World in Flux Redux:An Alternate Cold War Timeline

[walmart]

Decided to restart my Timeline and move the POD to 1960s

Middle East 1960s

The formation of Ba’athist lead United Arab Federation would divided the Pan-Arab movement into Nasserist and Ba’athist factions. The union of Syria and Iraq formed in 1964 following the defeat of Syrian Nasserist coup in July of 1963 and the deaths of Iraqi Nasserists such as [1] Abdul Salam Arif during the rule of Abd al-Karim Qasim. Found as a unitary one-party state controlled by the Ba’ath party. The country would contain a legislative branch with 250 members with a 1/3 being Syrian and 2/3 being Iraqi and a powerful but not absolute executive branch with Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr as Prime minster and Amin al-Hafiz as president. The new state would take a middle ground to the cold war playing the Soviet Union and the United States off each other until it’s humiliating defeat in the 6-day war would see the new state firmly join the Soviet camp.

The secession of Syria from the United Arab Republic and formation of the United Arab Federation as a rival would heavily harm Nasser’s prestige as leader of the Pan-Arab movement. The secession of Syria in 1962 would promote Nasser to get involved in North Yemeni civil war in support of the new Arab nationalist government. The UAR would be bogged down in North Yemen until it’s and the UAF war with Israel in June 1967 would promote a withdraw from North Yemen. The war would see the loss of the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza strip for the UAR and the loss of Golem heights for the UAF. The United Arab Republic would see new life breathed into with the successful 1969 Sudanese coup. Attempts at other Arab Nationalist coups in Libya and Saudi Arabia would fail. Sudan would join the United Arab Republic with Gaafar Nimeiry becoming Vice President of the Republic in 1969. The south of the country would gain autonomy under the Addis Ababa Agreement in 1972 as it prepared for a rematch with Israel.

1.POD: Abdul Salam Arif is killed instead of imprisoned so no November 1963 Iraqi coup

Map of Middle East after 6 day war

 

[walmart]

Any suggestions or criticism

 

[walmart]

Nigeria 1960s

Nigeria would gain independence from Britain in the 1960 as Commonwealth dominion, becoming a republic in 1963. The new state would experience tensions between the three most dominant Ethnic group. The Christian Igbo located in the South East, the Muslim Hausa-Fulani located in the North, and the Christian majority Yoruba in South West. This would culminate in a successful coup lead by primarily by Igbo officers lead by Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi in January of 1966.


[1]An attempted countercoup on July 28, 1966 by Northern officers would fail. Originally planning to secede but changing to overthrowing government. The failure of the countercoup would lead the coup-plotters to revert back to their original plan of secession. The coup-plotters would flee north and declare the independence of Northern Nigeria under the republic of Arewa. Yakubu Gowon would be sacked in favor of Murtala Mohammed as leader of the new state. The declaration of the new state would be followed by the ethnic cleansing of Igbos and other Eastern Nigerians from the new republic. The republic’s capital would be located in the city of Kaduna. The new nation would see heavy support during the Nigerian civil war from the United Arab Republic due its Muslim majority and France which hoping to expand its sphere of influence in Africa. Holding the bulk of Nigeria’s military assets and 60% percent of the nation’s soldiers. The new state would seem to hold the advantage, however, its only means of resupply would be through the various bordering former French colonies while the federal government would control the sea lanes.

Map of Arewa

Arewa would make an attempted push to the Lagos in early September 1966. Craving out a puppet Yorubaland out of the areas taken. The puppet state would primarily be led by Muslim Yorubas. The push to Lagos would peter out near Ogbomosho in late November of 1966 due to government resistance and increasing lack of supplies. Another offensive in early December of 1966 backed up by United Arab Republic pilots to take Ogbomosho would fail. The Federal Government would begin a two-pronged offensive in mid January of 1967. A Western one aimed at pushing Arewa forces out of South Western Nigeria and an Eastern one attempted at taking Jos. The Western offensive would be successful in pushing Arewa forces North of Niger river. Attempts at crossing Niger River would be crushed by Arewa forces while the Eastern offensive would be blocked at the river Kaduna and the City of Kumo. By April of 1967 the conflict would stalemate until mid-1968.

In the meantime, the republic of Arewa would gain recognition along with supplies and money from Saudi Arabia, The United Arab Republic, Algeria,United Arab Federation, and Pakistan. Supplies would increasingly pass down the Niger river from Benin and Niger. The superpowers would not get involved as the Soviet Union initially wished to support the federal government seeing similarities to the Congo Crisis and hoping Nigeria would be a base for communism but to due its allies support for the Arewa decided to not get involved leading to American non-involvement as well. Nigeria's former colonial master Britain would do nothing more then sell arms financed by BP oil. An attempt by Arewa to push to the Benue river would be repulsed in September of 1967. The federal government would begin three-pronged offensive in mid June 1968.Crossing the Niger and Kaduna rivers in late July, beginning a brutal 2 and half yearlong campaign to retake the north, ending in 1971. The north would remain a hotbed of insurgency for many decades following the war as the country’s wealth and power would remain concentrated in the hands of the South.

1. POD: The 1966 Nigerian counter-coup fails as a result the north tries to break off.

 

[walmart]

Angola and Mozambique 1970s

The Carnation Revolution would mark the end of Portugal’s colonial wars and see the various armed independence movements fight each for control. [1]Mozambique would see fighting between Soviet-backed Mozambique Liberation Front or FRELIMO found in 1963 and the Chinese-backed Mozambican National Resistance or RENAMO found by FRELIMO dissidents in 1970 following the breakup of the triumvirate of Samora Machel, Marcelino dos Santos, and Uria Simango. [2] In South Mozambique a group of white settlers called Movement for a Free Mozambique would seize control of the area around the capital as a third faction claiming Mozambique as a multiracial nation in September. The settlers would hold the area south of the Limpopo river with south African support. Portugal would soon set the date for independence on November 11 1975. Attempts at an accord between the three factions would fail in early January of 1975 as a result of FRELIMO opposition. 3,000 South African forces would intervene on the side of the MFM in late January after months of preparation. South African forces would halt at the Zambezi river by early April. Under South African pressure an agreement between RENAMO and MFM to divide Mozambique between the two would be reached. The agreement would see the border set at the Zambezi river with MFM taking the area south as republic of Mozambique while the area north would become the republic of Zambezi under RENAMO. An attempt by the Soviet Union to introduce sanctions and condemn the invasion would be vetoed by United States. Both Mozambique and the republic of Zambezi would gain recognition from Portugal on November 11 of 1975; however, the new nations would be blocked from the United Nation by the Soviet Union. Mozambique would be a white dominated state with token black representatives. The country would be lead by the ideologies of Lusotropicalism and Estado Novo. The new state would receive 450,000 whites fleeing Angola. The republic of Zambezi would be a one-party state lead by RENAMO. The new nation would face a crippling insurgency with large parts of the country falling under the control of FRELIMO. Victory in Mozambique conflict would provide a major morale boost to South Africa and provide a secure border for Rhodesia, enabling both states to survive into the 21th century.

Angola would see similar conflict to Mozambique between UNITA and the MPLA following Portugal’s withdraw. Requests by UNITA for South Africa intervention were refused as the country was fearfully of international condemnation and strained by the conflict in Mozambique. Zaire would launch its own failed intervention on the side of FNLA to capture Luanda which would be halted by MPLA and Cuban troops while an attempt by UNITA from the South would be crushed. South Africa would launch its own limited intervention with 1000 troops in November of 1975 to prop up UNITA in Southern Angola. South Africa would withdraw its forces from the country in January of 1976.

1. POD: RENAMO is founded earlier and with a different origin

2. POD: This coup was unsuccessful in OTL but with RENAMO and FRELIMO busy fighting each. Portugal doesn't intervene.

 

[walmart]

I'm kind of interested in continuing this timeline . Should I or should I just do something else ?

 

[SomeFollowTheStars]

I'm kind of interested in continuing this timeline . Should I or should I just do something else ?

I'd love for you to continue.

 

[walmart]

Horn of Africa 1970s

July 13, 1977 would mark the start of a nearly year long conflict between the two communist states of Somalia and Ethiopia. The conflict would be over the Ogaden as Somalia sought incorporate the Somali majority region at the expense of Ethiopia's new communist government. Ethiopia weaken by rebellions and purges following the overthrow of the monarchy and it's replace by the communist Derg was an easy target for Somalia. [1] Attempts to solve the issues between the two communist government before the war by Cuban leader Castro would fail as a Cuban suggested socialist federation between Ethiopia,Somalia, and South Yemen would accepted by Somalia but rejected by Ethiopia. Feeling snubbed by both countries as the result of the rejected federation and a earlier series of meeting with Somali dictator Siad Barre, Castro would remain neutral in the upcoming conflict.

Somalia would launch it's invasion of Ogaden region with 35,0000 troops backed up by T-55s and T-34s. The weaken Ethiopian army would see 60% of the Ogaden region lost by the end of July. Soviet Union allied with both nations would attempt to negotiate a ceasefire between the two. Soviet Union would decide to back Ethiopia with a total of 7 billions worth of aid being sent during the conflict and 1500 soviet advisers. [2] This would result in Somalia switching to the American camp and receiving over 1 billion dollars worth of aid from the United States, Saudi Arabia, and China. The Ethiopian air force would gain air superiority, however this would not be enough as Somalia would conquer 90% of the Ogaden by the end of September with Ethiopia being forced to non-Somali regions. The Somali advance would be halted at after the brutal battle of Harar by the newly soviet supplied Ethiopia in early November. Somali forces would reach 78,000 aided by American and Saudi Support while Ethiopia would reach 100,000. Somali forces would dig in for an Ethiopian counter-attack in early February which would see areas of the Southern Ogaden and the area north of the city of Jigia recaptured. [3] A column of Ethiopian forces would be defeated trying to bypass the strategic Marda Pass. Attempts to retake the rest of Ogaden would be halted by Somalia forces leaving 40% of the Ogaden in Ethiopian hands by the end of march of 1978. Somalia would be resupplied with a mix of Chinese and American equipment enabling it to hold on to areas of the Ogaden it still held. The war would dragged for another month until a Soviet and American ceasefire would end the war leaving 60% of the Ogaden with Somalia. Despite not capturing all of it's goals, The partial victory in the war would leave Siad Barre as the undisputed leader of Somalia until his death. For Ethiopia the influx of soviet aid and advisers would enable the ruling Derg to partially stabilize the country.

[1] POD: Proposed by Castro in otl and rejected by Somalia and earlier meetings with Siad Barre resulted in Castro deciding to intervene in the war . Here Somalia accepts but Ethiopia rejects the federation so Castro decides to remain neutral .

[2]POD: More American and allies aid

[3] was successful in otl but here is defeated

map of Somalia

 

[walmart]

Libya 1970s

The 1970s would be a golden era for the kingdom of Libya.The 1973 oil embargo enable a building boom and a rapidly growing economy due to the high oil prices. Aided by the growing wealth, the kingdom would see a rapid increase in literacy rates and a drop in infant morality. Libya would be viewed as an out of place gulf state due to it's low population and high oil reserves. The aftermath of the failed 1969 coup would see the military purged and increasing reliance on loyalists and the Cyrenaican Defence Force as a way of preventing another coup attempt. The attempted coup was tipped off to the government and would see the defeat of the Free Officer movement and the deaths or imprisonment of all who took part in it.The country would rely on United States and Britain to prevent any threats by it's pro-Soviet neighbors Algeria and the United Arab Republic. The era would also see limited involvement to the South in Chad with the kingdom backing the primarly northern National Liberation Front of Chad or FROLINAT in the Chadian civil war due to links between Libya and Northern Chad with a few arms, some fininacal support, and being allowed to be based in Southern Libya. Libya would move into and annex the Aouzou Strip on basis of a 1935 treaty between France and Italy following the aftermath of 1975 Chadian coup. The coup would see N'Garta Tombalbaye overthrown and killed by Noel Milarew Odinger with Félix Malloum becaming leader of Libya. The coup would see the continution of the Civil war which would pit the North against the South with FRONLINAT making limited gains due to French support of Mallloum.

 

[walmart]

Middle East 1970s

Following defeat in the 6-day war both the United Arab Republic and the United Arab Federation would both see heavy military reforms aided by the Soviet Union and financial subsidizes from the gulf states. The United Arab Republic would see the death of Nassar in late 1969 leaving Gaafar Nimeiry as president of the UAR.The United Arab Republic would see a continuation of Nasser's economic politics under Gaafar Nimeiry. The United Arab Federation would see the replace of Amin al-Hafiz with Salah Jadid as president in 1970. The selection of Salah Jadid would see an increasing government control over the economy and the nationalize of the country's oil reserves in 1972.

Both countries would attack Israel in a joint surprise attack on October 6, 1973 during Yom Kippur. UAR forces would successful cross the Suez Canal while UAF forces would successfully capture most of the Golan Heights. UAF would be pushed from the Golan Heights in 5 days.The arrival of Iraqi reinforcements would see Israeli hold at the 1967 ceasefire line. The UAR would hold and reinforce its positions on the east bank of Suez Canal with a total of 300,000 troops. The UAR would defeat an Israeli attempt to push the Suez Canal on October 12. An attempted UAF attack would be repulsed on October 15. The war would drag on as a stalemate until a ceasefire was reached on October 23. Attempts at a peace agreement between the two sides would fail for various reasons following the end of the conflict.The conflict would leave UAR and UAF even more in the Soviet Camp

The United Arab Republic would see privatization of aspects of the economy and encouraging of foreign investment by Gaafar Nimeiry for the rest of 1970s and 1980s. The country would see the Suez canal reopened in 1975. The south of the country would remain stable under the Addis Ababa Agreement with the terms being renegotiated due to the discovery of oil in the south.The new agreement would see oil profit split 50/50 between the South and the national government.

The United Arab Federation would become the Soviet Union closest ally in the middle east as the country sought to reform its military along Soviet lines and standards in preparation for another war with Israel. The military would be enlarged to 700,000 members and see large arm sales fueled by the increase in oil prices from the OPEC embargo. It's military reform would be further aided by the presents of 30,000 soviet advisers. The country would see the continuation of it's socialist economic policy.The UAF launch an intervention into Lebanon with the start of the country's civil war in 1978. The UAF would force the Damascus Agreement in 1980 which saw power split 50-50 between the Christians and Muslims. The agreement would leave Lebanon within the UAF’s sphere of influence and a buffer state against Israel as the UAF turned east to face revolutionary Iran.

 

[Rand]

Decided to restart my Timeline and move the POD to 1960s

Middle East 1960s

I like this scenario! The Arab Cold War is such an overlooked boon of alternate history tidbits, keep up the good work

 

[walmart]

Nigeria 1970s and 1980s

The end of the civil war and the defeat of the Northern separatists,would enable Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi to successfully turn Nigeria into a unitary state. The government would primary lead by Igbos with some Yourbus and a few token Northerns. The country's northern Muslim population would be largely keep out of the government as a result of ethnic and personal patronism and clientelism favoring the country's south and Igbo distrust due to the ethnic pogroms during the civil war.This system of ethnic and personal patronism would enable Johnson Ironsi to hold on to power until the end of the cold war.

The end of the civil war would see an economic boom in the south aided by the 1973 oil embargo and later spike in prices due to the Arab-Iranian war. Much of this new wealth would be siphoned off by the epidemic levels of corruption, however, what was left would be invested primary in the south-east with the majority of what's left being put into south-west. The country's economy would become dependent on the petroleum industry based in the Niger delta with agriculture and industrial sectors being neglected. This dependence on oil would lead to a major recession due to the 1980s oil glut.

Already the poorest region of the Nigeria before the destruction and ruin of the civil war. The North would not see any improvements as what little money was sent to rebuild would be siphoned off as a result of corruption. The national government preferring to spent it's money on the wealthier and loyal parts of the country. Another major problem in the north beyond the poverty and corruption would be insurgency. The northern insurgency would be divided into various factions such as different Islamists outfits which sought either an Islamic independence state in North Nigeria or an Islamic Nigeria and secular pro-independence factions. The former would gain popularity from the end of Sharia law in the North and traditional authority such as the removal of various emirs and sultans as part of Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi centralization policy.The insurgencies would also be divided by ethnicity as many of the factions would dominated by the Hausa Fulani or Kanuri or other ethnic groups found in northern Nigeria.

 

[TheMann]

A few new fronts in the Cold War, by the look of it?

 

[walmart]

A few new fronts in the Cold War, by the look of it?

Not really more like different outcomes

 

[walmart]

Southern Africa 1980s


The South African intervention and the establishment of the allied republic of Mozambique would ensure a safe eastern border and access to the port of Beria for the republic of Rhodesia. The 1980s would be see better prospects for the unrecognized republic with Reagan and Thatcher coming to power leading to friendlier relations with western nations, which viewed the republic as a bulwark against communism. Most important change would the United States again begin buy Rhodesian chrome ore and ferrochrome alloy which formed a major part of the country's economy.The fighting in the bush war would be greatly reduced with the expulsion of Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and The Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) from Zambia. Both movements would be expelled to Tanzania following the repeated destruction of large portions the of TAZARA Railway which was the only route that doesn't pass through the white ruled states of the south. The railway would heavily attacked by both Rhodesian and Mozambique forces in retaliation for raids by FRELIMO into Mozambique and ZANU and ZAPU into Rhodesia. This combined with Rhodesia cutting off access to Zambia exports and imports in 1983 would force the country to stop being a base to movements in favor of majority rule in Rhodesia and Mozambique. Attempts by Zambia to establish a route through Angola would fail thanks to attacks by South African and UNITA force with Zaire refusing to allow a route to be build throught it's terrtory. Rhodesia's white population would stabilize at 5% of the population at the end of the 1980s with the country being ruled by Ian Smith and his Rhodesian Front until his death.

Mozambique would prove to be a crucial way for both South Africa and Rhodesia to bypass both economic and military sanctions. South African and Rhodesian goods would pass through Mozambique or shell companies while Western weapons would either be delivered as aid or bought and later given or sold to South Africa and Rhodesia.The country would face an insurgency by FRELIMO in the TELE province until FRELIMO expulsion from Zambia in 1983 would deprive the movenment bases to operate.The republic of Zambezi would be a buffer against FRELIMO raids from the north. The republic of Zambezi would see large parts of Niassa, Cabo Delgado, and Nampula provinces falling under the control of FRELIMO. This would see Mozambique military forces occasionally intervene along side or advise RENAMO forces.Mozambique would a de-facto one-party state controlled by a new Estado Novo party.It would be leaded by Jorge Jardim until his death in 1982. The country national assembly would be 25% black with the army being 40%,however,the white minority would dominate both the government and economy. The country would follow a corporatist economic policy and maintain close ties to the west. Mozambique would see high levels of economic growth in the 1970s and 1980s, which would lead to large scale immigration from Latin America, Spain, and Portugal. This would see the country's white population reach 18% by 1990.

South Africa would face major changes in the 1970s and 1980s. The country would be governed by Pieter Willem Botha and the nationalist party of South Africa.The country's system of racial separation known as Apartheid would undergo some changes.The most important change would be to the impoverished black homelands setup as a way of denying black south Africans citizenship.These broken and fractured entities nicknamed Bantustans would be expanded and granted independence. One of these Bantustans to be expanded would KwaZulu which would be renamed Zululand. It would gain the historical Zululand with the expectation of the port of Durban which would remain in South African hands and a strip connecting the port to the rest of South Africa which would be a condominium between South Africa and Zululand.It would be compensated with Zulu speaking areas inland. Two other Bantustans that would be expanded would be Bophuthatswana and Transkei which would also have the bantustan Ciskei absorbed. Both Lesotho and Swaziland would be given territory by South Africa.Despite the expansions these nations would remain depend on South Africa both economical and political. Another change would be that Asians both east and south would gain the status of honorary white. The coloured population wouldn't be granted this status but would see attempts to improve their standard of living in an attempt to gain support from them.South Africa's white population would decline to 16% of the population by 1989.

The era would also see the border war in which South Africa would heavily intervene in Angola in support of it's ally UNITA against the Communist MPLA and it's ally Cuba. These interventions would prove to be a major drain on south African resources. Attempts to negotiation a settlement in the aftermath of the battle of Cuito Cuanavale would fail with both Cuba and South Africa refusing to leave Angola or grant independence to Namibia. The 1980s would also see the start of economic sanctions by Western nations. These sanctions would see South Africa along with Rhodesia to begin to intensely look to the growing economies of East Asia as alternate sources of trade and capital. The United States would turn a blinded eye to this trade viewing South Africa as a bulwark against communism in the face of increasing tension with the Soviet Union in the late 1980s. This pivot to Asia would see South Korea,Taiwan,Japan as Rhodesia and South Africa's leading investors by 1989 and trade with China growing as well.

Map of South Africa 1980s

 

[walmart]

Anything I should change with my Timeline ?

 

[SomeFollowTheStars]

Anything I should change with my Timeline ?

It looks good to me

 

[walmart]

Soviet Union 1980s

The 1980s would see little change in the way of policy in the Soviet Union. The country would see 4 leaders during the 1980s with Leonid Brezhnev ruling until 1982 followed by Yuri Andropov from 1982–1984 and Konstantin Chernenko from 1984 to 1985.The death of Konstantin Chernenko would see the Central Committee vote in Viktor Grishin as the new leader of the Soviet Union . Having initially planned to have the drag the dying Konstantin Chernenko to show his closeness to him but deciding against it, Viktor Grishin would instead present a letter showing Konstantin Chernenko support for him thus securing him as General Secretary of the Soviet Union over Mikhail Gorbachev. Mikhail Gorbachev would be sidelined as a rival of the new General Secretary. The 1980s would also see the continuation of the era of stagnation with attempts to improve the economy by combating absenteeism only seeing minor improvements. Despite the stagnation, the Soviet Union still be the world's second largest economy in 1989 with a GDP of 2.6595 trillion.

The country's foreign relations would remain tense with Western nations and with it's east neighbor China with proxy wars being fought all over the third world. The most costly of these proxy wars would be Afghanistan with the Soviet Union directly intervening in 1979 to prop up the faltering communist government.The Soviet Intervention in Afghanistan would see a peak of 100,000 troops in 1985 with troop total being reduced to 5,000 in 1989. August 1988 would see the Soviet Union intervene in Poland following major strikes by members of Solidarity, Poland's only non-communist trade union consisting of 1/3 of the country's population. The intervention would include troops from other Warsaw pact nations with expectation of East Germany due to historical reasons and Romania whose leader refused to join.The intervention would see the arrests of the leaders of solidarity and the banning of the trade union .This and the Soviet invasion would provoke increasing unrest and would see the defections of a number of Polish military units turning large areas of the country into a war-zone. The intervention based on earlier crushing of dissent in the Warsaw pact would be stalled in the city of Stalowa Wola in South-Eastern Poland. The city along with others having fallen to protesters and defected army units would be a blood bath as the initial Soviet attempts to take the city would fail.The Soviets would turn to surrounding and besieging the city with Stalowa Wola falling in early 1989. The intervention into Poland would turn into a guerrilla war and see economic sanctions along with credit freezes by western nations on any of the nations involved leading to increasing economic issues in the eastern bloc.

 

[walmart]

Middle East 1980s

Increasing tension between Iran and United Arab Federation following the Iranian revolution which would see the an Islamic republic come to power in Iran lead by Ruhollah Khomeini would erupt into war on 22 September 1980. Tensions between the two nations over Iranian attempts to spread it's Islamic revolution and over the Shatt al-Arab waterway and oil-rich province of Khuzestan. The Iranian military would be heavily weakened as many major-generals,brigadier-generals, and officers would be purged by the new government. UAF would invade with 500,000 men with 300,000 troops committed to take Khuzestan and 100,000 attacking outside Khuzestan with the rest as reserves for the assault. The plan called for a rapid push to take Khuzestan as well as parts of further north to be traded back to gain a ceasefire. After-which the UAF would dig in for the eventually Iranian counterattack.

UAF forces would surround the city of Abadan on 6 November 1980 with 70,000 troops with the rest pushing, successfully taking Khuzestan's flatland by the end of January 1981 but would be prevented from taking the more mountainous parts of the province by Iranian forces.The United Arab Federation would recive 25,000 troops from the United Arab Republic as it hoped a quick UAF victory would enable the country to act as a second front against Israel. By the end of February 1981 the front-line would stall with the UAF occupying large parts of Iran.Iranian forces would launch a major offensive in march 1982 successfully driving the UAF back to the border with the exception of Khuzestan due to both the scale of defenses and the number of UAF troops.The Iranian offensive by the end of may 1982.Iranian forces would begin to run out of spares for their heavy equipment and air force as the country would struggle to buy spare parts for it's western equipped army as a result of the hostage crisis.In contrast the UAF could easily buy arms from various sources and would be supplied cheaply or just given weapons by the Soviet Union and United Arab republic. The war would bogged down into a World war I style stalemate over the next 6 years with repeated Iranian offensives to regain Khuzestan or push into Iraq failing.

The war see the expansion of both Iran and UAF forces with Iran reaching 3 million troops with 750,000 in reserves while UAF forces would reach 1,900,000 backed up by 100,000 troops from the United Arab Republic with 440,000 as reserves by the war's end in 1988. The war would end in a ceasefire between the two sides ending the war on 20 August 1988.The war would leave both Iran and the United Arab Federation in massive amounts of debt.In terms of territorial changes,the battle-lines would be the new de-facto border as a peace treaty couldn't be reached, leaving bits of Iraq in Persian hands and a large part of Khuzestan in Arab Hands.

Map following the war

 

[Zheng He]

This is really interesting.

 

[walmart]

Liberia and Sierra Leone 1980s and 1990s

The republic of Liberia was founded in 1820 by former American Slaves and free blacks. This group called Americo-Liberians would dominate Liberian politics through the Whig Party until the 1980 coup by Samuel Doe. The favoritism of this Samuel Doe's government to the ethnic Krahn and it's corruption would spark a civil war in 1989. The conflict would pit the Cuban trained and Soviet Backed Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia(NPFL) against Samuel Doe and later NPFL breakaway Prince Johnson's Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL). After escaping from an American jail in 1985 while facing extradition for embezzlement. [1]Charles Taylor would make his way to Cuba and establish contacts with both Castro and the Soviet Union. The NPFL would enter Liberia from the Ivory Coast and would quickly take large parts of the country aided by thousands of ethnic Gio and Mano who faced the brunt of Samuel Doe's oppression.Burkina Faso act as the middle man for which supplies and money from the Soviet Union would pass through to NPFL and would be a close ally of Charles Taylor.

By June 1990, Taylor's forces would lay siege to the capital of Monrovia.A peace-keeping mission would be launched by Economic Community of West African States (ECOWA) in August 1990. [2]The ECOWA mission would fail to keep NPFL and Charles Taylor from taking large parts of Monrovia and successfully capturing Samuel Doe in early September 1990 near the city's Port. After this attempts to form a settlement between the factions and establish an interim government would fail with ECOWA withdrawing from the country. Early 1991 would see NPFL take the rest of Monrovia and push rival factions such as the INPFL and supporters of Samuel Doe. NPFL would receive recognition from the Soviet Union and its various allies. This recognition would see the deployment of 2,000 Cuban troops aided by the Soviet Union which hoped to use Liberia as a proxy in the region.The Cuban intervention would would successfully crush or drive the other Liberian factions out of the country. Despite the help from the Soviet Union and Cuba, Charles Taylor would establish relations with the West as he would hope to use Liberia strategic location to play off the superpowers.This would see large amounts of foreign aid and weapons flow into Liberia with Cuban, Soviet, and American military advisers being used as to train different units until the end of the cold war as a way of currying support from the Superpowers and as a way of coup-proofing. Despite the aid, Liberia would see little economic improvement as the money would be lose due to corruption,the country would maintain a capitalist economy.

The neighboring country of Sierra Leone has a similar history to that of Liberia being found as a place for free slaves back in the 1800s, however, the country would remain a British colony until the 1961. The country would be ruled by the All People's Congress from 1968 to 29 April 1992 when it was overthrown by the National Provisional Ruling Council. Sierra Leone would face civil war in 1991 from the Liberian backed Revolutionary United Front(RUF). The RUF would rapidly take two-thirds of Sierra Leone. The RUF would successfully take the capital of Freetown in late 1994 with Liberian backing.[3]Attempts to get ECOMOG involved would fail due to internally issues in members such as Nigeria would lead to a small peacekeeping force.The new RUF government such as with coming of Liberia's NPFL government would usher in an era of extreme corruption and human rights violations.

1. historical went to Libya to train under Gaddafi, no Gaddafi no point in going to Libya

2.POD: Prince Johnson would be the one to capture Samuel Doe, Here it is Tayor

3.POD: ECOMOG would successfully push RUF back in 1993, Here they don't do as much.