Alternate Cold War scenarios are fairly popular, but all the ones I’ve seen deal either with a Cold War between fascism (usually Nazi-dominated Europe) and liberalism (the US and its allies), or with a three-way Cold War between liberalism, fascism and communism.
But I don’t think I’ve ever seen a scenario where liberalism was taken out of the equation, and the major competing ideologies that remain were fascism and communism. The reason is obvious of course: as long as the US remains a liberal capitalist country, liberal democracy will be a major force in any hypothetical Cold War scenario.
The obvious solution would thus be for the US to either embrace fascism or socialism, while Europe (at least most of it) is conquered by a fascist or a communist power during WW2. With both Europe and the US under either fascist or communist governments, there wouldn’t really be any liberal democracies left in the world, other than maybe Australia and New Zealand. But how could such a scenario be achieved?
I think the only plausible way for the US to ever come under the rule of either a fascist or communist government would be as the result of some kind of civil war in the wake of the Great Depression. If the US is busy fighting itself when WW2 breaks out in Europe, then there’s a good chance that Nazi Germany would be able to win the war. No US involvement means no Lend Lease or any other kind of material or military support for Britain or the USSR. This could thus lead to a Nazi victory in Europe, while the civil war in the US is eventually won by the communists/socialists, which would lay the groundwork for a possible Cold War between a communist US (probably including Canada) and Nazi Europe.
Of course, the opposite is also possible, with most of Europe being conquered by the Soviets while the US becomes a fascist power.
How would a Cold War between blocks of fascist and communist countries look like? Which side is more likely to emerge victorious? Are there any other plausible ways to achieve such a scenario?
But I don’t think I’ve ever seen a scenario where liberalism was taken out of the equation, and the major competing ideologies that remain were fascism and communism. The reason is obvious of course: as long as the US remains a liberal capitalist country, liberal democracy will be a major force in any hypothetical Cold War scenario.
The obvious solution would thus be for the US to either embrace fascism or socialism, while Europe (at least most of it) is conquered by a fascist or a communist power during WW2. With both Europe and the US under either fascist or communist governments, there wouldn’t really be any liberal democracies left in the world, other than maybe Australia and New Zealand. But how could such a scenario be achieved?
I think the only plausible way for the US to ever come under the rule of either a fascist or communist government would be as the result of some kind of civil war in the wake of the Great Depression. If the US is busy fighting itself when WW2 breaks out in Europe, then there’s a good chance that Nazi Germany would be able to win the war. No US involvement means no Lend Lease or any other kind of material or military support for Britain or the USSR. This could thus lead to a Nazi victory in Europe, while the civil war in the US is eventually won by the communists/socialists, which would lay the groundwork for a possible Cold War between a communist US (probably including Canada) and Nazi Europe.
Of course, the opposite is also possible, with most of Europe being conquered by the Soviets while the US becomes a fascist power.
How would a Cold War between blocks of fascist and communist countries look like? Which side is more likely to emerge victorious? Are there any other plausible ways to achieve such a scenario?