RED DAWN: The Next World War
"The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end."
-Leon Trotsky
"As long as there are sovereign nations possessing great power, war is inevitable."
-Albert Einstein
"Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in blood of his followers and sacrifices of his friends."
-General Dwight D. Eisenhower
"I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat."
-Winston Churchill
"The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end."
-Leon Trotsky
"As long as there are sovereign nations possessing great power, war is inevitable."
-Albert Einstein
"Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in blood of his followers and sacrifices of his friends."
-General Dwight D. Eisenhower
"I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat."
-Winston Churchill
BACKSTORY
The devastation of the Great War would prove to be a turning point in human history.
From the years 1914-1918, the world had been embroiled in its first true global conflict, one that spanned across multiple continents and involved millions of people from locations around the world. Europe was torn apart in the conflict, and countless tens of millions were killed or wounded. In the aftermath of what would become known as the Great War, people were left disillusioned, unsure what the future had in store for them. Radical ideas such as communism flourished, and in the starved cities of Central and Eastern Europe, many took up arms, and fought for what they believed would ensure them a better existence. Socialist and leftist parties had grown rapidly in power, and it had come time to strike. In the former Russian empire, the Petrograd Soviet declared the end of the Ancien Régime and Tzar, calling up its citizens in the what might've be the world's first communist uprising.
However, looking back 20 years, a different story can be seen playing out just in what was once the German Empire. Near the end of the Great War, Germany was in ruin: its citizens starved and coffers empty. Years of Entente blockades and constant fighting on the Western Front had drained the nation of manpower and resources, while citizens became increasingly upset with their rapidly deteriorating living standards. As peace dawned, it became apparent that the victorious powers had no intent of giving any sort of fair treatment to Germany, all in the meantime while violence within the newly founded German Republic threatened to tear the nation apart. Various leftist groups under the leadership of the Spartacus League and soon to be Communist Party of Germany prepared to rise against what they considered an ineffectual and dictatorial government. On the 4th of January, 1919, they struck against the heart of the German Republic itself: Berlin.
A mass demonstration that turned into a full on riot erupted, as hundreds of thousands of workers took up arms and stormed many key buildings within Berlin. As revolutionary leaders Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht attempted to resolve the issue at hand (overthrowing the government or negotiating with it), rioters discovered a poster detailing the imminent Freikorp suppression of the uprising. Almost immediately, they began preparing for the coming attack. In the meantime, negotiations had begun with associated movements such as the Bavarian Soviet Republic and numerous Workers' and Soldiers' Councils around the country. Weapons had been appropriated from friendlier naval units within the city, while barricades were erected.
A battle erupted in the coming days as Freikorp paramilitaries battled against the Spartacus League and its associated worker's councils and allied military units. Defeat seemed inevitable due to the Freikorp's superior firepower, that is until a friendly force sent by the Bavarian Soviet intervened near the last minute, and drove Freikorp troops from the city. In light of victory, the German People's Republic was declared, and a interim government put into place. The socialist revolutionaries quickly made plans to spread the revolution across the nation.
The former Entente would not have any of this.
As German revolutionary forces streamed across the country relatively undeterred, French soldiers stationed in the occupied Saarland intervened and threatened war against the new German People's Republic. Still war weary and militarily / economically exhausted, the GPR complied and agreed to peace. Germany was then split between the eastern GPR and remnant western Republic of Germany, which eventually annexed Austria following a referendum as the years progressed. Yet despite this clear prevention of a unified, socialist Germany, ripples would be sent throughout the world.
Germany's revolution was only one of the many that would occur in the coming decade. As Germany stabilized, passive aide and encouragement of many Eastern European socialist movements helped spur increasing waves of revolt across the continent. Combined with Russian interventions and military force, within 10 years most if not all of Eastern Europe and parts of the old Russian Empire had fallen under communist rule. Combined with the growing movements within parts of the old Ottoman and Persian Empires, communism had come to dominate a large part of Eurasia. As the red world expanded, the capitalist west looked on in fear. The red scare, unlike our timeline, was many times worse. Deterring and stopping communism became core principles in many European nations, which rallied in face of the red tide.
Crowds raise the international communist symbol near the Reichstag, GPR, 1921.
In 1927, the Pan-Eurasian Conference of Socialist States was held by the various Eurasian communist states, and soon a momentous point of history had been reached. Over two dozen socialist states (including the republics of the former USSR), merged into the multi-continental Union of Eurasian Socialist Republics (UESR, known to many as simply the "Eurasian Soviet"), which came to dominate much of Central + Eastern Europe and Asia. With over 300 million people, and larger than Mongol Empire of the old, the UESR became a proverbial elephant when it came to global influence. As practicality would have it, the UESR did not become one unified nation; rather, it became a close economic and political union similar to OTL's EU. Politically, the Union fell under the influences of the semi-authoritarian Russian SFSR (controlled by more socially liberal and internationalist members of the CCCP), and the rather libertarian / syndicalist German PR. An elected congress of over 900 members from the various republics was set into place, while economic cooperation quickly took root.
While the UESR set out to rebuild itself, western nations began forging ties with one another. Fascist and right wing groups took to power in reaction to communism's rapid spread, while numerous defensive pacts were signed. When the New York Stock market plummeted in 1928, communist groups in the west began to stir once again. Almost all these groups were quickly put down, as the red scare had taken full hold of the westernized world. In the traditionally isolationist USA, violence incited by the CPUSA and associated leftist groups led to a full clamp down by the government, which took an increasingly anti-communist and internationalist stance as the 30s progressed. Leftist agitation within Latin America proved incompatible with American interests, and the rapid and near uncontrolled growth of Communist Eurasia had worried many within the states. It was decided that America would have to become the arsenal of the free world, and take a new role in international politics. Emerging from isolation, the United States of America entered the global stage as a giant, one dedicated to the ideals of capitalism, democracy, and freedom.
A Russian laborer works at a Eurasian steel mill located in Magnitogorsk.
While most of the world suffered from global depression during the 30s, various republics within the UESR began industrializing rapidly. Following the Pan-Eurasian Congress of 1927, many individual republics introduced economic plans with two phases: the first focussing heavily on heavy industry and raw material production, with light industry as a priority of the second. Implementation of German policies such as worker's self management and decentralization helped ease the inefficiencies of central planning, while appeasing workers and labor unions. The economy grew rapidly and living standards drastically rose in many underdeveloped parts of the UESR. In just under a decade, the UESR transformed itself from a collection of agricultural backwaters into a formidable industrial superpower, one strong enough to rival much of the west by itself. The success of Eurasian industrialization caused even more alarm in western nations, which began preparing for the worst.
It is now the year 1938, and world is entering a time of great change. The Eurasian Soviet looms over the nations of Western Europe and East-Asia, preparing for the next global war while funding insurrections and anti-colonial rebellions across the planet. India is currently in a state of total revolt, while the Chinese civil war rages on between the CCP and nationalists. Fascist movements have taken hold of many parts of the globe, and vow to destroy the communists at all costs. War is on the horizon, and it's a question of when, not if.