Alternate History: Peace for Our Time (1949)

DISCLAIMER: This particular artwork and others, does not convey my political beliefs whatsoever and is not intended to offend anyone.

“What if Hitler’s infamous risky pincer movement against France that led to its quick submission during the Second World War catastrophically backfired and led to an early German defeat?”

This is my attempt at creating an alternate history scenario. The main differences that led to the German defeat was that Britain and France, used the precious time during the so-called “Phony Wars” to build up their armed forces and adapted the rules of modern warfare based on what they’ve observed during the German Invasion of Poland, the British in particular revamped their Air Force and were willing to deploy it into the front during the Battle of France. While the French reorganized their Tank arsenal into specialized armored divisions akin to the Germans. During the battle itself, the Allies were more willing to pool in their forces, with Britain sending a greater number of Expeditionary Forces and deployed their Air Force fully, the same case goes with the French. Additionally, during the Battle of France the Allies were able to react quickly and effectively against German assault in the Ardennes which turned out to be disastrous for the Germans.

Following their comeback, the Allies gained the initiative and pushed forward with the momentum against Germany and incursed upon Germany itself, pushing as far as the Rhine against the German forces whom had a hard time reorganizing themselves to mount an effective counterattack. In this precarious situation, Hitler whom had tarnished his reputation following the massive failure of the plan that he had chosen, still refused to make peace with the Allies. In the end, the German military command lost their patience and launched a successful coup d'état against him and the rest of the Nazi leadership whom refuses to surrender, forcing many of them to be exiled into Italy, including Hitler.

Afterwards, the new German leadership immediately offered peace to the Allies and offered a white peace. The British were willing to negotiate but demanded that the Germans return to their Pre-Munich Agreement borders, while the French were reluctant to negotiate and prefers to push forward and dismantle Germany to prevent Germany from ever threatening them again. Though in the end, due to a popular uproar to end the war back on their respective countries, the French were willing to back-off and entered the negotiating table. 

The resulting peace agreement was that Germany returns to their borders prior to their annexation of Sudetenland, restore independence to countries they had conquered and allow a 'temporary' stationing of Allied forces in key locations such as the west bank of the Rhine, Lower Saxony, Holstein, Silesia, and Eastern Prussia. Additionally, under the request of the French whom seek to weaken Germany's position, a referendum is to be conducted in Austria on whether the country wishes to stay with Germany or not, which resulted in a majority wishing to stay with Germany. 

Meanwhile, within Germany itself, the move to remove Adolf Hitler from power was seen as yet another backstabbing of the German people by many within Germany. The military rule became increasingly unpopular fast and the military, under the recommendation of the Allies, partially restored a part of the Nazi leadership along with some degree of democratic apparatuses. One that may relinquish popular dissent yet may be able to cooperate with the Allies. As a result, a 'free and fair' elections were held, with the Nazi Party unsurprisingly won an absolute majority and putting war-hero Hermann Göring as Chancellor, while Joachim von Ribbentrop was placed as a temporary president to balance the Chancellor's power. The new government is now divided between acknowledging reality and cooperate with the Allies or follow the orders of Hitler and the rest of the party still exiled in Germany. 

Immediately after the war ended and old borders are partially restored, new tensions blew up, particularly in Eastern Europe. Slovakia, whom had been formed as a mere puppet state by Germany after carving up Czechoslovakia, had been left crumbling after Germany fell and were completely annexed by their Hungarian neighbors afterwards. Now, that the old Czechoslovakian government had returned, they laid claim on former Slovakia and deemed the Hungarian annexation illegal, creating a heated situation between both. The same case happened to Poland whom had half of its state carved up by the Soviet Union on the infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop pact between them and Nazi Germany. In both cases, the Allies officially backed Czechoslovakia and Poland and their claims. In southern Europe, Italy, alarmed by the quick fall of Germany, decided not to press on with imperialist ventures in the future that may bring the more powerful Allies against them.

On the other half of the world, in the Far East, American embargo against Japan in protest of their continuous aggression on China resulted in a precarious situation for the Japanese where their industries and war machines are threatened to be grinded into a complete halt within a short time without any means to fuel them. In a bid to alleviate their situation, the Japanese made a daring plan to takeover relatively undefended European colonies in the region that may provide them the required riches to quench their thirst for resources, while also launching a surprise attack against the Americans to deter them from any possibility of attacking Japan before Japan is ready to face them. But they were then alarmed by the calming situation and Europe and the quick defeat of Germany, the Japanese decided to abandon the latter part of the plan and focus their entire armed forces against the European colonies instead, bypassing the Americans and hoping that they do not prematurely retaliate. 

Soon, they executed their plan, overrunning French, Dutch, and British colonies in the Far East while leaving American territories in the Pacific and the Philippines alone for the time being. The United States, whom still lack any willingness to engage themselves into foreign wars, intervened indirectly by providing supply and weaponry to the Allies; while the Soviet Union did similarly, mounting more of their military in the Far East and allowing the Allies to use their territories to supply China. Allied forces mounted a counter-offensive but were ineffective due to their relative range and lack of support from their home countries which felt little connection to the far-flung colonies. Additionally, France whom is a core part of the Alliance aside Britain seemed unwilling to continue the war due to their minimal interest in the Far East and thus contributed little effort to the war. This, in addition with disagreement on how to finish off Germany during the war against them, created a rift between Britain and France.

After a few years, the Allies signed a peace treaty with Japan that grants them the territories they currently occupied, stretching from Indochina, to Indonesia, and the Pacific; acknowledging their hegemony. China, now left to fight on their own, soon succumbed to the Japanese and a collaborationist leadership was put in charge, ensuring Japanese dominance in the region. With the mist of war dissipating, the Japanese formed a new order in the continent and carved the land, creating numerous puppet states that were tightly controlled from Tokyo. 

In response to this worrying development, the Soviet Union strengthened their grip over their puppet state, Mongolia, and forcibly took over Xinjiang to extend their borders against the Japanese hegemon; the British, unwilling to concede more, also strengthened Australia and India, while the United States also fortified their positions further by tightening their control on Philippines which received substantial negative reaction by the native Filipino whom became increasingly pro-Japan; soon it led into a successful Japanese supported popular uprising that drove away the Americans and brought a Japanese aligned regime into power.

Japanese 'liberation' of former European colonies and the granting of partial autonomy had created resentment on other European colonies still held by Europeans whom wishes additional rights for self-determination. To culminate the situation, Britain had to make some concessions on their territories and colonies around the world. Particularly in India and Egypt; In India, Britain granted the status of dominion and opened native Indians to more positions in the administration of the country and grant them more capability to manage on their own, whereas in Egypt, Britain had to compromise and concede Sudan to the Kingdom of Egypt in order for the Sultan to stay with the British.

CONTEMPORARY SITUATION
Today, the young Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere led by Japan already starts to crumble under its own weight. Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States loosely cooperated together in seeking to bring the Japanese Empire down to its knees. All means available from economic embargoes to supporting internal resistance were conducted by the Allies to hurt the Japanese Empire. The Soviet Union in particular, managed to support and incite popular Communist rebellions in Japanese client states, with Mao Tse-Tung shaking collaborationist China into a verge of complete disarray and forcing Japan into a costly war, along with Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam and Amir Syariffudin in Indonesia, causing more and more troubles every day. These numerous issues took toll on the weary Japanese military and economy, which were lagging far behind the Allied forces day by day.

Meanwhile, in Europe, a great upset to the continent's balance of power is about to unravel. After nearly 10 years of occupation, Britain, along with several other allied nations decided to retract its forces from Germany, with Poland and Czechoslovakia to follow suit soon. But France remains fervently opposed to leaving, and even considering to annex the west bank of the Rhine for their own citing their own security purposes against Germany. This created an even larger division between the already shaky Franco-British Alliance. Despite their discontent of the Germans, the British are unwilling to let France destroy Germany completely which will ensure a relatively unopposed French dominance in the continent. With differing interest, namely Britain seeking to focus on their colonies and topple Japan while France remain concentrated against Germany, soon the alliance may break apart. Gradually, Britain is relaxing their relations with Germany and may commit themselves into more intensive cooperation with them if the French decided to part ways and pursue opposing interests with the British. Additionally, with the Franco-British alliance weakening, Italy is starting to get bolder on their foreign policy and begin to reopen their imperialist dreams. Still led by Mussolini, the Italians are looking into extending their power in the Mediterranean, namely into Yugoslavia or Greece, while trying to make other Balkan nations such as Hungary or Bulgaria to align with them.

Within Germany, the far right ideology of Nazism remains popular, though the fervor is starting to dissipate and a schism within the Nazi party itself is starting to splinter the party apart, threatening their dominance in German politics. Led by Hermann Göring, some of the Nazi leadership in Germany begins to look away from Hitler and the rest of the original leadership in Italy and pursue their own interest that aligns with the Allies instead, much to the dismay of many. Despite this and the reestablishment of more democratic ideals several years ago, the country remained relatively extreme politically, leading to many opposed to the regime fleeing away, mainly the Jewish whom emigrated away, particularly to Palestine since the rise of Nazism in the country.

The Soviet Union, coordinating and supporting many popular and mainly communist uprisings that were somewhat approved by the Allies around the Japanese sphere, became increasingly important. Furthermore, their influences grew as leftist ideologies begin to gain popularity on other corners of the world, particularly in less industrialized countries and colonies still held by Europeans such as South America, Africa, and India. The United States on the other hand, through bombarding the populace with "Yellow Scare" manages to culminate more public support to actively oppose Japan and this encourages the current administration to begin looking outwards in terms of foreign policy in order to encircle and choke Japan. With its dominant influence towards other nations in the Americas, the United States gradually forms a tight coalition of American nations in the Pacific against Japan.

Overall, the situation remains tense and precarious throughout the world and no one knows what will happen next. With the possibility of Britain allying with Germany against France, Italy rebuilding their imperial ambitions, a Soviet hand over Asia, a Pacific-looking coalition in the Americas, and the final fall of the Japanese Empire; it seemed clear that the world tomorrow would be far alien and ludicrous to anyone living 20 years ago, or hell, today.



As a note for myself I should find a smaller base map next time because maps this size gave me chronic issues.

Created with MS Paint+Adobe Photoshop CS6

CREDITS: Base map used is Victoria II province map by CanOmer and all flags are from WikiMedia