What if the Axis Won World War II?

Introduction

• Alternate history scenario based on a mod for the strategy game Hearts of Iron IV.
• The mod is called "The New Order: The Last Days of Europe".
• It explores a world where the Axis powers won WWII.

Points of Divergence

1. Herbert Hoover's Second Term: Policy Continuity and Economic Decline

   • Hoover continues with ineffective Great Depression policies.
   • Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. becomes President in 1936 but is unable to enact substantial economic reforms.
   • America lacks the industrial capability to match Japan.

2. Bukharin's Leadership in the Soviet Union

   • Bukharin succeeds Lenin and continues New Economic Plan (NEP), which fails.
   • Soviet Union faces famine, revolts, and late industrialization.
   • Collapse within six months of the German invasion in 1941.

Key Events in Alternate WWII

• Italian Blitz to Suez Canal and Gibraltar
  • Successful coordination with Germans traps British Navy in the Mediterranean.
  • German technological superiority leads to Operation Sea Lion’s success and British capitulation.
• Pearl Harbor Nuclear Attack (1945)
  • German plane from Japanese carrier drops nuclear bomb on Pearl Harbor.
  • Prompted US to seek conditional surrender.

Post-War World: German Ambition and Collapse

1. Germany's Post-War Projects

   • Berlin rebuilt as Germania.
   • Carpet bombing in Africa and Russia.
   • Atlantropa project: Turns the Mediterranean into a desert, unstable economies.

2. German Economic Collapse (1950)

   • War and conquest-driven economy fails.
   • Various factions form:
     • Albert Speer’s reformists
     • Himmler’s SS extremists
     • Göring's militant faction
     • Conservative foremen

3. West Russian Revolutionary Front

   • Russian warlord states unite to attack Germany.
   • Internal German conflict involving Himmler's SS and Han Spiedel’s counteractions.

Other Global Consequences

1. German Moon Landing (1962)

   • Amid all chaos, Germany manages to land a man on the moon.

2. Italy's Reaction

   • Forms Triumvirate with Iberian Union and Turkey.
   • Repeals 1938 racial laws and supports Jewish Zionism.

3. Post-War England and British Resistance

   • Kingdom of England has a nominally democratic government overseen by King Edward.
   • Scottish and Welsh independence.
   • Increased resistance activities against German control.

4. Burgundy: SS State

   • Life in Burgundy is nightmarish, led by SS extremism.
   • Conducts covert operations aimed at global instability.

Russian Warlord States

• Post-Soviet collapse leads to multiple chaotic states.
• Examples:
  • Aryan Brotherhood: Slavs can become Aryans.
  • Siberian Black League: Extreme anti-German sentiment.
  • Cheetah: Monarchical kidnapping.

Japan's Empire and Internal Conflict

• Vast colonial empire but facing internal corruption and economic instability.
• Independence movements are rising in colonies.
• Tensions with both the US and Germany.

Post-War United States

1. 1948 Presidential Elections

   • Messy political landscape, eventual win by Thomas Dewey.
   • Democratic Party decline, leading to a coalition with Republicans forming the Republican-Democratic Party (RD's).

2. Other Political Movements

   • Formation of National Progressive Front and Patriotic Party.
   • 1952 election saw Dwight D. Eisenhower's victory.

3. 1960 Election and Hawaiian Missile Crisis

   • Nixon-Kennedy administration wins in a landslide.
   • January 1962: Hawaiian missile crisis defused.

Conclusion

• The game starts in 1962.
• Stakeholders are encouraged to explore this alternate history in the Hearts of Iron IV mod.