Don't Change Horses Midstream

[NOT gonna be banned soon]

Hi, this is a TL I am doing on AH.com as well. It will focus on US politics, but also on Pakistani, Indian and Middle Eastern Politics, and possibly some East Asian politics as well. I hope you enjoy!

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The choice of Wendell Willkie, who, only four years prior was running against Roosevelt as a Republican, as Roosevelt’s running mate shocked the American political world. However, it soon became clear what Roosevelt was trying to do. 80 years ago, president Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, ran for re-election during the civil war, and his running mate was Andrew Johnson, a Southern Democrat, and Lincoln forged a “National Unity” ticket. In 1944 US troops were fighting in France and the Pacific, and as such it seemed necessary to Roosevelt to forge such a ticket again. Willkie was more liberal than most of his Republican allies which supported him in 1940, and as such he was the perfect Republican for the job. Roosevelt had hoped to make a “Liberal Party”, a coalition of Liberal Democrats and Republicans, following the end of the war. Some Democrats objected to Willkie’s nomination, but they stopped their opposition once Roosevelt declared that he would refuse to be renominated if Willkie was not nominated as vice president, pulling off the same stunt he did in 1940 when people were objecting to Henry Wallace as vice president.

In the meantime, Roosevelt’s (and the Democratic Party in general) increasing liberal stance on civil rights (such as opposing a segregated primary in Texas) led to two segregationist campaigns being formed: The Texas Regulars campaign of Texan Governor Dan Moody (without a running mate, as the constitution dictates that a person can’t win their state’s electoral votes if their running mate is of the same state, though Texas electors voted for random segregationist politicians elsewhere in the south as Moody’s running mate) and the Dixiecrat (portmanteau of “Dixie” and “Democrat”) campaign of Harry Byrd. Byrd, the Democratic senator from Virginia, had previously run in the Democratic Convention against President Roosevelt with the support of segregationist candidates, disappointed with Roosevelt’s increasingly liberal slant on civil rights. Byrd lost, only getting 119 delegates out of 1,176 delegates, but he managed to rack up enough support so that people came to him asking to run for president as a protest vote against Roosevelt. Byrd eventually gave in, and chose Mississippi governor Hugh White as his running mate.

Roosevelt led in nearly all the polls, segregationist candidates aside. He won the support of the mainstream Democratic party and Republicans were beginning to support him as well, as they liked that Willkie was Roosevelt’s running mate and were turned off by Dewey’s aggressive rhetoric. Not only that, but successes in Europe and in the Pacific also helped Roosevelt.

After a heart attack in October which could had killed him, Willkie consulted with his personal doctors and he resolved to take better care of his health

When Roosevelt won on election day, and when the Democrats increased their majorities nobody was surprised. What was surprising, however, was Dewey’s surprise victory in Tennessee. By 3000 votes, Dewey was able to carry the Volunteer state, mostly out of vote splitting between Roosevelt and Byrd. It was considered the biggest surprise of the election.



Franklin D. Roosevelt/Wendell Willkie (National Union)-429 Electoral votes; 26,708,831 Popular votes (55.67%)
Thomas E. Dewey/John Bricker (Republican)-51 Electoral votes; 19,512,272 Popular votes (40.67%)
Harry Byrd/Hugh L. White (Dixiecrat)-28 Electoral votes; 1,069,889 Popular votes (2.23%)
Dan Moody/various (Texas Regulars)-23 Electoral votes; 485,439 Popular votes (1.01%)


Down Ballot, the Democrats had managed to win a lot of Republican seats, much to the chagrin of the Grand Old Party. Roosevelt’s gamble to win over Republicans with Willkie worked. The biggest piece of the pie was Robert Taft, noted conservative senator from Ohio, losing his seat by 3%. In the house, the Democrats won around forty more seats. Roosevelt’s plans for his unprecedented fourth term are this: He would win the war, try to lay the groundwork of the Liberal party then resign following the creation of a “United Nations” organization, which was supposed to be a League of Nations type organization, but with a sturdier structure so as to not to repeat the mistakes of the League of Nations.

However, it appears that Roosevelt never lived to resign or even see the UN take shape, as he died on March 30th, and is being replaced with Wendell Willkie. Time will tell how President Willkie steer America through the war and the post-war era.

[NOT gonna be banned soon]

By the time Wendell Willkie was made president the war had been coming to a close. Allied forces had liberated most of Italy, France and the low countries, and they were already crossing the Rhine. The Soviet Union had begun to enter Berlin by April, and on April 29th Hitler shot himself. Hitler’s successor was German Chief Propagandist Joseph Goebbels as Chancellor and as for President Admiral Karl Donitz. Goebbels killed himself a day later, and he was replaced by the Minister of Foreign affairs Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk. News of the loss of Berlin had spread across Europe and the world quickly, and as such by May 6th 90% of German troops had surrendered and the other 10% had never heard the news at all. However, those 10% began to surrender as the days went by, and by May 10th only four German soldiers were still fighting (August Heinrich surrendered in 1950, Michael Kissling in 1964, Gerhard Basinger in 1967 and Kurt Gottesman in 1968).

With Germany finished off by May only the Pacific Front had to be concluded. The allies had made great strides in defeating Japan by May. However, it became increasingly obvious that as the Japanese were retreating from the Pacific the Allies would have to strike the Home Islands. The question is: How? Invading was an option, but it would be costly and would drag the war on and on, but the option was never off the table. It was clear that Japan had to surrender unconditionally, and that the allies would never accept anything less. Their capital, Tokyo, had already been firebombed, so some Americans were wondering why Japan didn’t just surrender right there.

A project, conducted by American, British and Canadian scientists in Tennessee had been going on since 1942. The project’s purpose was to make a nuclear weapon. On July 29th, 1945, the research and developed had came into fruition. The United States had tested their first nuclear weapon in a desert in New Mexico. Robert Oppenheimer, director of the Los Alamos laboratory which helped a lot in the development of the nuclear weapon said in an interview in 1965 that the first words the came into his mind were words from the Hindu holy scripture the Bhagavad Gita: “I have become death, destroyer of world's”. Afterwards, the US gave a stern warning that Japan must surrender or face “total and complete destruction”. Japan didn’t. On August 7th the US dropped a bomb on Niigata. Three days later on the 10th the US dropped a bomb on Yokohama. These cities were not chosen at random, rather, they were chosen based on their usefulness to the Japanese military and if the destruction of those cities could cripple the Japanese. Other cities, like Hiroshima, Kokura and Nagasaki were also considered. The nuclear explosions are still a source of controversy to this day.

The nuclear explosions shook up the Japanese government, and a week later they surrendered unconditionally. On September 2nd Japan formally signed the treaty of unconditional surrender on the USS Missouri. The war was over.

Willkie now was forced to deal with the post-war world. Eastern Europe had gone red, the Chinese civil war had resumed, Western Europe is in ruins and Greece erupted into civil war. Wendell Willkie had decided to take a stand against Communism, though not too much so as to not disrupt the world order. Willkie also sent massive aid packages to Europe and Japan, known as the “Marshall Plan” named after the architect of the plan, General George Marshall. The aid packages boosted his popularity at home and America’s image abroad.

Domestically, Willkie went ahead with Roosevelt’s idea of a “Liberal Party”. On March 7th, 1946, Willkie made a speech which would be credited for the formation of the Liberal Party. Numerous Democrats and Republicans defected, and when all was said and done Liberals had become the strongest party in the Senate with only a one seat majority, but the defections seemed to have given the GOP the House of Representatives by a plurality. However, the Democrats still had a lot of loyalists in the north. Not only that, but a combination of strikes, the fall of Greece, an economic downturn and general political instability following the declaration of the Liberal Party led to a Liberal defeat in the 1946 midterms, with the GOP gaining the senate and the Liberals being tied with the Democrats in terms of house seats while the GOP gets a plurality in the House of Representatives.

Willkie felt stranded. With the GOP allying with conservative Democrats to defeat liberal acts, Willkie was left with barely any allies. Willkie attributed the Liberal’s defeat in congress to the fall of Greece, and as such pursued a more aggressive foreign policy, and he appointed war hero and architect of the vastly popular Marshall Plan George Marshall as Secretary of State.

However, it was not to last. On May 8th, Jewish terror group Lehi sent letter bombs to multiple officials in the US and the UK, and managed to kill two: British Member of Parliament and one of the leaders of the Conservative Party, Anthony Eden, and President Wendell Willkie.

For the first time in the history of the United States the person taking control of the reins of the presidency following the death of the predecessor was not the vice president, and according to the 1886 Succession act if a president is removed from office in any way be it assasination, death, resignation or impeachment, and if there is no vice president the Secretary of State becomes president. Some were calling for a snap election, and indeed there were plans by the government to do so until the got scrapped not too long after the plans were made.

With an unstable congress, bad economy and multiple countries aligning themselves with the Soviet Union, now President Marshall is faced with a lot of challenges in the two years he will serve in office (Marshall declared he would not run for re-election), and it remains to be seen whether or not he manages to to weather the storm, or fail miserably.

[NOT gonna be banned soon]

Thoughts?

Also, next couple of updates are going to be about Pakistan and India.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Original concept, imo.
Good TL.
Would be nice if Partition didn't occur in this TL.

[NOT gonna be banned soon]

Original concept, imo.
Good TL.
Would be nice if Partition didn't occur in this TL.

Eh, a 1944 POD is too late to stop the partition.

[Kingpoleon]

Original concept, imo.
Good TL.
Would be nice if Partition didn't occur in this TL.

Eh, a 1944 POD is too late to stop the partition.

Maybe not if you go ahead with the “autonomy/protectorate” status.

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

Wow this is so interesting. Good work so far!

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Original concept, imo.
Good TL.
Would be nice if Partition didn't occur in this TL.

Eh, a 1944 POD is too late to stop the partition.

Maybe not if you go ahead with the “autonomy/protectorate” status.

A confederated India could also work.

[wxtransit]

Wow this is so interesting. Good work so far!

[WestVegeta]

This is a really intriguing premise! How far do you plan on taking it?

[NOT gonna be banned soon]

This is a really intriguing premise! How far do you plan on taking it?

2017, at the inauguration of president William

Spoiler alert! Click Show to show the content.

Show

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

This is a really intriguing premise! How far do you plan on taking it?

2017, at the inauguration of president William

Spoiler alert! Click Show to show the content.

Show

Murray!

[erſatz-york]

Great update, interesting to see an India where the INC doesn't hold the reins of power right out of the gate.

[NOT gonna be banned soon]

Great update, interesting to see an India where the INC doesn't hold the reins of power right out of the gate.

Thanks.

Since we don't see much India and Pakistan TLs (hell, this might be the first one on this site, though I might be wrong) I wonder what other people think of the recent update.

[NOT gonna be banned soon]

George Marshall became president at a troubling time for America. The economy had been going down, racial tensions were growing and multiple countries were falling to communism. Following the assassination of President Willkie by Lehi, anti-semitic hate crimes experienced an uptick of occurrences. George Marshall was expected to find a way to fix these problems in the United States, yet his refusal to run for re-election gave him little time to do so. Still, it is not to say he didn’t try. He cracked down on anti-semitic groups, increased aid to Europe and declared the “Marshall Doctrine”, which would be American foreign policy following that declaration, that countries in risk of falling to communism would be given aid in attempts to suppress communism. As such, countries such as Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, South Korea and Japan were given quantities of aid. The Kuomintang in China was given aid as well.

In the Middle East, America’s foreign policy began to move in a more Islamic direction. Israel remained unrecognized by the United States until Marshall left office, and ties with the Arab World were strengthened. Alongside this, America had been trying to influence Pakistan, a land bridge between the Middle East and the Far East, into its influence. Pakistan, for some time, was non-aligned until the late 50s when the pro-American Suhrawardy was in power. To counter this, the USSR began to bring Israel into it’s influence, and Soviet-India relations were beginning to grow.

However, the economy did not get any better despite Marshall’s best attempts. Labor strikes, along with racial tensions as well. Marshall caused a racial controversy on June 26th, 1948 by desegregating the army through an executive order. Many southern politicians, all Democrat, decried the order as “an injustice against the natural order of things” and the Democrats in the 1948 election played on these fears in the South, yet kept quiet about it in the North.

The 1948 election was a Republican victory from the beginning, no question about it. Fears of communism and a worsening economy led to an easy Republican victory. Harold Stassen caused some controversy amongst left leaning and libertarian circles when he declared he would ban the Communist party, but that didn’t stop him. The Democrat’s loyal base in the South led to them winning most states and giving them 2nd place in the electoral vote. The Liberals suffered a shellacking in the electoral college (just two states!) due to vote splitting yet came in second in the popular vote. The GOP achieved a supermajority in both the House and Senate. It appears that for the next four years whatever agenda the GOP has will be passed.



Harold Stassen/John Foster Dulles (Republican)-413 Electoral votes; 22,015,643 popular votes (45.12%)
Happy Chandler/Mike Moroney (Democratic)-106 Electoral votes; 11,495,757 popular votes (23.56%)
Hugh Mitchell/William O. Douglas (Liberal)-12 Electoral votes; 14,135,487 popular votes (28.97%)

[NOT gonna be banned soon]

Stassen’s presidency had a foreign policy which would shape the cold war. When his presidency ended it was clear who would be America’s allies and the USSR’s allies. One of the first things Stassen did with regards to foreign policy was to recognize Israel, though that didn’t turn Israel into an American ally, as already Israeli politicians were meeting with Soviet leaders talking about a potential ally against the Arabs and the United States. Stassen didn’t make a lot of overtures to Israel, but he was on good terms with Arab countries, solidifying an alliance which would last to the 21st century.

As the year of 1949 was about to turn into 1950, the aid the US gave to the Kuomintang began to bear fruit. The Kuomintang had won the Chinese Civil War, and China became a capitalist, US ally. Tibet was invaded, yet were invited to negotiations which led to their annexation yet Tibet enjoyed some autonomy. China under Chiang Kai-Shek also wanted to invade the Second East Turkestan Republic, yet the USSR gave the SETR their full protection, and as such the Chinese were forced to withdraw their claims. India objected to Tibet's annexation, and in return China pressed claims on Aksai Chin, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. China and India would end up becoming bitter rivals for the years to come, and as such China began to have friendly relations with India's other rival, Pakistan.

With China going capitalist North Korea, a communist country in the, well, Northern half of the Korean Peninsula, abandoned their plans for an invasion of South Korea despite Soviet insistence that they would help them. However, border conflicts between the two nations continued and as such enmity was developed between the two.

In domestic news the economy was getting better somewhat, though Stassen, being a moderate liberal, opposed a lot of the more controversial plans being proposed by the Republican congress in an attempt to repeal the New Deal. Some bills passed with compromise, others didn’t (at times liberal Democrats and Republicans teamed up with the Liberal party to vote against the bills and at other times the bill was vetoed, though the latter rarely happened as the former happened a lot more often and because Stassen didn’t want to create more conflict). This caused a drift between Stassen and the Republican congress, though they were no plans for a break away conservative party. However, in 1950 the Liberal party made gains, and while they didn’t gain the senate or the house they were able to make up enough seats to align with liberal Republicans and Democrats to stop 80% of economic right-wing bills. Republican unity was solidified, however, in the 1952 election when liberal and conservative Republicans joined hands in order to work to re-elect Stassen.



Harold Stassen/Richard Nixon (Republican)-427 Electoral votes; 30,267,177 popular votes (50.25%)
Mike Moroney/John S. Battle (Democratic)-69 Electoral votes; 12,070,731 popular votes (20.04%)
Claude Pepper/Wayne Morse (Liberal)-35 Electoral votes; 17,473,648 popular votes (29.01%)


Despite issues with congress an improving economy, a tougher stance on foreign policy and a general sense of prosperity catapulted Stassen to a second term. Vice President Dulles had retired, and as such Stassen chose California governor Republicans took back the House and Senate easily, and as such it appeared that four years of peace and prosperity were going to be continued. Not only that, but on December 16th, 1952, Joseph Stalin died and was succeeded by Nikita Khrushchev. And for some time it appeared to be so: the GOP had avoided the “six year itch” and kept the senate and house in the 1954 midterms, the economy was at its highest, the US was generally peaceful and the USSR was becoming less aggressive. However, on January 8th, 1955 it all came crashing down. Harold Stassen was shot at by two Puerto Rican nationalists who also, ironically, happened to be his bodyguards. Stassen had been approving bills in attempts to curb the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party which radicalized the two bodyguards (names Ramon Bernabe and Manuel Medina) which spurred them to kill the president. Nixon was made in charge and banned the Nationalist Party and it was declared a terrorist group, US troops were sent to Puerto Rico in an attempt to quell any unrest and arrest members of the party. Puerto Ricans in the mainland reported that they faced increased harassment, discrimination and bigotry following the assassination of President Stassen. Whilst Puerto Rican independence was never supported by a majority of Puerto Ricans those which did began to receive arms from the Soviet Union and China, and as such a small guerrilla campaign was carried out which ended in 1967.

Stassen’s death ended the innocence of the early 50s, Cold War tensions was increased due to Puerto Rican terrorists receiving arms from the USSR, the Secret Service was completely revamped yet up to 2017 there remains a fear that when a president is unpopular a Secret Service agent will kill him. Americans were also wary about the small guerrilla campaign, the vast amounts of Puerto Ricans in the mainland began to shift their allegiances to the Liberal Party. In fact, after two landslide defeats, there are meetings being held between Liberal Party leaders and Democratic Party leaders about a possible merger...

[NOT gonna be banned soon]

Nixon began his administration on a low note. Nixon, like his predecessor (who banned the Communist Party of the United States of America), was a staunch anti-communist. Hell, maybe even stauncher. The crackdown on Nationalist activities in Puerto Rico led to an insurgency which was supported by the USSR, which led to many Americans asking if they might be other Americans which sympathize with the USSR against their own country. Puerto Ricans, Jews (Jewish-Americans were overwhelmingly supportive of Israel, a USSR ally) and homosexuals and leftists were targeted. The 23rd amendment, which was put into the constitution in 1954, establishes procedures for filling a vacant vice president seat and how to respond in case of presidential disability, which was passed mainly in part of the unprecedented event which occurred in 1947 when the death of President Willkie led to Secretary of State George Marshall taking his place. Nixon picked Minnesota senator Joseph Ball.

William E. Jenner, a prominent conservative senator from Indiana began to accuse many people in the state department, in the entertainment business, in labor unions and even the army of being communist. He was becoming popular in conservative circles and many wanted him to run in 1956, but he declined. In his senate campaign for reelection in 1958 Jenner rode a wave of anti-communism to victory, yet by 1960 he was beginning to look paranoid and his support waned (that, and the fact that he was censured by the senate in the same year), and he lost in 1964. Jenner left a lasting impact, however. He energized conservatives, yet those wary of his tactics coined the term Jennerism, which is is the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence, though many of his supporters began to embrace the term, even Jenner himself said “Jennerism is Americanism with its sleeves rolled”. During the Red Scare period from 1955 to 1960 many actors and actresses were blacklisted due to suspected (and in some cases, they actually did) sympathies with communism, the AFL-CIO was forced to purge their ranks of socialists and communists and many (suspected or not) homosexuals were fired from their jobs in what was termed the “Lavender scare”.

One of the biggest victims of the Lavender scare was Senator Joseph McCarthy. McCarthy was not a well-known senator, though many of his politics began to align with William Jenner. Following an incident where he kneed a reporter in the groin, and the fact rumors were beginning to surface about his chief consul, Roy Cohn, a New York lawyer, being a closeted homosexual, and McCarthy’s closeness with conservative actor David Schine, who was also accused of being a homosexual, McCarthy was targeted by Jenner and his political allies. McCarthy refused any accusations about being gay, yet the charges seemed to stick. It went so bad that when McCarthy was running for reelection in 1958 a pro-Jenner candidate ran against him, and his Democratic opponent, Clement J. Zablocki, and his Liberal opponent, Thomas E. Fairchild, all three running virulently homophobic campaigns against McCarthy. By this point McCarthy had turned to drinking, and McCarthy was a heavy drinker at that. He was hospitalized frequently, and as such barely campaigned. McCarthy also became addicted to Heroin. Fairchild won easily, McCarthy died a year later, Roy Cohn became an obscure New York lawyer again, and David Schine was blacklisted by Hollywood due to suspicions over him being a homosexual.

Even more perverted was liberal senator Lester C. Hunt, who was an outspoken critic of Jenner and at one point suggested he be censured, killing himself in 1957 due to Jenner threatening him to resign or he will reveal that Hunt’s son is a homosexual.

The main cause of the Red Scare, the Puerto Rican insurgency, had knock on effects on the world. The West Indies Federation, which consisted of multiple islands, was pretty shaky with many of the smaller islands complaining of “Jamaican and Trinadadian” domination. However, Communist insurgencies in the United States and Cuba (following a failed revolution) led to the West Indies Federation developing a sense of unity. Not only that, but the addition of Belize to the WIF in 1962 had led to patriotic celebrations in the country.

The 1956 presidential election was one of the weirdest elections, probably the weirdest ever. The Democratic Party and the Liberal Party agreed on a joint ticket, hoping that it would stop another Republican landslide. Liberal senator James Roosevelt (son of Franklin) from California and his running mate Democratic senator Lyndon B. Johnson from Texas were chosen by their parties. However, there were some people from both parties unhappy with the ticket. Racists in the Democratic party led by Secretary of State and former South Carolina governor James Byrnes led another Dixiecrat ticket, while the left-wing of the Liberal Party under Oregon senator Wayne Morse formed an independent ticket. Not only that, but on September 1st, 1956, James Roosevelt was killed in a car crash. Lyndon B. Johnson was lifted to the top of the ticket and made Liberal senator from Washington Henry Jackson his running mate. Sympathy led to Johnson leading in the polls 5-8% but his lead narrowed by October. In the month of October and early November all four candidates made frequent campaign stops. Nixon and Johnson both traded leads, but Johnson’s popularity in Texas (and his political machine there) along with Nixon’s terrible debate performance pulled him to the top.



Lyndon B. Johnson/Henry Jackson (Democratic/Liberal): 277 Electoral votes; 26,297,043 popular votes (42.40%)
Richard M. Nixon/Joseph Ball (Republican): 205 Electoral votes; 26,179,203 popular votes (42.21%)
James Byrnes/Carroll Gartin (Dixiecrat): 49 Electoral votes; 4,112,014 popular votes (6.63%)
Wayne Morse/Virginia Foster Durr (Independent): 0 Electoral votes; 4,893,483 popular votes (7.89%)

Had Texas voted for Nixon, which is unlikely as the Johnson machine was too strong, the election would had gone to the House of Representatives, first time since 1824. Nixon would had been selected by the GOP house, which would had caused political turmoil in the United States. Maybe the Johnson machine in Texas should be thanked for that. The 1956 televised debates showed little difference between Nixon and Johnson on foreign and domestic policy, though.

[NOT gonna be banned soon]

Hi guys, it appears that due to the 11,000 character limit I don't think I will be updating here much. If you want to read the TL on AH.com you can do it here: https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/dont-change-horses-midstream.431226/

I modified the India update as well on AH.com. Comments would be appreciated, whether on this site or on AH.com!

[NOT gonna be banned soon]

Also I will be posting links to new updates if you want to read them.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Hi guys, it appears that due to the 11,000 character limit I don't think I will be updating here much. If you want to read the TL on AH.com you can do it here: https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/dont-change-horses-midstream.431226/

I modified the India update as well on AH.com. Comments would be appreciated, whether on this site or on AH.com!

It’s pretty easy to break up an update into two posts. I’ve had to do it on several timelines in the past. I tell you this because I think you’ve got perhaps some interesting ideas.

[NOT gonna be banned soon]

Hi guys, it appears that due to the 11,000 character limit I don't think I will be updating here much. If you want to read the TL on AH.com you can do it here: https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/dont-change-horses-midstream.431226/

I modified the India update as well on AH.com. Comments would be appreciated, whether on this site or on AH.com!

It’s pretty easy to break up an update into two posts. I’ve had to do it on several timelines in the past. I tell you this because I think you’ve got perhaps some interesting ideas.

Well, I tried to break it apart. I even went on a word counter website and removed a big part of the update, decreasing the number of characters from 26,000 to 5,500, yet it still didn't work. Maybe I will try again and see what happens.

[NOT gonna be banned soon]

For around forty years starting in the early 1900s, there has been a demand for an independent Muslim state. The idea was dismissed, but it began to pick up steam and in 1940 with the Lahore Resolution, the All India Muslim League, a party formed originally for Muslim rights and interests in India. Their argument was that Muslims would be persecuted in Hindu majority India and as such it would be in the best interest of the Muslim population in India to have a separate state. The Indian National Congress, the AIML’s secular opposition, vehemently opposed this idea. However, in 1945 Indian Constituent Assembly elections were held, and the AIML under its leader, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, won every Muslim majority seat by landslides. It was clear that Muslims wanted a Pakistan, and Congress saw the writing on the wall and let a Pakistan go through. However, negotiations were postponed for some time in the summer of 1946 in respect for the death of a prominent leader of Congress: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

There was also talk of a new independent state, one centered in Bengal. Bengali politicians, both in the Indian National Congress such as Sarat Chandra Bose, and in the All India Muslim League such as Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy (who was also Prime Minister of Bengal at the time) began to demand for an independent Bengali state, which would comprise of Bengal, Assam and Tripura. Assamese leaders tried to fight this, but soon it became clear that if Bengal were to become independent Assam would become a part of it. Clarification on the status of Bengal had they become independent (dominion of Britain or not?), along with support from non-Bengali leaders such as Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Mohandas Gandhi, both from the AIML and INC respectively, led to it becoming a reality on August 13th, 1947. Pakistan became independent on the 14th, and India became independent on the 15th. The Prime Minister of Bengal at the time, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, was pretty unpopular amongst the large Hindu population in Bengal. With Assam beginning to agitate for independence Suhrawardy knew it was only a matter of time and didn't want to be seen responsible so he resigned and give power to Sarat Chandra Bose.

However, problems rose with the Princely states. Princely states have been given very little autonomy by the British colonial government. By the time the British had left the princely states had three options: Accede to Pakistan, Accede to India, Accede to Bengal or become independent. Three princely states: Junagadh, Hyderabad and Jammu and Kashmir were the most notable of them all.

Jammu and Kashmir does not exist today, but the legacy it left still does. Jammu and Kashmir’s Maharaja (prince), Hari Singh, wanted independence. However, a rebellion in Poonch by Muslims made the situation tense. Nehru, seeing a dispute arising talked to the Pakistani government, and they both agreed that a plebiscite must be held. However, a Pakistani funded Muslim rebellion in Jammu and Kashmir broke out. Singh and his Dogra forces began to attack the rebels, and Pakistan declared war on Jammu and Kashmir. Seeing as how the war would likely end in Pakistani victory Singh acceded to India, making the war a lot closer. Eventually, a UN mandated peace deal divided Jammu and Kashmir into two lines of control, yet Pakistan and India kept their claims on all of the borders of the former princely state.

Junagadh was controlled by a Muslim Nawab yet had a majority Hindu population. The Muslim nawab acceded to Pakistan, but one of the Hindu nobility seceded from Junagadh and made his new princely state accede to India. The Hindu population rebelled, but the Pakistani government sent 200 troops to assist the Junagadh armed forces. The Indian government was furious that Pakistan was accepting Junagadh’s accession, seeing as how Jinnah, the current governor general of Pakistan, said that Muslims and Hindus can’t live together. However, the Indian government began to slowly accept Junagadh’s accession. The Muslim population of Junagadh (which was named South Pakistan in 1960) began to increase as Muslim immigrants and refugees began settling there.

On January 31st, 1948, Mohandas Gandhi, an influential figure in the INC was shot and killed by Imran Haider, a member of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. Anti-Muslim riots began to break out, despite Nehru’s best attempts to stop it. Some local leaders of Congress began to tell the rioters in their town where Muslims in the town lived. The riots lasted until February 4th, and by that time 9,564 Muslims have been killed, hundreds of Mosques had been destroyed, hundreds of Muslim owned business had been destroyed and thousands fled to Pakistan and some went to Bengal.

With Junagadh being lost to Pakistan and Nehru trying and failing to stop the anti-Muslim riots, Nehru’s position was extremely weak. Nehru resigned on June 30th, 1948, and the Indian Minister of Finance, John Mathai became the Prime Minister.

On September 8th, 1948, the Nazim of Hyderabad acceded to Pakistan. Hyderabad had no land or sea connection to Pakistan and was far away, and as such Pakistan couldn’t defend Hyderabad like they did with Junagadh, but even if they could, the Hindu population in Hyderabad would had still broke out in rebellion. Hindu nobles seceded from Hyderabad and made their new princely states accede to India. The Indian government, not wanting another Junagadh situation, sent troops on September 10th. After 39 hours, Hyderabad fell to India. Pakistan protested, but silently conceded after a while.

In the mean time in Bengal Assamese leaders now began demanding independence for Assam. Support for Assam being integrated into India was gone as they felt Congress betrayed Assam by not speaking up more for their cause. An insurgency began, which was supported by India. Bengali atrocities in Assam led to the UN demand a plebiscite. India supported it, Pakistan opposed it. A plebiscite in Assam happened anyway, and the result was 99.78% for independence. Bengali Prime Minister Sarat Chandra Bose's government collapsed, and so did the Bengali National Congress. Elections were held in 1952 to decide Bengal's new Prime Minister. The Krishak Sramik Party, which was Social Democratic, lost thanks to Muslim Nawabs lending their support to the BML and Hindu voters choosing to support the Bengali Hindu Congress, seeing as how the leader of the KSP, A. K. Fazlul Haq, support a separate Muslim state before the idea of an independent Bengal arose.

Results of the 1952 Bengali General Election:
Bengali Muslim League (Led by Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy)-102 seats, 40.9%
Krishak Sramik Party (Led by A. K. Fazlul Haq)-68 seats, 30.7%
Bengali Hindu Congress (Led by Sris Chandra Chattopadhyaya)-30 seats, 23.2%

[NOT gonna be banned soon]

There was also the issue of Sylhet, which was given to Assam. Assamese Prime Minister Gopinath Bordoloi wanted to give it to Bengal in order to make Assam more ethnically homogenous, and the fact the Sylhetis were pro-Bengali, but seeing how fast Bose's government collapsed following the secession of Assam changed his mind. Bengal still claims Sylhet, and the Bengali-Assamese dispute over Sylhet could be compared to the Indian-Pakistani dispute over Jammu & Kashmir.

In the meantime in India, elections were held in 1953. Many Muslims were distrustful of Congress following the 1948 riots, and as such the Indian Union Muslim League began to take up a lot of their votes. At the same time, a fiscally conservative yet still secular party was formed by former Indian governor general Chakravarti Rajagopalachari named the Swatantra party, made in opposition to Prime Minister Mathai's socialist economic policies. Rajagopalachari won the election.

Results of the 1953 Indian General Election:
Swatantra (Led by Chakravarti Rajagopalachari)-247 seats, 33.5%
Congress (Led by John Mathai)-178 seats, 30.8%
Indian Union Muslim League (Led by Abdul Wahid Owaisi)-45 seats, 10.9%


In the mean time in Pakistan, a constitution was made in 1950, with it being supported by most of the country. In 1952, elections were called. The Pakistan Muslim League controlled most of the country, and most of the Pakistan left wing had been cracked down due to the failed 1951 USSR backed left wing military coup against Liaquat Ali Khan. The only Left-wing party was an ethnic (in this case, Pashtun) nationalist party led by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. The Muslim League won in landslides in the 1952 election. In the 1957 election, the left had regrouped into a "Popular Front" led by Sajjad Zaheer, but it failed to get a sizeable amount of votes due to infighting in the Popular Front, as they had Communists (Sajjad Zaheer was a Communist so that didn't help matters), Secular Socialists, Islamic Socialists, Liberals, Democratic Socialists, Liberals etc.. In the end the Popular Front turned out to not be so "popular" after all.

Results of the 1952 Pakistani General Election:
Pakistan Muslim League (Led by Liaquat Ali Khan) - 252 seats, 50.3%
Jamaat-e-Islami (Led by Syed Abul A'la Maududi) - 27 seats, 20.1%
Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (Led by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan) - 10 seats, 12.9%


Results of the 1957 Pakistani General Election:

Pakistan Muslim League (Led by Liaquat Ali Khan) - 213 seats (-39), 44.1% (-6.2%)
Pakistan Popular Front (Led by Sajjad Zaheer) - 40 seats, 25.2%
Jamaat-e-Islami (Led by Syed Abul A'la Maududi) - 39 seats (+12), 25.1% (+5.0%)

Pakistan's leaders were sympathetic to America from day one. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan, governor general of Pakistan from 1947-1950 and president from 1950 until his death in 1951 gave a radio address to both the people of America and Australia. When Pakistan became independent Liaquat Ali Khan was invited to both Moscow and Washington, and Liaquat Ali Khan went to Washington. Pakistan signed pro-western treaties, and as such the USSR and India began to become friendlier and friendlier with each other. In fact, the USSR was trying to inflame Pashtunistani sentiments in Pakistan's Northwest. Pashtunistan was also supported by Afghanistan, the only country to oppose Pakistan's entry into the UN. Afghanistan refused to recognize their border with Pakistan as the legitimate border, and from 1952 to 1955 border skirmishes broke out between the two.

Pakistan's pro western leanings and conservative economic policy led to heavy investment in Pakistan by Western Businesses, and soon Pakistan experienced an economic boom. Pakistan was seen as a rising country, many began to call it a "New United States in South Asia". However, economic growth began to have a slight slump for some time when Liaquat Ali Khan was overthrown by the army due to Liaquat Ali Khan wanting to punish Afghanistan for support Pashtunistan in the Northwest. The final straw was when a Pashtunistani militant shot Liaquat Ali Khan but thankfully didn't kill him. The army advised against this, but Liaquat Ali Khan had made his mind. When Liaquat Ali Khan tried to dismiss Chief of Army Staff Mohammad Musa Khan Hazara the army overthrew him, claiming Liaquat Ali Khan was mentally unfit. However, Liaquat Ali Khan was still popular amongst Pakistanis and Liaquat Ali Khan certainly didn't look mentally ill, which didn't help matters. However, the curtailing of civil liberties led to the silencing of discontent, and Liaquat Ali Khan was thrown in prison. However, he was still popular, which would prove to be a problem for the Musa Khan if he messes up.

As for Pakistan’s Eastern neighbor: Rajagopalachari began to crack down on Communist groups and banned the communist party and strengthened ties with the US, yet the US was beginning to favor Pakistan over India. He was shot and killed by a deranged man while visiting Maharashtra in 1955, and was replaced by Minoo Masani, who began a program to research mental health (In fact, mental health research today would be severely different had it not been for the contributions of Indian scientists) who called elections in 1956 and lost to Morarji Desai. A big factor in Masani's defeat was the secession of Nagaland earlier in the year. Nagaland, being separated from India due to the existence of Assam, and because of the fact they were majority Christian, and because the Naga people developed a sense of Nationalism during the British Raj saw the ineffectiveness of India addressing their needs and the fact that they had no border with India as the final straw.

Indian troops were blocked from accessing Bengal due to bad blood between Bengal and India, and Assam only gave Indians access very late because there was still a large feeling of anti-India sentiment in the country, with many Assamese politicians believing in the "Indian betrayal" line of thought. Desai has been trying to reach a detente with Pakistan and an easing of tensions, but the 1958 coup might hinder his progress...

Results of the 1956 Indian General Election:

Congress (Led by Morarji Desai): 357 seats (+178), 49.9% (+19.1%)
[/color]Swatantra (Led by Minoo Masani): 66 seats (-181), 20.7% (-12.8%)
Indian Union Muslim League (Led by Abdul Wahid Owaisi): 25 seats (-20), 6.9% (-4.0%)[/size]

[NOT gonna be banned soon]

It worked!

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

This is extremely awesome! Love the concept!