The overthrow of Stalin in 1941

After the start of the German invasion of the USSR on 22 June 1941 Stalin lived a kind of nervous breakdown. A few days holed up in his dacha in Kuncevo and of not talking to anyone. A. Beevor writes that when his Paladins (Khrushchev, Molotov, Beria and Malenkov) went to see Stalin, greeted them haggard and anxious, apparently believing that they came to arrest him. What would happen if indeed it happened? Never before or since Stalin's position wasn't so poor. What if Beria, which is suspected of poisoning Stalin in 1953 came to the conclusion it was time to get rid of the discredited dictator and pulled into his conspiracy rest of the Political Bureau? How to remove Stalin affect the course of the war and the policy of the USSR?
 

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After the start of the German invasion of the USSR on 22 June 1941 Stalin lived a kind of nervous breakdown. A few days holed up in his dacha in Kuncevo and of not talking to anyone. A. Beevor writes that when his Paladins (Khrushchev, Molotov, Beria and Malenkov) went to see Stalin, greeted them haggard and anxious, apparently believing that they came to arrest him. What would happen if indeed it happened? Never before or since Stalin's position wasn't so poor. What if Beria, which is suspected of poisoning Stalin in 1953 came to the conclusion it was time to get rid of the discredited dictator and pulled into his conspiracy rest of the Political Bureau? How to remove Stalin affect the course of the war and the policy of the USSR?
Depends on the arrangement for power thereafter. Is it a true council or does Beria purge his rivals? Apparently IOTL that group of men felt they needed Stalin to run things. There is the question too if there was a coup, does the group tell the public and then keep Stalin's removal secret and rule via his name and fear of his reputation or say they purged him or he committed suicide or something and deal with the public fallout? If that is the case then does the public respect them? People were scared of Stalin after the purges, they made sure he had power centralized in his hands; no Stalin and that fear goes away to a degree and perhaps the army gets a bit skittish about having Beria in charge. Assuming power at the top functions smoothly and Beria isn't trying to do a power grab (and his purge, like in 1953 is delayed for a while), then the question is who actually runs the military. Stalin for all of his many flaws at least was iron jawed about running the war, if the wrong person is put in charge and Zhukov doesn't isn't a major decision maker then things could go very badly. Maybe things go better because Zhukov can run the war the way he wants if put in charge (though if he doesn't got to Leningrad due to his promotion or whatever then things could turnout pretty bad there in September under Voroshilov...assuming he isn't shuffled away.
I wonder if the council in charge would offer a peace deal if they were afraid of defeat?
 
I'd say that Pravda reports that Stalin was killed by enemy action. "While en route to confer with senior army leadership, Comrade Stalin's train was struck by German bombs. His last action was to man a machine gun; he died a hero's death."
 
Beria's NKVD is powerfull. But, without the army that is currently defending the USSR as support i don't think Beria could survive the purge that will follow the death of Stalin. Molotov, Khrushchev and Malenkov will not want Beria to lead the Soviet Union whilst itsu under attack. They need the army to be supportive of the government or else the Soviet Union is doomed. I think Beria would be shot and Malenkov will take over. Molotov had no ambition to be the leader, but he would support the smart move, and molotov won't get fooled by Beria. If Beria did become leader Beria won't let the other "paladins" live anyway, not during this time of crisis. He would solidify his position on the spot. A bad move, very risky and none of the other Paladins will allow that to happen.

Its a power struggle, one with many posibilities though.
 

CaliGuy

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I wonder if the council in charge would offer a peace deal if they were afraid of defeat?
Yes; however, they almost certainly wouldn't get one since Hitler was so confident of victory that I doubt that he's actually accept anything short of a total acquisition of all Soviet territory west of the Urals--something that no Soviet government can accept!
 
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