Ignoring the technical plausibility of the German secret service managing to infiltrate Skorzeny into Iran... what if the alleged Operation Long Jump (Unternehmen Weitsprung) of late 1943 had been successful in murdering at least the Soviet leader, Stalin?
What are the short-term consequences, as in, for the duration of the war? Who would take the reins of the Soviet carriage immediately after? The board's consensus here seems to be that Lavrentiy Beria would be too unpopular within the party elite to rule alone, so could a triumvirate with two other top-ranking Soviet figures (Molotov? Even Zhukov?) be formed? What decisions would the new Soviet leadership take for the rest of the war? Would they accept cooperation with the Wallies in aiding the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, if the theory that Stalin sabotaged it for political ends is to be believed? Any other strategical switcharounds?
What ere the long-term consequences, for after Germany is defeated? Would the Cold War develop similarly as it did IOTL if Stalin isn't there, and would Khrushchev still become Premier? Does the Yugoslav-Soviet Split still happen? What are the effects on China? The decolonization of Africa and Asia?
 

Deleted member 1487

There is some suspicion that the Soviets made up the operation to make themselves look good. But hypothetically if the Germans are truly superhuman and somehow pull off the operation with a 0% chance of success Beria would probably liquidate every Soviet security man involved. I'd imagine Soviet morale would take a hit given how Stalin had a near godlike reputation at the time and there would be a bit of a mess within Stalin's inner circle about powersharing. I'd imagine like IOTL it would be a group of them with actual power and a titular figurehead to represent them to the public. I think a lot would depend on what the deal was among the inner circle as to what to do with a peace deal, but Beria seems to have been very much open to working with the Wallies post-war, getting assistance from them for territory exchange, and leaving behind doctrinaire communism; of course they said a lot about Beria after they killed him IOTL, so it is hard to know what he actually thought and what they were using as justification for purging him after the fact. Apparently the bit about him being a prolific rapist was likely invented to justify his purge for example, per a new history of Stalin's inner circle:
https://www.amazon.com/Stalins-Team-Living-Dangerously-Politics/dp/0691145334
 
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