Great update !!, the allies will have to reach Berlin Faster, and occupy the rest of germany , that way the soviets, will only have poland to liberate.
Iran cooperating with Italy would mean Iran cooperating with the Turks. So it's Britain, Russia, or by-proxy Turks. Basically I think Iran is just going to be sad for a while then get on with the business of being surrounded.
Egypt OTOH has pretty solid access to the Fascist sphere, right? Post-war butterflies should be flocking down the Nile.
Only just found this. Interesting and subscribed!
Well, as I've mentioned to Dr. Strangelove before, Finland did not get the exact post-Winter War borders in 1944 IOTL. The fact that they do here is probably a positive thing for them.
A question here: the Democratic nomination should take place in July 1944. Who should Henry Wallace take as running mate? The most obvious candidate is Harry Truman as OTL, and I guess the party leadership would force him to take a southern running mate if he wants to appeal to the entire party. Either way, he's no Roosevelt and he is not goin to win the nomination or the election as widely as Roosevelt did OTL. For once, his left-wing views and push for desegregation are going to lose him the South. Wallace's greatest hurdle here will not be the election proper, but finding himself nominated by a hostile Democratic Party.
The election will probably coincide with the last weeks of the war in Europe or its immediate aftermath, and happenings in its last week will have an effect in the election. And yes, this timeline will finally feature one of those US election maps.
These newest updates are really interesting! I have to say, I`m quite curious aabout Entente/trotskyite-Soviet relations. The mention of a "Euro-Soviet Cinema" implies some sort of market integration, to the point they`re considered one markert (which implies the Soviets liberalize border controls and media cesorship quite a bit more then OTL as well).
Someone please tell me why George Marshall could not run as Wallace's running mate. While Truman is the most plausible option so far, it's also the most boring one. Was he disinterested in politics? Did he dislike Wallace? Did the democratic party establishment dislike him?
Yes, the Soviet Union sort of liberalized and sort of has a friendly relationship with the European Community. I still don't know the details myself.
Marshall was completely apolitical.
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]soon to be forever rechristened as Sarrebrück- [/FONT]
I don't think there will be many people to expel anyway.Expulsions will inevitably take place, but not on the scale of what happened in Eastern Germany beyond the Oder.
As usual the update is great, your "strategic" and "long view" writing style is perfect.
I don't think there will be many people to expel anyway.
What effects would the loss of the Saar coal have on german renaissance after the war?
I used to be able to combine it with a more ground's eye view, either I am getting older or I just want to finish the war.
very good update, but i think that himmler proposition should have been acepted as a start for negotiation and union against the soviet union.
Going back to coal, how is Spain going to fuel its economic miracle, considering that it lacks coal and oil? Will it go the way of Japan and import raw materials en masse (from the South American allies?), or go down the French path of nuclear power+hydropower when appropriate?
Interesting. Looks like spring of 1944 is just going to switch over to summer of 1944 without any breath-catching for the Germans, both on the Eastern and on the Western Front. They're going down.
Going back to coal, how is Spain going to fuel its economic miracle, considering that it lacks coal and oil? Will it go the way of Japan and import raw materials en masse (from the South American allies?), or go down the French path of nuclear power+hydropower when appropriate?
I know this is really for Dr. Strangelove to answer, but I couldn't help but be tempted to give an answer of my own.
If I understand the last update well, Himmler's idea was 1914 borders in the west and in exchange Allied help for his conquest in the east. That's absolutely ridiculous and insane. At this point, Allied frontlines are very close to that position anyway. Did you really expect the French to give up Alsace-Lorraine, which they can easily conquer, which was a focus of French foreign policy for forty years pre WWI, leave a Nazi regime intact on their eastern border... all while that regime is close to a collapse anyway? And the treaty doesn't even mention the Netherlands, Norway and Denmark. If Germany wishes to keep those, there's no Allied gain at all. This is a war to destroy the German Reich, not a limited border war.
The only way Germany has a chance at peace is that they have a coup, overthrow Himmler, install a semi-democratic government and offer the surrender the Allies want while sending as much reinforcements to the east as possible. That's the only way any sort of peace with leaves the Saar and Austria in Germany will be accomplished. But that won't happen, since the Nazi grip on Germany is too strong anyway. With Wallace and Stalin in charge of the US and Russia, and with total victory within their grasp, Germany is going down.
Wallace is the last person Himmler should have gone to.
He is actually convinced that the Russian Revolution (and, in a lesser way, Spain's) is Europe's answer to the American Revolution and that the Soviet Union is a force for good in the world. Hilarity will ensue once the Yalta-analogue happens in Kabul in the summer of 1944.
More or less what Rakhasa says: there are sizable coal deposits in Asturias and Leon, but hydro and nuclear are the OTL route, only ten years in advance, with foreign help and not that many slave workers (are those a bunch of fascist prisoners? They may as well earn their bread!).
The map shows reservoirs built by Franco's regime during the 1950's. If there's one image that would summarize those years for all spaniards, it is Franco inaugurating a new dam. It is the Franco Years stereotype, much like 1950's America is stereotyped by big Cadillacs and Rock'n'Roll. But Franco only implemented a massive reservoir construction scheme that had been designed in the mid-30's. ITTL, they will probably begin building dams wherever available, whenever they can get the funds. And once they learn of nuclear energy, they will go for it because it is the ideologically perfect energy source. OTL, Spain's first nuclear central was built between 1965 and 1968 using an american reactor specifically designed for exportation to countries receiving foreign aid. ITTL, it is likely that Spain joins with Britain and France in nuclear research during the 50's, perhaps allowing the French to open their first nuclear central a couple of years in advance and the spaniards around the early to mid-60's.
Political developments in Asia and the Middle East may force European Countries to search for oil in other more secure areas. I have to see what effect this could have with oil exploitation in Libya, Spanish Guinea, Angola,Nigeria, etc. And decolonisation, of course.
Wallace is the last person Himmler should have gone to. He is actually convinced that the Russian Revolution (and, in a lesser way, Spain's) is Europe's answer to the American Revolution and that the Soviet Union is a force for good in the world. Hilarity will ensue once the Yalta-analogue happens in Kabul in the summer of 1944.
Unbelievable how someone who managed to become US president could be that stupid. I suppose that regarding Sovietophilia, Roosevelt was bad, and Wallace was horrible.
Nuclear research is bound to be different from OTL in your timeline since France stayed in the war and French scientists likely contributed to the Manhattan project (what is its status by the way?).
If Britain kept a project on the side, it is likely with French help. The technological choices made OTL might be the same, but they might also be very different since the context is different and so are the needs. France may not even become the leader it became OTL, especially as OTL France made the decision not to pursue an independent technological path but to purchase the licence for the American PWR reactors. Britain did pursue a purely independent path on the other hand, the result being the AGR using CO2 as coolant and not water. A very efficient reactor on a paper, but one doomed by a low number of builds and poor project management techniques during the construction of the plants.
If the Franco-British Entente works as one in the field of nuclear power and does not have any deals with the American at all. Then you could very well end up with very different types of nuclear reactors on both sides of the Atlantic, one side might even go for Thorium as a nuclear fuel and not Uranium ... On the other hand convergence could happen as well, since water reactors are the only option for submarines and ships. Could Spain very likely growing ship building industry try for a nuclear powered merchant ship prototype? If oil prices do end up increasing massively, the ships will be cheaper to operate than bunker fuel powered vessels.
Depending on the power politics of the area, the Middle East could end up being "carved" between rival powers. As it stands the Fascists will have Iran in their sphere, what are the implications for the Anglo-Iranian oil company (BP ancestor)? If the Shah wants to renegociate the contract or even to transfert it to an Italian firm more willing to invest in the country. Then the Franco-British Entente and the Fascist bloc will become de facto ennemies will all the tension that will come with this.
Will Saudi Arabia fuel still go to the US as per OTL?
If it does then the Entente and Spain are left with Iraq and the Gulf States.
African oil can be developped a lot earlier than was the case OTL. I expect Portugal to massively develop Angola with Spanish help as soon as the potential becomes obvious. This in turn will spur searches all along the coast
Interesting. I look forward to this update as I have all the previous ones.The next update should be a technological interlude detailing the evolution of gyrodyne technology during the war and its first combat uses during 1944.
I am already keeping track of way too many things, so I am not sure about its current status, except that there is a Manhattan Project, it began a few months in advance with regards to OTL, it was primarily aimed to nuking Tokio in its origins, and while it has received substantial french and british help, they are beginning to have second thoughts about it once Wallace ascended to the presidency.
To be honest, the status of the atomic bomb will depend on plot-related reasons more than anything else.
I don't know enough about nuclear technology to give you an accurate response, but the idea of an atompunk Europe in the 60's is interesting...
The next update should be a technological interlude detailing the evolution of gyrodyne technology during the war and its first combat uses during 1944.