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Description
Yet another map that's been half-finished for over a year and I completed it. The writeup, of course had to wait for yet another two years.

Back in 1998, Gemellus did a timeline about Stalin being purged in 1937 on SHWI. Here is my 'cover' and continuation of it. The name is of course mine, since Gemellus merely labelled this timeline's entries as "Russia 19XX to 19XX". As per the title, the main gimmick is Josef Stalin's being removed in a coup in 1936 and following on from there.

The removal of Josef Stalin quickly leads to divergences on the world stage. There is still a pacific war ending with results much like OTL minus nuking, but the war in Europe ends with a halfassed peace -- Germany survived but had to vacate much of it's gains.

A cold war began between between a fractius western-soviet alliance and the Fascists. A mix of fascist diplomatic overtures, plus the inevitable friction of trying to have the US and SOVIETS within the same alliance led to a split in the 50s and 60s to make it a threeway cold war. Like OTL's cold war, there's some scary moments like Germany's near-implosion in the 80s which resulted in a truly unpleasant leader. This particular cold war would continue until the mid 2000s, right before the fall of the USSR as Premeir Zyuganov says "forget this".

Current affairs include the adjustment to the collapse of the USSR and the emerging detente between the Pact of Steel and the west; The Fascists are having a hard time adjusting to the fact that the west now has more resources it can aim at them.

***
THE PACT OF STEEL

The greater German Reich is once again extremely militant and radical. The Third Reich experienced a liberalizing trend during the 1960s to early 1980s, and in fact came close to a full democratic revolt. Following the "troubles" of the mid-1980s, an extremist group combining hardline Partei members along with more paranoid members of the army that called itself "The Black Corps" took power by force and displaced the overly liberal last Fuhrer. The current Head isn't quite as psychotic as the first Black Corps leader, Head Sturm was but he's pretty much a blonde Josef Stalin but without Stalin's niceness or sense of charity. At least, he hasn't repeated his predecessor's killing a fifth of Germany's population on grounds of being insufficiently aryan(read: brown hair or brown eyes) or the failed attempt to replace roman letters with runes. Also, Sturm is SLOOOOWLY moving away from the worst policies

Italy managed to retain the status of being small-f Fascist as opposed to going back to full totalitarianism. Even so Italy' population resents the reimposition of Fascism on them by Germany's occupying forces but aren't stupid enough to revolt, since during the early 90s The Black Corps used 5 nukes to suppress trouble within Germany. Even the liberal elements within Italy aren't willing to play games with country that's willing to NUKE IT'S OWN POPULATION to restore order.

Germany's mitteleuropan vassals weren't so lucky, and these days are net drains on the treasury. After all, it costs more money to garrison these areas than Germany would get back from tribute -- this expense is part of what's motivated Head Sturm's even extremely limited economic reforms.

Aryanist Iran is well-disciplined, militarized and is actually the one fascist regime in the pact of steel that's halfway competently run. Even with substantial amounts of propaganda involved, quite a few Germans resent the fact that the nonwhite Iranians are doing fascism better than the Master Race.

***

THE DEMOCRACIES(AND SOME NOT SO MUCH) SECTION 1: THE TRANSPACIFIC

The United States had less of a cold war, so it is a less militarized but relatively recognizable, if rather more homogenous and egalitarian nation. The fact that America's cold war with the USSR was 1) delayed compared to OTL 2) rather less harsh since they also had the nazis to worry about means that America's old left remained stronger. Without the void of the old left to fill, America's "New Left" never got as powerful as OTLs. America's "vital center" lasted into the 1990s before falling apart on surprisingly similar lines. Granted, it was over different issues but America as it stands is in the middle of The Democrats slowly pushing out the south while the GOP's liberal wing is slowly aging and dying off. America is a nation where race is a bit less of a hot button than OTL since the reforms were split by party rather than OTL's situation of one big, successful push by the Democrats combined with the fact that no reopening of immigration lead to there being more of a black middle class than OTL's America. Incidently, the white working class not having to compete with unskilled immigrants probably helps.

The Republic of China is pretty much our People's Republic of China minus red flags -- the government is a nationalistic corrupt oligarchy, with lots of populist rhetoric and anti-first world rhetoric. Traditional chinese culture is doing rather better than in our world, and demographics are healthier(1.7 billion Chinese and a birthrate that's declined more slowly), though. Unfortunately, a mix of increased militarization, extreme protectionism to defend from "comprador capitalism", means that the portions corrosponding to our China only have an economy as big as OTL's PRC. However, with more popular legitimacy, and with the recent prestige gains of reunifying China(Macau and Hong Kong in 1997, Taiwan in 2004) the regime feels a bit more secure and is more relaxed re: personal liberties and censorship.

Taiwan, which in this world was an American protectorate from the late 1940s until 1978 has recently rejoined China on rather better terms than Hong Kong got back in our 1997. Unlike our Taiwan, this world's Taiwan is bilingual Japanese-Chinese and much more elements of Japanese culture survive. Also, the increased civil liberties in Taiwan which stem from the period of American rule and are continued by a pragmatic GMD China that sees Taiwan means that Taiwan is a bigger center of popular culture.

Japan is much like OTL, except they've admitted their war guilt back in the 1970s. The recent controversy is over their textbooks the last few years quietly not mentioning that plus describing the conquests during the cond world war as "liberation". The Japanese economy is as large as it is OTL with slwoer average growth rates pre-1980s being made up for by no lag.

Korea is a corrupt one-party state as rich as OTL Chile --- less need for US investment thanks to China being available means that Korea ended up lagging compared to OTL. The government of Korea bears a strong resemblance to OTL's PRC -- it's pretty much fascist but with lamer uniforms.

***
THE DEMOCRACIES(AND SOME NOT SO MUCH) SECTION 2: THE WESTERN ALLIANCE, THE RUSSIANS AND A FEW OTHERS

A weaker and later cold war, combined with the nazis being right next door and rather more pragmatic policy ensured that the USSR lasted until the late 2000s before collapsing(better economic performance is counteracted by increased cynicism which is caused by a more... flexible Party Line alogn with less isolation.) The increased anti-fascist solidarity led to the successor government managing to keep most of the territory under either direct rule or as an "autonomous" region. In recent years, the Federated Republics of Eurasia has begun making up with the western alliance, along with to a far lesser extent the US-Chinese alliance.

Psychotic neighbors meant that the Swiss quickly signed on to the "western alliance" as soon as the Black Corps began going after insufficiently aryan germans as part of their "Right Unity, Right Singularity" campaign. At least the Swiss were able to negotiate not having to open their bank accounts to western scrutiny.

Britain and France both declined like OTL and are still in a funk if not quite as bad-- The commonwealth is only 99% of a joke instead of being entirely ineffectual.

Still-apartheid South Africa and elitist, if no longer racialist Rhodesia are sort of the embarassments of the Western Alliance.

***
EVERYONE ELSE

The third world is abit more of a mess than OTL since you had *three* different sides with four ideologies competing -- the democracies, the communists, the fascists and the odd man out, the National Socialists. Nowadays, it's NatSoc or Fascist regimes that are the main winner in the third world. This success is having the side effect of making both of those two ideologies look embarassing and ineffectual -- This has been noted by Western Alliance and Transpacific propaganda crews.

There are a few remaining communist states in the third world that haven't gotten the hint from the collapse of the USSR.

An extremely tiny Israel sits in smaller-than-1948 borders, but at least it's survival isn't directly threatened thanks to the partition leading to effective peace treaties with it's neighbors. Oddly, this hasn't stopepd terrorism since the ultraorthodox as of late have begun violent reactions against the secular government -- an Israel which isn't as threatened from outside has rather more internal disunity.

***

Compared to OTL, technology is more advanced in things like aerospace, military technology due to the multipolar cold war lasting longer. Civilian technology, however lags by a few years due to a different focus -- the internet is only now getting into the "clunky memory intesive javascript everywhere" phase of OTL that started in our late 2000s.

With fascism being the main ideology of third world revolution, western nations are rather less willing to let in third world immigrants than OTL even when it comes to areas within the western alliancel ike India or China -- The immigrants that get let in tend to be either from the underdeveloped, western or at least white parts of the alliance(FRE, Cuba, Korea). Besides this much smaller pool of labor, there is more willingness to employ the existing native-born population so there are fewer "rust belt" type zones. There are rather fewer unskilled workers in these nations so there has been more investment in automation combined with better treatment of the labor there. This has had the positive side effect of the middle class doing better in many western nations.

Description
Yet another map that's been half-finished for over a year and I completed it. The writeup, of course had to wait for yet another two years.

Back in 1998, Gemellus did a timeline about Stalin being purged in 1937 on SHWI. Here is my 'cover' and continuation of it. The name is of course mine, since Gemellus merely labelled this timeline's entries as "Russia 19XX to 19XX". As per the title, the main gimmick is Josef Stalin's being removed in a coup in 1936 and following on from there.

The removal of Josef Stalin quickly leads to divergences on the world stage. There is still a pacific war ending with results much like OTL minus nuking, but the war in Europe ends with a halfassed peace -- Germany survived but had to vacate much of it's gains.

A cold war began between between a fractius western-soviet alliance and the Fascists. A mix of fascist diplomatic overtures, plus the inevitable friction of trying to have the US and SOVIETS within the same alliance led to a split in the 50s and 60s to make it a threeway cold war. Like OTL's cold war, there's some scary moments like Germany's near-implosion in the 80s which resulted in a truly unpleasant leader. This particular cold war would continue until the mid 2000s, right before the fall of the USSR as Premeir Zyuganov says "forget this".

Current affairs include the adjustment to the collapse of the USSR and the emerging detente between the Pact of Steel and the west; The Fascists are having a hard time adjusting to the fact that the west now has more resources it can aim at them.

***
THE PACT OF STEEL

The greater German Reich is once again extremely militant and radical. The Third Reich experienced a liberalizing trend during the 1960s to early 1980s, and in fact came close to a full democratic revolt. Following the "troubles" of the mid-1980s, an extremist group combining hardline Partei members along with more paranoid members of the army that called itself "The Black Corps" took power by force and displaced the overly liberal last Fuhrer. The current Head isn't quite as psychotic as the first Black Corps leader, Head Sturm was but he's pretty much a blonde Josef Stalin but without Stalin's niceness or sense of charity. At least, he hasn't repeated his predecessor's killing a fifth of Germany's population on grounds of being insufficiently aryan(read: brown hair or brown eyes) or the failed attempt to replace roman letters with runes. Also, Sturm is SLOOOOWLY moving away from the worst policies

Italy managed to retain the status of being small-f Fascist as opposed to going back to full totalitarianism. Even so Italy' population resents the reimposition of Fascism on them by Germany's occupying forces but aren't stupid enough to revolt, since during the early 90s The Black Corps used 5 nukes to suppress trouble within Germany. Even the liberal elements within Italy aren't willing to play games with country that's willing to NUKE IT'S OWN POPULATION to restore order.

Germany's mitteleuropan vassals weren't so lucky, and these days are net drains on the treasury. After all, it costs more money to garrison these areas than Germany would get back from tribute -- this expense is part of what's motivated Head Sturm's even extremely limited economic reforms.

Aryanist Iran is well-disciplined, militarized and is actually the one fascist regime in the pact of steel that's halfway competently run. Even with substantial amounts of propaganda involved, quite a few Germans resent the fact that the nonwhite Iranians are doing fascism better than the Master Race.

***

THE DEMOCRACIES(AND SOME NOT SO MUCH) SECTION 1: THE TRANSPACIFIC

The United States had less of a cold war, so it is a less militarized but relatively recognizable, if rather more homogenous and egalitarian nation. The fact that America's cold war with the USSR was 1) delayed compared to OTL 2) rather less harsh since they also had the nazis to worry about means that America's old left remained stronger. Without the void of the old left to fill, America's "New Left" never got as powerful as OTLs. America's "vital center" lasted into the 1990s before falling apart on surprisingly similar lines. Granted, it was over different issues but America as it stands is in the middle of The Democrats slowly pushing out the south while the GOP's liberal wing is slowly aging and dying off. America is a nation where race is a bit less of a hot button than OTL since the reforms were split by party rather than OTL's situation of one big, successful push by the Democrats combined with the fact that no reopening of immigration lead to there being more of a black middle class than OTL's America. Incidently, the white working class not having to compete with unskilled immigrants probably helps.

The Republic of China is pretty much our People's Republic of China minus red flags -- the government is a nationalistic corrupt oligarchy, with lots of populist rhetoric and anti-first world rhetoric. Traditional chinese culture is doing rather better than in our world, and demographics are healthier(1.7 billion Chinese and a birthrate that's declined more slowly), though. Unfortunately, a mix of increased militarization, extreme protectionism to defend from "comprador capitalism", means that the portions corrosponding to our China only have an economy as big as OTL's PRC. However, with more popular legitimacy, and with the recent prestige gains of reunifying China(Macau and Hong Kong in 1997, Taiwan in 2004) the regime feels a bit more secure and is more relaxed re: personal liberties and censorship.

Taiwan, which in this world was an American protectorate from the late 1940s until 1978 has recently rejoined China on rather better terms than Hong Kong got back in our 1997. Unlike our Taiwan, this world's Taiwan is bilingual Japanese-Chinese and much more elements of Japanese culture survive. Also, the increased civil liberties in Taiwan which stem from the period of American rule and are continued by a pragmatic GMD China that sees Taiwan means that Taiwan is a bigger center of popular culture.

Japan is much like OTL, except they've admitted their war guilt back in the 1970s. The recent controversy is over their textbooks the last few years quietly not mentioning that plus describing the conquests during the cond world war as "liberation". The Japanese economy is as large as it is OTL with slwoer average growth rates pre-1980s being made up for by no lag.

Korea is a corrupt one-party state as rich as OTL Chile --- less need for US investment thanks to China being available means that Korea ended up lagging compared to OTL. The government of Korea bears a strong resemblance to OTL's PRC -- it's pretty much fascist but with lamer uniforms.

***
THE DEMOCRACIES(AND SOME NOT SO MUCH) SECTION 2: THE WESTERN ALLIANCE, THE RUSSIANS AND A FEW OTHERS

A weaker and later cold war, combined with the nazis being right next door and rather more pragmatic policy ensured that the USSR lasted until the late 2000s before collapsing(better economic performance is counteracted by increased cynicism which is caused by a more... flexible Party Line alogn with less isolation.) The increased anti-fascist solidarity led to the successor government managing to keep most of the territory under either direct rule or as an "autonomous" region. In recent years, the Federated Republics of Eurasia has begun making up with the western alliance, along with to a far lesser extent the US-Chinese alliance.

Psychotic neighbors meant that the Swiss quickly signed on to the "western alliance" as soon as the Black Corps began going after insufficiently aryan germans as part of their "Right Unity, Right Singularity" campaign. At least the Swiss were able to negotiate not having to open their bank accounts to western scrutiny.

Britain and France both declined like OTL and are still in a funk if not quite as bad-- The commonwealth is only 99% of a joke instead of being entirely ineffectual.

Still-apartheid South Africa and elitist, if no longer racialist Rhodesia are sort of the embarassments of the Western Alliance.

***
EVERYONE ELSE

The third world is abit more of a mess than OTL since you had *three* different sides with four ideologies competing -- the democracies, the communists, the fascists and the odd man out, the National Socialists. Nowadays, it's NatSoc or Fascist regimes that are the main winner in the third world. This success is having the side effect of making both of those two ideologies look embarassing and ineffectual -- This has been noted by Western Alliance and Transpacific propaganda crews.

There are a few remaining communist states in the third world that haven't gotten the hint from the collapse of the USSR.

An extremely tiny Israel sits in smaller-than-1948 borders, but at least it's survival isn't directly threatened thanks to the partition leading to effective peace treaties with it's neighbors. Oddly, this hasn't stopepd terrorism since the ultraorthodox as of late have begun violent reactions against the secular government -- an Israel which isn't as threatened from outside has rather more internal disunity.

***

Compared to OTL, technology is more advanced in things like aerospace, military technology due to the multipolar cold war lasting longer. Civilian technology, however lags by a few years due to a different focus -- the internet is only now getting into the "clunky memory intesive javascript everywhere" phase of OTL that started in our late 2000s.

With fascism being the main ideology of third world revolution, western nations are rather less willing to let in third world immigrants than OTL even when it comes to areas within the western alliancel ike India or China -- The immigrants that get let in tend to be either from the underdeveloped, western or at least white parts of the alliance(FRE, Cuba, Korea). Besides this much smaller pool of labor, there is more willingness to employ the existing native-born population so there are fewer "rust belt" type zones. There are rather fewer unskilled workers in these nations so there has been more investment in automation combined with better treatment of the labor there. This has had the positive side effect of the middle class doing better in many western nations.