I'm going to put down a bullet list of various divergences from history, followed by a brief summary:
- In 1938 and 1939 (up until the war), elements of the German government and high command are alarmed by Hitler's seeming willingness to go to war against multiple opponents unilaterally. The Invasion of Poland, and the leadup to it proceed as in OTL, but behind the scenes there are a number of Germans working on building a larger alliance for the Axis.
- Spain is pressured to join the Axis following a brutally successful invasion of France. Spain annexes Portugal in a manner similar to the German invasion of Czechoslovakia. London is horrified by the prospect of losing access to the Mediterranean, and resolves to rely heavily on aerial technology as a means of continuing operations in the area, as it is only a matter of time before the Strait of Gibraltar ceases to be an option.
- Both the Allies and Axis put more of an emphasis on the western theatre of operations, straining activity elsewhere. The British are intimidated by the seemingly insurmountable coalition arrayed against them, and additionally, have to devote forces to secure Portuguese Africa. Meanwhile, the Germans are frustrated by the difficulties of securing a massive landmass with two 'weak underbellies'. British operational planners note that Yugoslavia and Greece are taken by the Axis with far more trouble than was initially expected.
- Operation Barbarossa is met with significant initial success, but stalls a few months later at Moscow and Crimea. Hitler declares the Operation to be a massive success, with 2 million Axis troops lost compared to 4 million Soviet troops, but many entities are worried about an imminent Soviet response to the invasion. Turkey is convinced to join the Axis during the initial successes of the Operation, but this happens over considerable domestic pushback.
- Also to note; the heightened British emphasis on air power in 1940 means that the Battle of Britain is positively disastrous for the Axis (moreso than OTL).
- In 1942 The Japanese launch an invasion of Burma that goes very well. A stripped down British Asian garrison (many of them deployed to Europe or Africa over a year ago) is pushed back to the far north of the country. However, news of Japanese success is the only good news for the Axis in 1942, as the British start to push back in North Africa and the Germans are disastrously encircled at Rzhev-Vyazma. Just over a year after Operation Barbarossa commenced, the Red Army is barreling towards Kiev and Minsk with nearly a million Axis troops trapped behind enemy lines.
- 2 American carriers, and 1 Japanese carrier lost at Midway. However, an invasion of the island is deemed impractical by the IJN, and cancelled.
- In an attempt to gain a foothold in Europe before the Soviets reach their original border, the British and Canadians launch an unsuccessful amphibious invasion on Dieppe. It is decided that the Allies need will need more practical experience before another invasion of the mainland is attempted.
- The Turkish government is now faced with considerable domestic outrage after the disastrous year for the Axis war machine. The Turkish Army continues fortifying the Western Caucasus, and pays lip service to the rest of the Axis, saying offensive operations will commence once the rest of the alliance is ready for them.
- In response to successful American operations in western North Africa, Germany is faced with the potential of one of its worst fears - the Pyrenees being invaded on either side, trapping scores of Axis divisions in the Iberian Peninsula. Axis command is forced to choose between abandoning Iberia entirely or turning it into a fortress. The mentality of the German Heer makes the latter decision a foregone conclusion, even though investing in Iberia requires resources that the Axis frankly does not have.
- In 1943, the starvation of millions of Bengal and Indian civilians in the British Raj makes the news considerably (increased diversion of resources from east to west means the famine is worse than OTL - the Axis, and South Asian national movements do a very good job of getting the word out). This has the effect of triggering massive uprisings and defections all throughout the British Raj. Furthermore, a slight chilling of British-American relations pushes back already delayed Allied operations in the Mediterranean. Meanwhile, the Red Army seems virtually unstoppable is it retakes most of Belarus, Ukraine and the Baltics. Resistance movements all throughout Western Europe intensify as Axis garrisons depart to meet the oncoming Soviet juggernaut.
- Despite minor disaster in the British Raj throughout 1943, the Americans finally start winning victories on the sea against the IJN.
- 1944 opens with the stunning capture of Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and the Baleares almost simultaneously by the Allies. On top of being a successful operation unto itself, Operation Hannibal is considered to be a prelude to the planned landings in multiple spots in continental Europe much later in the year.
- As the Red Army passes into Bulgaria in May of 1944, the Turkish government offers a conditional surrender to Stalin. The offer is eagerly accepted by the Soviets, and the Red Army hastens in its invasion of Central Europe. In summer of the same year, the Red Army links up with Yugoslavian and Greek partisans and turns sharply to the north. The deployment of several more (often hastily thrown together) Axis divisions does nothing to slow the invasion of Warsaw and Budapest in August, and only serves to embolden local partisans in a swiftly emptying Western Europe.
- Several events in Autumn of 1944 converge to begin the collapse of the Axis Empire. First of all, the Red Army pushes through western Poland, landing in spitting distance of Berlin. Second of all, Operation Overlord lands allied troops at several points in Normandy, Gibraltar and Cosenza (a weak foothold is secured in Wilhelmshaven and soon evacuated, although the presence of two foreign powers on German soil in the same month adds to the panic among German command). Finally, Red Army forces discover evidence of death camps throughout liberated Poland. Although this is initially taken to be Communist propaganda, many independent sources begin to confirm the grisly crimes of the Nazi regime. Renewed uprisings in Austria, France and the Low Countries mean the regions are only held by the Germans on paper by the time winter settles in. Spain and Italy are in states of near civil war. Even Germany is not immune to uprisings occurring throughout the country.
- Berlin falls on Christmas of 1944. Munich and Venice fall in the same month.
- Aided by partisans, the Red Army occupies much of the falling Nazi Empire. However, as 'Victory in Europe is declared' in January of 1945, the Red Army does not have uniform control over the entire continent. Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and parts of eastern Germany and northern Italy are under undeniable Soviet control. Yugoslavia, Albania and Greece are under the control of Communist Partisans outside the control of the Red Army. Spain and Italy are under control of a mix of communist partisans and big tent partisan organisations with a small number of allied troops in corners of the country. While many of the resistance members in France and the low countries were communists, they were big tent organisations as well, and had considerable contact with British intelligence. While the Soviet Union undeniably holds the balance of power in all of Europe, it is far from an absolute power. Finally, Turkey has an agreement of cooperation with the Soviet Union (as part of their surrender), but this agreement was made to secure their official independence.
- In Spring of 1945, the Soviets push rapidly into Manchuria. The more level-headed officers in Imperial command do not see how they can hold onto China for the year.
- After the arrival of an increasing amount of divisions into the Tajik SSR, the Indian National Army tells Moscow that they do not consider the Soviet Union to be an enemy. Multilateral talks begin between the INA, the Kremlin, London and many local resistance movements. A pattern similar to the ones seen in Western Europe emerges, with the Soviets holding a balance of the power, and local resistance forces using London as a mere leverage against Moscow.
- Hokkaido and more of the eastern coast of China are seized by the Red Army in early summer of 1945. The 'fight to the last' tendency of the IJA is discredited within a huge majority of the remaining civilian government of Japan, as well as a considerable part of the military. Hokkaido was devastated by Japanese scorched earth tactics, but with little to no benefit against the oncoming communist giant.
- Japanese surrender follows soon after a disastrous naval defeat near the Philippines, as well as Soviet operations clearly indicating future plans to invade Honshu.
Once the final peace negotiations are made, the Soviet bloc is the clear winner of the war. Poland, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Italy and Germany are made Marxist-Leninist one party states firmly within control of the Soviet Union. In addition, Yugoslavia, Greece, Iberia, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, India and Indonesia are now left-leaning republics with a cordial relationship with the eastern bloc.
At first, to London and Washington, this looked like an iron curtain falling over the entire world; but things were not as rosy for Stalin as they appeared to an outside observer. His paranoia was getting the best of him. In 1950, students, activists and demonstrators all around the Warsaw Pact (but particularly in Hungary, Finland and Czechoslovakia) demonstrated in support of having liberties such as those enjoyed by the Soldiers' and Workers' Liberation Councils in France. The Communist Party of Germany went a step further, and legitimised such local councils immediately, with an additional promises to craft a multi-party system in the near future. After Stalin threatened to send in the Red Army to crack down on such 'disorder', France immediately declared that they would offer political support to the Council Communists. More alarmingly to Moscow, (highly exaggerated) rumors started surfacing of a secret agreeement between Josep Broz Tito and Clement Attlee. Several higher ups in the Politburo decided that it might be time for Stalin to go. However, a Myocardial Infarction had the same idea a few hours earlier than they did. A swift power struggle resulted in Beria dead, Stalin buried, and a grand slate of reformers ascendant within the CCCP (by the end of the years events, Krushchev found himself in the conservative wing of the party). Mao and Sukarno made several accusations of revisionism to the newly reformed Soviet Union, but there was little they could do to plausibly threaten all of Eurasia.
Also, Ronald Reagan stays an actor and Henry Kissinger dies in a horrifying wheat threshing incident known only to history as 'The Definitely the Worst Thing to Happen to a Person Ever of 1960'
(Sorry for the essay. That went into more detail than I expected it to)