Dead By Dawn: The Road to Revolution
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enigmajones
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« Reply #25 on: March 13, 2013, 11:29:51 AM »

Romania: The Light at the end of the Tunnel

 Under the Treaty of Kiev (1960), the Romanian state was forced to resume responsibility for the conflict between the USSR and Romania and pay a yearly tithe to Moscow to ensure that peace would last. This was completely insane in the minds of the average Romanian, considering that the war had started as a result of Soviet aggression and Romania had already been forced to cede Bessarabia to the USSR. Under the new government, General Dragos Lupei established himself as Chief of State, theoretically second in power only to King Michael, but in reality establishing himself as dictator. The new position of Chief of State, disregarded the parliament of Romania and allowed for Lupei to circumvent Democratic channels. Of course, Cordreanu had already held such powers previously, but that had been assisted by the LANC's majority in parliament. Under Lupei, the LANC was banned and symbols of the old regime were also banned. The Swastika, which had been added to the Romanian tri-color in 1932, was taken off the flag, with the flying of the flag from 1932-1960 becoming a crime punishable by 3 years in prison. The Lupei regime was also marked by crippling depression, unseen in Romania since the early 1930's. The nation had been crippled by the war, and with the military retaining its full funding, social programs floundered. Unemployment and discontent with the government hit a new high when Bulgaria, fresh from its victories in Macedonia and Greece sent an ultimatum to Bucharest, demanding that Dobruja be ceded to Bulgaria. According to the ultimatum, if the territory was not ceded to Bulgaria by August of 1963 (the ultimatum being issued in June of 1963), the Bulgarians would invade. The Bulgarians hesitated to attack, because they were still negotiating with the Hungarians, hoping to involve the Romanians in a two front war. By July 3rd, the Romanians had responded in the negative, and the Romanian force was stretched across the large border with Bulgaria. As a result, it was quite a surprise when the attack emanated from Crisana.

 Crisana, annexed by Hungary in 1958, had largely been ignored by the Lupei regime, who had used the victory at Cluj as propaganda, regardless of the lost county. As a result, the military surrounding Crisana was lightened as tensions with Bulgaria rose. So when a massive Hungarian force surged across the border, Romania was caught completely off guard. As they struggled to respond, the Bulgarians marched against the Romanian force. By August the Hungarians had reversed the Battle of Cluj's fortunes, capturing Cluj and occupying the whole of the region of Crisuri. The Hungarians were also pushing into Timis, as Bulgarian forces occupied Southern and then Northern Dobruja. After doing so, Bulgaria advanced on Bucharest. In an attempt to save the capital from destruction, and himself, Lupei ordered a ceasefire. In the resulting Treaty of Bucharest, Hungary was ceded all of Transylvania as lost in the Treaty of Trianon and Dobruja was ceded to Bulgaria. The rump Romania that was left was highly vassalized and forced to sign a treaty of alliance with Bulgaria and Hungary.

 Romania, now humiliated in two wars in less then 10 years, was filled with displaced people from the newly Hungarian territory to the west, and newly Bulgarian territory to the East. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands veterans who came home to find nothing for them. All of these displaced and out of work assembled around Bucharest. By February of 1964, they were marching in the streets. Peaceful protests began to center around Iancu Serban, a young veteran with a knack for public speaking. Serban was unlike many speakers, as he spoke of a return to democracy, and hopes for peace. The crowds camped out in front of the Presidential Palace, built by the Codreanu regime in 1934, the official residence of Chief of State Lupei. The request for free elections was ignored and the crowds dispersed. This was until a colonels coup in Bucharest in Spring of 1964, where the people raided the Presidential Palace and Lupei fled to Bulgaria. After the coup, the colonels, followers of Serban, promised free elections. The Party of the Nation, or PN, gained the majority in the first election. The party was a loose alliance of social moderates, who under Serban, made for a promising future for Romania.
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enigmajones
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« Reply #26 on: March 13, 2013, 11:30:38 AM »


 A New Deutschland
Following Germany's defeat by the Soviets in the World War, Germany hit a period of cultural renaissance. With the reintroduction of East Prussia, the art scene of Germany, long held to government approved "German" standards, was revitalized. Konigsberg, before the war and after, had become a city of bohemians. During the Civil War, the territory had been cut off from the rest of Germany and ruled by Otto Braun of the SPD. This came as a surprise, given that East Prussia had been one of the few states to vote overwhelmingly for the DNVP before the war and its populace was largely against the defiant government. But years of refugees from Germany, Italy, the Balkans and the Soviet Union had transformed East Prussia into a melting pot with progressive policies. The Germans retained the majority in the region, with 65% of the population, but the minorities, as well as a thriving Jewish community, made East Prussia far more disconnected to Germany then any of the newer territories, such as the Polish Vovoideships of Pomorskie, Sloskie and Poznanskie, which were integrated into the German State at the expense of the Third Polish Republic. Veterans, returning from the war, were granted territory in the new territory, which resulted in the expulsion of the majority of the Polish population, which was met with firm resistance by the Polish Army, who continued guerilla operations against both Germany and the USSR. The Polish attacks on civilians would result in the military occupation of the new territories for the following 5 years, which would still fail to squash the attacks on German civilians.
 
 The effect of the culture emanating from East Prussia, would result in what many saw as the "radicalization" of Germany's youth. After years of cultural stagnation, French, British and American music began to be heard in youth gathering places. Calls for a Reichstag with a vote became more and more vocal, and National Socialism, seen as dead in Germany by the time the World War had started, was brought back with help from the French POSF. An underground political party known as the National Socialist Unity Party (or NSEP) became increasingly powerful as support for the DNVP began to wane. The symbols of the Sturmabteilung and the propensity for wearing brown, was emulated in the parties paramilitary, known as NSE-Aktion, who began to brawl with Bismarckjugend neighborhood patrols. In 1964, the so called "White Revolution" or "Weißputsch" of Romania had bolstered the opinions of German youths and massive protests against the government became common. President Heydrich, unwilling to see the government fall ordered the military to force the protestors to disperse using force. In February of 1965, in Berlin's famed Tiergarten, the military fired on the protestors, who had been joined by many of the police of Berlin. The protestors would hurl stones, petrol bombs and even small grenades, but were eventually dispersed. The Tiergarten attack would lead to rioting throughout Germany's largest cities, eventually, Heydrich ordered a ceasefire and promised to step down in 1968 with free elections.
 
 As a result, the next three years were built up with American and Swiss advisors joining the fray to make sure the election was fairly run. The parties that would eventually stand for contention would number in the hundreds, but the main parties would remain the DNVP, NSEP and a revitalized SDP. When the elections took place, the DNVP and NSEP both received 35% of the vote, the SDP received 21% and the rest went to fringe parties. The fringe parties, together with the SDP joined with the NSEP to gain a plurality and take control of the government of Germany, breaking the DNVP hegemony and ending the military rule in Germany. It was in this way that for the first time in decades, things were seen as positive in Germany. The optimism, would not last long.

 The Cookie Crumbles: China after the World War
 
 Before the World War, China was ruled for the most part by the former warlords, now legitimized despots, of Beijing. The Republic of China was a corrupt kleptocracy, whose military were considered worse then common thugs, often known to treat those who crossed the regime with extreme brutality. However, when China entered the war, and dispatched most of its troops to Mongolia and the Soviet Union, the regime had reached its breaking point. In the opening move of the war, they had captured the National Socialist Republic of China (comprised of Ningxia, Shaanxi & Gansu) and put down the majority of its leadership. However, the National Socialists had become quite popular in the area and guerilla's persisted to cause harm to Chinese caravans. Also, before and during the war, China was the main provider of food to Japan, when the war started, this continued, with China also supporting the Japanese armies. By 1959, widespread hunger had caused many to join the National Socialists and the remaining Communists in attacking troops garrisoned throughout the nation. The final straw came when the Traitor tax was instituted. Under the Traitor Tax, if any soldier joined the ranks of the Soviet Peoples Liberation Army, lead by former Communist leader Zhu De, their family was forced to pay 50% more on all of their taxes. The punishment for not complying with this tax, was death. With all of this, the people of China began to openly revolt. The National Socialists, bolstered by this new wave of support, formed a new army under Jun Strasser-Ruan, the Eurasian son of Otto Strasser and his Chinese wife. Strasser-Ruan lead his army towards Gunagzhou, where after a short constitutional convention he declared the Unitary Peoples Socialist Republic of China, under control of a majority of National Socialists.
 
 Just as the Strasserists had gained power in one end of China, a similar ideology was gaining power in another. In Manchuria, the heartland of the Xueliang regime, the Soviets centered an invasion force, ostensibly to give the area to the Guangzhou government. However, Premier Tukhachevsky did not trust the National Socialists and instead planned to seat Zhou Enlai as the head of a People Republic of China, under the control of the USSR. In 1961, the invasion force, comprised of Chinese, Mongolian and Soviet troops marched into Manchuria and faced little resistance, as Japan was busy with a full scale civil revolt at home, and a rebellion in Taiwan and Korea. In Spring of 1961, Sino-Soviet forces captured Beijing, as Republican leaders in Nanjing sued to join with the newly established PRC, as to avoid being slaughtered by the fanatical Strasserists. At the treaty of Beijing in 1961, the Japanese surrendered the rights to any territory within China, gave indpendence to Korea and transferred their sphere of influence in Vietnam to the USSR. They also gave the Soviets the island of Taiwan, which was quickly transferred to the PRC. As of a result of this chaos, China was once again split in two. The dividing line came with China controlling all of the provinces north of Chekiang to Chahar, with the UPSRC controlling everything else.
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enigmajones
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« Reply #27 on: March 13, 2013, 11:31:41 AM »

The Sudeten Crisis-1969

 Following the elections of 1968, the leader of the NSE, Diedrik Holzknecht became the newest German Chancellor. Among the first acts of the new Reichstag was to reinstate the constitution of the Weimar Republic, as well as abolishing the position of President. The DNVP refused to cooperate with the new parties, attempting to stall as much as they could, but they were hopelessly outnumbered and legislation moved quite fast without any open opposition to the reforms being brought out. Among one of the most controversial was the NSE's famed Equality bill, which would allow for all German citizens, regardless of gender, reinstating the rights of German women as established during the Weimar era, and taken away by Chancellor Hugenberg and the DNVP in 1942. The leader of the DNVP, Ingolf Falkenrath protested against the reinstatement of the womens right to vote, considering it "an abomination upon the principles of the German State." Falkenrath, a member of the Reichstag since 1946, would soon be infuriated by the next step of the NSE and their associates, which involved the German State, first established by von Schliecher in 1937, being transformed into the Republic of Germany, with the reinstatement of the black, gold and red tricolor of the Weimar Republic. All of this lead to the incensing of the DNVP and their loyal voters, who after years of not voting, wished to finally show their support for the old regime.
 
 It was at this point in late 1968, that Holzknecht was looking for a distraction to keep the German people busy, without having an actual committment. So in November of 1968, Chancellor Holzknecht met with the leaders of the Sudeten German Party in Regensburg, the town where Ernst Rohm and the SA made their last stand in 1934, and proclaimed that as Chancellor, he would seek to reunite all of the Germans under one nation. While this satisfied quite a number of the DNVP's loyal voters, the members of the Reichstag knew that Germany, in its current fragiel state couldn't survive a war, at least not without help. Which is why Holzknecht began to search for allies, making nice with Iancu Serban, the brutal dictator of Romania, whose cult of personality was feared across Europe. He also began to actively court an alliance with France, who under President Adolphe Geroux, had become a complete Strasserist state. The potential for a Franco-German alliance became strong, and in January of 1969, at the First Annual National Socialist Convention, Holzknecht was photographed shaking hands and jovially laughing with both President Geroux of France and President Jun Strasser-Ruan of the UPSRC. With these overtures, both Austria and Czecholsovakia began to worry about the potnetial for war. Austria, being a member of the Pact of Rome and under Italian protection, was safe, but Czecholsovakia, after years of peace, was isolated completely with no allies anywhere. With Britain embroiled in its civil war, no one would be able to come to the rescue of Czechoslovakia in the possible German assault. As a result, Czechoslovakia signed the Pact of Rome in May of 1969, saving themselves not only from a possible German invasion, but also a possible Hungarian annexation of Slovakia, which the Hungarians held major claims to.

 The Sudeten region of Czechoslovakia had worked out a nominal form of autonomy from Prague, and may had grown happy with the Czechoslovakian system. Radicals in the Sudeten German Party still maintained their ultimate goal as joining with a unitary German state. Under its leader Konrad Heinlein, the Sudeten German Party had espoused moderate views, more conservative then the leftist tinge of the National Socialists, but still advocating German autonomy. In 1942, as the Third Balkans War raged, President Benes agreed to allow for greater autonomy from Prague, for the German minority. The Prague government still held the ultimate power of veto, but the devolved parliament of the Sudeten Region, seated in Iglau, still held a good amount of local power. The requests from Heinlein to form a Sudeten German Police force was declined, and the Czechoslovak Republic maintained control over law and order, a point of contention between the Iglau and Prague governments.

 In 1968, when the Regensburg declaration was heard in the Sudeten region, there were protests in Reichenberg, from young Sudeten Germans who let it be known that they did not want to be joined with Germany. This movement, known as the Sudeten National Party, was formed by those Sudeten Germans who found their current situation preferable to joining Germany. The protests in Reichenberg were met by support by the Prague government. In January of 1969, President Vojta Benes spoke on the floor of the Iglau Parliament building, commending the Sudeten National Party and promising his support for the continued union of the Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia. The Czechoslovak Republic finally emerged from its long and uneventful neutrality and signed the Pact of Rome, becoming the recipient of massive Italian military aid.

 In Austria, Engelbert Dollfuss, confident in his rule, was threatened by the Regensburg Declaration and looked to finally destroy the threat of Pan-German Nationalism. In an effort to find a unifying figure to unite the nation, Dollfuss declared the abolition of the Austrian Federal State, and declared the reestablishment of the Empire of Austria, with Otto von Habsburg as the Emperor of Austria. The position was purely symbolic, but it did give the Fatherland Front a new propaganda piece. The reestablishment of Austria to its former glory, with Dollfuss being promoted as the father of modern Austria. The announcement was met with an explosion of Austrian nationalistic fervor, with a parade in Vienna being followed by a national tour of Austria by the new Emperor. The Chancellor retained the true power and Austria was far from a democracy, but the restoration of the monarchy of Austria was considered a message to the Germans, that Austria would not surrender their sovereignty to a German state.

 As the continent tensed up in preparation for the next war, August of 1969 provided the largest surprise occurred. At the Konigsberg Accords, held in East Prussia, representatives from France, National Socialist China, the USSR and it's allies in Comintern and Germany met to broker a military alliance in defiance of the Italian dominated Pact of Rome. The Konigsberg Accords solidified the threat of war on the European continent, and marked the beginning of major American support for the Pact of Rome. In a seeming defiance of the Konigsberg Accords, President Lyndon Johnson met with Il Duce Italo Balbo, and Queen Elizabeth of Australia and New Zealand in Tripoli in September of 1969. This coming together of heads of states was considered the beginning on the road to war, as Czechoslovak forces massed on the border with Germany, and German military build up along with French militarization of the Rhone border, it seemed a powder keg was ready to burst, it just needed the right match.
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enigmajones
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« Reply #28 on: March 13, 2013, 11:32:50 AM »

To Bare A Cross of Fire

 In 1931, France was in a tricky position. As war raged in Germany between the forces of the military and the National Socialists, France began to face the effects of crippling economic depression. As the government attempted to handle the economic situation, the Reichswehr remilitarized the Rhineland, in an attempt to hold off on a Nazi invasion of the territory. This caused panic in France, as rumors of war spreading into France grew, along with mass protests against the economic position of France. The people of France began to radicalize, with a large portion joining the veterans organization, the Croix de Feux, led by Lieutenant Colonel Francois de La Rocque, who had served on the Western Front, after requesting a transfer from the safer post in Morocco. His service and his leadership qualities were recognized, and the CDF grew as a result.

 As the war continued to rage, the threat of violence in France grew ever present. Under La Rocque, the far right gained an ever present figure head, who began organizing nationalist parades throughout France, all ending with speeches espousing the message of French strength in the face of adversity. The largest of these parades and protests came in the face of calls for a general election by the Socialist Parties and various Communist groups throughout France. These groups began to protest outside the Palais Bourbon. In response to these protestors, the Croix de Feu dispersed its own rival protest and as the two clashed, military forces were dispatched to keep order in the streets of Paris. Rioting broke out, and in the wake of widespread panic, the National Assembly allowed La Rocque to speak before them. According to some sources, La Rocque's impassioned speech about the threat of a communist revolution rallied the Assembly behind him, while others claim that La Rocque threatened to spread the rioting into open revolt if not given the powers he desired. Either way, by July of 1932, Francois de La Rocque had been given dictatorial powers, unseen since the last Napoleonic Era.

 La Rocque was appointed as the Constable of France, a title that had been disbanded after the Revolution. As the Constable he had the right to declare Martial Law, which he did and readily so. He also overturned the marginalization of the armed forces, returning France to 50 divisions, and ordering a complete overhaul of both the Air Force and Navy. Although there was little money for these programs, La Rocque kept the people in awe with military parades and speeches claiming this was the only path to national victory.

 This sudden veer to the right caused many intellectuals, artists and those with political agenda's against La Rocque's to flee France for America, Great Britain, Switzerland, Canada and Denmark. France's new government received nod's of approval from Italy, Great Britain, Ireland and pretty much the world over. La Rocque also annexed the Saar and began to support the Reichswehr in terms of arms, to be repaid once the German Civil War had ended. When the war finally did end, the Germans and French signed a Non-Aggression Pact binding both until 1945. The NAP would never be broken.

 La Rocque spent his first two years in power, consolidating control of the population and 1934, just as the German Civil War came to an end, France entered war with Italy in defense of Ethiopia, who had been invaded by Italian forces. Despite the threat of war in Europe, neither the Italian or French forces on their border engaged in anything more then minor skirmishing. The real war began in Libya, where a French force headed by Phillipe Petain launched an invasion of Libya from Algeria and Tunisia. The battles between Italian and French forces was head to head, with a French force outside of Tripoli in 1934, being turned back in January of 1935. The Italian forces fought bravely in Libya, and the French were never able to maintain any sort of force in the region.

 The real victory for the French came under General Charles de Gaulle, whose mastery during the assault on Juba and during the Ethiopian campaign, assured victory in the Abyssinian War, and gained France a new colony in the form of Italian Somalia. With a military victory, France gained a day of celebration, and in the nationalistic fervor of the moment, La Rocque abolished the National Assembly , outlawing all political parties, and making France in essence a nation under his personal control. This period, known as the Constabulary (1932-1949), was one in which the oppression of the Croix de Feu and the military caused many to flock to symbols of National Socialism, with student organizations becoming wide spread and against the rule of La Rocque, however, these organizations were cracked down on and outlawed. In 1949, at the age of 59, La Rocque was assassinated in Paris during a speech to college professors. The gunman was a 24 year old student, whose name was never released. To this day, some assume it was a plot by the more radical elements to take control the nation. With the death of La Rocque, Pierre Laval, an aging leader of the Croix de Feu, was appointed Constable of France. Within a year, France would be at war. Within four years, everything La Rocque had worked to build would be destroyed.
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enigmajones
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« Reply #29 on: March 13, 2013, 11:33:25 AM »

 Iancu Serban: A Wolf In Sheeps Clothing

 In the history of Europe, there were said to be few who could hold a crowd like Serban. Historians of early post Great War Germany, have compared Serban to Adolph Hitler, the second leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party, but given the lack of a soundbite or footage, this assertion is incomplete. Upon rising to the position of Prime Minister in 1964, Romania was a nation defeated. With its military gutted, and the foreign policy of the nation being dictated from Sofia, Budapest and Moscow, Romania was rife with disorder. The Party of the Nation coalition in power was far from a unified structure. A large portion were former members of the LANC, who during the first session of parliament in August of 1964, left the Party of the Nation to reform as the LANC under the leadership of the aging Horia Sima, who was able to claim legitimacy and was famed for his time spent in the Lancieri. This left Serban in control of a party split between his base of supporters, who followed Serban with a fervor, the Communists and Socialists, largely marginalized from years of repression and unpopularity following the Soviet capture of Bessarabia. And finally the Monarchists, who sought to retain loyalty to King Michael, who lost some of his popularity do to the succession of dictatorships that rose to power under his stead.

 Serban pushed through however, and was unafraid to walk in the streets of Bucharest, alone, and talk to the countless refugees who had made their home in the city. He made speeches wherever he could, using soapboxes to persuade his viewpoint, and was truly beloved by his people. Time Magazine listed Iancu Serban as 1964's Man of the Year and after conducting a poll of the citizens of Romania, found that Iancu Serban held a popularity rating of 73%, while King Michael only held a popularity rating of 47%. Serban also declared May 10th as Independence Day and marked August 5th, the day of the Romanian surrender to Bulgarian and Hungarian forces, as Remembrance Day. During this time Serban began to push passionately for the designation of Romania as a secular state, with a complete separation of church and state. This caused a surge of anger and violence by the LANC, and during the December session of Parliament in 1964, Serban was assaulted with personal attack from Horia Sima, who declared Serban as a communist and a traitor. Without hesitation, Iancu Serban rose from his chair, walked to the center of parliament, turned to Sima, drew his personal pistol and shot the man dead.

 The next day, he ordered the complete purge of all LANC politicians and released documents claiming that the LANC, in cooperation with King Michael, had been plotting a coup to restore the LANC to power in Romania. Serban declared a state of emergency, and declared a state of emergency. King Michael was arrested and thrown into Doftana Prison. As this madness ensued in Romania, Serban quickly shut down the press as to suppress the knowledge of these events taking place in already fragile Romania. On New Years Day, he declared the Kingdom of Romania abolished, and called a Constitutional convention in Bucharest to form the new laws of the Republic of Romania. At the end, he was declared President for Life and given personal control of the armed forces of the nation. The Party of the Nation became the only legal party and there was a complete separation of state, with churches losing their tax free status. On January 10th, the royal family of Romania were hanged at the gallows in Romania, for crimes against the state, including Michael's children. Many were shocked and appalled at these acts, but Serban had been swift and now his power was absolute, and the rest of the world could do nothing but look on in horror.
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« Reply #30 on: March 13, 2013, 11:43:06 AM »

Dewey, Dewey, Dewey, Dewey, Dewey!

 The election of 1944, was considered in many ways to be a lame duck election. After years of Republican administration, the people of the United States were ready for a change in Washignton, and that change, almost certainly meant Thomas Dewey. Dewey, as a famed prosecutor in New York, became Governor of New York in 1942, on the Republican ticket. The Republicans in New York had yet to shift to the left like much of the Republican parties and remained the conservative party. When Dewey put his name forward for the Presidential election of 1944, he switched parties, causing a minor scandal in Albany. Dewey ran a lightning campaign and used the threat of communism as his main issue in the election. After winning the Democratic nomination, Dewey debated President Landon in Chicago Stadium, in front of a solidly Republican audience. And yet, when Dewey diplayed large pictures of the harsh treatment of Turkish civilians by Soviet forces, he received the shock he needed. Dewey began to bombard President Landon with accusations, calling him a communist and a war criminal for allowing these acts to go on during his presidency. Landon attempted to rebuttal with sanity, but he was to late, the crowd had turned, and with the crowd the election was lost. On March 4th, 1945, Thomas Edmund Dewey was inaugurated as the 35th President of the United States of America.
 
 Following the Chicago debate, a Red Scare had swept across America. The actions of Soviet soldiers resulted in protests outside the Soviet embassy in Washington and the Consulate-General in New York. By the time Dewey was elected, the average American was being swept up in a frenzy of anti-communist activities. One of Deweys first acts as President was to withdraw recognition of the Soviet Union and put the military on high alert. The hysteria of anti-communism was ridiculous. Under the new government in Moscow, communism had been placed on the back burner. While officially communism was still the ideology of the state, it was more propaganda then anything by 1945, with the party losing all power after the Red Army coup in 1943. Tukhachevsky was rather surprised by the sudden change in attitude by the Americans, but adapted rather quickly, using the American hysteria as proof of the failure of capitalism.
 
 Dewey, taking advantage of the Red Scare, pushed for large scale intervention in Central America, South America and the Carribean, ostensibly to stop the growth of communism, but actually to force American influence on those nations who would rather assert their independence. In an effort to establish American dominance peacefully, he established the Pan-American Union, with the help of President Vargas of Brazil and President Luis Miguel Sanchez of Peru, both of whom represented anti-communist strongholds in South America. President Juan Pablo Bennett of Chile responded positively to the concept and had been suppressing resistance in Chile since the failed coup d'etat in 1925. Likewise, with these three in tow, Argentina nad the Central American nations followed. The only nation to reply in the negative was Colombia.
 
 In 1932, Peru had invaded the Colombian town of Leticia and in a surge of patriotism annexed the territory. The Colombians at first attempted to defeat the Peruvians in Leticia, but during the attempt to capture the city, fired on Brazilian merchant ships. Vargas, in Brazil, used the attack, as an excuse for Brazil to enter the conflict. With Brazilian support, the Peruvians forced a humiliating peace upon the Colombians, limiting their military to almost nothing and forcing them to recognize Leticia as rightfully Peruvian territory. This humilating result, lead to the assassination of President Enrique O. Herrera in Bogota, and lead to a more fervently socialist program for the Colombian Liberals. Alfonso Lopez Pumarejo became the new President and pursued a very anti-American agenda, as well as promoting relations with the Soviet Union. Pumarejo would remain in power, with the army being purged of non-socialists in 1937. The aging Pumarejo remained in power in 1945 and Dewey intended to push against the Colombians.
 
 In August of 1945, America discovered that the USSR had begun funding projects within Colombia to rebuild their military. The United States demanded that these projects cease. When Colombia refused, the United States declared war on Colombia, followed by similar declarations from Brazil and Peru. Although a threatened war with the Soviet Union, would cause America to withdraw their declaration, America gained a silent front.
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« Reply #31 on: March 13, 2013, 11:44:07 AM »

 India: Before the War: Part 1

The British Empire first established its presence in India when Jahangir, the Mughal Emperor, allowed the English East India Company to establish a factory at the western port of Surat in 1612. From there, the British would expand until they had established control over all of India, with Queen Victoria being crowned the first Empress of India in 1858. The Raj, as the British regime in India was referred to, was divided into 13 Provinces, and 4 nominally sovereign Princely states, which had their own royal head of state while remaining subservient to the British Raj. In the 1920's, following the Great War, the people of India began to push for self rule, and an increasing group began to push for independence. One such early leader was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, a Bombay born barrister who had worked in both Britain and the Natal before returning to India as a leading nationalist. His time in South Africa had molded him into a leader, and upon his return to India, he worked his way to the head of the Indian National Congress, a political party dedicated to the freedom of India from British rule. In 1921, he gained control of the INC, and began to push forward the role of non-cooperation and non-violence that would be his legacy. This tactic was successful, but as a result of a violent clash in a small town in Uttar Pradesh, Gandhi was imprisoned. Although released two years later, to be given treatment for his appendicitis, the popular Gandhi would die in surgery, at the age of 55.
 
 The death of Gandhi, would result in the splintering of the Indian National Congress, or INC, into several smaller groups all seemingly dedicated to the concept of Independence. One of the prominent groups to come to the forefront after the death of Gandhi, was the All-India Muslim League. Lead by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and bolstered by the failed Khaliafat Movement, the Muslim League became a leading figure in the Independence Movement. Jinnah also became a member of the Central Legislative Assembly, the legislature used by the Raj to meet the needs of self governance. Jinnah showed his talent as a politician and was offered a Knighthood by the Viceroy of India, only to decline. In the late 1920’s, the British sent a commission to deal with the concept of Indian independence, which was met with massive protests, lead by nationalist Lala Lajpat Rai, who was martyred by a police charge while leading a non-violent protest in Lahore. This death would lead to the bombing on the Central Legislative Assembly in late 1929, by Bhagat Singh and Butukeswara Datta, which was a nonviolent bombing, as neither bombs contained shrapnel. Singh and Datta were arrested, tried and executed at the gallows in New Delhi, causing an uproar amongst the population. The reaction to this, was a mass General strike, organized and influenced by the Indian Communist Party, lead by Shripad Amrit Dange, who, backed by heavy support from the Trotsky government in Moscow, began to arm Socialist vanguards in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, where they received shipments from the USSR via Mongolian based Chinese Communist Party members.
 
 This massive strike caused Prime Minister MacDonald began legislation to institute self rule in India. This accompanied with the flow of Jewish refugees into England, following the outbreak of civil war in Germany, caused MacDonald and Labour to be voted out of power for the next 8 years. But in India, the promise of self rule did much to quell the public anger. The Communist Party of India began to garner a power base in Agra and Oudh, as well as in the cities of India, Bombay and New Delhi being large centers of Communist support. The rise of the Communists in India, especially amongst the Independence movement, caused the  All-Indian Muslim League to gain a powerful position in India entering the 1930’s.
 
 Dange and his followers were being funded largely by the Soviet government, while Muhammad Ali Jinnah began receiving support from the Islamic citizens of India. Jinnah began to advocate the separation between the largely Hindi portion of India and the smaller Islamic portions. The nation was to be called Pakistan, and comprise the regions of Baluchistan, Sind, Punjab, Kashmir, the Northwest Frontier Province, Eastern Bengal and Hyderabad. Much of Jinnah’s support was from the Nizams of Hyderabad, who ruled over a princely state, where the vast majority of its citizens were Hindu. The ruling Islamic class wished to retain its status, and pushed for the success of the Pakistani movement.
 
 This caused Hyderabad to become a hotbed of Communist activity amongst the Hindi community. By 1932, hope for the passage of home rule laws for India, had been lost. After Prime Minister Baldwin and the Conservatives had voted down the law, skirmishes began to occur throughout India. Groups of young and angry Communists throughout India’s cities began to attack police officers. In Lucknow, a riot broke out when a rally was attempted to be broken up. These riots and the rising tensions caused the government to crack down on the Communist Party of India and arrest S.A. Dange.
 
 After Dange’s imprisonment, the Communist attacks continued throughout India. A new front for the Indian Communist Party was formed, the Socialist Action Party, was formed and garnered more support as the events reached a fever pitch in 1933. As the Communists under Dange became seen as a larger threat, the Conservative government began to enter into discussion with Muhammad Ali Jinnah about the possibility of greater autonomy for a Pakistan region, within the Commonwealth. The concept was expected to gain a loyal portion of the Indian populace, and so when it came to a vote in Parliament, the Conservatives approved the formation of a separate Commonwealth of Pakistan, with it’s devolved government being placed in Karachi. In the first meeting of the Pakistani government, Muhammad Ali Jinnah was selected as the first Prime Minister of Pakistan. The Pakistani separation only further served to fuel the divide between Muslim and Hindu in India, with the population of Hyderabad especially growing restless, with  several attempts on the life of Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII, the Nizam of Hyderabad.
 
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« Reply #32 on: March 13, 2013, 11:45:27 AM »

India: Before the War Part 2


While the new Pakistani government abolished much of the former administrations of the Raj, the Nizams of Hyderabad were allowed to retain their system of rule, and as result, Pakistan was allowed access to the Nizams personal treasury, and along with support from the British government, developed the new Pakistani military. The Pakistani military gained their first action after being dispatched to deal with communist instigated riots in Hyderabad, in 1935. The harsh treatment of Pakistani citizens in Hyderabad, caused famed Muslim leader, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, to protest against the continued rule of the British in Pakistan, advocating complete and total independence for Pakistan. The Pakistani government was also worried about the growth of Communism in the Eastern Bengal province, which became palpable.
 
 With the success of the Pakistani movement and Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s success, people throughout India began to campaign for more control. After the splintering of the Indian National Congress, one movement to gain a large share of support from non-Communists in support of independence, was the Indian Independence League, who, with substantial foreign support, happened to gain a lions share of the attention in the foreign press. Its leader, Rash Behari Bose, gained significant funding from both the French and Japanese, eager to see the monopoly of British power in the region come to an end.
 
 The often forgotten component of the Indian independence movement, were the Anglo-Indians. Although small in populace, they did gain a large share of control in the government in certain parts of Indian life, and with the growth of Communist aggression, many began to relocate to relatively peaceful Burma. Rangoon became a very well known city to British intellectuals, and its large Anglo-Burmese community held a high position in the government of Burma. In 1936, a delegation of Anglo-Burmese merchants, along with the head of the Burmese police, Eric A. Blair, pushed for the separation of Burma from India. This was granted, but during the creation of the Burmese government, the power of the government was largely restricted to that of the British and Anglo-Burmese. Blair, having joined the Burmese Police Service in 1924, was elected as the first Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Burma, much to the chagrin of the native Burmese people, whose attempts to protest were cut down.
 
 As Burma and Pakistan developed their own autonomy, the Raj was suffocating from the tight grip of British control. Communist violence continued throughout the 1930’s, limiting their appeal to a small portion of the population, while maintaining their position through intimidation. In 1939, Attlee gained power in Britain, prompting hopes of liberalization from the more moderate masses of India, who merely wished for some reform and home rule. However, Attlee was unfortunate to be elected into power during a crisis in Europe, and would be replaced by Winston Churchill before the end of 1940. The Churchill Ministry was particularly harsh, in direct opposition to the push for independence. After allowing Dange to lounge in prison for 7 years, Churchill had the communist leader executed in New Delhi for crimes against the Raj. 
 
 With the execution of Dange, the hope was that the independence movement would flounder. The opposite occurred with support for the Communists growing within India, as many began to see the party as the only viable option for Indian independence. After short struggle, Puran Chand Joshi was able to establish himself as the head of the Socialist Action Party and Communist forces throughout India, thanks to the aid of the Tukhachevsky regime in Russia. Joshi would flee India for Tashkent, where the Indian Communist Party was reformed after the Socialist Action Party was banned by the Raj.
 
With the abolishment of the communists as a political force, while their presence remained palpable, the Indian Republican Party was formed in the United Provinces under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, who gained a large amount of support, evoking the memory of Gandhi and the former Indian National Congress. With Nehru’s support of independence, came some anger from the British government. Churchill attempted to push for a cancellation of Pakistani and Burmese autonomy, only to be met with a ultimatum from Prime Minister Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who point blank stated that any cancellation of Pakistani autonomy would be met with secession. Churchill found a large base of support amongst the Burmese ruling class, while Communism began to spread to the Burmese populace. As a result, Churchill retained Pakistan and Burma as separate entities and continued to crackdown on Indian attempts for independence. The 1940’s remained a very tense period, but it wasn’t until 1949 that the threat of war faced the Indian subcontinent.

 With tensions rising between the British and French in Belgium, the communists began to be bolstered by the flow of support from French officials in Pondichery. As 1950 began, it became very clear, if France and Britain were to go to war, India would be drawn in as well.
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« Reply #33 on: March 13, 2013, 11:48:42 AM »
« Edited: March 13, 2013, 11:51:03 AM by enigmajones »

The Land of Skanderberg

 Throughout history, the land of Albania has amounted to nothing more then a regional backwater, in the eyes of the world. Albania is a land that has had many rulers. Short lived principalities, divided by their clans and local disputes, dot Albanian history. But in 1911, Albania revolted against the Ottoman government, attempting to break the segregation imposed by the Ottoman Empire. The rebels managed to secure the Kosovo Vilayet, and captured a smaller portions of the Scutari and Monastir Vilayets, three of Albania's four principal territories. Janina remained in the hands of the government, but the rebellion resulted in providing the spark for the First Balkans War. As a result of the war in the Balkans, Albania was able to carve out a small semi-independent state, which, although officially unrecognized, was able to secure partial independence. Albania would lose both the regions of Kosovo and Chameria to Serbia, Montenegro and Greece.




Albania in 1912

 Following the partition imposed by the Treaty of London, Albania faced a divide. Under the Ottoman government, the gap between rich and poor had been monumental, with a landed gentry of Islamic noblemen, controlling the vast majority of the wealth. Ismail Qemali, the founding father of the Albanian state, faced resistance from within, as Essad Pasha Toptani, established the Republic of Central Albania in 1913. This was followed by the Peasant Revolt of 1913, in which the Ottomans, in hopes of regaining suzerainty over Albania, sent agents into Albania to rile up support for an Ottoman return. However, Ismail Qemali's provisional government, beheaded the representative of the Ottomans, causing a sense of hopelessness to perpetrate those who wished for Albania to return to the Ottomans. In January of 1914, Qemali resigned and Prince Wilhelm of Wied, with the support of the Western powers, took to the throne, as Prince of Albania. Allying his new government with Essad Pasha, the prince quickly began to look for allies throughout the nation, offering positions to any rebels who could support him, all the while residing in Durres, forcing him to pay nice with Essad Pasha, whose forces controlled the region.

 In 1914, the pro Ottoman peasants of Central Albania revolted, hoping to regain the Ottomans as their rulers, however, this was nothing but fantasy. Even with the litany of forces present in the virtually lawless Albania, the prince still retained the recognition that would allow him to retain his throne. Following the outbreak of the Great War, Albania was occupied, leading to another series of squabbles, and the flight of Prince Wilhelm. At the negotiation table, the Triple Entente partitioned Albania yet again, selling off portions to the Greeks, Italians, Serbians and Montenegrins. Austria-Hungary occupied Albania for a large part of the war, only to be replaced by Italy, Greece, Serbia and France after the war.

 Following the end of hostilities, Albania found itself a country in chaos. Yugoslavian, Italian and Greece occupied much of the country, and still retained no unitary government. In 1920, at the Paris Peace Conference, Essad Pasha, in exile, attempted to represent Albania, claiming the throne as the King of Albania. He was assassinated, by Avni Rustemi, a young democratic organizer within Albania. Before his death, Pasha had organized a coup against Prince Wilhelm, his one time ally. At the conference, the Allies had divided Albania amongst the occupying powers. But on his return to Albania, Rustemi was appointed president of Adtedhu, a democratic organization, promoting an end to  the feudal traditions of Albania. Adtedhu was shut down, leading to the founding of Bashkimi, a new democratic progressive party, built around Rustemi's political ideals.

The main opponent for power in Albania, was Ahmet Muhtar Bej Zogolli. Zogolli, a former Governor of Skhoder and minister in the government of Wilhelms Principality, was also a Bey. The Bey were hereditary governors, Islamic in nature and installed to power by the Ottomans. In 1922, Zogolli changed his name to Zogu. Zogu gained support from the feudal beys of Southern Albania, while Rustemi gained support from the new generation of Albanian politicians, who looked to enter the stage of Europe, as an equal partner. In December of 1923, Rustemi staged public demonstrations, pushing for an end to the Principality, and the establishment of an Albanian Republic. Zogu, looking to intervene attempted to assassinate Rustemi. Rustemi killed the assassin, and blamed Zogu for the attack. As a result, when the Principality fell in 1924, Rustemi was elected President of Albania, from the new capital of Elbasan, which was chosen for its central location. It helped even the balance of power, by not givings way to the clannish rivalries held by Durres, Tirana and Vlore.



 Zogu remained in Albania for the meantime, but travelled to Rome in August of 1924. In September, he returned with 13,000 Blackshirt mercenaries and two Italian Cruisers and air support for an assault on Vlore. The Vlore Raid, while a failure, would provide for the greatest dispute between Albania and Italy. When the Italian force arrived in Vlore, they captured the city, as Albania's army was still in training. However, Zogu attempted to exit the city, and march on Elbasan. The force got as far as Berat, when the assembled Albanian force, numbering 50,000 well trained but fresh troops, simply overpowered the well trained paramilitary. The Italian mutineers were returned to Italy, while Zogu was exiled, to avoid the cost of a blood feud between Zogu and Rustemi's clans.
Zogu settled in Rome, endlessly petitioning Mussolini for support in claiming power in Albania. In 1926, at a formal meeting of the Grand Fascist Council, Zogu, wile waiting in the wings, was assaulted by Roberto Farinacci, a head official in the Blackshirts. He fled Italy, without his possessions in January of 1927, and settled in Turkey.

 In Albania, Rustemi was able to establish a stable government, and received recognition from the League of Nations, of which Albania became a full member. Rustemi played against incursions by the Yugoslavians, Greeks and Italians, but received support from the Soviet Union, and later Bulgaria. Although Rustemi was an industrialist, he still accepted the Communists as a legitimate faction, even if they were minuscule in comparison to the varying degrees of agreement and disagreement with the government. In 1926, Rustemi orchestrated that the government would not take no for an answer, supporting a crackdown on powers held by the semi-independent feudal lords throughout Albania. In 1929, he declared victory for Albania, as he entered his second 5 year term. Rustemi's Bashkimi became the number one political movement, after taking after the practice of forming a paramilitary to accompany the political ideology of the part. The Revolutionary Guards, formed in 1928 in Durres, became an efficient force and influential, basing a large part of their organization on the Italian Blackshirts.
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« Reply #34 on: March 13, 2013, 12:11:14 PM »

The Rise in Terror Tactics during the Inter War Period (1961-1974)

 Although the continent was relatively peaceful in the decade or so of peace before the Second World War began, it is notable for the pre-eminent tactics employed by insurgent and terrorists. In 1972, 13 women were killed at a bombing of a factory in Brest. The culprit was the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, who had proclaimed the independence of an Ukrainian Republic in Lwow in 1969. Although the OUN had engaged in previous actions against the Polish government, all of which had been on military targets. Police and officials from the government in Warsaw had been going missing in West Ukraine since the end of the First World War. The Polish government had lost credibility when the fall of the Sanacja government, resulted in the institution of a German puppet, in President Zygmunt Berling. Berling was respected for his actions in the Danzig War, after his force was able to stop the advance of Warsaw by the German army. However, when the Germans came a second time in 1957, Berling was appointed President of the Third Polish Republic in the first cabinet meeting in Warsaw, under the watchful eye of German military officials. He famously signed away huge portions of Polish territory to Germany and the USSR and allowed for the Polish Army to be neutered into a gendarme.

 However, Berling proved to be a competent puppet, thanks to his brutally efficient secret police force and the loosening of restrictions on Poland in 1964, which allowed for the creation of a new Polish Armed force to combat the still operational Polish Army, lead by Generals who had never surrendered to the Germans and had refused to accept the new Warsaw government. The main leader of the underground movement was Karol Rómmel, the son of the famed general, named for his uncle. Rómmel orchestrated raids on Polish military installations and acts of sabotage against the occupying German and Soviet armies in former Polish territory. As such he came into conflict with Berling's government and had to remain in hiding.


[SIZE="1"]President Zygmunt Berling speaking to a crowd in Warsaw, following the rebirth of the Polish Armed Forces.[/SIZE]

 But terrorism was not merely a problem in Poland, but also throughout Europe. In particular the Soviet Union and Italy. In the USSR, Neo-Makhnovists and Ukrainian nationalists had begun to launch attacks against the Soviet government. The Red Army Junta had been in place since the end of the Third Balkans War, but Tukhachevsky was aging, and had died in 1969. Georgy Zhukov, the hero of Siberia, was appointed to the head of the the Central Executive Committee to replace Tukhachevsky as the Chairman. With a rise in attacks on government officials and random acts of sabotage by the resurgent Black Army, and the a return to the Basmachi in the Bukharan, Kirgizistani, Turkestani and Khorzem Republics. The Basmachi were a Pan-Turkic Fundamentalist movement, based on the old movement that existed in Central Asia during the Russian Civil War. With the rise of anti-government ethnic and anarchist movements, the Soviet GPU was disbanded and replaced by the Cheka, reborn in the necessity of the nation. Radical infiltration operations helped the Soviets cull the tide of public resistance, but was unable to destroy the appeal of the new underground movements.

 In Italy, Neo-Makhnovists also became a problem as small groups of Anarchists had begun to assemble. Even worse was the growing ideology of Anarcho Syndicalism, in which workers attempted to create better conditions for themselves, and when they were constantly arrested and tortured by the Organizzazione per la Vigilanza e la Repressione dell'Antifascismo, or ORVA who succeeded in suppressing those who openly talked against the regime. However, the rise of the National Socialist Liberation Army, is what solidly gave the Balbo regime worries on the Italian mainland. In the newly annexed Rhone territories, the Nazi's were able to exercise almost complete control over most rural villages, where the Nazi's were seen as the closest thing to the Popular government of Firmin Sauveterre in France. The movement was largely comprised of French and Italian youths with grievances against the oppressive and conservative society that they had been born into, but was lead by dangerous men and women, who had experience in dodging ORVA agents and had remained underground since the ascension of Balbo to power after the death of Mussolini.

 However, the largest problem by and large for the Italians, was the rise in the influence of the Mujahideen. Following Balbo's Italianization efforts in Libya, much of the native population of Libya was deported, away from the coastal regions, and into the harsh Fezzan. Formerly sparsely populated, the Fezzan had become filled with most of Libya's native population, as the coast had become the home to white settlers, who had expelled those natives who refused to adapt to the Italian national culture. By 1970, 45% of the Libyan population were ethnically Italian, with majority populations in Tripoli, Benghasi and Misrata. Tripolitania had become the heartland of a thriving Italian community, which was shocked by the introduction of a rash of suicide and car bombings in the summer of 1969. Between 1967 and the outbreak of hostilities in Spring of 1975, 400 civilians would be killed by Mujahideen attacks, largely in Tripoli, but throughout Libya as well. The Mujahideen were reportedly being supplied with arms by the French government and its links with the Algerian Islamic Liberation Front, who were fighting in Italian allied Algeria, attempting to dislodge the white minority Pied-Noir regime from power in Algiers. With this rise in terror attacks in Libya, Italy would not be far behind, with attacks taking place across the peninsula, resulting in the death of hundreds of people, who began to grow tired of living in a police state, that couldn't even keep its people under control.
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« Reply #35 on: March 13, 2013, 12:12:25 PM »


A President For A New Era


 Then Representative, John C. Carter, speaking to a crowd in Washington about Civil Rights Legislation in 1963.

 Born in Evansille, Illinois on the Fourth of October, 1923, to Lilla Charlton and Russell Whitford Carter, a construction worker by trade. As an infant, Carter and his family moved to Saint Helen, a rural community located in Michigan's Roscommon county. Young Carter spent much of his time there in an idyllic state, hunting and fishing in the woods. In 1933, Carter's parents divorced, and Carter, along with his mother and his new step father, Chester Heston, moved to Wilmette, Illinois, a wealthy suburb north of Chicago. While attending New Trier High School, Carter became involved in the drama program, which Carter would later claim was the beginning of his interest in public speaking. Graduating in 1943, Carter moved to Chicago and woke a series of odd jobs, attempting to get his acting career off the ground, before the election of 1945, in which Carter became involved in the Republican Party's youth program, organizing Illinois youths to the vote for the Republican Party.

 During Dewey's Presidency, Carter joined the United States Navy, and served during America's War of Freedom, from 1947 until 1957, returning to civilian life, shortly before running for Illinois's 7th District in the 1960 Congressional elections, at the age of 37, defeating the incumbent Democratic candidate, and gaining a reputation in Congress as a new Liberal Republican. Representing the same district as Abraham Lincoln, Carter became quickly known in the Congress for how steadfast support of civil rights for America's Negroes, gun control laws and a larger role of the government in American society. In 1963, Representative Carter was chosen to lead a conference on the merits of integration to the politicians of the United States. It was intended by most of the nations major leaders, including both President Lyndon B. Johnson and Vice President Edmund Muskie. Many southern Democrats, the base of the Democratic Party, refused to attend, and a motion to impeach President Johnson for attending the conference was shortly entertained, although only 20 senators from the Democratic party even supported the motion and it was quickly shot down.

 Following his prestigious career as a representative, he was a favorite to run for President in 1968, but chose not to run for office, after learning that Massachusetts's John Fitzgerald Kennedy would be running on the Republican ticket. Instead, Carter remained a Congressman, and was chosen to run for the Senate's Republican ticket in 1970, and quickly gained the seat for Illinois, being notable for gaining 90% of the Negro vote. In 1971, with an assortment of Republican and northern Democratic senators and pressured President Kennedy to support integration. Kennedy, who had been elected by Republicans and Democrats on a pledge of change, was a moderate, who was not attuned to the plight of the American Negro. Kennedy's predecessor, President Johnson, had been the largest proponent of integration, but was unable to persuade the Democratic party, who excluding some small stalwarts in the West and Northeast was largely based in the Jim Crow South, and thus was never able to push the topic of integration. Crater would not budge on the issue, and thanks to a Republican majority in both the House and Senate, was able to pass the first civil rights legislation, banning the segregation of public places. This law, known as the Carter-Wallace Act, did not extend to private institutions, but did apply to public universities, not unlike the University of Alabama, which in 1972, received its first Negro applicant, Derry Parker, an 18 year old honor student from Birmingham. However, when Parker attempted to enroll, he was blocked from entering by Governor Asa E. Carter, a Democrat with ties to the Ku Klux Klan, and the Alabama National Guard. When Parker attempted to enter, he was killed.


 Derry Parker, 18, killed while attempting to register.

 The country was inflamed. In the Northeast there were protests, composed of Negros and Whites, both arguing for an end to Jim Crow all together. In an attempt to diffuse the crisis, President Kennedy went to meet with the Governor, who organized a pro-segregation rally at Alabama's Legion Field. Kennedy, while attempting to enter the stadium, was mobbed by anti-segregation protesters, and all of the sudden, shots rang out. After clearing the crowd with shots, secret service discovered that the President had been shot, 3 times in the chest, the culprit was never found. Governor Carter, unaware of the assassination, infamously yelled "Alabama, White now! White forever!" moments after the assassination, echoing from the stadium's loud speaker as paramedics attempted to treat the president. Two hours later, Vice President Hubert Humphrey was sworn in as President. An hour after that, martial law was declared in Alabama, and US Armed forces began to restore order in Alabama, which was whipped into a frenzy over the recent violence, particularly the Negro population, who were angered over the loss of both Kennedy and the young Parker.

 President Kennedy, was campaigning for reelection when the crisis began in Alabama, and his Vice President, Hubert H. Humphrey was forced to replace the popular president in September of 1972. The Democratic candidate, Thomas Eagleton of Missouri, and his running mate, Terry Sanford of North Carolina, saw a chance to take a lead in the polls. Although Humphrey would have the sympathy vote, the moderate Republicans and Democrats who had found Kennedy acceptable, would be less likely to vote for the senator from Minnesota, who was a well known leftist within the Republican Party. As such Eagleton and Sanford began to gain in the polls, even outside the South, which was now the sole location of the Democrats, having lost the last of the Northeast after the tirades from Governor Carter in Birmingham, much to Humphrey's chagrin. Senator Carter was offered the Vice Presidential nomination, but turned it down, as he began to plan for a push towards ending all Jim Crow laws still in effect, and so Humphrey gave the position to the California governor, Dutch Wilson, famed for his smile, patriotism and racial acceptance. Wilson proved to be just the spark necessary to appease the moderates, which, coupled with Eagleton's poor handling of the Alabama Crisis, which he labeled as a " tragic misuse of force, by the government, against it's most loyal of citizens". Although Alabama was unable to vote during the elections of 1972, polls taken afterward showed the Eagleton carried 60% of the votes in the state. Regardless of his popularity in the South, the Democrats lost, allowing the Republicans to get 4 more years on Pennsylvania Avenue.

 Humphrey, whose political savvy had resulted in the Republican Party's absorption of the Farmer-Labor Party in Minnesota, proved to be a popular president for the most part, but much came from the positive legislation passed in both houses of congress during his term as president. Much of this came through the hands of the newly appointed leader of the majority, John C. Carter of Illinois, who was able to abolish all laws that discriminated against citizens based on race. However, an end to integration did not mean that the nation was no longer divided, and the cultural gap continued on throughout the nation, despite the best efforts of the government to promote improvements to interracial relations. Senator Carter continued his distinguished career, and in 1975, announced his candidacy for the Presidency of the United States, challenging both Humphrey and Wilson for the nomination. Carter, far more popular then both Wilson and Humphrey, was able to win the support of the Republicans, and partnered with Senator Kuchel of California, to challenge the Scoop Jackson/James Carter ticket from the Democrats. In a shocking development, Dutch Wilson announced the formation of a new third party to challenge the two, resurrecting the Democratic-Republican label to challenge the two established tickets. Selecting former Senator George Wallace as his running mate, Wilson sought to challenge for the presidency of the United States. The  stage for the election of 1976 was set.


Governor Wilson announces the creation of the Democratic-Republican Party
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« Reply #36 on: March 13, 2013, 12:20:07 PM »

King Eddy On A Hot Tin Roof: The British Civil War

Opening Moves



Denizens of London take shelter in an abandoned subway tunnel as the Siege of London begins in earnest.

 Following the election of the Mosley government in 1964, the Tories had been in shambles. While still retaining enough MP's to be the single largest party in the parliament, the NSBWP (or Natties as they became known) and Labour had forced Prime Minister Dodds-Parkers to step down, and for the Conservatives to seek out new leadership. As such the party found itself splintered. The Doddies, self proclaimed Patriots, believed in carrying on business as usual, pushing for an agenda that the people of Britain were clearly no longer behind. At the first session of the new parliament, MP Daniel Shepard of the Conservatives was forced to leave after hurling insults at the new prime minister, labeling him as a Nazi and a Communist. Although this was a rather extreme accusation, it was one widely held by the Conservatives. Those who had not lost their seats, retained the Conservative heartland of Great Britain, but lost most of their Scottish seats in the last election, where in Labour became the de facto representative of Scottish interests in parliament. Wales was bit more of a mixed bag, with Labour and the NSBWP vying for most of the seats, and England depended solely on where one was. In the Northern industrial sectors, in particular cities like York, Hull and Liverpool, the Natties were the number one party in local elections. Moseley's brand of Nativist Populism appealed to the lower rungs of British citizens, who feared not only for the lives of their children in India, but also of the threat of "outsourcing" a program by which the government had begun alleviating Britain of industrial responsibilities by having the products constructed in the colonies, and flown in to Britain.

 In the major cities, London in particular, the Natties and Labour were locked in street battles with Conservative "Brownshirts" so called for their use of brown military uniforms, being mostly comprised of war veterans who refused to lose the war in India. It was this pride in the Empire, and the prestige that it brought, that gave the Conservatives their base in England. However, this base was largely located in a varied grouping of upper to middle class men and women who found the status quo not only appealing, but stable. In contrast to Europe, the United Kingdom had done well since the end of the Great War, and had even grown territorially since. Government propaganda constantly spewed about the brave men who were dying for king and country, and believed what they saw. In 1965, the British military held only the Madras, Ceylon and the self governing Dominions of Burma and Pakistan. As such, after the fall of the Conservative majority, for the first time since 1931, Prime Minister Mosley put forward the motion to draft a ceasefire on all fronts in India, with the intent to diplomatically recognize a unitary Indian government, that would recognize the sovereignty of Pakistan, Ceylon and Burma, while respecting the rights of its citizens and allowing for continued British influence in business.


Prime Minister Oswald Moseley

 The Labour and Nattie MP's, voted to pass the motion, but the Conservatives were able to pull out a coup, when the Liberals, small but vital to the passing of legislation, sided with the Conservatives miring the motion in an array of debates and procedure. In the first 3 months of government, the Labour-Nattie government were able to procure a settlement with the Conservatives and Liberals, that ensured that any ceasefire would be conditional on the surrender of any and all Commonwealth POW's. After another month of debate, the Conservatives surrendered their position that all Indian POW's were traitors and should remain interned. The ceasefire took effect on September 3rd, 1965, and as the transfer of POW's began to take place, India underwent a clear and quick transformation. The Republican Nehruist New Delhi government, took the peace to convene a detente between the Communists and the Democratic forces working within India. At the Nagpur Conference, Gulzarilal Nanda, the leader of the New Delhi government, was ambushed by the Communist leader, E. M. S. Namboodiripad, who after orchestrating the assassination of Nanda, quickly pushed forth the creation of the Republic of India, under Marxist rule. The Communist Party of India became the only party in the state, and although the people of India were far from thrilled, the ever present threat of war was to much, and the nation resolved itself to its fate.

 Shortly after the ceasefire was signed, the first reported meeting of what would become the Traditionalist faction convened in a North London pub known as the Willow. At the Willow Meeting, it was established that the new government was radical, pacifist and would drive Britain into the fold of international communism before to long if left to their own devices. As such they hatched a plan. The leader was Brigadier Woodrow Kemp. Born to modest means in Birmingham in 1925, Kemp entered Sandhurst at 19, due to his families connections in the military. Graduating in 1946 as a second Lieutenant, he earned his stripes in the Franco-British War in Africa, and became a Brigadier through his skill in India. As such, Kemp was well known and well liked by many of Britain's top generals, and as such, began to assess his closest confidants about the possibility of conspiring to retake the government. Also in the camp of the conspirators was Edwin Bramall, a graduate of Eton who had risen to Brigadier during his service in India, who unlike Kemp, had access to the King himself, and thus began the wooing of a monarch.


Brigadier Woodrow Kemp, Fall 1965
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« Reply #37 on: March 13, 2013, 12:21:31 PM »

Singurătate


Iancu Serban, shortly before his assumption of power in 1964.

 Time Magazines Man of the Year in 1964, Iancu Serban quickly became a name synonymous with terror. Shortly after the execution of the Royal Family, Serban began to work towards making his grip over the nation as tight as possible. With this in mind he formed the Department of State Security (Departamentul Securității Statului or Securitate), who began to purge the remainder of royalist sentiment in Romania. Serban also ordered the closing of all borders with Europe, excluding the entry of ethnic Romanians into Romania, which continued under Serban, almost exclusively from Hungary, who continued to deport Romanians from the new Transylvanian territories. The newly arriving refugees were almost all sent to Bucovina, which had managed to escape annexation to the Ukrainian SSR thanks to the unwillingness of the Germans to have the Soviets in control of all of the Ukrainians. However, the OUN had become active in the region, in cooperation with the activities in Poland and the Soviet Union, and became a constant enemy of both the Securitate, and the refugees who found their new homes in Hotin, Cernăuți and Storojineţ being attacked. As a result, Serban ordered the death of 5 Ukrainians for every 1 Romanian killed in an attack by the OUN. As a result, most of the Ukrainian population was radicalized, with many fleeing to the Soviet Union in hopes of escaping the persecution by Romanian authorities. Serban, who saw this as a positive, also began to institute laws that would require any non-ethnic Romanian to sell their property to a ethnic Romanian who offered to buy any of the non-Romanians property, no matter the price, and no matter if the property was for sale. Those who disobeyed said laws were to be interned in forced labor camps. By 1968, the vast majority of non-ethnic Romanians were interned in camps throughout Romania, where many would face their deaths at the hands of hard grueling labor and lack of basic health care and meals.

 That is not to say that life was any easier for ethnic Romanians. In 1967, Iancu Serban began to order taxation on all of the nations churches. The Jewish population of Romania, long since marginalized by the LANC, were also subject to this taxation, but were given the option of leaving. By 1970, up to 70% of Romania's remaining Jewish population had left for the United States. The remaining 30% were either interned, or friends of the regime, which although non-religious, retained the anti-semitic overtones of the previous Romanian governments. The taxation also applied to the Romanian Orthodox Church, which had long been exempt from any taxation, thanks largely to the LANC's veneration of the church, and had previously held a high standing in the nation. However, following the fall of the LANC government and then the Lupei regime, the Orthodox Church had become largely associated with the past regimes and had lost much of its popularity. So when Iancu Serban began to actively persecute the church, many of the people of Romania cheered, as church officials were shot in public, and hung from street lamps for "reactionary and traitorous actions against the state". Than again, it should be noted that if the people of Romania did not cheer, they very likely would have joined the church officials in the body pits that were being dug throughout Europe.

 In 1970, recognizing that "the spirituality of the nation is in grave danger", President Serban established the Cult of Romania. Basing the cult off of the old Roman traditions, whose connection to Romania Serban began to champion on a daily basis, the center of worship was Romania, the national personification of the nation in feminine form. Also included in the worship were historical figures who were considered "champions of Romania" such as Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Mihai Viteazu and Constantin Prezan, whom Serban considered as his personal hero. At first the cult was voluntary, however, due to lackluster support, Serban made the cult mandatory, and ordered the conversion of all houses of worship into Temples of Romania. This resulted in the desecration of hundreds of churches and the destruction of "heretical objects" such as holy relics, crucifixes and any symbols that could be construed as worship of what became referred to as "the dead jew". Many of Romania's Christians merely kept worshiping, at their own risk, in private, away from the prying eyes of Serban's spies.


The personification of the nation of Romania.

 In 1971, Iancu Serban visited France, on the invitation of President Adolphe Geroux, who wished to discuss the inclusion of Romania into a possible alliance with Germany, France and the Soviet Union. While Serban made clear that he would not join any alliance, he did promise that Romania would remain neutral in any future conflict. However, while in France, he met with one of his perceived Campion de Romania, Henri Coanda, the Romanian pioneer of flight. Serban met with Coanda during his visit, and promised him the command of Romania's, small, but growing, national air force. As such, Coanda returned to his homeland, and began construction on the Aerodina Lenticulara, a flying saucer of his design. In 1972, the first practical model took flight, and just before his death in October of 1972, the Romanian Air Force began to modify the Lenticulara to have military applications.


 Designs for the Lenticulara in 1965.

 While the Romanian military began its upgrading, Serban began to work on his most radical plan yet, the dissection of the nuclear family. In September of 1972, he decreed that all children born after the date of January 1st, 1973, would be raised by the government in dormitories, divided by sex. Although the plan seemed sudden, the concept had been under development since Serban had taken power, theorized by his confidants as the only way to raise a completely loyal nation, with no dissent. At first protests began to form, with the people of Romania saying that this was finally enough. On September 3rd, 1972, over 20,000 people descended on the Presidential Palace in Bucharest, much lime they done in 1964 under the control of Serban. However, this time, the government had planted moles within the dissenters, and the main organizers of the event were in the employ of the government. When they began to protest, the organizers began to announce that they were all under arrest for "reactionary crimes against the state". Those who attempted to flee were killed by the amassed police, who had encircled the protest. Afterwards none dared to openly question Serban, who was quickly becoming known throughout the world for his cruelty. In 1973, following the first batch of children to enter the dormitory system, officials from the United Peoples Socialist Republic of China arrived in Romania to research the plausibility of introducing the program in China. The findings were most satisfactory, and the Chinese began to prepare for the implementation of such a program in China. The dormitory program raised the children to believe that the nation of Romania was their mother, and that the President of Romania, Iancu Serban was their father. As such, political indoctrination began at the earliest ages, and worship of the cult became second hand nature. Although many saw Serban's actions as horrific, none could be prepared for what was to come next.


Girls are taught hymns to Mother Romania in a dormitory in Craiova, 1976.
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« Reply #38 on: March 13, 2013, 12:23:43 PM »

Land of the Fallen Sun
 Following Japan's defeat in the World War, Japan was in a panic. Although the Soviets hadn't actually harmed mainland Japan, their empire was gone. The Treaty of Gyeongseong, signed in August of 1961, forced Japan to withdraw all of its forces from the continent of Asia, as well as recognizing Soviet sovereignty over Taiwan and Sakhalin. These losses, accompanied by the fall of the Kingdom of Korea and the Republic of China, was followed by the exodus of over a million Japanese settlers and collaborators, to Japan, which pushed the already fragile state of Japan closer to the breaking point. Returning veterans added to the lack of stability. After years of fighting in the cold of Siberia, and against the harsh reprisals of Communist and Nazi bandits, they come home to find that there is no work. Much of the work that would have been available, had been taken by Korean and Chinese slave workers imported during the war, to work for nothing, in order to ensure the survival of their families. After the war ended, many of the migrant workers remained in Japan, and their employers began to pay them, not as much as one would garner if they were Japanese, but enough to scrape by a living.

 Many of these veterans, enraged by this, began to protest. Although the first of these protests were ordered dispersed by police, the veterans refused to leave. Soon, an encampment of veterans was assembled in Nagatacho, in front of the National Diet, demanding work for the veterans and the restoration of Japan's empire. The National Diet, an almost useless political device, was befuddled by the demands. The veterans were joined by citizens demanding an end to the food shortage and all the while, anti-communist elements were pushing for the recreation of a democratic system within Japan. Emperor Shouhei, after the embarrassing defeat of his nation, had gone into seclusion, but emerged after hearing of the protests. In a speech before the protestors on June 4th, 1962, Emperor Shouhei made a speech before the National Diet. In the speech, he stressed that Japan as a nation must be united in the face of communist aggression.

 The National Diet applauded the Emperor, and as he prepared to leave, a shot rang out in the Diet. The Emperor was shot, but was not mortally wounded. Moments later, Kempeitai lead military units moved towards the protestor's encampment. Shortly after encircling the protestors, they fired, causing what became known as the June 4th Incident. Over 400 died in the first volley. The protestors, enraged by what they saw as an unprovoked attack, began their charge against the military. The military force numbered around 1,000, while the protestors numbered around 5,000. The protestors at first attempted to escape, but when the military began to fire indiscriminately, it quickly became clear that the military had no intention of letting them leave. So, in a futile effort, they charged the nearest army forces. Within 40 minutes, 3,000 protestors were dead, and 4 soldiers as well. The rest were arrested, and summarily charged with being responsible for a communist plot to assassinate the Emperor. The trial was highly publicized in Japan, and while few believed the story, the people of Japan understood that open disobedience was not to be tolerated. However, a small but growing movement, propagating the separation of the military and the government began to grow. Strasserist elements found their ways into the movement, with anti-capitalism being a main proponent of the movement, which was translated into anti-Americanism, as ties between Japan and the United States increased in the post-war period.

 After the assassination attempt on the Emperor, the National Diet was occupied by the military and General Ando Teruzo was appointed Prime Minister, in a clear challenge of democracy. With the installing of a completely military government in Japan, the United States began to push for the installation of American military in the Ryukyus, an island chain still in the control of the Japanese. The chain was right in the path of Taiwan, now under the control of the Soviets. So, at the Treaty of Honolulu, the United States formed the Pan-Pacific Pact, a military alliance comprised of Australia, Japan, Thailand, New Zealand, Malaya, Sarawak, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Chile, Canada, the Philippines and the United States. Each nation submitted a portion of their armed forces into the PPP, and these forces were stationed in area's that were important to halting the spread of communism. Japan and Thailand became the main recipients of these troops, and Okinawa became the main station for the naval forces of these nations. So in the face of mounting Soviet power, the United States began to build it's political base.
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« Reply #39 on: March 13, 2013, 12:24:29 PM »

 FRANZ VON PAPEN: 1879-1955: Following the end of the Great War, the rich aristocratic von Papen became involved in politics, representing the Centre Party in the Prussian Parliament, from 1921 until the start of the Civil War. During the Civil War, von Papen orchestrated the merger of the DNVP with Centre and became a key political figure in the post-war political scene. During the German State, von Papen was influential on the policy of the DNVP, having a close relationship with Reichskanzler Hugenberg. After Hugenberg's death, in 1951, von Papen attempted to replace the fallen leader of the DNVP, but was shunned in favor of leaving the position absent. Von Papen attempted to make a grab at power after the death of von Schleicher in 1955, but was killed by pro-Heydrich party members in his home in Upper Swabia.



 PAUL VON HINDENBURG: 1847-1931: President of Germany from 1925, von Hindenburg was a war hero, who had transferred his fame into a political position that gave him a large amount of control over the German Reich. He was given dictatorial powers thanks to the political maneuvering of General Kurt von Schleicher and his son Oskar von Hindenburg. In 1931, when the Berlin Uprising occurred, an attempt was made on his life. Although von Hindenburg was killed, it was only discovered later that the assassination was carried out by von Schleicher's supporters, not those of Gregor Strasser.



 OSKAR VON HINDENBURG: 1883-1960: Oskar von Hindenburg, as the son of the hero of Tannenberg, received power and influence from his fathers position as President of the German Reich. His personal friendship with Kurt von Schleicher was key to the rise of the future leader of Germany into the Presidents close circle of advisors. Following his father's assassination and the outbreak of Civil War, von Hindenburg was given a cushy position in Berlin, far from the front. His position in the government of the German State, following the Civil War, was a private one. Von Hindenburg never lived up to the memory of his father, and remained one of von Schleicher's most loyal supporter. After his close friends death in 1955, von Hindenburg was considered a favorite amongst the Reichswehr to take power. However, Erwin Rommel eventually gained the support, and Oskar retired to his home in a Berlin suburb. When he died in 1960, he was given a state funeral, attended by the leader of the German State, Reinhard Heydrich.

 

 THEODOR DUESTERBERG: 1875-1950: An early member of the DNVP, Duesterberg was a veteran of the Great War, who joined the Stalhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten in 1923, after disagreements with the DNVP leadership. This veteran's association was largely revanchist and nationalistic, and the largest in Germany next to the moderate Reichsbanner Schawrz-Rot-Gold. Duesterberg quickly rose to the leadership of the group, and in the 1920's was a major kingmaker in German far right politics. When the Berlin Uprising occurred in 1931, Duesterberg and the Stahlhelm made a deal with the DNVP to merge both organizations together, with the Stahlhelm becoming the official paramilitary wing of the DNVP. This merger lead to Duesterberg's continued survival under the von Schleicher government. Duesterberg died in 1950, and is largely remembered for his support of the Rommel Exception.



 ARTUR MAHRAUN: 1890-1950: Mahraun, a veteran of the Great War, and like many in Germany's far right, active in the Freikorps following the war, he was the founder of the Young German Order, or Jungdo. The Jungdo, a back to nature movement with major Teutonic influences, was a major youth group involved in far right nationalist politics throughout the 1920's. The Jungdo, along with the Bismarckjugend of the DNVP, were the main combatants against the NSDAP's Hitler Jugend and the KPD's Kommunistischer Jugendverband Deutschlands. When Civil War broke out in Germany, the Jungdo were merged with the Bismarckjugend and Mahraun was given the leadership of the Bismarckjugend. Mahraun attempted to gain a following amongst adults, but found that the majority of those who found the back to nature aspect appealing, were supporters of the NSVP and the Artaman League. Mahraun died in 1950, in his home in Westphalia. His funeral was attended by an honor guard of the Bismarckjugend.


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« Reply #40 on: March 13, 2013, 12:25:40 PM »

HERMANN EHRHARDT: 1881-1937: Ehrhardt, was a monarchist veteran of the Navy, who gained fame in the 1920's, as the leader of the Freikorp group known as Marinebrigade Ehrhardt. In 1920, Ehrhardt commanded upwards of 6,000 men and was involved in the unsuccessful Kapp Putsch of 1920. After the failure of the coup, the Freikorps were forcibly disbanded and Ehrhardt went into hiding in Bavaria. In 1921, Erhardt was responsible for the formation of the Organisation Consul, a group comprised of former members of the Freikorps, who operated across swathes of the nation. The OC began a reign of terror, killing over 350 people for being associated with the Weimar government and the Treaty of Versailles. In June of 1922, the OC was responsible for the assassination of Walter Rathenau, the foreign minister of the Weimar government, and a signee of the Treaty of Rapallo, which ended German claims on Russian land. Although the assassination was celebrated amongst the far right, the publicity it gave the OC, a secret society by design, forced it to disband. After this, Ehrhardt created the Viking Bund, as a replacement for the OC. The Viking Bund became closely involved with the NSDAP's Sturmabteilung, but Ehrhardt refused to participate in Adolf Hitler's planned putsch in November of 1923. As such he received no jail time and continued to retain influence amongst the far right. However, Ehrhardt's refusal to compromise and his blunt leadership, doomed him from taking a political role. The Viking Bund remained, often assassinating political leaders from the KPD or NSDAP, but faded into the background by the German Civil War.

 Von Schleicher, recognizing Ehrhardt's brutality, assigned him as the leader of the newly created Reichsnachrichtendienst, or the German Intelligence Service. His role as it's leader was to orchestrate assassinations of those who served as a threat to the German government, and eventually the German State. Ehrhardt eventually established the RND as the official secret police of the German State, and became the most hated man in Germany. In 1968, with the fall of the Heydrich government, Ehrhardt fled Germany for Argentina, and died in 1970, at the age of 89.



 MAXIMILLIAN ERWIN VON SCHEUBNER-RICHTER: 1884-1952: Born in the Russian Empire, as an ethnic Baltic German, Scheubner-Richter was a veteran of the 1905 Revolution and the former German vice consul to the Ottoman Empire. After the Great War, he fought on the side of the White's in Russia, but moved to Germany in 1918, with his associate Alfred Rosenberg. Both joined the nascent German Workers Party and became friends with the new leader, Adolf Hitler. Scheubner-Richter also founded the Aufbau Vereinigung, an organization whose goal was to overthrow the governments of Germany and Russia, and install far right authoritarian governments. Scheubner-Richter and his Aufbau Vereiningung had a major ideological influence on the NSDAP and Hitler, and Schneubner-Richter, along with Rosenberg, planned the failed putsch. During the putsch, Schneubner-Richter was walking arm and arm with Adolf Hitler when the shooting began. Hitler was hit, and dragged Schneubner-Richter down with him. Surviving the putsch, but imprisoned, Schneubner-Richter was among the founders of the NSVP, the splinter group of the NSDAP founded the wake of Gregor Strasser's power seizure. Although initially considered the best possible candidate, Schneubner-Richter's pro-slavic tendencies assured that Rosenberg would be chosen above him. In 1925, he left the NSVP and dedicated his full time to the Aufbau Vereinigung. Schneubner-Richter published several books detailing the necessity of freeing the Russian people, and found popularity with a far right audience, but no political influence, being associated with the dead wing of the NSDAP and the counter-revolutionary NSVP. In 1930, when Civil War broke out in Germany, Schneubner-Richter fled to Austria, where he lived in peace until his death in obscurity at the age of 68 in 1952.



 MIGUEL PRIMO DE RIVERA: 1870-1940: Following the Great War, Spain was racked by economic instability with rampant unemployment and poverty leading to greater development of labor movements and socialism amongst the people of Spain. Afraid of a communist takeover, and upset at the inability of the constitutional monarchy to get anything done, Miguel Primo de Rivera, a captain in Barcelona, lead the military in overthrowing the government of Spain and establishing himself as a dictator. Although King Alfonso attempted to legitimize the military coup by naming the Rivera Prime Minister, the captain refused, stating that he would reinstate the constitutional monarchy when "the country offers us men uncontaminated with the vices of political organization". A fiercely nationalist patriot, Rivera went on a speaking tour of Spain, hoping to assuage the anger of those who opposed him, while simultaneously using the state to assuage the problems of the working class. He established himself as President of a Directory of eight, who were given control over Spain's day to day operations. Rivera declared martial law, and suspended the Cortes, as well as exiling those who opposed his rule. In an early blow to his career, Spain lost it's holding's in the Rif. Although the Republic of the Rif wouldn't last, being taken by French forces in 1931, it was a huge blow to Spanish pride.

 However, Rivera did much to modernize Spain, creating a system of highways, damming rivers, and bringing electricity to much of the nation. Rivera, although a dictator, was also a reformer, while being tied to the Army and the Catholic Church, he still managed to improve the daily lives of the average Spaniard. In 1926, Rivera re-established a legislative body, the National Assembly, and the party of his creation, the Patriotic Union, won the majority. The new Assembly, under the watchful eye of the military, created a new constitution, largely based on the old, but with a far more pro-clerical and anti-liberal bias. Rivera, then allowed the holding of elections. The elections were largely fixed, and Rivera retained his hold on power, but discontent began to grow throughout Spain, as more and more began to experience what was the Great Depression.

 In 1930, students began to protest against the dictatorship of Rivera, and the one party system. The military withdrew their support for Rivera and launched a coup against the dictator. Following the coup, Damaso Berenguer established a far more brutal dictatorship then Rivera's, and purged Spain of public disobedience. Rivera fled, and lived the remainder of his days in Italy, dying in 1940, at the age of 70.



 ALBERT EINSTEIN: 1879-1955: Albert Einstein, a Nobel prize winner and genius, was a noted Jewish scientist who emigrated to the United Kingdom from Germany following the outbreak of Civil War in Germany. Although he found his new home to be quite comfortable, he soon found the growth of anti-semitism unsettling and relocated to Konigsberg in 1941. He died in his family home in Konigsberg in 1955, as the professor of Physic's at the University of Konigsberg.



 GUSTAV STRESSEMAN:1878-1926: As Chancellor of Germany, Stresseman gained notoriety amongst the right by attempting to adhere to the Treaty of Versailles, while he alienated the Social Democrats by refusing to deal harshly with the perpetrators of the Beer Hall Putsch. He is perhaps best remembered for instituting the Rentenmark, a new currency intended to stop the hyper inflation of the Deutschemark. Stresseman's coalition government fell apart and he became Germany's foreign minister. Although far from a collaborator, he was seen as an enemy of German interests and was assassinated by Ehrhardt's Viking Bund in 1926.






 FRANCISCO FRANCO Y BANAMONDE: 1892-1975: Franco, a veteran of the Spanish war against the Rif (1909-1925), became the leader of the Spanish Foreign Legion before the withdrawal of Spanish forces in 1925. Following the Coup of 1930, Franco used his Legion to help defend the government of Damaso Berenguer. Franco, known for his brutality, became key to the massacre's of students across the nation, and gained notoriety during the Emergencia (1930-1935), a period of martial law and brutality against the people of Spain. Eventually, after the end of the Emergencia, Franco gained a prominent position in the government of Berenguer, and succeeded the dictator after his death in 1953. He is remembered for entering Spain into the Franco-British War on the side of Britain, regaining Morocco in it's entirety. His annexation of Morocco became his crown jewel of accomplishment, and would cement his legacy. Upon his death in 1975, the military installed yet another military dictator.

 
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« Reply #41 on: March 13, 2013, 12:29:01 PM »

GUSTAV RITTER VON KAHR: 1862-1931: In 1920, von Kahr gained control of the Bavarian government in part thanks to military influence from the failed Kapp Putsch. Von Kahr created an environment that made Bavaria a haven for right wing nationalist groups, including those who advocated the secession of Bavaria from Germany. In 1921, von Kahr resigned when the government passed a decree forcing the government's to acknowledge the protection of the government. In 1923, after a series of heightening political violence in Bavaria, von Kahr was appointed the Staatskomissar of Bavaria, a virtual dictator. He formed an alliance of power with the head of the Bavarian police, Hans Ritter von Seisser, and Otto von Lossow, the leader of Reichswehr forces in Bavaria. Adolf Hitler, leader of the NSDAP, attempted to gain von Kahr's support in recreating the March on Rome and establishing a nationalist government Berlin under Erich Ludendorff, the famed war hero. Von Kahr refused, having his own plot to take power in Berlin. On November 9th, 1923, von Kahr hosted a meeting of 3,000 people at the Burgerbraukeller, which was stormed by Sturmabteilung forces and Adolf Hitler, who demanded the cooperation of von Kahr, Seisser and Lossow in the new government's formation. They refused and when the putschists marched on the War ministry, 15 were killed, including Hitler.

 After the trial of the Nazi leaders, von Kahr retained control of Bavaria but lost popular support amongst the right and was taken out of power in 1927, when Gregor Strasser took official control of the NSDAP and held a mass protest against the traitor. In 1930, von Kahr, Seisser and Lossow were all killed by members of the Viking Bund on behalf of the NSDAP.



HORST WESSEL: 1907-1931: Horst Wessel was an early member of the Bismarckjugend and his father was a member of the DNVP. However, in 1926, citing differences with the ideology of the DNVP, he joined the NSDAP. While with the Nazi's he was selected to become a member of the Sturmabteilung, and soon caught the attention of Joseph Goebbels, a major propagandist whose role in the party grew under the support of the Strasser wing of the party. Horst Wessel soon became the leader of the SA-Troop in his local area in Berlin. Wessel was major plotter in the Berlin Uprising and was killed by members of the Reichswehr in the attack on the Reichstag.



JOSEPH GOEBBELS: 1897-1964: Goebbels, a writer known for schmoozing and his wit, joined the NSDAP in 1924, after witnessing Gregor Strasser speak. He immediately became head propagandist for the northern portion of the Nazi organization and in 1930, moved to Munich where Strasser had organized the largest Nazi base of power. When the Berlin Uprising began and the National Socialist Revolution seemed imminent, Goebbels became the head of propaganda for the national revolution. In 1933, with the war seeming more and more hopeless, Goebbels was sent to Switzerland to speak to foreign governments on the National Socialist governments behalf. When the Civil War ended, Goebbels fled Switzerland for France. In 1935, Germany requested his extradition, but Goebbels escaped again, this time to the United States. Goebbels settled down in New York City and became a successful novelist. He died in 1964, at the age of 67.

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« Reply #42 on: March 13, 2013, 12:31:26 PM »

YAN XISHAN: 1883-1929: The warlord of the Shanxi province during the 1910's and 20's, Yan allied with Chiang Kai-Shek's National Revolutionary Army, when they began their Northern expedition. But the Communist revolt in the Wuhan had thrown the plan out of order and Yan allied himself to the Eastern League. In 1928, Zuolin consolidated control of the Eastern League as the Republic of China. In 1929, in a vicious campaign, the Republic of China, with the assistance of Japanese bombers, conquered Shanxi. Yan was executed by hanging in Beijing.



SHENG SHICAI: 1897-1967: As a member of the Guominjun, Sheng became heavily involved the ideological development of National Socialism within China. He was learned German and became Otto Strassers liaison to the Guominjun. When the proclamation of the National Socialist Republic began, he set up shop in Shaanxi and remained there until 1959. When the Zhang Xueliang invasion came, Sheng fled. When the World War ended, he returned and was present at the declaration of the Unitary Peoples Socialist Republic of China. He died in 1967, and was buried at a state funeral attended by Strasser-Ruan.



 YANG ZENGXIN: 1867-1937: Yang was the dictator of Xinjiang virtually from the time of the Xinhai Revolution. He carefully allied himself to the Beiyang government and managed to keep himself in power. In 1928, Yang became the brunt of KMT attacks. His armed force proved stable, but not enough and in 1929, Yang was captured by KMT leaders and imprisoned in Guangzhou. Zengxin was executed following the capture of Guangzhou in 1937.



MA BUFANG: 1903-: Bufang was trained in Islam and was to become an Imam in his native Qinghai province, however in 1922, he followed his brother, into joining the military. As members of the Ma family, they joined the Ma Clique and set about defending the territory under their control, Qinghai, Ningxia and Gansu. In 1928, when the Western Expedition began, Bufang and his brother fought against their former allies in the Guominjun, and were defeated, excluding Bufang. After the death of his brother at the Battle of Lanzhou, Bufang pushed his forces into Qinghai and formed his own government amongst the Hui people. He orchestrated the assassination of the leaders of the Ma Clique, and orchestrated Qinghai's survival under his governorship. So in 1929, Ma Bufang became the governor of Qinghai Province. Bufang's Qinghai province was slightly detached from the Guangzhou government and when the war for control of China began in 1937, Bufang sided with the Guominjun, who had centered their government in Xi'an. Bufang orchestrated the founding of the Islamic Republic of China, centered in Qinghai and allied to Hu-Hsiang's National Socialist Republic of China. However, in 1938, Bufang's Islamic Army was defeated by Zhang Xueliang's New Beiyang Army and was executed for treason against the Republic of China.



ZHOU ENLAI: 18: Beginning his long career as a Communist politician as a student activist in Tianjin, Enlai quickly became a leading intellectual within Chinese Communism. Enlai was one of the early members of the KMT who supported Communism and urged unity among the two causes against the feared hegemony of Japanese supported Zuolin. After years of serving the KMT and the Communists in Europe, he returned to China to join the political department at the Whampoa military academy, the breeding ground for Chiang Kai-Shek's support group, which was largely supported and funded by the Soviets. Enlai became one of the many KMT ambassadors to the Soviets, hoping to continue funding for the Nationalist's. He saw brief military service during the war to consolidate control of Guangdong and was present at the capture of Guangzhou by KMT forces. Following the Zhongshan Warship incident, Enlai left the Whampoa clique and became more heavily involved with the Communists Party of China, becoming a major leader in the group. He also established ties with the remaining left wing faction of the KMT, especially those under Wang Jingwei. In 1926, he was majorly opposed to taking action against the KMT and was excised from the party by Mao Zedong. When the Wuhan government finally fell in 1930, Enlai returned to China taking control of the small Communist movement. In 1940, Enlai, fled China for the Soviet Union. It was at this time that he became Moscow's favored son. When the Soviet's founded the collaborationist force from Chinese soldiers, Enlai was appointed to the head of the organization. In 1961, when Soviet forces entered Beijing, Enlai was appointed the head of the new Peoples Republic of China. He served as head of the Peoples Republic of China until his death in 1976, shortly after the start of the Second World War.


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enigmajones
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« Reply #43 on: March 13, 2013, 12:33:10 PM »

RUDOLF HESS: 1894-1935: Hess, an aviator in the Great War, became involved with the Nazi movement in 1920, after hearing Adolf Hitler speak. Hess became a devotee of Hitler and personal assistant. He introduced Hitler to his friend, Haushofer, a professor who sought to explain history in terms of racial bias. Haushofer was influential on Hitler, but faced competition from Scheubner-Richter, who was against the concept of Lebensraum, a form of colonialism to be based around seizing huge territory in the east. During the Beer Hall Putsch, Hess commanded a brigade in the SA and after Hitler's death, was sentenced to 5 years in prison, although he would only serve 3. In 1926, after being released, he discovered that Rohm and Strasser had taken full control of the party. Finding a base amongst the original members, Hess attempted to retake control of the party in a speech at a Nazi rally in Munich in 1927. It was a meeting of party members, and Hess was still the official head of the party. However, Strasser used this meeting to officially take control of the party,
 
 After being unseated from power, gathered around 1,000 other members and formed the splinter Nationalsozialistische Volkspartei or the National Socialist Peoples Party. He quickly found little to no support for his movement, tainted by it's association with the National Socialists, and considered a weaker version of the DNVP. As a result, in August of 1927, Hess met with Richard Walther Darre, the leader of the Artaman League. Hess formed an alliance, to make the NSVP the political front of the Artamanians. However, he lost control at the first party congress in Dresden, unseated in favor of Darre. Hess was ostracized from a position of power, but continued to make speeches for the NSVP around Saxony. When the Civil War came, he offered his service to the new Reichluftsteitkrafte, but was turned down due to his association with the Nazis. In 1932, Hess was found dead in his home in Dresden, from a self inflicted gun shot wound, he was 41. Although conflicting reports claim this was assassination, these accusations have proven faulty.



OTTO SKORZENY: 1908-1977: Skorzeny was born to a middle class family in Vienna in 1908. He grew up without much and as a result was ambitious. In college, Skorzeny received his trademark scar whilst fencing. In 1931, Skorzeny became involved in the Austrian Nazi Party. However, when the Berlin Uprising occurred, he witnessed first hand the short and sweet coup of the Heimwehr and the power taken by Dollfuss. Joining the Heimwehr, and the newly formed Fatherland Front, a merger between the Christian Social Party and the Heimatblock. Skorzeny quickly proved himself capable, but was noted for his sympathy with the Nazi cause, and pushed out of politics. Skorzeny joined the Austrian Army when they were merged with the Heimwehr in 1933, and participated in the invasion of Bavaria in 1934. It was during this mission that he began his long friendship with the Italian military. In 1935, he commanded a battalion of Austrian volunteers in East Africa, fighting with the Italians. Following this service, Skorzeny returned to Austria and continued his military career, rising to the position of General in 1945.

 With the outbreak of the World War, Skorzeny proposed a daring invasion of Czechoslovakia to seize the Sudetenland. He was turned down, but would end gaining complete control of Austrian forces when the invasion of Slovenia began in 1961. His occupation of Slovenia, or Kairn as it became formally known, was considered his finest moment. When the Second World War began, Skorzeny was the overall commander of Austrian forces, and fought hard to defend Austria from the onslaught of German forces. When German forces captured entered Vienna in 1975, and began the brutal occupation of Northern Austria, Skorzeny organized the resistance in the Austrian Alps. He would die in 1977, from a gangrenous wound. Skorzeny was honored in the rebuilding of Vienna, and was posthumously awarded the Tapferkeitsmedaille, Gold Class.


[SIZE="1"]Skorzeny and other Austrian volunteers meeting with Il Duce after service in East Africa.[/SIZE]

ALFRED ROSENBERG: 1893-1933: Alfred Rosenberg, a Baltic German and associate of Max von Scheubner-Richter. Supporting the whites in the Russian Civil War, Rosenberg immigrated to Germany in 1918. Arriving in Munich, he became a writer for the Völkischer Beobachter, a far right paper that was acquired by the occultist Thule Society in 1919. In 1920, it became the official paper of the NSDAP, thanks to Dietrich Eckhart, the Nazi's first propagandist. After the Beer Hall Putsch, the paper was shut down, and it's writers were imprisoned. Rosenberg escaped conviction, and was appointed head of the NSDAP. However, in 1924, after Hess was given the 5 year sentence, the NSDAP appointed him as the leader of the party, in order to pay homage to the Putsch. After leaving power, Rosenberg realigned himself with Scheubner-Richter, and began planning the formation of alliance with the Aratman League in 1926. In 1927, after Hess lost control of the party, Rosenberg joined the nascent NSVP, and was appointed head propagandist, splitting from Scheubner-Richter in 1928. Rosenberg quickly became wary of Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Wehrbauren. With Darre, he attempted to keep control over Himmler's growing influence, but was eventually overruled. In 1931, Rosenberg was appointed the head of political ideology for the Wehrbauren, who had since evolved from a glorified neighborhood watch, into a full time paramilitary. In 1933, at the Battle of Dresden, Rosenberg was killed by "friendly fire". Himmler had been present and swore that the soldiers story was true. His body was returned to his hometown of Tallinn, and buried with honors from the NSVP. His tomb was destroyed in the Soviet invasion of Estonia in 1957.



Alfred Speer:1905-1981 : Speer was architectural student, who was present in Munich during the Beer Hall Putsch. In 1925, he transferred to Berlin, and became the assistant of Heintich Tessenow, whom Speer admired greatly. In 1930, Speer witnessed a speech by Joseph Goebbels and was disgusted with the ideology. He registered and began voting for the DNVP. When the Civil War broke out, Speer joined the Reichmarine and served during the hostilities, and was discharged in 1935. Speer became involved in rebuilding Southern Germany, and was given a free hand in the rebuilding of Kempten. Speer became a favorite architect of the establishment, and was key in the design of the Olympic Village for the 1944 Berlin Olympiad. At the outbreak of the World War, Speer was appointed the head of Public Safety, commanding labor gangs to build bunkers and fortifications throughout Germany. In 1962, he designed the Monument of Reunification in Danzig. He was famed for his abilities, and in 1964, immigrated to the United States, establishing an architectural firm in New York. He would die in 1981. His son, Albert Speer Junior, became an urban planner in New York.



FRITZ TODT: 1891-1933: Todt was an early member of the NSDAP, and was a key military strategist for the Sturmabteilung. In 1930, he was responsible for the founding of the National Socialist Flyers Corps, and was responsible for the organization of the Nazi NSFK during the German Civil War. In 1933, he piloted a reconnaissance flight over Dresden. He was shot down, but his body was never recovered.

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« Reply #44 on: March 13, 2013, 12:34:02 PM »

HERMANN GOERING: 1893-1923: Hermann Goering was a famed pilot in the Luftsreitkrafte, serving alongside the infamous "Bloody Red Baron" Richtofen. After the war, Goering moved to Denmark and then Sweden, working for a Swedish airline. After meeting Count Eric von Rosen's sister in law, Caren von Cantznow, Goering fell in love and relocated to Bavaria in 1922. He joined the NSDAP in 1922, and quickly gained a following, being appointed Oberster-SA Fuhrer in 1923. Goering lead the SA forces during the Beer Hall Putsch, and suffered a shot to the leg during the coup. He was smuggled to Innsbruck, but succumbed to his injuries do to an infection sustained while being smuggled.



JOACHIM PEIPER: 1915-1978: Joachim Peiper was born in Berlin and raised in Silesia. His father was a veteran of the East African Campaign in the 1900's, the Great War, and was a member of the Freikorps. After the Aratman league arrived, his father joined the Wehrbauern, and aided the rise of Heinrich Himmler. Peiper was a member of the Aratmanian scout movement, and then the Wehrbauern, whom he joined at 16. At 17, do to his father's influence with Himmler, he was appointed to become Himmler's secretary. In 1936, he participated in Himmler's revolt against the German government, but was not present when the base fell to the Reichswehr. He survived, and became involved in the Nachtwache, a successor to the banned NSVP and Aratmanian League. As a member of the Nachtwache, he was the leader of the Himmlerist faction, promoting an ideology of rejecting Judeo-Christian morals, and a return to a time of established order, from the ranks of the pure German people. As such he was very unpopular with the government and the DNVP. In 1940, Peiper was appointed to the head of the Nachtwache, and supported the groups acts of rebellion against the government of the DNVP.

 Peiper began to speak secretly in academic circles throughout Germany, arguing for a return to a Germany before the Great War, a time of peace and honor. He was laughed at often, but Himmlerist theory became popular with small subsets of the National Socialist. In 1944, Peiper founded National Socialist Action, or the Nationalsozialistisch Aktion. The NSA gained a large following in the student movements, but found his main opponent to be Diedrik Holzknecht, a young Berlin students, whose theories on Strasserist economic theory were considered the most applicable. So the two merged their movements in 1949, forming the NSE or National Socialist Unity. Through Holzknecht's oratory skills, and Peipers organizational foundations, they made rapid success. At the first party meeting in 1950, held in Amsterdam, Holzknecht was selected to be the leader of Fuhrer of the NSE, and Peiper was appointed head of the Stabswache, the personal bodyguard and the Nachtwache, who were formally tied to the NSE and it's paramilitary wing. Their uniforms, designed by Peiper, were silver shirted, in order to represent a new era of National Socialism. The Stabswache however, were given black uniforms, and were known for the skeleton key insignia. In 1959, the NSE began to gain complete dominance of the student population, thanks to the harsh reign of Staatsoberhaupt Reinhard Heydrich.

 However, in 1960, Holzknecht made well known to Peiper that it was time to assert the power of the Fuhrer within the NSE, and dissolved the Nachtwache. A  new volunteer paramilitary, wearing the brown uniforms of the old Sturmabteiling, known as the NSE-Aktion, was founded. He appointed his newfound ally, Erhard Wulle. Peiper was allowed to retain control of the Stabswache, but the blow had been clear, and the message had been simple, Strasserist theory was the theory of the party. Peiper continued to well support for his organization, reforming the Nachtwache as a separate organization from the NSE. The new night watch mixed Volkisch traditions with the occultist practices of the Thule Society, promoting a new form of Aryan paganism. Peiper also folded the Stabswache, and formed the Schutzstaffel as the new guard of the Fuhrer. In 1964 and 1965, Peiper was responsible for many of the protests against the rule of Heydrich. In 1968, when free elections occurred, Peiper was elected as the representative of Saxony in the Reichstag. After the NSE received control of the government and Holzknecht was appointed Chancellor, Germany became a veritable melting pot of paramilitary associations. The Nachtwache swelled it's ranks, while the NSE-Aktion grew into a large force. After the Regensburg Declaration, the Stahlhelm bund front soldaten attempted to merge with the NSE-A, and were turned down. After Holzknect established the Republic of Germany in January of 1968, the Reichsbanner Scwarz-Rot-Gold was reestablished, as the paramilitary wing of the SPD. Peiper quickly grew weary of them, as well as the Otto Braun Youth.

 In 1970, Peiper orchestrated a false flag operation. In the Reichstag on December 12th, 1969, Peiper claimed to have irrefutable proof that the SPD were receiving funding from the Rome Pact, as well as the DNVP. The Reichstag adjourned before the accusations could be addressed, but on Christmas Eve, Holzknect suspended the Reichstag and declared a state of emergency. Holzknecht then ordered the SS into a killing spree. Peiper was responsible for the deaths of 26 members of the Reichstag, including Falkenrath, the head of the DNVP. By the end of January, the National Socialists had begun their rule of Nazi Germany. Peiper and the Nachtwache became massively influential, and while Erhard Wulle was appointed to the head of the National Revolutionary Army (the Nationalumstürzlerischdruck), Peiper became the new secret police chief of Germany. When the Second World War broke out, Peiper's Nachtwache was personally given control over operations against the rebellious Third Polish Republic. From 1974-1976, Peiper was responsible for "population reductions" eradicating up to 35% of Poland's civilian population. With the outbreak of the Soviet Civil War in 1977, Peiper returned to Germany to command SS units in action against the American-Canadian invasion via Denmark. In 1978, after the Americans captured Hamburg, Peiper committed suicide in his family home, dying at the age of 63.


[SIZE="1"]Himmler with Peiper in Berlin, 1935[/SIZE]

WILHELM CANARIS: 1887-?: A member of the German Navy in the Great War, Canaris joined the Freikorps when the war ended, and then joined the Reichsmarine. He became a career naval man, and was promoted to Captain in 1931. Canaris lived out the war rather peacefully, and after the Civil War ended, remained in the Reichsmarine. In 1939, he was promoted to Admiral, and given control of the Baltic Fleet for the Reichsmarine. His failure's during the Danzig War disgraced Canaris. In 1940, he received a court martial, and retired. He died at the age of 68 in 1955. Before he died, Reinhard Heydrich visited with Canaris, although it is not known what was said, Canaris was given a heroes funeral in Berlin, and honored with a memorial statue at the Danzig War monument in Bremen. In 1966, members of the Nachtwache destroyed the statue and defaced the monument. Heydrich ordered the monument rebuilt, and had it dedicated before he left power in 1968. Immediately after his swearing in, Holzknecht ordered the statue and monument taken down. The statue of Canaris, would find it's way into the hand of thieves, and in 1970, was given to the city of New York, who placed it in a public park, which bears Canaris's name.

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« Reply #45 on: March 13, 2013, 12:35:19 PM »

Visions of War

 

 Flag of the Guangzhou Government under Ruan Straser-Li after the fall of Japan in the First World War.


 National Revolutionary Vanguard marching through Shaanxi.


 National Peoples Army begin their offensive against the Soviet allied Peoples Republic of China in August of 1977.


 Firefighters in Paris attempt to put out the blazes caused by American raids, as the siege of Paris looms during the Winter of 1979.


 German soldiers guard a desolate from Austrian guerrillas in the Winter of 1978.


 A citizen notes the destruction in his city in the Ukraine, as the Soviet Civil War escalates in 1978.


 Pro Holzknecht Graffiti following Wulle's coup d'etat.
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« Reply #46 on: March 13, 2013, 12:37:52 PM »

 And here is a map made by Zaius on AH.Com for this TL

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« Reply #47 on: March 13, 2013, 12:58:15 PM »



 And a map from B_Munro.
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« Reply #48 on: March 13, 2013, 01:02:39 PM »

 And thats what I've got for right now. Any thoughts on the (semi) completed project?
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« Reply #49 on: May 03, 2013, 04:56:15 PM »

 Fire and Brimstone

 The Colombian Crisis began under rather auspicious circumstances. The USSR, seeking influence in Latin American markets, entered into an agreement with the Colombian government to help fund both civil and military projects in Colombia, and in return, Colombia would be open to trade with the Communist nations of the world. The agreement was finalized on June 7th, 1945, and two days later, ships from Turkey and the Soviet Union began to arrive. In the United States, President Dewey condemned President Alfonso Lopez Pumarejo of the Colombian Liberal Party. Although Pumarejo was a socialist at heart, he didn't believe in communism as system and certainly didn't wished to be dragged into another sphere of influence, while actively trying to avoid the influence of the United States. In reaction to the announcement, Italy, Austria, France, Japan and the United States seized all Colombian goods in their nations, and with the exclusion of the United States deported any Colombian nationals residing in their nation.

 On June 12th, shots were fired at President Pumarejo in his home. As June turned to July, three more attempts were made on Pumarejo's life. He seemed to walk through death on a daily basis, and as each bullet whizzed by his ear, got stopped by a wristwatch or a bible, so did his popularity grow with the Colombian people. On August 1st, 1945, the United States declared war on the Republic of Colombia, followed quickly by Peru and Brazil. Brazilian and Peruvian troops attempted to occupy the Caqueta and Vaupes departments. The Colombian army, on the rise, but far from capable of defeating such a force, was forced to retreat. As preparations began to invade Colombia in the United States, the USSR publicly stated it's support for Colombia, and sent a squadron from the Black Sea Fleet to aid their allies. Fresh off their victory in the Third Balkans War, the USSR was attempting to gauge the potential of war between the USSR and the USA. The loss of America as an international ally had left the USSR with little in the way of backup on the global stage. Tukhachevsky simply contacted President Dewey with a warning, unless the US desired war on a global scale, the US would withdraw its threats. Although Dewey fought for his war, Congress and the Senate immediately voted to cancel the declaration of war.


A Soviet ship leaving Odessa for Cartagena.

 With the withdrawal of American support for the war, Brazil and Peru found themselves at a disadvantage. While still supported by the United States, the threat of Soviet intervention weighed heavy in Lima and Rio de Janeiro. The death of General Oscar Benavidas, the de facto dictator of Peru after the defeat of Colombia, had lead to the rise of Gonzalo Larrea, one of Benavidas's most trusted lieutenants to the position of power. Promises of election had lead to hope amongst the Peruvian people for peace, but the outbreak of war with Colombia provided Larrea with the motive for declaring a state of emergency. As a result much of Peru was restive against the prospect of another military junta taking control. Seeing this, the Soviet Union, who declared war on Peru on September 3rd, 1945, began to actively support communist guerilla's to attack the Peruvian government in hopes of drawing troops from the main front against the Colombians. The attacks did work, but not on a large enough scale to result in anything but a stalemate in Caqueta.

 In Brazil, Vargas saw Peru rife with unrest and found himself in a unlucky position. Brazil was large, populous and under an ever tightening grip. In 1945, growing dissent within the ranks of Brazilian society had reached its tipping point, and with the outbreak of war, southern Brazil erupted in violence, with peaceful protests by Socialists and Social Democrats being quashed by the Brazilian army. The protests seemed to be dispersed until the arrival of the
Força de Atadura, an Integralist splinter movement who advocated the violent overthrow of the Vargas government. With the entrance of the USSR into the war, Brazil found itself weary of an overstretched armed force and pushed for a quick victory in Colombia.


Anti-Larrea propaganda spread by Communist forces. Larrea was a known Nazi sympathizer, and had volunteered for the Strasserist faction during the German Civil War.

 In Colombia itself, Pumarejo was unsure of how to take the Soviet offers of help. In October of 1945, Pumarejo was advised by his military officers to accept the offer by Soviets to increase the presence of the Soviet military personnel from 60,000 to 200,000. After some a week, Pumarejo declined the offer, saying "we are already fighting one occupation, and you ask me to invite another?" It was these anti-Soviet policies that first began the plan by the Soviets to get rid of Pumarejo. As the war continued to rage in the south of Colombia, a cabal began to form in Colombian military circles, seeking more Soviet aid to rid Colombia of Peruvian and Brazilian occupiers. Eventually Soviet agents found the man for the job. Colonel Moises Moreno had always been  open to the ideals of communism, not unusual, considering his poor peasant upbringing, and had studied at the Soviet military academy in Yekaterinburg from 1932 to 1935. However, Moreno was a loyal follower of Pumarejo, and unless Moreno could be persuaded to switch his allegiance from the aging leader of Liberal Party, the war could very well be lost. In January of 1946, Peruvian troops captured Florencia in the Caqueta department, and Moreno folded. On February 3rd, Moreno orchestrated the assassination of Pumarejo through a front, capturing and trying 13 "plotters" who had sought to overthrow the rightful government and Colombia and establish a "plutocratic dictatorship" under the lead of most of Colombia's military leaders. The top generals were killed and replaced with Moreno's men. Two days, the Soviets began to enter Colombia, as Moreno cemented his grip as Provisional President of the National Restoration Council. Following the full entrance of Soviet troops into the Colombian war allowed for a rapid flood of weapons and aid to communists in Peru and Brazil, which had been nothing but a trickle before. In addition to this, Spetsnaz troops became active in assisting the Peruvian guerilla's, allowing for the portioned control of several villages in the more rural areas of Peru. By March, Soviet troops, in addition to Turkish and Colombian forces had evicted the Brazilians and Peruvians from Colombia. Moreno found himself in a position of power, riding on the memory of Pumarejo, while Larrea and Vargas fought to keep their countries from falling apart. Shortly after the war, Vargas was deposed allowing for a semi less corrupt government to take power in Rio de Janeiro, while the Peruvian insurgency would plague Larrea until his death in 1977.


Spetsnaz in Colombia

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