. So, bravo to that. (If Beria goes for an icepick, you heard it here)
If this all results in Beria somehow being ousted, that 5 year plan idea is going to have a OGAS level nostalgia blinders.
 
Chapter 150 - Old Soldiers Do Die
Old Soldiers Do Die
The Tehran Accords were actually surprisingly favorable towards France. Although the French originally wanted to create one contiguous district from Oran to Algiers, that was never plausible, largely because not even the Beria-ordered PCA would have agreed to that. After days of fierce bargaining, the French demands were limited to merely Oran and its immediate suburbs, as well as the Northeastern edge of a partitioned Algiers. However, in exchange for yielding on their territorial demands, the French were allowed to hold onto the largely unpopulated Tuareg South, which they planned on eventually creating an independent Tuareg state. For now, French access to the oil fields would be preserved by instead of sending the oil pipelines to the Algerian coast, to instead send them south through Mali and Niger and towards the West African coast. This kept French control of Algerian oil supplies, although it necessitated much deeper French involvement in West Africa.

The most important part of the peace treaty however, was that in order to get the PCA to agree to the wildly unpopular partition of Algeria (most Algerians were outraged), the French were required to transfer to them most of their military supplies in Algeria. Interestingly, the Pied-Noirs weren't the most outraged by this - in fact, the PCA was significantly less violent towards European Algerians and pro-French Muslims (largely because their ideology wasn't based off Arab Nationalism) and as a result, most pied-noirs actually supported the peace agreement. However, as a prerequisite to the peace agreement, France was required to transfer a great deal of military technology, including non-French military equipment, to the Soviet Union. Outrage exploded in both London and Washington D.C., a rare area of agreement. Upon learning that some of the military technology being transferred by France to the Soviet Union including the technology behind the Asterix satellite, which in theory could be used for intercontinental ballistic missiles, the Americans decided to make their move. CIA and MI6 were basically willing to offer unlimited amounts of cash and supplies to anyone willing to play ball.

Whereas the majority of pied-noirs supported De Gaulle, the Secret Army Organization was split. Although many members were pied-noirs who generally supported De Gaulle, others were just typical right-wingers, who as ardent anti-communists, loathed De Gaulle's ploy. In general, Algerian members of the OAS tended to actually draw from across the political spectrum, including many center-left Jews who felt the OAS were the best defense against the anti-Semitic, ultranationalist FLN. However, mainland French OAS members tended to be on the far-right, often recruiting from neofascist groups. In general, the OAS was a very strange group where a vicious anti-semite Vichy sympathizer might end up working closely on an assignment with a socialist Jew who fought for the French Resistance. However, this would come to an end, as mainland French OAS was outraged at De Gaulle for tilting so closely to the Communist bloc. Fortunately for them, they found a remarkably moneyed and well-supplied patron.

Moreover, although De Gaulle was popular with many professional soldiers, many of those same professional soldiers had become radicalized against Communism during the Three Years War, including the thermonuclear bombing of Stockholm. As befitting for a group that really really loved classical references, French members of the OAS planned their move on March 15th, 1963. With the help of British aircraft that scrambled French radar with strange British air drills, French paratroopers from of all places, French air bases in West Germany, dropped over Paris, seizing control of the radio stations and air fields. Interestingly, this was opposed by the OAS in Algeria, who declared their support for De Gaulle. However, Algeria was too far from Paris to help - the farthest they got was landing paratroopers in Corsica. Although they were preparing to land in Marseilles, Paris would be uncontested.

Prime Minister De Gaulle called on the radio across all of France for citizens and soldiers of France to resist the coup, including France's labour unions. Although the left-wing unions now supported De Gaulle (at least against the coup), they had been so brutalized by De Gaulle during the Three Years War, they were too disorganized and unable to coordinate the large general strikes they used to be able to organize. Moreover, Paris had been a bad place for protesters to shut down ever since the streets were widened to prevent that from happening. In popular opinion, it was tanks rolling down the Boulevard Saint-Michel, but it was actually Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs) carrying paratroopers. Regardless, the outcome is generally not disputed, when left-wing Labour unions came to try to stop the troops, the professional officers immediately concluded they were working under the orders of the USSR (much as they had done so during the Three Years War), and simply ordered their men to disperse the crowds with live ammunition. The death toll may have possibly hit four-digits, especially because several members of the French Army were actually Swedish refugees who reportedly yelled "Remember Stockholm" while gunning down fleeing protesters in the back.

When soldiers came to burst in to arrest Charles De Gaulle, he had already fled the capital, apparently on route to Algeria. Taking a flight across the Mediterranean, his plane made it half-way through before exploding in-flight, killing everyone on board. The identity of who masterminded the sabotage of De Gaulle's plane was unknown, but was widely blamed on either the British or the Americans, the two powers who seemed to have the greatest vested interest in killing De Gaulle. In reality, it was neither of them. The bomb was apparently planted by the Czechoslovak StB, who hoped that by killing De Gaulle, they would weaken the Franco-Soviet detente that emerged from the Tehran Conference. The NKVD was actually trying to protect De Gaulle and were on guard against American and British attempts to assassinate De Gaulle, but neither of those agencies had any intention of killing the man (they merely wanted him out of power to stop any further technology transfers to the USSR). The assassination of De Gaulle made the holdouts in Algeria feel the situation was hopeless, especially when the FLN opened up an offensive against the French enclaves in Oran and Algiers. Unwilling to be caught in a war on both sides, the loyalists in Algeria surrendered to the coup.

The generals in charge of Paris organized a "Committee of Public Safety" that declared the National Assembly of France dissolved. However, instead of directly taking power themselves, they appointed as the new Prime Minister Jacques Soustelle, a once-close supporter of De Gaulle and key figure in Free France, who felt betrayed that his boss had "sold out France to Beria." In many ways, De Gaulle had signed his own death warrant by suppressing leftists and promoting European integration, because it was Europhiles who were most offended by Beria's thermonuclear bombing of Stockholm and felt that any dealings with him were unacceptable. The first act of Prime Minister Soustelle was to not revoke the peace in Algeria (which most pied-noirs actually supported), but merely to cut economic ties with the Soviet Union (most of the relevant technology had been already transferred, but at least they could stop the trade). In contrast, Soustelle moved quickly to deepen economic ties both with the rest of Europe as well as the United States.

The reaction in the Soviet Union was furious. Beria had given genuine concessions to get a trade deal with France. And now France appeared to have killed their old leader for making that deal and reneged on the deal. This heavily discredited Beria's foreign policy among voices in the Soviet bureaucracy already skeptical of his stranglehold on politics. In France itself, the coup was widely unpopular, but street action had failed gruesomely to actually stop the coup. Although the military regime promised elections by 1964, most French agreed that they were almost doomed to lose that election, which only added to the tension in French politics. As a result, Beria refused to change his course, believing that the upcoming French elections would put in power someone amenable to his old deal.
 
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BigBlueBox

Banned
Looks like Beria's plan blew on his face
In the short time sure, but all he really lost was face - half an Algeria is still better than none of Algeria, which is what the Communist Bloc has before the deal. In the long-term, France will be destabilized. I think it’s pretty certain that the military junta will either renege on its promise of elections, rig the elections, or just straight-up annul the elections if the “wrong” candidate wins. Once that happens the blowback will make 1968 look like a minor disturbance. The entire political spectrum, from neo-fascists to France-first conservatives to liberal democrats to moderate socialists, anarchists, and communists all have reasons to hate the military junta, unlike 1968 which came from a section of the far-left only.
 
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In the short time sure, but all he really lost was face - half an Algeria is still better than none of Algeria, which is what the Communist Bloc has before the deal. In the long-term, France will be destabilized. I think it’s pretty certain that the military junta will either renege on its promise of elections, rig the elections, or just straight-up annul the elections if the “wrong” candidate wins. Once that happens the blowback will make 1968 look like a minor disturbance. The entire political spectrum, from neo-fascists to France-first conservatives to liberal democrats to moderate socialists, anarchists, and communists all have reasons to hate the military junta, unlike 1968 which came from a section of the far-left only.
Seems that Beria can still pick up the pieces if the French election gets ugly. The French goverment still has some support for now but that couldnt last for long. I wonder how Beria's health is going at the moment. His succesor could make a shift on the strategy, but I think Beria purged the most dangerous ones at this point
 
In the short time sure, but all he really lost was face - half an Algeria is still better than none of Algeria, which is what the Communist Bloc has before the deal. In the long-term, France will be destabilized. I think it’s pretty certain that the military junta will either renege on its promise of elections, rig the elections, or just straight-up annul the elections if the “wrong” candidate wins. Once that happens the blowback will make 1968 look like a minor disturbance. The entire political spectrum, from neo-fascists to France-first conservatives to liberal democrats to moderate socialists, anarchists, and communists all have reasons to hate the military junta, unlike 1968 which came from a section of the far-left only.

Thing is if Beria hadn't negotiated they stood a decent chance of getting all of Algeria, and they still might end up with none if the (at least partially pro-American) FLN win the day. Suslov is going to be looking mighty attractive after this debacle.
 

BigBlueBox

Banned
Thing is if Beria hadn't negotiated they stood a decent chance of getting all of Algeria, and they still might end up with none if the (at least partially pro-American) FLN win the day. Suslov is going to be looking mighty attractive after this debacle.
Not really. PCA was weaker than the FLN. If France was kicked out of Algeria, it would have been by the FLN, not the PCA, which would probably get purged. Striking a devil’s bargain with the French gave the PCA the only good chance they had. If FLN defeats the PCA, they will immediately attack the French enclaves. Guess what happens to Franco-American relations when American-backed insurgents attack sovereign French territory?
 
Not really. PCA was weaker than the FLN. If France was kicked out of Algeria, it would have been by the FLN, not the PCA, which would probably get purged. Striking a devil’s bargain with the French gave the PCA the only good chance they had. If FLN defeats the PCA, they will immediately attack the French enclaves. Guess what happens to Franco-American relations when American-backed insurgents attack sovereign French territory?

Those are the sort of realpolitik arguments that are acceptable when you're winning, but less so when you start to lose, especially to an ideological organisation with a strong belief in the eventual world revolution.
 

BigBlueBox

Banned
Those are the sort of realpolitik arguments that are acceptable when you're winning, but less so when you start to lose, especially to an ideological organisation with a strong belief in the eventual world revolution.
Lose what exactly? When French sovereign soil is under attack by American-backed militants and the Communists are co-belligerents, it’s obvious who the immediate threat is. Beria couldn’t give a rat’s ass about “world revolution”, he only cares about the maximization of the power of the Soviet state. And the natural tendency of France is to pursue French interests, not sacrifice its interests in favor of ideological crusades. There’s more than enough room between Paris and Moscow and the rest of the world for the Soviet Union and France to flex their muscles without bumping into each other.
 
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