How so? This just seems like social conservatism and an aversion to foreign intervention.Paleoconservatism goes wayyyy off the deep end
How so? This just seems like social conservatism and an aversion to foreign intervention.Paleoconservatism goes wayyyy off the deep end
Kingdom of Finland in a Central Powers victory scenario would be pretty grim place, as the prison camps would most likely remain in existence much longer.
A KR-like China would have been impossible for one major reason, Mao had at least a few things grounding him to reality; Pol Pot was just absolutely fucking bat guano. He invaded a country with several times the population (Vietnam) with the rationale that Vietnam's comparative modernisation and urbanisation would make it's people less tough.
Let's put this into perspective: Vietnam had just gotten past decades of protracted conflict against multiple foreign powers (Japan, France, the US, etc) based on the sheer motivation of its armed people. Pol Pot sincerely thought that his people were so much more tough and dedicated than that, that it would make up for a fivefold difference in population as well as greater levels of military and industrial development.
A lot of time Pol Pot's atrocities are simplified as 'he killed a ton of people', and while this is absolutely true, it leaves out the sheer degree to which his decisions were absolutely inane. I think that factor - an absurdly irrational totalitarian actor - is the hardest to replicate to get a KR situation out of any other country.
Duvalier is probably best-suited for such a role considering that he literally had all black dogs in Haiti killed because he believed a political opponent transformed into one and that he killed 21% of Haiti’s population.A more extremist "back to our Bedouin roots" Gaddafi has the potential of turning Libya into into a Khmer Rouge-esque hellhole, with that specific combination of mass purge and anti-modernity.
Fidel Castro dies early, and Che Guevara completely takes over Cuba. The man ruined the country's economy in his short tenure with his completely inane interpretation of collectivization, and was also a raging, paranoid psychopath. Lots of potential if he stays longer in power. Bonus point: he goes Posadist shortly after...
Not exactly KR, but there's also a lot of batshit insane dictators OTL who could have reached KR level of mass murder with the right nudge: Amin Dada in Uganda, Duvalier in Haiti, Bokassa in the CAR, and Niyazov in Turkmenistan, they all had the delusion of a connection with the supernatural and could have come up with gems like "God told me all people who wear glasses are secret foreign spies" or "modern medicine is an invention of the Devil".
A country that is 80% Urban is nowhere close to executing all City dwellers.The United States - considering how they treat minorities of all faiths, creeds, and identities - and the current rise of the far right fringe.
Ahem, Nazi Germany???I have an extremely hard time seeing anything vaguely similar to the Khmer Rouge in a developed country, it's only really possible in very poor countries IMO.
While the Nazis were genocidal, they didn’t kill urbanites. Killing urbanites is what distinguishes the Khmer Rouge from other Genocidal Regimes.Ahem, Nazi Germany???
I just mean in terms of slaughtering an absurd percentage of citizens, and we have no idea just how far off the deep end Hitler would have gone had he won the war.While the Nazis were genocidal, they didn’t kill urbanites. Killing urbanites is what distinguishes the Khmer Rouge from other Genocidal Regimes.
While the Nazis were genocidal, they didn’t kill urbanites. Killing urbanites is what distinguishes the Khmer Rouge from other Genocidal Regimes.
I've always assumed that to be true. The Khmer Rouge was China-backed, and, like China, they considered the peasants to be the revolutionary class. Seems pretty open-and-shut to me.
I can realistically see at worst an extreme McCarthyite-State's Rights dictatorship rising to power and imprisoning some intellectuals (these movements were generally anti-"Eastern" intellectual- see George Wallace) but even they'd understand that we need a moderately educated nation to continue to be oppressive. And yes, McCarthyists and State's Righters were generally rural populists, they also would come nowhere near what Pol Pot did when it came to evacuating cities, especially since many supporters could live in those cities. Finally, while the MC/SR movements were very racist, there's generally been a significant lack of calls for genocide. At worst in this situation, American blacks would be sent "back" to Liberia, which was something several congressional white supremacists supported in the pre-New Deal era. While that's obviously racist and terrible and should never be done, it would not compare to the genocidal affects of Pol Pot's regime. As for other majorities in this situation, a similar occurrence would happen. If a LtP-style situation happens with Israel, Jews could certainly be persecuted, but there is absolutely no way that with a large WWII vet public genocide would occur. As for Asians and Hispanics, it really depends on your situation because if your a dissenter from say, China, you'd probably be used by such a regime to talk about how horrific life under Communism is. Basically, the realistic worst case scenario is just your general Rumsfeldia/LtP dystopia with a lot more racism and a slight bit more anti-intellectualism. If you want a Pol Pot-level dictator to rise in America (I don't know why), you probably need a POD that's pre-1900, and even that's murkyThe United States - considering how they treat minorities of all faiths, creeds, and identities - and the current rise of the far right fringe.
What happened in Paraguay?
I mean fighting on till that point is pretty crazy, but I'd argue its still less crazy than most of the goto 20th century examples.I'm guessing the trouble Paraguay had when they attacked their three biggest neighbours - Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. Losing 60% of your population is not a good thing....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraguayan_War
What happened in Paraguay?
America loses it’s Independence war from the British. As the colony develops the Cities become very rich off of trans-Alantic trade, while the rural areas are sapped for natural resources, resulting in lot’s of pollution, environmental collapse, and large scale poverty. The British giving America Independence during the 60’s decolonization movement (assuming it isn’t butterflied away). Educated British Bureaucrats leave the country, causing the American Government to experience major Brian Drain. A group (let’s cal them the American People's Democratic Liberation Army) takes over the country and starts a genocide against the Urbanites who they consider to be loyal to Britain, and thus not real Americans.If you want a Pol Pot-level dictator to rise in America (I don't know why), you probably need a POD that's pre-1900, and even that's murky