The World of Amerika 1997

[MaxGerke01]

So Amerika was the 1987 miniseries about a Soviet takeover of the United States in 1987 and subsequent domination of the world 10 years later in 1997. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerika_(miniseries)

The takeover was presented as being a bloodless coup although there was bitter resistance in some areas. There are 10 Soviet divisions in Alaska for example which was never pacified . But since its now easy to see this as an AH there are a few questions to consider. First and foremost what is it that lead to the Soviet Union taking such a drastic step that risked nuclear war ? There is reference to the Soviets being able to use the UN to takeover the US because the rest of the world felt betrayed by the US. What event or events in the late 1970s to mid 198-s could have aroused such feelings ? The EMP pulse that crippled the US and Canada would seem to have been limited to North America so that would leave the UK, France and NATO forces in control of nuclear weapons in Europe but they have come to some kind of accommodation with the Soviets- how did that play out ? Also the contiguous US has been divided into several Soviet style regional stans with the intent of breaking up the US into independent countries. The midwest was to be called Heartland -any ideas about the others ?Also there are American collaborators who through the American Unity Party with the President and Congress have created "The New America". The last relatively free elections were in 1988 but the fix was in at that point as Soviet advisors and troops had been deployed

 

[lukedalton]

For Europe i always thought that at further unified due to the increased Soviet menace but also become like Switzerland, armed neutrality, we don't bother you if you don't bother us kind of thing.
Probably stopped any transmission of Radio Free Europe and try in general to not look too aggressive but at the same time make it clear that if she go down, anything west of the Urals come with her.
Strangely the political situation will look much like today, the URSS trying some aggressive move to keep the alliance on his toe but not too aggressive to risk war and continue to finance political parties favorable to her while at the same time spreading misinformation but also be a very important economic patner for western europe.

The quote about not having other place to go, not Israel, not Western Europe IMVHO is because like today there is a series of russian expatratiate having a sudden case of death.
Why the URSS is keep WE around and not invade is because it felt unneccesary and also because had his hand full with the occupation duty in Manchuria and the former USA and frankly still need someone with an healthy economy to commerce

 

[traveller76]

I believe there was a write up by B.Munro in the past https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/asb-settings.158644/page-52#post-5737677. Western Europe I believe was left alone and under the control of a variety of leftist parties under a 'Finland' like system. Apartheid South Africa was crushed by a coalition of liberation armies with Russian Arms in 1994. Cuba dominates the Caribbean. Canada and Australia have been left alone as long as they do not do anything stupid.

 

[MaxGerke01]

Thanks for the ideas so far. I agree about Western Europe and Australia and maybe Japan. Unless the EMP devices were very specific Canada and Mexico are probably in as bad shape as the US as ten years later most communications and other forms of electronics have not be restored. There is an implication that the Soviet Union has come to blows with China in some way perhaps a full nuclear conflict ? I also added a question about the American collaborators in the American Unity Party.

 

[Marc Pasquin]

A screencap of the National emblem to be used by Heartland. The flag had the emblem centered on a yellow-blue-yellow horizontal triband. I never got around to sending it to FOTW.

 

[MaxGerke01]

A screencap of the National emblem to be used by Heartland. The flag had the emblem centered on a yellow-blue-yellow horizontal triband. I never got around to sending it to FOTW.

View attachment 569374

Maybe you still could as they are still an active site ?

 

[Marc Pasquin]

Maybe you still could as they are still an active site ?

I still send flags to them (I used to be an editor) but I have a huge backlog.

 

[MaxGerke01]

Two other things to consider in the "New America" is they way the sports- High School and presumably College and Professional are used as a for of Bread and Circuses to help keep the populace pacified . Its also implied that church services are still allowed as long as they stick to religious issues at least on the face of things. Its probably not preferred but is also seen as a way to distract from whats happened to the US. Any ideas about how these two issues play out ?

 

[WotanArgead]

The midwest was to be called Heartland -any ideas about the others ?

I don’t think it makes sense - the Soviet Government would not have dealt with the division of the United States. If it suddenly came to invasion and occupation, then most likely they would have managed to form a union government. No Reich Commissariats or anything else.

 

[MaxGerke01]

I don’t think it makes sense - the Soviet Government would not have dealt with the division of the United States. If it suddenly came to invasion and occupation, then most likely they would have managed to form a union government. No Reich Commissariats or anything else.

Well that is sort of what they did at first but they got to the point where they needed to break the country up completely and they used a Third Continental Congress to do so. Its implied that problems elsewhere in the world-mostly China and Africa- are causing problems and they are no longer able to commit the same amount of resources to holdthe US down and as opposed to nuking 4 or 5 American cities this is the alternative.

 

[MaxGerke01]

It seems that Fidel Castro bit of morehan he could chew in his sphere of influence and one of the locks on the Panama Canal was destroyed halting all shipping through it. The Politburo wanted the price to be the nuking of 3 American cities but the settled for the killings of the President, Vice President, Congress and the fire bombing of the US Capitol Rotunda and the likely destruction of the Declaration of Independence and other founding documents and portraits....

 

[Laqueesha]

A screencap of the National emblem to be used by Heartland. The flag had the emblem centered on a yellow-blue-yellow horizontal triband. I never got around to sending it to FOTW.

Kinda reminds me of Yugoslavia's state emblem.

 

[traveller76]

Two other things to consider in the "New America" is they way the sports- High School and presumably College and Professional are used as a for of Bread and Circuses to help keep the populace pacified . Its also implied that church services are still allowed as long as they stick to religious issues at least on the face of things. Its probably not preferred but is also seen as a way to distract from whats happened to the US. Any ideas about how these two issues play out ?

Team sports (American and European Football, Basketball, Volleyball) and Competitions on High School level like choir, marching band, gymnastics would be allowed. University sports would happen on a regional level. No professional sports or sports that highlight individual talents like say golf.

 

[MaxGerke01]

I believe there was a write up by B.Munro in the past https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/asb-settings.158644/page-52#post-5737677.

This is a very well done timeline. So wonder what happened to Reagan as this timeline would have been his worst nightmare ? So new elections would have started up in 2004 probably although it seems hard to believe that there were many national figures who could run for president at that time. Its depressing to see a CSA as possible South back. I see why New York City feels the way it does although it and the other two "International Cities" (San Francisco and New Orleans ) Washington DC and the South Florida Space Zone probably had the easiest time during the Soviet Occupation as things in those places were kept as close to pre- Occupation normal as possible. Western Europe, Canada, Australia and Japan have come off rather well with all of this but only parts of South America, Africa and Asia but poor China. It would be interesting to see this world in 2020-has it managed to avoid destruction ?

 

[traveller76]

This is a very well done timeline. So wonder what happened to Reagan as this timeline would have been his worst nightmare ? So new elections would have started up in 2004 probably although it seems hard to believe that there were many national figures who could run for president at that time. Its depressing to see a CSA as possible South back. I see why New York City feels the way it does although it and the other two "International Cities" (San Francisco and New Orleans ) Washington DC and the South Florida Space Zone probably had the easiest time during the Soviet Occupation as things in those places were kept as close to pre- Occupation normal as possible. Western Europe, Canada, Australia and Japan have come off rather well with all of this but only parts of South America, Africa and Asia but poor China. It would be interesting to see this world in 2020-has it managed to avoid destruction ?

Let's say Reagan does not survive the assassination attempt in 1981. Since the Soviets enforced the no-nukes rule and probably enforced the no chemical or biological weapons rule there are fewer WMD. However there will be lots of brushfire wars with the amounts of weapons floating around.

 

[MaxGerke01]

Let's say Reagan does not survive the assassination attempt in 1981. Since the Soviets enforced the no-nukes rule and probably enforced the no chemical or biological weapons rule there are fewer WMD. However there will be lots of brushfire wars with the amounts of weapons floating around.

That would work for where the Amerika timeline diverged from OTL in the early 1980's. There is a good timeline out there for the Red Dawn 1984 universe and the divergence it had was Ford was re-elected in 1976 and Edward Kennedy in 1980. So in ths timeline if Reagan died in 1981 that means that George HW Bush was president until at least 1985 but if he lost the 1984 election that opens of the possibility of having a fictional president in 1987 when the Soviet attack happens. Whoever it was had a very bad day. When it came to politics the attack pretty much destroyed the Democratic and Republican parties. The fictional Congress man from Massachusetts Devin Milford ran in 1988 as an Independent. Fictional Democratic and Republican candidates ran but the were in cahoots with the remains of the national media to downplay the increasing Soviet control of the country. I wonder which one won ? There seems to have been an "election' in 1992 and 1996 but by then the "President" was probably from the American Unity Party which was basically a collaborationist party probably made up of some Republicans but given ideology was likely mostly Democrats and other leftist groups. They unfortunately were hand in glove with the Soviets. Some did it I imagine because they genuinely wanted to help people-which was done in many cases-but many did it for sheer opportunism and power. There was probably no national election in 2000 because at that point Heartland and likely all of the Soviet inspired adminstrative areas had broken off from the US and no national elections were held again to at least 2004 but maybe 2008? I wonder what kind of leader Peter Bradford was in Heartland as he was a decent enough man buyt would have been regarded as a traitor by many Americans...

 

[lukedalton]

That would work for where the Amerika timeline diverged from OTL in the early 1980's. There is a good timeline out there for the Red Dawn 1984 universe and the divergence it had was Ford was re-elected in 1976 and Edward Kennedy in 1980. So in ths timeline if Reagan died in 1981 that means that George HW Bush was president until at least 1985 but if he lost the 1984 election that opens of the possibility of having a fictional president in 1987 when the Soviet attack happens. Whoever it was had a very bad day. When it came to politics the attack pretty much destroyed the Democratic and Republican parties. The fictional Congress man from Massachusetts Devin Milford ran in 1988 as an Independent. Fictional Democratic and Republican candidates ran but the were in cahoots with the remains of the national media to downplay the increasing Soviet control of the country. I wonder which one won ? There seems to have been an "election' in 1992 and 1996 but by then the "President" was probably from the American Unity Party which was basically a collaborationist party probably made up of some Republicans but given ideology was likely mostly Democrats and other leftist groups. They unfortunately were hand in glove with the Soviets. Some did it I imagine because they genuinely wanted to help people-which was done in many cases-but many did it for sheer opportunism and power. There was probably no national election in 2000 because at that point Heartland and likely all of the Soviet inspired adminstrative areas had broken off from the US and no national elections were held again to at least 2004 but maybe 2008? I wonder what kind of leader Peter Bradford was in Heartland as he was a decent enough man buyt would have been regarded as a traitor by many Americans...

Honestly, what Bradford expect to achieve in 1988? The USA were basically like any nation in est europe after the war, with the soviet military everywhere and not having any mean to fight back conventionally and frankly any uprising will have been a bloodshed and a failure...honestly as anybody in occupied europe have learned the hard way, many times you can't choose between good or evil only between the lesser evil

 

[MaxGerke01]

Found this SNL clip from 1987.

 

[Marc Pasquin]

Found this SNL clip from 1987.

It's interesting that both Dennis Miller & Victoria Jackson ended up being on the far-right of politics which was the target audience of Amerika in the first place.

 

[Gillan1220]

What do you think is the last bastion of anti-Soviet resistance in this TL? I guess it's the People's Republic of China and Western Europe.