WI Malenkov and Khrushchev dead?

EMTSATX

Banned
Here's my question. On the night of November 1-2, 1956 both G. Malenkov and Nikita Khrushchev boarded a flight to Island of Brioni in Yugoslavia to inform Josip Tito about the impending invasion of Hungry to put down the rebellion. I guess they also wanted to assure Tito that the tanks would not keep rolling into Yugoslavia.

So l was wondering. What happens to the SU, the invasion of Hungry and the Cold War in general? I am not sure where the flight originated but let's suppose it is obvious (at least to the KGB anyway) it was mechanical or weather related.

So what happens? These guys were it. Beria has been shot and not a lot was available. Could Zhukov step in?
 

Napoleon IV

There were plenty of other people who could have taken power besides Zhukov. Most notable were Nikolai Bulganin (who as Chairman of the Council of Ministers was arguably the second most powerful person in the USSR), Vyacheslav Molotov (Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers, and one of the top figures of the Party's Stalinist wing), and rising stars like Alexei Kirichenko and Dmitri Shepilov. The most likely outcome is some sort of collective leadership as the Stalinists, the moderates, and the reformists battle it out (this factional struggle was one of the defining features of the Khrushchev years). Zhukov won't lead because the Party feared Bonapartism (the idea that a military leader takes over and reverses the revolution like Napoleon did in France), and the fact that there were others who had greater claim to the title than he did.The decision to invade Hungary had been made already, and I doubt the Soviets change their minds.
 

Phalamus

This forum seems to have a sort of Zhukov fetish for some reason. The truth is that he's probably one of the least likely candidates for leadership. He was very popular among the general populace, but lacked support from party leaders, who feared him precisely because of his popularity and also because of his apparently warm relationship with Eisenhower. He also didn't really seem to be that interested in leading the country. There were tons of other people who could have suceeded Krushchev and Malenkov. See the membership of the 20th Politburo.

Now, personally, I've been dying to see a Mikoyan-led soviet Union TL. If I were to write, I'd call it "The Ice Cream Empire" :p
 
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