Go my little Red Napoleon, smash the reactionary empires and avenge your fallen comrades!
The Ruins of an American Party System, Part Three: Revolution
- Thread starter Emperor Julian
- Start date
Bulldoggus
Banned
[Insert pointless, circular argument on the respective merits of the British and Soviet Empires, jam-packed with whataboutery and disingenuousness, with everyone taking the same sides and making the same arguments, here].
Tukhachevsky is a problem for the remaining democracies in the west, but he is also overstretched (and many in the occupied Europe won't like communism), and if he overextends himself even more, things might crack on his side. If he attacks, this is going to hurt anyone that was either soft (many Progressives) or isolationist (Taft Republicans) in regards to the Soviet Union.
Lost Freeway
Banned
I'd say the Soviets lost the moral high ground when they became a military dictatorship.
As far as I'm concerned, they never had the moral high ground in the first place. They're just another country with a colonial empire, their's in Central Asia, and now they want to expand it into India.
Lost Freeway
Banned
B-but the Soviets are simply showing their colonial subjects the glory of the workers' paradise!
In the internet there is no distinction between mockery and satire, and the thing being mocked and satirised.
So, this brought a couple questions up, if you don't mind:
Are there any OTL Manhattan Project scientists in the Soviet program?
Does Albert Einstein still come to the US, with the different situation in Germany?
By that same token, what happened to Werhner von Braun?
It's not implausible at all, because the whole reason he decided to support a divided India was because he felt he got kinda snubbed by the INC. And, as was stated:
The Muslim League still existing is pretty interesting. I assume it'll be kinda like a Muslim version of the BJP if/when India gets peaceful independence, except more moderate.
Also, what's Jawaharlal Nehru doing right now?
Trying to hold the INC together and prevent it splitting between Communist and anti-Communist factions.
Chaos and Progress in Africa
The majority of Africa remained under European domination. The British, French, Belgian, and Portuguese Empires remained healthy, with the European exploitation of the African resources continuing despite attempts by the Communists to infiltrate the areas and stir up revolts. The European powers, fresh off of their victories in East Asia, were simply too strong to be shaken at this time. The war was over, with their homelands unscathed and their economies still strong. A scattering of Communist attacks were met with brutal retaliation. However, while most of Africa was still secure under European domination, there were several trouble spots for the Europeans forming.
The collapse of the Kingdom of Italy in the war against the Soviets sent their empire in a death spiral. The broken remains of the Kingdom on Sardinia were bereft of almost all of their military power projection, and political and economic chaos crippled the Italian response. The Socialist Workers' Republic of Italy proclaimed that the colonial territories in Africa were to be given to the workers who lived in the colonies, and recognized the underground Communist groups present as the legitimate government of the regions. However, the communist Italian state was weak and disorganized, and unable to secure these governments. The Soviets sent aid to the communists in the former colonies, but Tukhachevsky was distracted by his larger projects, and unwilling to expend enough aid to help tiny communist rebel factions seize control of vast parts of Africa.
The exiled Emir of Cyrenaica, Idris, challenged the Libyan Workers' Republic. Idris had gone into exile out of fear of the fascists; now that they were defeated, he proclaimed himself King of the newly independent Libya. Idris had the support of his Senussi tribe, and from numerous other more conservative Libyan organizations who were skeptical of the communists. Libya quickly fell into civil war, with Britain and France forcing the Kingdom of Italy to begrudgingly back Idris while the communists rose up in revolt. While Idris was unable to quickly squash the communist revolution, he did successfully portray his left-wing enemies as a threat to the entire Arab world and as contrary to the values of Islam. The other monarchs of the Middle East all recognized Idris as the King of Libya and condemned the Libyan Workers' Republic.
The British, already in control of Somaliland, simply seized control of Italian Somalia, and Eritrea was handed over to the French from bordering Djibouti. The European powers agreed to restore Haile Selassie to the throne of Ethiopia. The King, exiled by the Italian invasion, made his triumphant return and guaranteed his new European allies his support agains the communist threat. They needed it, as the communists in Ethiopia quickly rose up in open revolt and Ethiopia, like Libya, fell into civil war.
Not all parts of Africa were under European domination or influence. The former Spanish holdings in Africa had been reorganized as autonomous regions by the Republic of Spain. While still nominally part of an international Spanish commonwealth, socialist unions had been set up in Western Sahara, northern Morocco, and Equatorial Guinea to transition the areas to workers' democracies. During the LaGuardia administration, these areas had received foreign support from the United States. While Taft had cut back on this aid, the former Spanish Empire was well on its way to being some of the only democratically governed parts of the African continent.
For decades, Liberia had been governed as a dominant party state by the True Whig Party. This conservative party had long been supported by U.S. business interests. However, during the Olson administration, foreign support for the True Whigs was withdrawn, and President Olson began applying immense pressure on the government of Liberia to implement more progressive policies. The President of Liberia at this time was Charles King, a notoriously corrupt and brutal ruler implicated in allowing slavery and the slave trade to be practiced in the country. His internal foes' only hope was that the U.S. could pressure him to resign. However, Edwin Morrow had failed to do so, and the succeeding chaotic Republican administrations were unable to act. When Olson came into power, King's enemies soon found the U.S. suddenly backing a type of regime much more radical than they were hoping for, and the True Whig party rallied around King.
Olson and Secretary of State Bullitt were not to be stopped by Liberia's conservatives. By 1934, when it was clear voluntary reform would not come, they orchestrated the destabilization of the Liberian government, and encouraged and aided a popular revolt led by the left-wing People's Party. With the backing of the U.S. government, the People's Party seized control of Liberia and installed their leader Thomas J.R. Faulkner as President. Faulkner had been born in America as a son of freed slaves in 1869, Faulkner moved to Liberia where he became a successful businessman selling ice cream. During his long career in Liberia he had been instrumental in revealing the corruption of the King administration. The new President of Liberia quickly enacted the reforms he had promised during his previous election campaigns, reforming the economic and social structure of Liberia to give more rights and power to indigenous Liberians, who had long been oppressed and locked out of the government. He also ended slavery in Liberia and oversaw a new constitution, replacing the presidential system with a hybrid presidential-parliamentary one.
The elderly Faulkner died in 1943, and was succeeded by Didwho Twe, the first indigenous president of Liberia. Twe had been a former member of the True Whig Party, but he had turned against the Party when King's misdeeds were revealed and joined Faulkner's government when it was installed by the Americans. Twe continued the center-left pro-American policies of Faulkner, and quickly became a major concern of the British and French. He allowed communists from the neighboring colonies safe haven in Liberia, and the Europeans soon became convinced that their empires were being undermined from within Liberia. Unfortunately for them, they could not move against Twe directly, as Liberia had extensive economic ties to the U.S. and they were afraid taking action agains the Liberian government could lead to Taft moving away from isolationism and back to LaGuardia's anti-imperialist foreign policy.
It's nice that Western Sahara is (probably) going to become a free democracy in Ruins rather than what it became in OTL.