Another timeline for you guys. Als always. I am eager to hear your thoughts about it.

1944

In the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater of Operations, the Allied forces Merrill’s Marauders and OSS Detachment 101 push back the 15th Imperial Japanese Army across northern Burma. They receive battlefield support from General Sun Li-jen’s 38th Division under Chiang Kai-shek, along with air cover provided by the Burma Banshees flying P-40 Warhawks originally trained with the Flying Tigers.

Chinese-American transport pilot Lee Wu and OSS officer Joseph Mathew "Joe" Eastman cross paths at Ledo and bond as brothers-in-arms. Recognizing the local commercial value of natural rubber and opium poppies, Wu plans future narcotics production across the emerging Golden Triangle.

During the same period, an allied soldier, later stationed at Điện Biên Phủ, experiences the intense aerial bombardments of Hamburg.

1945

Following the end of World War II, Joe Eastman returns to the United States as Detachment 101 personnel transition into the newly forming Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) network. In Southeast Asia, Lee Wu establishes large-scale illicit opium supply chains centered in the Golden Triangle.

Eastman introduces Lee Wu to California's rising political figure, Richard Nixon. A covert, lucrative financial alliance is established: Wu bankrolls Nixon’s political campaigns, while Nixon, operating in the Senate, secures prime California land acquisitions for Wu at minimal cost, including agricultural tracts at Watergate Circle.

1947

Mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel is assassinated in Beverly Hills. During this timeframe, persistent allegations link organized crime to the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) prior to Ronald Reagan assuming the union's presidency.

1950

The Korean War breaks out as American strategic command miscalculates the likelihood of military intervention from Communist China.

​Lawrence Ivory is drafted into military service and sent into combat operations in Korea. Simultaneously, Joe Eastman and Ronald Reagan’s future personal driver, Graham, serve in the Korean theater and form an acquaintance.

1951

Bitter winter fighting engulfs the Korean frontlines: Private Lawrence Ivory endures prolonged sub-zero exposure, witnessing widespread severe frostbite and amputations among his fellow infantrymen.

1952

Amid the Eisenhower-Nixon presidential bid, Richard Nixon faces public scandal over undisclosed slush funds and political payoffs. Nixon counters the controversy via his televised "Checkers speech". Concurrently, $500,000 from aerospace industrialist Howard Hughes’ off-the-books funds changes hands to secure defense contractor support. The Eisenhower-Nixon ticket secures the election.

May 1954

At the siege of Điện Biên Phủ, French forces commanded by officers like Marcel Bigeard are on the brink of total collapse before General Võ Nguyên Giáp’s five Việt Minh divisions. President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes Operation Vulture: U.S. strategic bombers drop three nuclear warheads along the Chinese border, wiping out Giáp’s armies and shattering the siege.

June 1954

Mao Zedong responds aggressively to the nuclear strike: Chinese assault forces attempt an amphibious invasion of Formosa (Taiwan). The U.S. Seventh Fleet intervenes directly, igniting World War III between the United States and China, with American Marines engaging in combat near Shanghai.

Domestic American politics turns fiercely reactionary: intense anti-Asian hostility ("Yellow Peril") erupts, while Senator Joseph McCarthy and the Committee on Anti-American Activities (CAAA) set up desert internment camps for residents of East Asian heritage.

​Total war threatens the survival of Lee Wu's Golden Triangle narcotics routes. Behind closed doors, Wu and Vice President Richard Nixon work covertly toward a negotiated peace settlement with China. This secret diplomacy sets them against major defense contractors (Boeing, Lockheed, Martin, Hughes Industries) and hawkish Republican party leaders eager for extensive wartime expansion.

Early to Mid-September 1956

Major aerospace contractors seek to build sprawling weapons facilities across Lee Wu’s orchards at Watergate Circle near Santa Barbara, but Wu adamantly refuses to surrender or sell the land.

​SAG-affiliated enforcers tied to the Lakewood slaughterhouse, led by Dan Moriarty, kidnap Lee Wu to force the release of bearer property deeds. Wu withstands brutal interrogation, hiding the bearer documents beneath the floorboards of his office.

Wu’s daughter, Lee Ann Wu, enlists down-on-his-luck ex-detective Lawrence Ivory to track down her missing father. Immediately, Republican operative Keyes and federal CAAA officers pressure local police and intimidate Ivory to drop the case.

Tracking a slaughterhouse marking awl found at the scene, Ivory unearths Dan Moriarty's SAG ties and joins forces with Eastman to locate Wu at Watergate Circle. They find Wu fatally battered; he dies immediately after disclosing the deed's hiding spot.

Joe Eastman betrays his former partner, handing over documentary proof of Nixon’s illicit financial ties with Wu directly to Keyes. Armed with these financial records, Keyes blackmails Vice President Nixon into stepping down from office.

Confronted by armed syndicate muscle, Ivory is rescued through the armed intervention of his neighbor Yvonne and her veteran Wobbly (IWW) union allies. The Wobblies ultimately stand down, accepting the incoming defense production lines due to industrial manufacturing jobs.

At the Republican National Convention in Los Angeles, the transition is finalized: Richard Nixon withdraws from the ticket, and lifelong Democrat Ronald Reagan switches parties to be confirmed as Dwight D. Eisenhower’s new running mate.

Joe Eastman marries Lee Ann Wu, securing clear ownership of the prime real estate, and promptly sells the parcels at massive profit to Boeing and Hughes Industries.

Lawrence Ivory receives a $5,000 retainer check from Lee Eastman née Wu. Moments later, Keyes visits Ivory's apartment, lays out the full mechanics of the defense conspiracy, and hands the private eye an active Selective Service draft notice.

December 1955

Re-inducted as a regular infantryman, Lawrence Ivory is stationed on the frigid East Asian frontlines, bracing for the impending Allied invasion of Manchuria.

The Federation of Australasia — 2044

The year is 2044. The Federation of Australasia stands as one of Asia’s great powers, capable of projecting its power as far as the Gulf of Aden.

1950s — Formation

The Federation was formed in 1956 when Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea united following independence. Their goal was to protect one another from the growing Chinese threat while recovering from the Great Economic Crash.

1960s–1970s — Recovery

The 1960s began with a bang as the First Indochina War broke out. Australasia committed a limited number of troops to support the South, but despite its efforts, the war ultimately proved unsuccessful.

However, the conflict helped kick-start the economy. The stagnation caused by the Great Economic Crash finally came to an end, and the nation began to recover. Throughout the 1970s, the economy continued its slow but steady growth, eventually returning to pre-crash levels.

1980s — A New Era

The 1980s marked the definitive end of the Great Economic Crash, with Australasia emerging stronger than ever.

In 1982, the purpose of the Federation was called into question. The economic crisis had been resolved, and China had seemingly backed down. A referendum was held across every member state, with 87% of the population voting to keep the Federation together. Military high command also supported its continuation, recognizing how dependent the member states had become on one another.

In 1984, the Second Technological Revolution began, ushering the world into the Cyber Age.

1990s — Project Elysium

The 1990s may have been one of the most important decades in Australasian history, as Project Elysium was proposed and approved.

The project began with the evacuation and compensation of residents living in the southeastern Outback. Following this, construction began on Lake Elizabeth, a massive undertaking that would take almost a decade to complete.

The plan was to create a lake of significant size that would gradually terraform the surrounding Outback, similar to projects being undertaken in Africa. Thanks to the technological advancements of the era, the project became considerably more achievable.

By 1996, Lake Elizabeth had been completed and connected to the surrounding infrastructure, marking a major milestone in the Federation’s ambitious plans to transform its interior.

2000s — The Australasian Decade

The 2000s could rightly be called the Australasian Decade.

Lake Elizabeth began to show the first signs of successful terraforming. Combined with rapid technological advancements, the once-barren Outback was beginning to transform into something entirely new. The desert that had defined the region for generations would eventually become a thing of the past.

However, another ambitious project was approved during this period.

Project Eden was launched with the goal of constructing an entirely new federal capital on the shores of Lake Elizabeth. Canberra had served as the Federation’s unofficial capital, but the government envisioned something greater: a city that would be modern, technologically advanced, and, above all, truly Australasian.

2010s — The Rise of Elizabeth

The 2010s saw the completion of Elizabeth, the Federation’s new capital city.

The federal government officially relocated there, and residents began moving into the modern metropolis. Designed to represent the Federation’s identity and ambitions, Elizabeth quickly became a symbol of Australasian unity and progress.

In the same decade, Lake Elizabeth was declared a New Wonder of the World by the League of Nations, dramatically increasing tourism and international interest in the Federation.

2020s — The Rise of a Great Power

The 2020s marked the beginning of Australasia’s rise to great-power status.

At first, the future looked uncertain. The Federation was heavily indebted following its two megaprojects, and with a third project entering the planning stages, its economic stability was at risk.

Then, an unexpected opportunity arose.

In 2021, Indonesia invaded its much smaller neighbour, East Timor, claiming that the country needed to repay its debts. East Timor was quickly and brutally overrun. The League of Nations condemned Indonesia’s actions but ultimately did nothing to intervene.

The Federation could not stand by and allow a small democracy to be destroyed without a response.

On September 13, 2021, just two months after Indonesia declared victory, the Federation took matters into its own hands. Australasian bombers struck key targets across the island of Timor, marking the beginning of the Timor War.

Indonesia attempted to retaliate by challenging the Australasian navy, but its forces were swiftly defeated in the Timor Sea. Meanwhile, Australian Defence Force (ADF) troops began parachuting into and landing across Timor, rapidly pushing back the much larger but poorly equipped Indonesian Armed Forces (IAF).

The war lasted only two months. With the ADF threatening to invade Indonesian-controlled territory on the island, Jakarta sued for peace.

Australasia had won.

Under the peace settlement, Indonesia was forced to pay substantial war reparations to both East Timor and Australasia.

However, the decade was far from over.

In October 2026, amid a struggling economy and rising radicalism, East Timor applied to join the Australasian Federation. Its application was approved, bringing the number of member states to four.

2030s — The Golden Age

The aftermath of the Timor War triggered an economic boom and ushered in a golden age for the Federation.

Australasia had demonstrated its military strength, and its economic performance became the envy of much of Asia. Its newfound power transformed the Federation into a major regional player.

Indonesia, once a relatively neutral neighbour, predictably turned hostile. Viewing the war as a national humiliation, it abandoned the Japanese sphere of influence and joined the Indian sphere instead.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth continued to grow, eventually surpassing Osaka in population and becoming one of Asia’s largest and most prestigious cities.

The war also transformed Australasia’s national identity. Increasingly confident in its own political system, the Federation began positioning itself as the protector of democratic movements across Asia. It would no longer tolerate what it considered tyrannical regimes standing in the way of freedom.

Viewing itself as Asia’s one true democracy, Australasia embraced the belief that it was a bastion of liberty and that these values should be spread throughout the continent.

Late 2030s–2040s — Project Hermes

As Australasia entered the late 2030s, the Federation began looking toward its next great national undertaking. Having transformed the Outback through Project Elysium and established a new federal capital through Project Eden, the government turned its attention toward connecting its vast territories.

In the late 2030s, Project Hermes was announced. Its primary objective was to construct the Australasian High-Speed Network, an ambitious nationwide transportation system designed to connect the Federation’s major cities and population centres through high-speed rail.

For decades, the enormous distances between Australasian cities had posed a significant challenge to national integration. Air travel remained essential for long-distance journeys, while conventional rail networks struggled to provide fast and reliable connections across such a vast territory. Project Hermes sought to change that.

The proposed network would connect major urban centres across the Federation, improving the movement of people, goods, and services. It would also strengthen the economic ties between the member states, making travel between them easier and reinforcing the idea that Australasia was a single, interconnected nation rather than a collection of distant territories.

The project represented more than a transportation initiative. It was a declaration that the Federation intended to overcome the geographical barriers that had historically divided its people.

Construction was a monumental undertaking, requiring years of investment, advanced engineering, and unprecedented coordination between the federal government and the member states. Nevertheless, Australasia’s technological capabilities and growing economic strength allowed the project to progress.

In 2044, Project Hermes was finally completed, marking another defining achievement in Australasian history. The Australasian High-Speed Network became a symbol of national unity and technological progress, bringing the Federation closer together than ever before.

With Elizabeth at its heart and a modern transportation network stretching across its territories, Australasia entered a new era of connectivity and prosperity.

2044 — A Power in a Changing Asia

By 2044, the economic boom continues, with Australasia consistently ranking among the world’s ten best places to live and being regarded as the best place to live in Asia.

The Federation’s growing influence has also led it to intervene beyond its borders. When an attempted coup threatened North Borneo’s fragile democracy, Australasia stepped in to preserve the government. Since then, it has gradually helped the country strengthen its institutions and prevent future coups.

In 2035, Australasia founded the South Pacific Treaty Organization (SPTO), a military alliance intended to protect and promote democracy across the Asia-Pacific region. Its founding members were Australasia and North Borneo.

The completion of Project Hermes further strengthened the Federation’s position, demonstrating its ability to undertake massive infrastructure projects while maintaining its status as a regional power.

Now, in the 2040s, the geopolitical situation across Asia is becoming increasingly tense. The Japanese sphere of influence is collapsing, while China has begun acting more aggressively than ever before.

As the balance of power shifts and the threat of a wider conflict grows, Australasia faces a defining question: can it preserve the democratic order it has spent decades building, or will it be drawn into a conflict that could reshape the entire continent?

---

Hello! I hope you enjoy this map and lore dump for Australasia in Solar Sunset, my fictional, non-dystopian cyberpunk world!

I know it’s a lot to read, lol, but please feel free to ask any questions about the world or Australasia. I’d love to answer them!

In May 1940 Lord Halifax, not Churchill, becomes Prime Minister. After the fall of France, Britain accepts an armistice and signs a peace at Stockholm that keeps the Empire and the fleet but leaves Germany master of the continent.

The Imperial Encyclopaedia is what a British reference work of 1970 would make of the thirty years that followed. It's written in the voice of the time and knows only what a London editor could know. There are no captured German archives, so much of what happened in the East comes through escapers, neutral observers and the Reich's own statements.

**What's in it**

* 33 articles (about 60,000 words): the wars from 1939 to 1960, the powers and their empires, and technological developments

* Statistical tables for 1950 and 1970: population, gross product, cities, steel, oil, electricity, armies, navies and air forces

* An atlas: the world in 1970, national flags, the world's oil, and air and sea communications, plus maps within the articles

**Read it here:**
The Imperial Encyclopaedia. It's one large page (about 25 MB), so it's best on a desktop.

Suggestions are very welcome, especially anything that seems implausible or doesn’t add up.

Following the success of the August 21 Coup in the Soviet Union, the rapid rise of former Colonel Alexander Lukashenko saw his appointment as General Secretary of the Union in 1997 as a compromise between factions. His regime increasingly centralised things and kept them very personal.

His son, Viktor, benefited deeply from his father's rise. a Businessman, he was given significant funding and support by his father after his rise and became an independent figure by himself in the CPSU. However, internal loyalties and fractures meant that his father and his relationship detonated. He was exiled to Kaliningrad and given a small administrative position.

Upon arrival, he immediately stirred up the state by gaining the support of smaller ministers against Chairman Leonid Gorbenko, who eventually was overthrown with the support of the Army stationed in Kaliningrad.

Initially, it was believed Viktor would just make himself Chairman, which was true for awhile.. until he found some news friends -- Western oligarchs.

Throughout some deals, he eventually declared independence from the Soviet Union in 2003, which led to the 1 month "Kaliningrad" War, where surprisingly against all odds, Viktor won.

Viktor during this war had declared himself the "Regent of Kaliningrad", which signalled his turn to Monarchism.

After the war, Viktor renamed the state to "Viktorograd", replacing the "Kalinin" as of its bolshevik past. After this, he held an extremely shaky legitimate vote in the Kaliningrad Secretariat, which all voted in favour of Viktor being chosen as Tsar of Viktorograd and claimant to the title of "Duke of Prussia."

His coronation was postponed until 2008, as he invited Orthodox Exiles and the Romanov Family to receive amnesty in Kaliningrad, which they did. Throughout this time, he funded the reconstruction of Konigsberg Castle, now renamed "Kyonigsberg Palace", which became his official residence in 2013.

In 2008, his coronation was held, using deliberately designed tsarist jewels and crowns based on that of the Old Russian Empire.

However, his state wasn't an absolute monarchy, it was a Semi-Constitutional one. With a Prime Minister. He proposed to the west himself as a launching pad for the Baltic Sea, which they took with pride. Viktorograd's entrance into NATO as an observer in November of 2014 rose tensions to the highest since 1990.

As of 2026, the state is known as "Europe's Last Dictatorship", however that line is abit shaky as democracy is still preserved. However, the King still has significant power over the Parliament and Prime Minister.

RUSSIAN SOVIET FEDERATIVE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC

The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) is a socialist state in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It was restored on 7 November 1996 by Gennady Zyuganov, three months after his inauguration as President of Russia, and it is the founding member and dominant power of the Union of Soviet States (USS), a confederation that by 1999 stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific coast of Asia and southward to the Persian Gulf and the Hindu Kush. Its restoration, together with the chain of coups, strikes, legislative maneuvers and interventions that followed it between 1996 and 1999, is commonly referred to as the Dawn of a Red Millenium.

Background

By 1995 and 1996 it had become public knowledge that massive state-owned enterprises, among them the oil and natural gas concerns, were being sold off for fractions of their value to a small group of well-connected insiders, who became billionaire "oligarchs". Although President Boris Yeltsin was not yet personally accused of taking bribes, his administration was widely viewed by the Russian public as deeply corrupt for allowing the country's wealth to be systematically plundered.

Election of 1996 and restoration of the RSFSR

On 1 May 1996, Labour Day, and before the 1996 presidential election, Zyuganov took the opportunity presented by the public mood to rig the elections. On 16 June 1996 he won a popular vote of 91.9%. His inauguration ceremony took place on 9 August 1996. On 7 November of that same year, the anniversary of the October Revolution, he proclaimed the restoration of the RSFSR. He immediately restored the NKVD, along with the KGB, and the Red Army.

The Great Reset of 1996

Immediately after the proclamation, Zyuganov began the Great Reset of 1996, in which all of Yeltsin's oligarchs were hunted down and massacred. The campaign led to sanctions by the United States, and many foreign companies withdrew at once from Russian territory. Mikhail Gorbachev was proclaimed a traitor and sent into exile in France, and his policies were repealed. St Petersburg reverted to its former name of Leningrad, and other cities likewise recovered their Soviet-era names, among them Nizhny Novgorod as Gorky and Yekaterinburg as Sverdlovsk.

Leninist Progressivism

Following the example of China, Zyuganov turned the economy of the restored republic toward Leninist Progressivism, a system that keeps heavy industry under state control while allowing regulated market sectors, above all in technology. Seized oligarch wealth became a resource of the restored state and was later put to use abroad by the KGB.

Union of Soviet States

Restoration of the Byelorussian SSR and the founding pact

Zyuganov pressed Alexander Lukashenko in talks that lasted for months, culminating in the restoration of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR) on 7 March 1997. On 2 April 1997 the two countries signed a mutual defensive pact, the Union of Soviet States, which was initially aimed at creating a federation. Both countries nevertheless remained independent, and the Union of Soviet States instead came to exhibit the features of a confederation.

Governance

By 1999 the Union comprised the RSFSR and the fourteen other republics of the former Soviet Union, each restored as a Soviet Socialist Republic, together with every former Warsaw Pact state except the former German Democratic Republic, namely the Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian and Bulgarian SSRs, as well as the Serbian, Mongolian, Japan, Indonesian, Iranian and Afghanistan SSRs.

In its mature form the Union is directed by a Council of the Union, in which every member state holds a seat. The chairmanship of the Council rotates among the member states, but the RSFSR holds a standing right of veto over Council resolutions, a prerogative that Moscow has never conceded and that member governments have never successfully challenged. Each member keeps its own government and, in the terms first set by the Treaty of Kyiv, its own sovereign institutions, so that the Union functions as a confederation of sovereign Soviet states led, in practice, from Moscow.

The Polish Soviet Socialist Republic

Driven by fear of NATO's enlargement and by the loss of the German Democratic Republic, Zyuganov immediately launched multiple coups d'état across Europe. On 5 May 1997 Aleksander Kwaśniewski[a] (born 15 November 1954) declared martial law and proclaimed the creation of the Polish Soviet Socialist Republic. The domino effect from Poland reached Kyiv by mid-summer.

The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic

Inspired by the sudden return of Soviet geography and symbols, the Communist Party of Ukraine (CPU), led by Petro Symonenko and covertly funded by Zyuganov's newly restored KGB, organized crippling labor strikes across the industrial Donbas and the Crimean peninsula. On 15 July 1997, claiming to protect the ethnically Russian and pro-communist majorities from "Western Imperialism and IMF economic slavery," the CPU launched a coordinated coup. Backed by "volunteer" Red Army divisions massed along the Kharkiv border, Symonenko's faction seized the Verkhovna Rada. President Leonid Kuchma and his key allies fled westward to Lviv, where they established a democratic government-in-exile. On 17 July 1997 the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (UkrSSR) was officially re-proclaimed in Kyiv.

To solidify this unique status, Zyuganov and Symonenko signed the Treaty of Kyiv. Under its terms the UkrSSR joined the Union of Soviet States confederation alongside the RSFSR and the BSSR, but under strict conditions that preserved its independent statehood. Kyiv adopted Zyuganov's Leninist Progressivism, meaning state-controlled heavy industry mixed with regulated market technology sectors, but kept its own national bank and trade agreements, heavily focusing on the export of agriculture and steel to non-aligned nations in Asia and Africa.

The Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic

By late autumn of 1997 the rapid transformation of Ukraine into the Ukrainian SSR had left the Republic of Moldova physically isolated from the West, entirely surrounded by the neo-Soviet confederation of the Union of Soviet States. Following the coup in Kyiv, the newly established Ukrainian SSR immediately closed its borders to non-communist trade, and Moldova, under President Petru Lucinschi, found itself utterly cut off from its primary export markets.

Zyuganov's RSFSR, moreover, weaponized energy supply. In October 1997 Gazprom, by then firmly under neo-Soviet state control, abruptly shut off the gas supply pipeline passing through Transnistria, citing "unpaid historic debts" owed by Chisinau. Faced with a freezing population, widespread blackouts and a collapsing agricultural sector, the Lucinschi government confronted mass protests organized by the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM), led by Vladimir Voronin.

Zyuganov used Transnistria as the anvil with which to smash the Moldovan state. On 12 November 1997 the Russian 14th Guards Army stationed in Transnistria, together with local separatist forces, mobilized along the Dniester River. Concurrently, Voronin's PCRM issued an ultimatum in Chisinau: either the government would step down to allow the formation of a "National Salvation Coalition," or the country would face a coordinated two-front military advance from both Transnistria and the Ukrainian SSR's Odessa oblast. To avoid catastrophic bloodshed and total economic ruin, President Lucinschi resigned on 20 November 1997. Voronin immediately assumed emergency powers and suspended the 1994 constitution. On 5 December 1997 the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic (MSSR) was officially restored.

Expansion across Europe, the Caucasus and Asia

The rapid expansion of the Union of Soviet States followed a strict chronological sequence, integrating Europe and Asia into a sovereign neo-Soviet confederation through targeted interventions, local vanguards and structural overhauls.

First wave: Central Europe, the Caucasus and the Baltic (1997)

The first wave of integration unfolded through 1997 across Central Europe, the Caucasus and the Baltic. In June 1997, in Prague, Czech Communist Party leader Miroslav Štěpán capitalized on mass anti-privatization strikes, deploying armed workers' militias to seize Prague Castle and halt NATO integration, and proclaimed the Czech SSR. This triggered a chain reaction in Bratislava, where, also in June, Slovak communist leader Peter Weiss orchestrated a swift legislative vote of no confidence to dissolve the democratic government and proclaim the Slovak SSR. In September 1997 Hungarian Workers' Party leader Gyula Thürmer exploited a state-manufactured agricultural shortage to lead a populist march on Budapest and to lock down the nation's southern borders, establishing the Hungarian SSR.

In the Caucasus, a KGB-backed coalition of military officers ousted Baku's fractured government to establish the Azerbaijan SSR, placing the Caspian energy corridors under state control. Fearing isolation, Armenian communist leader Sergey Badalyan engineered a bloodless legislative transition in Yerevan to proclaim the Armenian SSR and secure a defensive pact with Moscow, while radical socialist factions stormed the parliament in Tbilisi to declare the Georgian SSR.

Concurrently, a total energy embargo from Moscow forced the collapse of the government in Tallinn, allowing the Estonian communist Tiit Toomsalu to assume emergency powers and proclaim the Estonian SSR. This enabled the exiled Alfrēds Rubiks to return aboard a USS naval escort and proclaim the Latvian SSR after a KGB-funded general strike paralyzed Riga, while the hardliner Mykolas Burokevičius led an armed assault on the Seimas in Vilnius to proclaim the Lithuanian SSR and seal the Baltic capsule.

Second wave: the Balkans, Mongolia and Central Asia (1998)

The momentum surged into the Balkans and Asia throughout 1998, weaponizing regional instability and economic collapse. In Bucharest, a revived Communist Party led by Ilie Verdeț used severe economic instability to seize power and establish the Romanian SSR, cutting off Western naval access to the Black Sea. The Bulgarian socialist hardliner Zhan Videnov executed a swift internal coup within the ruling coalition to return to power and proclaim the Bulgarian SSR. Abandoned by the West, Slobodan Milošević formally aligned Belgrade with Moscow, converting his nation into the Serbian SSR to secure direct protection from the Russian Red Army. In East Asia, the economic shocks of the Asian Financial Crisis prompted the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party to readopt hardline socialist principles following massive protests in Ulaanbaatar, proclaiming the Mongolian SSR and effectively turning the nation into a strategic military bridge between the RSFSR and China.

This Asian transition quickly spread across Central Asia and into the Pacific through coordinated structural integration. Recognizing the shift in global power, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev realigned Almaty with Zyuganov's confederation, proclaiming the Kazakh SSR to secure the vast northern steppes, and placed the Baikonur Cosmodrome under a joint military command. In Tashkent, a vanguard of old-guard planners executed a sweeping industrial nationalization campaign to establish the Uzbek SSR, centering the economy on state-directed cotton and gold production. Facing spillover conflicts from the south, local communist factions backed by Russian border guards stabilized Dushanbe to declare the Tajik SSR, while armed workers' councils took physical control of Bishkek to secure the strategic mountain passes of the Kyrgyz SSR.

Capitalizing on the violent collapse of the Suharto regime during the Asian Financial Crisis, a radicalized communist vanguard led by Budiman Sudjatmiko captured Jakarta, establishing the Indonesian SSR and nationalizing the Malacca Strait, one of the global trade choke points.

Third wave: the Caspian, Iran and Afghanistan (1999)

By 1999 the neo-Soviet alliance had successfully penetrated the Middle East and consolidated its strategic fronts. In early 1999 a pro-Moscow military faction completed the Caspian security ring by transforming Turkmenistan into the Turkmen SSR and nationalizing its massive natural gas fields to feed the energy grid of the expanded alliance. Simultaneously, a KGB-backed alliance of the Tudeh Party and leftist military officers capitalized on a deep internal schism between clerics and secular reformists to overthrow the Islamic Republic, establishing the Iranian SSR on the Persian Gulf.

Finally, operating from its newly consolidated Central Asian borders, the USS Red Army launched a massive counter-offensive southward into Kabul, crushing the Taliban and regional tribal factions to install a stable, progressive Leninist administration under the sovereign blueprint of the Afghanistan SSR.

Japan Soviet Socialist Republic

Financial collapse and Operation Red Autumn

By late 1997 the Asian Financial Crisis had pushed Japan's already fragile banking sector over the edge. Major mega-banks and brokerage firms collapsed consecutively, sending the yen into a historic freefall. Unemployment soared to unprecedented post-war heights, and hyperinflation gutted the savings of ordinary citizens. Amid this chaos the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) government under Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto became completely paralyzed. Attempts to secure an IMF bailout led to harsh austerity measures, which sparked massive and violent labor strikes across Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya.

Sensing the perfect revolutionary opportunity, Zyuganov's KGB initiated Operation Red Autumn. It funneled millions in seized oligarch wealth, together with smuggled weaponry, through Vladivostok to radicalized left-wing factions. The fragmented Japanese socialist movement unified under a militant vanguard, the United Front for National Liberation (UFNL), which combined radical trade unions, remnants of the Japanese Red Army (JRA) and dissident factions of the Japan Socialist Party.

Proclamation of the JSSR

The flashpoint occurred on 12 April 1998, during a massive protest of a million people surrounding the National Diet in Tokyo. As riots broke out, pre-positioned UFNL paramilitaries, armed with Soviet-supplied hardware and led by seasoned operatives, moved with clinical precision. On the morning of 15 April 1998, appearing on national television from the steps of the Diet, the charismatic and radical labor leader Tokuo Yamashita officially proclaimed the creation of the Japan Soviet Socialist Republic (JSSR). Yamashita, a fierce orator who had spent the mid-1990s coordinating anti-government labor strikes, was named Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the JSSR.

American retrenchment and the blockade

The fall of Tokyo caught Washington and Seoul in a state of absolute strategic shock and forced an immediate, aggressive military retrenchment. As Tokyo fell, the United States military executed emergency evacuations of all personnel from mainland bases such as Yokosuka and Yokota. Washington, however, drew a strict redline at Okinawa. The United States seized unilateral control of the Ryukyu Islands, transforming Okinawa into a heavily fortified island fortress, and deployed the Seventh Fleet to enforce a total naval and economic blockade around the Japanese mainland in order to starve out the nascent regime.

Chinese and North Korean support

While the United States sought to choke the new JSSR out of existence, Beijing and Pyongyang moved rapidly to secure, supply and legitimize Yamashita's revolution. True to the Leninist Progressivism model, Beijing strictly insisted that the JSSR must remain an independent sovereign state, so as to avoid a direct nuclear confrontation between the United States and the Soviet bloc. To break the American naval blockade, the People's Liberation Navy escorted massive merchant fleets through designated "sovereign maritime corridors," supplying Yamashita's regime with crucial oil, coal and raw materials. Diplomatic channels in Beijing warned Washington that any amphibious invasion of the Japanese mainland would be treated as an act of war against China.

By the summer of 1998 the Pacific was permanently divided. Chairman Yamashita began the aggressive nationalization of major corporate giants such as Sony, Toyota and Mitsubishi under the Leninist Progressivism model, transforming them into state-directed enterprises shielded from Western wrath by a formidable, re-energized Asian Communist bloc.

Abolition of the monarchy

On 10 May 1998 the Supreme Soviet of the JSSR officially abolished the monarchy, stripping the Imperial Family of all constitutional status, titles and divine claims. Emperor Akihito was legally redesignated Citizen Akihito Yamashina, a historical cadet branch name that supplied the family with the surname it had never held. The vast imperial properties, including the Imperial Palace in Tokyo and the Kyoto Imperial Palace, were nationalized. The main Tokyo palace grounds were renamed the People's Culture and Revolutionary Memory Park, with large portions opened to the public.

Neutrality of Germany

The collapse of Poland into the Polish Soviet Socialist Republic in May 1997 placed Red Army formations along Germany's entire eastern frontier, and the subsequent falls of Prague, Bratislava and Budapest closed the southeastern approaches as well. With its energy supply exposed to the same pressure that had broken Moldova, Germany came under sustained Soviet pressure through the second half of 1997. By the autumn of that year Berlin yielded, adopting a declaration of permanent armed neutrality that withdrew the country from NATO's integrated military structure and committed it to remain outside any hostile alliance. The neutrality of Germany removed the central pillar of the alliance's continental defense and pushed NATO's effective frontline westward, to the Rhine and the borders of the Benelux states and France, while Greece and Turkey became the alliance's anchors in the southeast.

Korean Peninsula

The fall of Tokyo in April 1998 transformed the Republic of Korea into the principal American stronghold on the Asian mainland. With the evacuation of Yokosuka, Yokota and the other mainland bases of Japan, Washington redeployed a substantial part of its Pacific strength to the peninsula and reinforced its garrison in South Korea. Seoul was placed on a permanent war footing, with the Demilitarized Zone heavily fortified, conscription and reserve obligations expanded, and the national economy reorganized around defense. By the end of 1998 the Republic of Korea had become a fortress state, bound to the United States by a strengthened alliance and facing the Democratic People's Republic of Korea across the most militarized border in the world, with the JSSR, the PRC and the DPRK arrayed together on the opposite side of the divided Pacific.

Notes

a. Aleksander Kwaśniewski, then President of Poland, had previously served as a minister of the Polish People's Republic and as leader of Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland.

so there are multiple points of divergence here so ill be short with a lot of them

1- the greater Poland uprising succeeds in 1919 and establishes an independent polish kingdom under the house of Wettin

2-the collapse of Austria-Hungary doesn't result in the abdication of the Habsburgs with a federal archduchy being established after the 2nd world war

3-the Czechoslovak legion reach Czechoslovakia in time to enact their monarchist ambitions and elect the house of Schwarzenberg to become kings of Bohemia-Slavonia (later changed to Kingdom of Czechoslavonia in 2016)

4-the kingdom of Hungary elects Miklos Horthy as their king becoming king Miklos I, and after his death, his grandson Istvan Jr would become king Istvan VI and gain territory via UN referendum for condominium territory between Hungary and Bohemia

5-the Weimar republic would continue its existence after ww2 ended in 1943 instead of 1945, and Prussia would become an SSR within the soviet union becoming the Pruthenian SSR as the soviets would deport the Volga Germans and other eastern communities into the new SSR, resulting in a mix of "old Prussian" and "new Pruthenian", after the collapse of the USSR the Prussian free state would announce the return of the Hohenzollerns to the Prussian throne under king Georg II

oh and Switzerland exists too ig

The Belgian revolt (1830)

In 1830, the Belgian Revolt erupted as tensions between the northern and southern provinces of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands reached a breaking point. Religious divisions between the Protestant-dominated north and the predominantly Catholic south, resentment over Dutch-language policies, political grievances, and differing economic interests fueled the uprising. While the southern provinces were becoming increasingly industrialized, the northern Netherlands remained more closely associated with international commerce and maritime trade.

The Dutch government moved quickly to suppress the rebellion. The Belgians had requested French assistance; the absence of French military intervention allowed the monarchy to retain control over the southern provinces. Rather than imposing widespread reprisals, the government adopted a more conciliatory approach toward those who surrendered. Individuals who continued to fear persecution were permitted to emigrate to the Dutch colonies of Suriname and Zuidland, while some French-speaking Catholic families sought new lives in Louisiana and Quebec, where they could preserve their language and religious traditions.

Recognizing that continued cultural and religious repression could provoke further unrest, the government subsequently relaxed restrictions on Dutch-language schooling, granted tax exemptions to Catholic churches, and introduced measures to encourage economic cooperation between the industrialized south and the commercially oriented north. These reforms helped preserve the kingdom's territorial integrity while allowing its southern population greater freedom to maintain its religious and cultural traditions.

The Crimean War (1853–1855)

In 1853, Russia went to war with the Ottoman Empire, prompting Britain and France to intervene in defense of the Ottomans and to limit further Russian expansion. Sardinia joined the conflict in pursuit of diplomatic support for Italian unification, while Sweden-Norway entered the war hoping to reclaim Finland, which had been under Russian rule since the early nineteenth century.

Prussia initially remained neutral, profiting from trade with Russia while British and French naval forces restricted Russian access to overseas markets. As the Russian war effort deteriorated, however, Britain and France increased diplomatic pressure on Prussia to join the coalition. Britain eventually offered recognition of a Polish kingdom under Prussian control in exchange for Prussian military intervention. Seeing an opportunity to strengthen its position in central Europe, Prussia accepted and declared war on Russia.

With Prussia threatening Russia from the west and Allied forces continuing their campaign in the south, the Russian position weakened. The resulting peace settlement in 1855 returned Finland to Sweden-Norway. Finland's incorporation strengthened Sweden's position in northern Europe. The war's conclusion also laid the groundwork for the establishment of the Kingdom of Poland a Prussian puppet kingdom, recognized by all in Europe.

Death of Austria, Birth of Germany (1866–1870)

The Austro-Prussian War of 1866 began as a struggle for leadership among the German states, with Prussia and its northern German allies fighting Austria and the southern German states. As Poland was a puppet of the Prussians joined the war and with their entry into Galica, many believed this to be liberation from the Austrian empire, news traveled like wildfire and many other peoples in the empire believed now was their shot at freedom. As the war progressed, nationalist uprisings spread throughout the Austrian Empire, with Hungarians, Croats, Bosnians, and other peoples demanding independence. Faced with the prospect of total imperial collapse, Prussia's Chancellor Otto von Bismarck concluded that destroying Austria would destabilize Central Europe and invite intervention by the other Great Powers. Prussia therefore abandoned its campaign against Austria and instead cooperated with the Habsburg government to prevent the total collapse of the Austrians.

By 1868, the Austrian Empire had been dismantled and replaced by several independent states. Hungary became an independent kingdom, while Croatia and Bosnia united to form the Republic of Illyria. Poland and Romania received portions of Galicia, and Italy acquired Lombardy, Venetia, and Trentino. The Habsburgs retained Austria's German-speaking core, along with Czechia and Slovenia.

Negotiations for German unification were led by Otto von Bismarck, who sought to establish a powerful and stable German empire while reassuring the other European Great Powers that Prussia would not upset the continental balance of power. Prussia agreed to surrender its Polish-majority territories to the Polish kingdom, while Austria accepted the loss of most of its former empire. In 1870, Prussia, Austria, and the remaining German kingdoms and states formally united to establish the German Empire, with Frankfurt designated as its capital, and the union of the Prussian house of Hohenzollern and Austrian house of Habsburg.

The Restoration of the French Republic (1873)

The reshuffling of power in Europe left France increasingly overshadowed by the newly unified German Empire, although its extensive colonial holdings remained a source of international influence. This decline further weakened the already unpopular reign of Napoleon III, whose authoritarian rule, censorship, and failure to resolve growing social and political tensions had fueled opposition to his government. When Napoleon III died in 1873, his seventeen-year-old son was legally next in line to the throne. However, the young heir lacked political experience and broad support needed to secure the future of the Bonapartist dynasty. Many in the government not wanting further political instability moved for him to give up his claim and reestablish a republic to regain the support of the people and rewrite the constitution for the government to move more efficiently and effectively. With his son’s abdication and a Republic reestablished, this allowed France to continue its colonial ventures as well as allow for innovation, industrial expansion and a renewed national spirit.

The Russo-Ottoman War and the Expansion of Illyria (1877–1878)

In 1877, Russia and the Ottoman Empire went to war once again, with Russia presenting the conflict as a struggle to liberate the Balkan peoples still under Ottoman rule while seeking to expand its own influence in the region. Illyria joined Russia, Romania, and other forces fighting the Ottomans, hoping to bring additional South Slavic populations out from under Ottoman control. The Ottoman defeat led to a redistribution of territory across the Balkans, and Romania's independence was formally recognized at the 1878 Congress of Berlin. Illyria also gained additional territory, transforming the republic from a state centered on Croat and Bosnian lands into a more diverse South Slavic federation. To reflect this changing national composition, the capital was moved from Zagreb, a city strongly associated with Croat political interests, to Sarajevo, which was regarded as a more suitable center for the expanding republic. Although the move symbolized Illyria's ambition to unite different South Slavic peoples under a common government, regional, religious, and ethnic differences remained important challenges for the young state.

The Brussels Conference and the Partition of Africa (1884–1885)

As the world grew increasingly interconnected and European colonial expansion accelerated across Africa and Asia, the borders of entire regions were increasingly decided by governments whose representatives often had little direct knowledge of the lands they claimed. This competition led to the Brussels Conference of 1884–1885, where the European powers negotiated their competing claims in Africa, formalized territorial arrangements, and established rules governing colonial expansion. The resulting settlement allowed each major power to claim diplomatic gains while accepting territories and obligations that could prove costly to administer. Britain strengthened its African empire by securing parts of Central Africa and establishing a more continuous chain of territories linking its possessions in Egypt, West Africa, and East Africa, supporting ambitions for future transcontinental rail connections. France secured recognition of its control over the Sahara and much of western Africa, while Germany acquired the entire Kongo basin, an immense territory whose interior remained poorly mapped by European powers and whose administration would prove expensive and difficult. Portugal secured a continuous territorial connection between its African colonies while limiting further Dutch expansion. The Netherlands gained international recognition of Zuidland's borders, giving its government a diplomatic basis for restraining further expansion by settlers and colonial officials. Italy received a smaller share of territory than several of its rivals but secured formal recognition of its standing as one of Europe's great powers, strengthening its position in international diplomacy. Because it could not be decided the states of Ethiopia and Somalia were left as free states in Africa, but they were forced to sign an agreement to allow European ships to dock in their ports for no additional fees. Yet European agreements did not automatically translate into effective control on the ground: African states and communities continued to resist, negotiate with, and adapt to the expanding colonial presence.

The World at the End of the Victorian Era (1900–1910)

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the world shaped by the Victorian era had begun to settle into a new political and economic order. Germany's rapid industrialization and unification had made it the leading economic and military power on the European continent, while France, Britain, and the Netherlands continued to consolidate their economies and expand their imperial influence. Railways, steamships, and new industries connected Europe and its colonies closer than ever before. Its growing cities, expanding industrial workforces, and rising literacy helped transform societies across the continent. Socialism, nationalism, and organized labor became increasingly influential, and the expansion of voting rights brought millions more people into political life. Yet all this growth at home and abroad also intensified competition between the great powers, deepened social inequalities, and subjected colonized peoples to increasingly intrusive foreign rule. Despite these tensions, many European governments and elites remained convinced that these changes would continue to bring prosperity and international prestige. By 1910, many of the institutions, rivalries, and political movements that would shape the modern world were firmly established, even as the consequences of this new order remained uncertain.

This is the sultanate of Azerbaijan that gained Independence from the Qajar dynasty and before the Russian annexation, and it survived Russian invasion for 10 years which is a remarkable number because of their small size, and they were able to dodge Russian annexation because of their alliance with the west Georgian Imamate.

Mapa do império de Kastarus, um império ficcticio

Original Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/AlternateHistory/s/07sBon4dmW

This has been posted before, but a lot of the comments were just jokes. But I actually wanted to consider the scenario seriously. If Britain had created teleportation tech and proved that they were willing and capable of teleporting entire islands halfway across the world in a war, how does the rest of the world react? The Cold War is still ongoing, so I imagine a lot of people would freak out at the idea that Britain can teleport armies or even nukes right at their doorstep. How does China react if the British government decides to do the same thing to Hong Kong before their lease expires?

I RP'd/simulated it as I was the leader, may be realistic? Not much, any questions I answer!

* March 1848 — The Spark of Revolution

* Establish defensive lines along western Pannonia while carefully watching Vienna, avoiding reckless preemptive attacks to maintain the moral and legal high ground.

* Issue a historic, federalized autonomy offer to Croatia and Transylvanian Romanians (inspired by the Holy Roman Empire structure), successfully cooling down Romanian rebellions in the east and creating internal debate among Croatian officers.

* Envoys are dispatched to London and Paris, securing private British lines of credit and war loans.

* September 1848 — The Scorched-Earth Strategy

* Ban Josip Jelačić’s 35,000-man Croatian army crosses the Drava River into Transdanubia.

* Execute a ruthless scorched-earth and evacuation campaign: civilians are pulled back toward Pest-Buda, crops burned, wells poisoned, and supply lines harassed by Honvéd hussars.

* Jelačić’s logistics completely collapse under starvation and dysentery, leaving his army stranded and exhausted near Pákozd.

* Vienna issues an ultimatum revoking Hungarian self-governance; you politely offer a constructive plebiscite proposal on Hungarian self-determination, which the Imperial Court angrily rejects.

* October 1848 — The Battle of Pákozd & The Vienna Uprising

* Execute a brilliant three-point pincer maneuver at Pákozd: using northern forces as bait, western divisions armed with new British percussion-cap rifles slam into the Croatian flank while a northeastern column crushes their rear.

* Jelačić’s army is shattered; thousands surrender while the rest retreat in total disarray.

* When a liberal uprising erupts in Vienna, sending regular forces and fresh recruits west to support the Viennese barricades, forcing imperial generals into a two-front dilemma.

* Using British credit, builds organized, sanitary refugee settlements on the outskirts of Pest-Buda, turning the refugee crisis into a peaceful, state-directed work-and-recruitment effort.

* November–December 1848 — The Diplomatic Counter-Play

* Warns London and Paris that a defeated Hungary means total Russian domination over the Balkans, prompting British and French naval squadrons to shift toward the Black Sea and Adriatic.

* Extends the "Hand Extended" truce offer to Croatia, successfully pulling them out of the war as an enemy and securing your southern flank.

* Lauchs psychological propaganda in Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania, framing Russia as the true enemy of Romanian and South Slavic independence.

* Polish volunteer officers (including General Józef Bem) arrive to lead the cavalry, while secret pacts with the Ottoman Empire secure covert funding, grain, and border transit.

1849

* January–February 1849 — The Miracle of Pest

* Field Marshal Windisch-Grätz leads 70,000 Austrian troops across the frozen Danube toward Pest-Buda.

* Stages a triple-point ambush at the capital’s gates: drawing the vanguard into a central trap, Bem’s Polish lancers and riflemen strike from the north while allied Croatian units and 21,000 fresh Hungarians hit from the southwest.

* Windisch-Grätz is decisively defeated, leaving behind thousands of casualties, prisoners, and heavy siege artillery.

* March 1849 — Decapitation Strike & The Balkan Front

* As the Austrians retreat, a high-speed Polish cavalry raid decapitates the Austrian high command 120 km from the border, killing their top commander and paralyzing the western front for months.

* Captured Austrian heavy artillery is integrated into the ring of fortresses protecting Pest-Buda.

* 14,000 Ottoman Balkan irregulars and heavy gunners arrive in Hungary to directly reinforce your army.

* April–May 1849 — The "Death Line" & Psychological Warfare

* Tsar Nicholas I prepares a 120,000-man Russian force under General Paskevich. In response, you systematically breach dikes and flood northern approach routes into an impassable, muddy quagmire.

* Constructs the "Death Line": an evacuated, apparently untouched village is rigged with subterranean explosives. When the Russian vanguard enters, sappers detonate it, causing over 4,000 Russian casualties and plunging the Russian army into severe paranoia and sleeplessness.

* Sends a biting, mocking letter to St. Petersburg exposing the Tsar's betrayal of Slavic and Orthodox freedom, isolating Russia morally across Europe.

* June 1849 — The Birth of the Republic

* Standing before the Diet, officially depose the Habsburg dynasty and declare the Independent Republic of Hungary, adopting the immortal motto:

"Ha ők nem szabadítanak ki minket, akkor mi fogjuk kiszabadítani magunkat!"

(If they won't free us, we will free ourselves!)

* Italian revolutionary states formally sign a mutual defense pact with the new Republic.

* July–August 1849 — The Climax: The Battle of Pest-Buda

* Tsar Nicholas I sends a total force of 200,000 men under Prince Gorchakov for a desperate final assault on Pest-Buda.

* As the exhausted, mud-soaked Russian columns charge the city gates, unleash a synchronized 4-way coalition attack:

* Ottoman siege guns and captured Austrian artillery deafen and panic the vanguard.

* Polish lancers and riflemen slice through the northern flank.

* Croatian mobile units slam into the southwest.

* Ottoman irregulars cut off the northern retreat line while Hungarian infantry finishes the center.

* Over 30,000 Russian troops surrender; the rest flee across the Carpathians in utter ruin.

* Autumn 1849 — The Red-Handed Peace & The Humane Triumph;

* The president entered the peace conference in Budapest with hands stained in symbolic red paint, uttering your famous warning to the defeated imperial diplomats:

"See this? These hands carry the blood of my people, your people, and our soldiers."

* Instead of mistreating the 30,000 captured Russian soldiers, the government feeds, shelters, and treats them with dignity before returning them home, shattering Tsarist propaganda.

1850

* 1850 — The Treaty of Budapest & Pax Danubiana

* The defeated Austrian Habsburgs officially signed the Treaty of Budapest, permanently recognizing the sovereignty of the Independent Republic of Hungary.

* The multi-ethnic Danubian Confederation is formally established, granting full regional and linguistic autonomy to Hungarians, Croats, Romanians, and Serbs under a shared parliament.

* Great Britain, France, and the Ottoman Empire formally recognize the Republic, forming a trilateral defensive league that permanently blocks Russian expansion in the Balkans.

This is an improved version of my map from 3 months ago, with improved visuals and lore,

This scenario mainly focusing on a weaker industry and military, and a smaller overall nation

Description: Worst case scenario for the early USSR without them just loosing the civil war, (or, in this case, more of just a SSR with various ASSRs), circa 1930-33, a moderate coalition centered around the continuation of the NEP headed by Bukharin and Rykov is in power, with Rykov being the main chairman, with Bukharin his right-hand-man.

The POD is a more devastating defeat in the polish-Soviet war that destroyed and imprisoned a lot of the red army, which leads to a weaker military with other powers (France, Britain) taking advantage of this and supporting break-away nations in the caucuses with their own interests in oil there.

In the East, because of a weaker USSR, a White Russian remnant government survives in Vladivostok and is supported economically and militarily by Japan, this creates a legitimacy problem for the USSR (though the remnant government itself has larger legitimacy issues since it is effectively a Japanese protectorate)

In the end, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR for short) is very weak when it comes to military and industry, but with better, more “comfortable” life for soviet citizens primarily thanks to slower and more gradual meaning less death and famine.

Original Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/AlternateHistory/comments/1vcau31/worst_case_scenario_for_the_ussr/

This is one of my favorite scenarios that I've made, and if you have any questions or comments, please ask and be respectful.

Part 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/AlternateHistory/s/pYZatIXrNJ
Part 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/AlternateHistory/s/uQdie2TLf2

German Unification (1866-1871)

Bismarck’s foreign policy was made clear to Sweden in the Second Schleswig War, he sent the message of “I will do whatever the fuck I want” and Sweden was taking a backseat from wars at the time, joining the European powers in watching Austria getting steamrolled and the North German confederation forming (also the Italians are there)

The Franco-Prussian war would be thought of by the government as a defensive war, Napoleon III declared it first. By “government” I mean Britain, Russia, Sweden and Austria-Hungary, though Sweden was sympathetic to France due to their stable trade relations.

Germany forms, a massive shakeup to the balance of power in Europe and a new rival to Britain; who denounces the new empire and begins attempting to rally Sweden, Denmark and Belgium.

While the latter 2 didn’t want to upset the new power, Gustav V personally views Germany as a threat to his rule, its nationalistic birth being a rallying cry for their non-Swedes to break off. This (and the previously good relations between Britain and Sweden) lead to both countries accepting that Germany would be the main threat to their power rather than Russia.

Death of Gustav V and Liberal Reform (1877-1896)

King Gustav V dies in 1877, being quickly succeeded by his daughter Carola

In our timeline, Carola never lived in Sweden due to Her family being exiled after the 1809 coup, She grew up in Austria before being moved to Dresden and gaining a love for Germany. But in this world, She is forever a Swede as her upbringing is entirely in Sweden.

Carola never marries Albert of Saxony, She is a Swedish ruler and a progressive one. Pushing for needed healthcare reform, beginning a state funded charity to train nurses, supply vital medical equipment and organise it. These moves are popular with the people and Her cabinet.

The colony of Saint Barthélemy is also sold to France like in our own timeline, a financial burden with no economic value since the abolishment of slavery and a hurricane in 1850.

The Scramble for Africa (1884)

When Bismarck called the Berlin conference in 1884, He intended to get Europe to put aside their differences just to fuck over Africa. He invites the same nations as in our own timeline.

At the conference, Sweden makes some brief nudges towards a colony in the west however ends up with no colony; Sweden had other things to focus on instead of colonisation, but they do secure a favourable deal with most of the colonial powers over free port access and the Swedes are mostly satisfied with this outcome.

Britain get’s it’s diamonds, France get’s its Ivory, Belgium get’s it’s mutilated child arms; you get it.

Sweden sits in the north, slowly improving it’s economy and reforming; The more conservative government and it being poorer in this timeline leads to a wider socialist movement, particularly in the less developed Finland; this is what made Carola’s cabinet act as they were petrified of Finland ever leaving Sweden.

Reforms are passed at the behest of the Liberals, and knowing Carola’s conduct as Queen of Saxony in our timeline we could expect

Improved funding for the construction of schools and affordable housing complexes.
A women’s employment agency being established for orphans, widows and the elderly.
The advancement of treatments for industrial-era diseases.

I know it sounds like this woman was like the best person ever, because She lowk was.

Sweden also adapts to the growing rise of democracy, the Traditional Riksdag of the estates is replaced with a bicameral legislature with democratic elections; along with near universal Male suffrage.

Sweden’s place in the late 19th century

The alliances of europe were constantly in flux but they begin to take firm shape in this area, France and Britain become closer with each other over the rising German threat; along with the British becoming less weary of Russia, the Anglo-Swedish relationship also extends Russia’s mercy to Sweden.

Meanwhile, Germany becomes far closer with Austria-Hungary and Italy, forming the triple alliance which I’m sure will make all 3 member states close.

Året var 1900! (1899-1902)

The Boxer Rebellion breaks out in China, Sweden has diplomats trapped there and could gain a foothold in the European economic interests; this Sweden is also bolder so is quick to join the Nine-Nation alliance along with the other European powers, The United States and Japan.

Sweden’s involvement truthfully doesn’t change how the rebellion goes in any meaningful capacity, as Sweden is lumped in with Italy as the least of the great powers. Sweden’s aid grant them 0.18750 square miles of Tianjin, a concession granted to Belgium in our timeline; Sweden has more active involvement than Belgium so a concession would be accepted.

Swedish Succession Crisis (1907)

By the early 20th Century, Sweden’s monarchy had largely faded from any meaningful role; with the power being in the hands of the prime minister, Queen Carola is in poor health and everyone knew She would be dead in a few months… with no heir.

The problem for the government was not that it would be hard to pick a replacement, it’s that the man who had the best claim to the throne was Frederick II of Baden, a massive supporter of Germany; causing the Anglophile government to enter into a panic on who to replace Carola upon her death.

The Bonaparte’s, Carola was the cousin to Napoleon III through Stéphanie de Beauharnais, the former Grand Duchess of Baden; the Bonaparte’s are pro-French, anti-German and are seemingly a great pick.

Victor, Prince Napoléon is asked by the government to become Crown prince, as they could get Carola to legally adopt him; Victor is confused but being the royalist larper he was, he accepts the cool title’s, and becomes king upon Carola’s death; taking the Regnal Name Napoléon. The republican French government isn’t too happy about this but just has to stick with the fact that a devout French monarchist is now in an actual office.

Sweden mostly just navigated the global landscape the same afterwards, watching from above as the Balkans bicker; the French and british becoming closer along with spectating the Italo-Turkish war

Until, a Man in Gothenburg reads his newspaper; looking at the front page to see that the heir to Austria’s throne has been shot.