More Divided Cities During The Cold War?
- Thread starter Ulas_1984
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Operation Downfall going through could lead to a divided Tokyo, while it may be possible to get a divided Nanjing in the case of a stronger KMT showing in the Chinese Civil War, although that may be trickier to accomplish given the nature of civil wars.
Dresden, Hamburg, and Magdeburg if the Iron Curtain ends up through the Elbe?
A stronger Nationalist performance in the Chinese Civil War than OTL sees China split into a Communist "North China" and a Nationalist "South China", with the border running along the Yangtze River.
This results in major Chinese cities like Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan and Chongqing being divided.
This results in major Chinese cities like Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan and Chongqing being divided.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say Huambo, Angola.
South Africa and Cuban are both more tired of the stalemate in Angola. In addition, Jonas Savimbi proves to be a problematic ally by raising objections to apartheid.
UNITA and the MPLA decide on an indefinite ceasefire 1982, contingent on all forces withdrawing from Angola. Cuba and South Africa acquiese as it gives them a clear exit ramp from the quagmire. The front lines are the boundaries.
Huambo, a population with 700K today is a good candidate of a city to become split by frontline, and then the ceasefire line. It's right in the centre of Angola, so it's plausible UNITA could have been there.
The ceasefire was intended to be a stepping point for a peaceful conclusion to the war. Instead, the ever belligerent eccentric known as Savimbi breaks off these talks. Instead he forms a rival government in UNITA land. Effectively, Angola is split into North and South. Both sides going to their respective sides to get recognition at the expense of the other.
Huambo now has an effective international border going through it.
It doesn't last long however as the end of the Cold War causes the MPLA to liberalize. Savimbi resumes talks and Angola reunites in the 90s.
South Africa and Cuban are both more tired of the stalemate in Angola. In addition, Jonas Savimbi proves to be a problematic ally by raising objections to apartheid.
UNITA and the MPLA decide on an indefinite ceasefire 1982, contingent on all forces withdrawing from Angola. Cuba and South Africa acquiese as it gives them a clear exit ramp from the quagmire. The front lines are the boundaries.
Huambo, a population with 700K today is a good candidate of a city to become split by frontline, and then the ceasefire line. It's right in the centre of Angola, so it's plausible UNITA could have been there.
The ceasefire was intended to be a stepping point for a peaceful conclusion to the war. Instead, the ever belligerent eccentric known as Savimbi breaks off these talks. Instead he forms a rival government in UNITA land. Effectively, Angola is split into North and South. Both sides going to their respective sides to get recognition at the expense of the other.
Huambo now has an effective international border going through it.
It doesn't last long however as the end of the Cold War causes the MPLA to liberalize. Savimbi resumes talks and Angola reunites in the 90s.
During WW2, Greece had a very successful Communist Partisan resistance, but still ended up under Allied occupation after the war. Greece could have ended up divided, with a NATO-aligned government based in Athens, and a Soviet/Yugoslav aligned one in Thessaloniki. If that happened, several cities could have ended up divided depending on the outcome of WW2, including Thessaloniki, Larissa, or Ioannina.
Also, Nicosia did end up divided IOTL.
Also, Nicosia did end up divided IOTL.
On a similar note -- Stalin initially refused to leave Northern Iran after WW2, but eventually he relented. If Stalin dug his heels in, Iran could end up partitioned like Germany or Korea. Maybe Tehran could be divided; or, since Tehran was entirely within the Soviet occupation zone, maybe a city like Yazd or Isfahan (both in between the British and Soviet occupation zones) could be partitioned instead.
Also, Derry/Londonderry is partitioned IOTL.
Technically, Rome IOTL is divided between Italy and the Vatican. That division predates the Cold War -- but if Italy was divided like Germany, and Rome was divided like Berlin, it'd be interesting to see how Rome would be divided.
Assuming a Communist North/NATO-aligned South divide in Italy, would it make sense to assume the Vatican would remain independent? Would it be as dependent on South Italy as in OTL, or would Communism in places like Italy, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary have a more Catholic flavour? Perhaps Liberation Theology would get some official support from Church leadership -- or at least not be actively condemned by the Papacy?
There were a lot of Soviet-aligned or generally-Leftist religious leaders -- for example, the intersection of political Islam and Marxism in the Algerian War or the Arab-Israeli Wars; Hindu and Buddhist socialists in places like India or Vietnam; and Protestant leaders like Desmond Tutu or Martin Luther King. And a lot of these movements cooperated across sectarian lines -- for example, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King cooperated (and conflicted) during the American Civil Rights Movement; and Muammar Qaddafi offered training and supplies to the Provisional IRA and FARC alongside the PLO, the PKK, and other largely-Muslim Leftist movements. Whatever the USSR's policy towards religion within its own borders, I am sure it'd influence the Papacy if it could, and maybe cultivate Leftist Catholics like Oscar Romero. It helps that the Catholic Church has very limited influence in Russia in general, so whatever happens in Rome, it needn't affect the people of Moscow.
Assuming a Communist North/NATO-aligned South divide in Italy, would it make sense to assume the Vatican would remain independent? Would it be as dependent on South Italy as in OTL, or would Communism in places like Italy, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary have a more Catholic flavour? Perhaps Liberation Theology would get some official support from Church leadership -- or at least not be actively condemned by the Papacy?
There were a lot of Soviet-aligned or generally-Leftist religious leaders -- for example, the intersection of political Islam and Marxism in the Algerian War or the Arab-Israeli Wars; Hindu and Buddhist socialists in places like India or Vietnam; and Protestant leaders like Desmond Tutu or Martin Luther King. And a lot of these movements cooperated across sectarian lines -- for example, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King cooperated (and conflicted) during the American Civil Rights Movement; and Muammar Qaddafi offered training and supplies to the Provisional IRA and FARC alongside the PLO, the PKK, and other largely-Muslim Leftist movements. Whatever the USSR's policy towards religion within its own borders, I am sure it'd influence the Papacy if it could, and maybe cultivate Leftist Catholics like Oscar Romero. It helps that the Catholic Church has very limited influence in Russia in general, so whatever happens in Rome, it needn't affect the people of Moscow.
Rattenfänger von Memphis
Donor
I think an interesting division would have been an outgrowth of a different ending to World War One. Suppose Turkey had been compelled to abide by the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres instead of the actual 1923 Treaty of Lausanne.
The international interest in the Turkish Straits Question could lead to a divided Constantinople/Istanbul. Not just the division of a city but a division between the continents of Europe and Asia since the city straddles the Bosporus strait.
East Constantinople (which is about one-third of a united Constantinople's population) would belong to the Turks while West Constantinople would be under the control of the Russians (had the Tsar's government survived) or the victorious Allied Powers if not. Through the years the divided city could have been an ideal place for the exchange of spies, etc, where they could be rowed out to a meeting/exchange in the middle of the Bosporus Strait a la the 1807 Neman River raft meeting between the Emperor Napoleon I and Tsar Alexander I.
An aside: I was 10 years old when Berlin was divided by the Berlin Wall in 1961. Our local newspaper in Memphis showed how Memphis would be similarly split up as Berlin was if a "Memphis Wall" had been built. The newspaper showed all the landmarks that would be in "North Memphis" and the landmarks in "South Memphis". It was stunning to see so much that the other side would not be able to visit.
I am sure that other cities around the world at the time probably did the same example if their city became a divided one.
The international interest in the Turkish Straits Question could lead to a divided Constantinople/Istanbul. Not just the division of a city but a division between the continents of Europe and Asia since the city straddles the Bosporus strait.
East Constantinople (which is about one-third of a united Constantinople's population) would belong to the Turks while West Constantinople would be under the control of the Russians (had the Tsar's government survived) or the victorious Allied Powers if not. Through the years the divided city could have been an ideal place for the exchange of spies, etc, where they could be rowed out to a meeting/exchange in the middle of the Bosporus Strait a la the 1807 Neman River raft meeting between the Emperor Napoleon I and Tsar Alexander I.
An aside: I was 10 years old when Berlin was divided by the Berlin Wall in 1961. Our local newspaper in Memphis showed how Memphis would be similarly split up as Berlin was if a "Memphis Wall" had been built. The newspaper showed all the landmarks that would be in "North Memphis" and the landmarks in "South Memphis". It was stunning to see so much that the other side would not be able to visit.
I am sure that other cities around the world at the time probably did the same example if their city became a divided one.
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Tirana, Albania
1949: The Greek military pursues retreating leftist guerillas into Albania. Their stated goal is to prevent the establishment of guerilla bases on the Albanian side of the border and a perpetual border guerilla war.
Individual Greek generals may well of had unstated goals of establishing "Greater Greece" via a "Where there are Greeks- there is Greece" line of thought. Thus, the Greeks of southern Albania must be brought into the Hellenic fold. What the Albanians need or want is inconcequential.
The US and UK ensure that "Greater Greece" goals stay muted and a very uneasy coalition of Greek forces and anti Communist Albanian irregulars advance all the way to southern Tirana.
Eventually and after a good deal of foot dragging, Greek forces are withdrawn and the Republic of Albania is created using a newly formed Albanian army backed by a US armored brigade as a "trip wire" force. The capital is Southern Tirana.
1949: The Greek military pursues retreating leftist guerillas into Albania. Their stated goal is to prevent the establishment of guerilla bases on the Albanian side of the border and a perpetual border guerilla war.
Individual Greek generals may well of had unstated goals of establishing "Greater Greece" via a "Where there are Greeks- there is Greece" line of thought. Thus, the Greeks of southern Albania must be brought into the Hellenic fold. What the Albanians need or want is inconcequential.
The US and UK ensure that "Greater Greece" goals stay muted and a very uneasy coalition of Greek forces and anti Communist Albanian irregulars advance all the way to southern Tirana.
Eventually and after a good deal of foot dragging, Greek forces are withdrawn and the Republic of Albania is created using a newly formed Albanian army backed by a US armored brigade as a "trip wire" force. The capital is Southern Tirana.
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Both Iraq and Saudi Arabia had claims on Kuwait, and both had attempted to conquer Kuwait during the 20th century. Now, neither of these invasions were actually during the Cold War (the Saudi-Kuwaiti War was from 1919-1920; and the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait was 1990-1991), but both countries maintained their claims on Kuwait throughout the Cold War nonetheless -- especially since Kuwait has been accused by both countries of undermining OPEC.
Now, Saudi Arabia and Baathist Iraq had little fondness for each other, and ditto for Saudi and Hashemite Iraq. Certainly, neither country hated Kuwait more than they hated each other, which is probably a major reason Kuwait was able to remain independent. But in an alternate timeline, could Kuwait be divided between Saudi and Iraq (maybe in a Molotov-Ribbentropp kind of deal)? Kuwait would become a front in the Arab Cold War, with Kuwait City being divided between Baathist and Wahhabi regimes.
Now, Saudi Arabia and Baathist Iraq had little fondness for each other, and ditto for Saudi and Hashemite Iraq. Certainly, neither country hated Kuwait more than they hated each other, which is probably a major reason Kuwait was able to remain independent. But in an alternate timeline, could Kuwait be divided between Saudi and Iraq (maybe in a Molotov-Ribbentropp kind of deal)? Kuwait would become a front in the Arab Cold War, with Kuwait City being divided between Baathist and Wahhabi regimes.