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a collab with DiscordForcedMe , answering the question "what would have happened to WW2 if Scandinavia was fascist?"

It took some time, and with something as complex as WW2, it took a lot of reasoning, planning, checking, and double-checking. But eventually, this is what we came up with:

PoD: June 1915

In early 1915, Arthur Zimmermann, the Under-Secretary of State at the German foreign ministry, approached Hammarskjöld, who was on a visit to Berlin, with an offer of potentially forming a "Nordic Block" under Swedish leadership in returnfor an alliance between Sweden and Germany. Whilst Hammarskjöld rebuffed this first offer, Zimmermann persisted and approached Ludvig Douglas with an offer for a renewed Swedish Empire covering Finland and the Baltic provinces of the Russian Empire. Douglas then conveyed this offer to King Gustaf on 8 June 1915, and also to Hammarskjöld and Wallenberg, however only King Gustaf received it positively.

The idea, however, did not limit itself to the minds of those in power. As the idea failed in June 1915, Zimmermann leaked the general plan to the press, hoping to sway the population in time to aid the German Empire. Unfortunately for the Germans, it would, but too slow.

Since Hammarskjöld resigned in March 1917, the Swedish government experienced a time of great instability. Prime Ministers followed each other in rapid succession, until the Ernst Trygger, leader of the National Party was assigned to form a government by king Gustav of Sweden. His government was the seventh in just a few short years, and the conservative National Party was at this point by far the most popular one, building on the people's growing nationalistic sentiment and their desire to see the old Swedish glory restored. And with that view in mind, Ernst Trygger took office as Sweden's Prime Minister in April 1923. He immediately started programs to grow the Swedish economy, using a growth in military and navy to start a first wave of economic growth, and a boom in industry and infrastructure soon followed.

By this time, Norway was suffering economic instability caused among other by strikes, lock-outs and the monetary policy causing deflation to compensate for too much money having been issued during the war and thus hindering investments. The people of Norway started to look more and more to their prospering Swedish neighbours, and discontent in the country rose strongly. When the Great Depression hit, the government conceded and accepted the invitation of the now greatly nationalistic Sweden to form a renewed union. In 1933, Norway and Sweden joined to form the Nordic Bloc.

With the old Norway-Sweden union restored, the Nordics looked east for further expansion. Finland had now been regarded as a former and therefor rightful part of the Swedish/Nordic Empire for over a decade, but their approach had been far from hostile or threatening. Instead, the Swedes had been increasing its economical ties with Finland, which welcomed the aid in light of the growing Soviet Threat. However, after having won their freedom only 16 years prior after centuries of being governed by foreign powers, the were not open to fully joining a union like Norway did.

This major shift in the balance of power in Europe, the formation of the Nordic Bloc caused, was only worsened in 1934, when Hitler became Führer of Germany with the death of Paul von Hindenburg. The German boost to their economy followed the Nordic example set by Sweden quite closely, though it took a much more strong focus on racial nationality. Where the Swedes, and later the Nordics, drew pride from their nationalistic background, the Nazi-Germans took this principle steps further, and focused strongly on racial purity, a step the Swedes thought of as unnecessary to reach their goal of economical growth, and ultimately counter-effective on all fronts. This made the Nordic initially hesitant to join an alliance with Nazi-Germany.

In 1935, however, after strict agreements on the limitations of Nazi influence in the Nordic Bloc, the two nations joined forces and signed the Pact of Iron, a name which, for the Nazi-Germans, hearkened back to Bismarck and the Unification of Germany in the 19th century.

This sent major ripples through Europe. France, seeing in the Nazi-German growth a violation of the Treaty of Versailles, wanted to punish Germany, whilst Britain went with the policy of appeasement. Denmark, feeling threatened by Nazi-Germany, joined the Nordic Bloc in 1936. The Soviet Union, seeing a threat growing in the West, responded by demanding international sanctions against both Nazi-Germany, as well as against their Nordic ally. When both demands were ignored, the Soviets increased their pressure on Finland and Poland.

Things came to a head in 1938. Nazi-Germany had executed the Anschluss, annexing Austria into the Reich, and the division of Czechoslovakia finalised in the First Vienna Award. Also, due to the growing Soviet threat, Finland joined the Nordic Bloc in early November 1938.

Two weeks later, in the last week of November 1938, the Soviet Union attacked. A false flag operation carried out the NKVD on a Soviet border guard post provided the Union with a casus belli, and the Soviets attacked the only recently incorporated Finland, hoping to strike and win before the nation could be fully incorporated into the Nordic Bloc. They also sent ultimata to the Baltic States, demanding the smaller states both formally declare not to intervene on the Axis' side, as well as opening up their borders for Soviet troops. It was either agreeing to the demands, or be overrun. In response, the states turned to the Axis for protection, and opened up negotiations.

The Soviet forces attacked all over the border, from the very north to the very south. However, not only was the Finnish army a lot stronger and better prepared than they had anticipated, the Nordic reinforcements were also a lot faster in gathering and reaching the front line. By January 1939, the Finnish had pushed the Soviets back to the border, except for some minor stretches in Lapland and the Karelian Isthmus. When the Nordic reinforcements arrived, the big push east began, recapturing all lost land, and capturing Murmansk and Karelia by the middle of February. And by the end of the month, the Nordics had captured Arkhangelsk and had begun to lay siege to Leningrad.

The Soviet invasion of Estonia and Latvia had initially gone better than Finland, with both nations not yet officially allied to the Axis. But as the Nordics and Germans landed, the Soviet attack was swiftly rebuffed.

A great thorn in Nazi-Germany's side was still Poland. Taking note from the Soviets and their NKVD operation, the SS launched three false flag operations only hours apart, attacking German military units in Silesia, East-Prussia, and in Latvia, near the Polish northernmost border. As soon as this news was made public, Hitler declared this to be further Polish aggression after its wars with Weimar Germany, Lithuania, and Czechoslovakia right after the First World War.

On March 14th, 1939, Nazi-Germany, aided by the 50,000 soldiers of the Slovak Field Army Bernolák, invaded Poland from three sides: from East-Prussia under General von Bock, from Silesia under General von Rundstedt, and from Latvia, splitting up from General Guderian's army, under Colonel Paulus. The Polish military, already weary and alerted, was still overrun by the Nazi Blitzkrieg. On May 3rd, the conquest of Poland was over, having taken only one month and twenty days. Huge swaths of Poland were immediately annexed into the Greater German Reich, and the remainder was reorganised into the General Government, a military zone of occupation. Also, without any declaration of war, the Free City of Danzig was also incorporated into the Reich, as was the remainder of Czechia, becoming the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

This attack was not received well by France and Britain, who threatened war against Nazi-Germany. France mobilised its army, but Britain was hesitant. Prime Minister Chamberlain, fearing all-out war in Western Europe, wanted to believe the Polish aggression, but the House of Commons was growing more and more against Germany. The only thing stopping them from declaring open war, was the Nordic Bloc, and the dominance of the Nordic navy in the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

As July 1939 came around, the Nordic army had captured Leningrad and was advanced on Moscow itself, and the renewed German offensive had captured Minsk and was nearing Kiev. With these successes, Hitler became bold enough to hand the Baltic states an ultimatum, which was enforced by a detachment of about 400,000 soldiers under General Guderian. The treaty of Riga split the Baltic States into four: Estonia, retaining the northern half of their nation, Livonia, created from the southern half of Estonia and the eastern part of Latvia, Kurland, created from the western parts of Latvia and Lithuania, and Lithuania, receiving the northern half of the Polish General Government. Due to Nordic intervention, Estonia and Livonia were not annexed by Germany, but taken into the Nordic Bloc. Kurland was annexed fully into the Reich, and Lithuania was placed under military government, like Poland.

In August 1939, Moscow had fallen. The Nordic Bloc had taken the Kremlin, and Nazi-Germany had advanced past Kiev and the Dnjepr. In a coup d'etat Stalin was arrested and tried for treason. The leadership of the Soviet Union was transferred into the hands of a troika of Khrushchev, Kalinin, and Malenkov, with the support of Beria and his NKVD. Unable to formally sign peace, as that would mean the collapse of the Union, they signed an armistice with the Nordic Bloc, ceding Murmansk, Karelia, Arkhangelsk, and even Leningrad, in exchange for Moscow and a "permanent ceasefire until a peace can be signed".

Nazi-Germany, however, refused anything but a complete surrender. Hitler was bent on the complete destruction of the "Slavic Enemy", and continued his advance. This caused a rift between him and his ally to the north, as well as giving a clear sign to the other nations of the world.

The growing bubble of tension popped just weeks later. In September 1939, a Nazi division chased group of routed Soviet divisions. Under direct orders to exterminate any "Slavic enemies", they disregarded the Nordic border, and, when the Soviets surrendered to the Nordic army unit near Novgorod, the Nazi soldiers still opened fire, not only executing the Soviet soldiers, but also the Nordic soldiers trying to abide by the Geneva Convention.

Four days after the "Novgorod Massacre", the Nordic Bloc signed a peace treaty with the Soviet ruling troika and declared the Pact of Iron violated and void. The answer from Hitler was a declaration of war and an attempt at invading Livonia and Denmark.

With the Nordic Bloc now clearly against Nazi-Germany, the British parliament, in a rushed meeting with both Houses, sent a declaration of war as well, giving Hitler's paranoid and aggressive behavior as a reason, in order to "protect humanity from a warmonger who seeks nothing, but the complete destruction of his enemy, with complete disregard for the laws of war, and the most basic human rights." France would soon follow.

The French forces fighting in south-west Germany were soon turned back by the superior Nazi forces, who were not only better trained, but also better equipped. They counterattacked and flanked the French troops by invading Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Dutch province of Limburg, and evaded the Maginot lines. Though rumours of the German pantzer divisions and their speed were already known to the allies, they did not believe them. Until they witnessed them for themselves.

The Nazis seemed to be winning on the western front just like they were on the eastern front, and even though the arrival of the British slowed them down significantly, it did not stop their advance. On the northern front, things did not go as well. Some advances were made in Livonia, but the main bulk of Nordic forces were not far away, and when they arrived, the tide seemed to turn. Though, the Nazi advance into Denmark was not stopped, and Jutland soon was overrun.

Internally, the Nazis were doing a lot worse. Hitler's behaviour grew more and more irrational, as he started to have the Gestapo and SS execute potential opponents without the slightest hint of a trial, as well as anyone Hitler regarded as "undesirable". These actions provoked assassination attempts, even by some higher members of command, which only worsened Hitler's paranoia.

At Hitler's command, leading officers in the Abwehr, the military intelligence, created "Unternehmen Walküre", emergency continuity of government operations plan issued to the Territorial Reserve Army of Germany to execute and implement in case of a general breakdown in civil order of the nation. In practice, it allowed Hitler to take out any high-ranking official without disturbance to the continuity of command. However, due to his growing erratic, and destructive behavior, a group of high-ranking officials adapted the plan, and used it to not just take out any high-ranking official like Hitler intended, but Hitler and the Nazi elite instead. On March 17th, 1940, Operation Valkyrie was executed, killing Hitler and eliminating the SS-top and SD, and a new government was established under General Friedrich Olbricht, Major General Henning von Tresckow, and Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg.

First order of business for Reichspräsident Olbricht was to de-escalate the war with the Nordic Bloc. Proposals were sent back and forth, and in before the end of March, fighting had ceased, and by April, a peace treaty was signed, compensating the Nordic Bloc for their losses by land, reasonable economic and monetary funds, and by allowing for Nordic involvement in the prosecution of Nazi war criminals.

The wars in Russia and on the western front were also slowed down. Military units were ordered to take up favourable positions and take a defensive stance. Reichspräsident Olbricht sent ambassadors to the Soviet troika, to discuss first an armistice, and then a concluding peace treaty. On the western front, he sent ambassadors to the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, and he sent telegrams to the governments in London and the government-in-exile in Bordeaux, as Paris had already fallen.

In July, 1940, the Soviet Union, and the Greater German Reich, with the Nordic Bloc as moderator, signed the treaty of Minsk, officially ending the war on the eastern front. Premier Malenkov, Chairman Khrushchev, and Chairman Kalinin signed for the Soviet Union; Union President Mannerheim and the Kings Gustaf V, Christian X, and Haakon VII for the Nordic Bloc; and Reichspräsident Olbricht for the Greater German Reich. The treaty established three new sovereign nations: Poland, Lithuania, and Ukrain, which would be sovereign, but dependent on Germany. Germany ceded parts of its Baltic conquest to Lithuania, and parts of the German conquests in Russia would be returned to the Soviet Union. The treaty also included a couple of economical treaties, which not only ensured the rebuilding of the nations involved, but also protected them from the same devastating effects like those caused by the Treaty of Versailles, that facilitated the rise of Nazism in the first place. A similar treaty was reached for Bohemia and Moravia, which became a protectorate of the German Reich, to be released as a fully independent nation by 1950.

With these treaties, the German military in the east was free to move again. Minister Von Stauffenberg sent orders to his ambassadors in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg to offer a ceasefire and discuss peace terms. To France and the United Kingdom, he sent telegrams ordering them to send ambassadors under threat of war, since, he reasoned, "in this conflict on our western borders, France and Britain still are the aggressors, having disrespected the sovereignty of the German Reich, and invaded the German homelands."

Under threat of a renewed attack, France and Britain conceded. In the following treaties of Nuremberg, France and Britain agreed to pay reparations, and France agreed to cede Elzas-Lothringen. As a bit of compensation, British and French officials were allowed to attend the trials of the Nazi elite. By October 1940, German troops had left French territories. By January 1941, the Nuremberg trials had begun, ending in November of the same year. And with that, the war had officially ended.

========================

A flag of this Nordic Bloc was made by DiscordForcedMe , here

Description

a collab with DiscordForcedMe , answering the question "what would have happened to WW2 if Scandinavia was fascist?"

It took some time, and with something as complex as WW2, it took a lot of reasoning, planning, checking, and double-checking. But eventually, this is what we came up with:

PoD: June 1915

In early 1915, Arthur Zimmermann, the Under-Secretary of State at the German foreign ministry, approached Hammarskjöld, who was on a visit to Berlin, with an offer of potentially forming a "Nordic Block" under Swedish leadership in returnfor an alliance between Sweden and Germany. Whilst Hammarskjöld rebuffed this first offer, Zimmermann persisted and approached Ludvig Douglas with an offer for a renewed Swedish Empire covering Finland and the Baltic provinces of the Russian Empire. Douglas then conveyed this offer to King Gustaf on 8 June 1915, and also to Hammarskjöld and Wallenberg, however only King Gustaf received it positively.

The idea, however, did not limit itself to the minds of those in power. As the idea failed in June 1915, Zimmermann leaked the general plan to the press, hoping to sway the population in time to aid the German Empire. Unfortunately for the Germans, it would, but too slow.

Since Hammarskjöld resigned in March 1917, the Swedish government experienced a time of great instability. Prime Ministers followed each other in rapid succession, until the Ernst Trygger, leader of the National Party was assigned to form a government by king Gustav of Sweden. His government was the seventh in just a few short years, and the conservative National Party was at this point by far the most popular one, building on the people's growing nationalistic sentiment and their desire to see the old Swedish glory restored. And with that view in mind, Ernst Trygger took office as Sweden's Prime Minister in April 1923. He immediately started programs to grow the Swedish economy, using a growth in military and navy to start a first wave of economic growth, and a boom in industry and infrastructure soon followed.

By this time, Norway was suffering economic instability caused among other by strikes, lock-outs and the monetary policy causing deflation to compensate for too much money having been issued during the war and thus hindering investments. The people of Norway started to look more and more to their prospering Swedish neighbours, and discontent in the country rose strongly. When the Great Depression hit, the government conceded and accepted the invitation of the now greatly nationalistic Sweden to form a renewed union. In 1933, Norway and Sweden joined to form the Nordic Bloc.

With the old Norway-Sweden union restored, the Nordics looked east for further expansion. Finland had now been regarded as a former and therefor rightful part of the Swedish/Nordic Empire for over a decade, but their approach had been far from hostile or threatening. Instead, the Swedes had been increasing its economical ties with Finland, which welcomed the aid in light of the growing Soviet Threat. However, after having won their freedom only 16 years prior after centuries of being governed by foreign powers, the were not open to fully joining a union like Norway did.

This major shift in the balance of power in Europe, the formation of the Nordic Bloc caused, was only worsened in 1934, when Hitler became Führer of Germany with the death of Paul von Hindenburg. The German boost to their economy followed the Nordic example set by Sweden quite closely, though it took a much more strong focus on racial nationality. Where the Swedes, and later the Nordics, drew pride from their nationalistic background, the Nazi-Germans took this principle steps further, and focused strongly on racial purity, a step the Swedes thought of as unnecessary to reach their goal of economical growth, and ultimately counter-effective on all fronts. This made the Nordic initially hesitant to join an alliance with Nazi-Germany.

In 1935, however, after strict agreements on the limitations of Nazi influence in the Nordic Bloc, the two nations joined forces and signed the Pact of Iron, a name which, for the Nazi-Germans, hearkened back to Bismarck and the Unification of Germany in the 19th century.

This sent major ripples through Europe. France, seeing in the Nazi-German growth a violation of the Treaty of Versailles, wanted to punish Germany, whilst Britain went with the policy of appeasement. Denmark, feeling threatened by Nazi-Germany, joined the Nordic Bloc in 1936. The Soviet Union, seeing a threat growing in the West, responded by demanding international sanctions against both Nazi-Germany, as well as against their Nordic ally. When both demands were ignored, the Soviets increased their pressure on Finland and Poland.

Things came to a head in 1938. Nazi-Germany had executed the Anschluss, annexing Austria into the Reich, and the division of Czechoslovakia finalised in the First Vienna Award. Also, due to the growing Soviet threat, Finland joined the Nordic Bloc in early November 1938.

Two weeks later, in the last week of November 1938, the Soviet Union attacked. A false flag operation carried out the NKVD on a Soviet border guard post provided the Union with a casus belli, and the Soviets attacked the only recently incorporated Finland, hoping to strike and win before the nation could be fully incorporated into the Nordic Bloc. They also sent ultimata to the Baltic States, demanding the smaller states both formally declare not to intervene on the Axis' side, as well as opening up their borders for Soviet troops. It was either agreeing to the demands, or be overrun. In response, the states turned to the Axis for protection, and opened up negotiations.

The Soviet forces attacked all over the border, from the very north to the very south. However, not only was the Finnish army a lot stronger and better prepared than they had anticipated, the Nordic reinforcements were also a lot faster in gathering and reaching the front line. By January 1939, the Finnish had pushed the Soviets back to the border, except for some minor stretches in Lapland and the Karelian Isthmus. When the Nordic reinforcements arrived, the big push east began, recapturing all lost land, and capturing Murmansk and Karelia by the middle of February. And by the end of the month, the Nordics had captured Arkhangelsk and had begun to lay siege to Leningrad.

The Soviet invasion of Estonia and Latvia had initially gone better than Finland, with both nations not yet officially allied to the Axis. But as the Nordics and Germans landed, the Soviet attack was swiftly rebuffed.

A great thorn in Nazi-Germany's side was still Poland. Taking note from the Soviets and their NKVD operation, the SS launched three false flag operations only hours apart, attacking German military units in Silesia, East-Prussia, and in Latvia, near the Polish northernmost border. As soon as this news was made public, Hitler declared this to be further Polish aggression after its wars with Weimar Germany, Lithuania, and Czechoslovakia right after the First World War.

On March 14th, 1939, Nazi-Germany, aided by the 50,000 soldiers of the Slovak Field Army Bernolák, invaded Poland from three sides: from East-Prussia under General von Bock, from Silesia under General von Rundstedt, and from Latvia, splitting up from General Guderian's army, under Colonel Paulus. The Polish military, already weary and alerted, was still overrun by the Nazi Blitzkrieg. On May 3rd, the conquest of Poland was over, having taken only one month and twenty days. Huge swaths of Poland were immediately annexed into the Greater German Reich, and the remainder was reorganised into the General Government, a military zone of occupation. Also, without any declaration of war, the Free City of Danzig was also incorporated into the Reich, as was the remainder of Czechia, becoming the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

This attack was not received well by France and Britain, who threatened war against Nazi-Germany. France mobilised its army, but Britain was hesitant. Prime Minister Chamberlain, fearing all-out war in Western Europe, wanted to believe the Polish aggression, but the House of Commons was growing more and more against Germany. The only thing stopping them from declaring open war, was the Nordic Bloc, and the dominance of the Nordic navy in the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

As July 1939 came around, the Nordic army had captured Leningrad and was advanced on Moscow itself, and the renewed German offensive had captured Minsk and was nearing Kiev. With these successes, Hitler became bold enough to hand the Baltic states an ultimatum, which was enforced by a detachment of about 400,000 soldiers under General Guderian. The treaty of Riga split the Baltic States into four: Estonia, retaining the northern half of their nation, Livonia, created from the southern half of Estonia and the eastern part of Latvia, Kurland, created from the western parts of Latvia and Lithuania, and Lithuania, receiving the northern half of the Polish General Government. Due to Nordic intervention, Estonia and Livonia were not annexed by Germany, but taken into the Nordic Bloc. Kurland was annexed fully into the Reich, and Lithuania was placed under military government, like Poland.

In August 1939, Moscow had fallen. The Nordic Bloc had taken the Kremlin, and Nazi-Germany had advanced past Kiev and the Dnjepr. In a coup d'etat Stalin was arrested and tried for treason. The leadership of the Soviet Union was transferred into the hands of a troika of Khrushchev, Kalinin, and Malenkov, with the support of Beria and his NKVD. Unable to formally sign peace, as that would mean the collapse of the Union, they signed an armistice with the Nordic Bloc, ceding Murmansk, Karelia, Arkhangelsk, and even Leningrad, in exchange for Moscow and a "permanent ceasefire until a peace can be signed".

Nazi-Germany, however, refused anything but a complete surrender. Hitler was bent on the complete destruction of the "Slavic Enemy", and continued his advance. This caused a rift between him and his ally to the north, as well as giving a clear sign to the other nations of the world.

The growing bubble of tension popped just weeks later. In September 1939, a Nazi division chased group of routed Soviet divisions. Under direct orders to exterminate any "Slavic enemies", they disregarded the Nordic border, and, when the Soviets surrendered to the Nordic army unit near Novgorod, the Nazi soldiers still opened fire, not only executing the Soviet soldiers, but also the Nordic soldiers trying to abide by the Geneva Convention.

Four days after the "Novgorod Massacre", the Nordic Bloc signed a peace treaty with the Soviet ruling troika and declared the Pact of Iron violated and void. The answer from Hitler was a declaration of war and an attempt at invading Livonia and Denmark.

With the Nordic Bloc now clearly against Nazi-Germany, the British parliament, in a rushed meeting with both Houses, sent a declaration of war as well, giving Hitler's paranoid and aggressive behavior as a reason, in order to "protect humanity from a warmonger who seeks nothing, but the complete destruction of his enemy, with complete disregard for the laws of war, and the most basic human rights." France would soon follow.

The French forces fighting in south-west Germany were soon turned back by the superior Nazi forces, who were not only better trained, but also better equipped. They counterattacked and flanked the French troops by invading Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Dutch province of Limburg, and evaded the Maginot lines. Though rumours of the German pantzer divisions and their speed were already known to the allies, they did not believe them. Until they witnessed them for themselves.

The Nazis seemed to be winning on the western front just like they were on the eastern front, and even though the arrival of the British slowed them down significantly, it did not stop their advance. On the northern front, things did not go as well. Some advances were made in Livonia, but the main bulk of Nordic forces were not far away, and when they arrived, the tide seemed to turn. Though, the Nazi advance into Denmark was not stopped, and Jutland soon was overrun.

Internally, the Nazis were doing a lot worse. Hitler's behaviour grew more and more irrational, as he started to have the Gestapo and SS execute potential opponents without the slightest hint of a trial, as well as anyone Hitler regarded as "undesirable". These actions provoked assassination attempts, even by some higher members of command, which only worsened Hitler's paranoia.

At Hitler's command, leading officers in the Abwehr, the military intelligence, created "Unternehmen Walküre", emergency continuity of government operations plan issued to the Territorial Reserve Army of Germany to execute and implement in case of a general breakdown in civil order of the nation. In practice, it allowed Hitler to take out any high-ranking official without disturbance to the continuity of command. However, due to his growing erratic, and destructive behavior, a group of high-ranking officials adapted the plan, and used it to not just take out any high-ranking official like Hitler intended, but Hitler and the Nazi elite instead. On March 17th, 1940, Operation Valkyrie was executed, killing Hitler and eliminating the SS-top and SD, and a new government was established under General Friedrich Olbricht, Major General Henning von Tresckow, and Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg.

First order of business for Reichspräsident Olbricht was to de-escalate the war with the Nordic Bloc. Proposals were sent back and forth, and in before the end of March, fighting had ceased, and by April, a peace treaty was signed, compensating the Nordic Bloc for their losses by land, reasonable economic and monetary funds, and by allowing for Nordic involvement in the prosecution of Nazi war criminals.

The wars in Russia and on the western front were also slowed down. Military units were ordered to take up favourable positions and take a defensive stance. Reichspräsident Olbricht sent ambassadors to the Soviet troika, to discuss first an armistice, and then a concluding peace treaty. On the western front, he sent ambassadors to the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, and he sent telegrams to the governments in London and the government-in-exile in Bordeaux, as Paris had already fallen.

In July, 1940, the Soviet Union, and the Greater German Reich, with the Nordic Bloc as moderator, signed the treaty of Minsk, officially ending the war on the eastern front. Premier Malenkov, Chairman Khrushchev, and Chairman Kalinin signed for the Soviet Union; Union President Mannerheim and the Kings Gustaf V, Christian X, and Haakon VII for the Nordic Bloc; and Reichspräsident Olbricht for the Greater German Reich. The treaty established three new sovereign nations: Poland, Lithuania, and Ukrain, which would be sovereign, but dependent on Germany. Germany ceded parts of its Baltic conquest to Lithuania, and parts of the German conquests in Russia would be returned to the Soviet Union. The treaty also included a couple of economical treaties, which not only ensured the rebuilding of the nations involved, but also protected them from the same devastating effects like those caused by the Treaty of Versailles, that facilitated the rise of Nazism in the first place. A similar treaty was reached for Bohemia and Moravia, which became a protectorate of the German Reich, to be released as a fully independent nation by 1950.

With these treaties, the German military in the east was free to move again. Minister Von Stauffenberg sent orders to his ambassadors in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg to offer a ceasefire and discuss peace terms. To France and the United Kingdom, he sent telegrams ordering them to send ambassadors under threat of war, since, he reasoned, "in this conflict on our western borders, France and Britain still are the aggressors, having disrespected the sovereignty of the German Reich, and invaded the German homelands."

Under threat of a renewed attack, France and Britain conceded. In the following treaties of Nuremberg, France and Britain agreed to pay reparations, and France agreed to cede Elzas-Lothringen. As a bit of compensation, British and French officials were allowed to attend the trials of the Nazi elite. By October 1940, German troops had left French territories. By January 1941, the Nuremberg trials had begun, ending in November of the same year. And with that, the war had officially ended.

========================

A flag of this Nordic Bloc was made by DiscordForcedMe , here