Nazis And A Nuclear War

Nazis And A Nuclear War:
This is one of those worlds where the Nazis do a far better job than OTL, shatter the USSR, get their own nuclear bomb and hold the world in a state of MAD by strapping an atomic payload to some V Series rocket weapons. Their victory sort of involves the Nazis refusing to get involved in Africa, capturing the Caucasus oil fields and the British and Americans deciding to focus more on the Japanese after that. A state of Cold War existed until the 1960s when a dispute over “some damn thing in the Middle East” went tits up and the bombs began dropping.

By the year 2013 the world has been in its new status quo for a little over 20 years though there is still a lot of chaos going in Africa and parts of Asia. The environment took a very nasty hit thanks to the disruption caused by nuclear winter (mild as it was), population disruption and the destructive anarchy of the post-war situation. War and chaos took place across much of the globe and much of the Third World collapsed into a warlord dominated mess that they are still struggling to recover from.

The United States was the bulwark of the Allied Powers war effort against the Axis even after their swing towards a more authoritarian government during the short Cold War. After the nuclear war of the 60s the USA suffered from the catastrophic first strike and the emergency regime that took over quickly descended into a military dictatorship. The army teamed up with their military contractors and several other surviving corporations and plunged the USA into a totalitarian regime that has yet to be disbanded. The USA today is still struggling with the areas that were bombed to near oblivion and are still very radioactive but this has only helped the government tighten their grip further by keeping more of the population in areas the government already has a strong grip on. Rationing is still in place as well but this hasn't stopped the Americans from occupying most of the rest of the North American Continent anyway (to acquire resources so says the government). The surviving large corporations provide a veneer of prosperity for the American population but things are still very nasty for anyone who is not a WASP. The black population have suffered horribly from the fascist government and didn't even get the benefits of a Civil Rights Movement. The specific allocation of resources that suspiciously left the majority of non-white Americans off the list saw a lot of Black, Hispanic and Asian Americans starve with the majority now confined to ghettos.

The American film industry was revived in the 80s and Hollywood has now become a massive propaganda machine. Televisions are rare and the majority of films are shown at public cinemas but the only films are propaganda as well. Radio programs are filled with ideologues, demagogues and politically driven new reports and all newspapers are controlled by something affiliated with the government. The USA does still claim they support democracy which is why they justified several of their invasions of Latin America but in practice they simply employ methods of colonialism and military rule in these areas. A form of Apartheid government exists in much of Central America because of American occupation.

The British Empire has broken into three (more recognisable) parts that are still part of the Allies but are also at each other's throats. None are particularly powerful on their own but collectively they add a lot of muscle tot he Allied cause. The largest is the Kingdom of Australia. The House of Windsor was dispersed shortly after WWIII began and the one that made it to Australia found it in decent shape. However the anarchy of the post war situation, the collapse of world trade, the resource shortages and the attacks by Asian refugees and pirates saw the nation spiral into its own dictatorship. This one is Party based but still keeps their branch of the monarchy as a figurehead and is the most powerful and populous of the three British successor kingdoms. They maintain numerous puppets in the West Pacific and the Indian Ocean and have annexed a lot of territory. The Kingdom of Canada is little more than an American puppet but at the very least they have more leeway than most and are decidedly more liberal (but still fascist) than their allies. Britain itself received quite a heavy German payload and the government that took over the ruins was particularly nasty. The United Kingdom (they see no reason why they shouldn't continue the brand) is a full on fascist police state with a government made up of right wing extremists, military personnel and corporate oligarchs. Most of their resources have been devoted to maintaining control of their nation, stamping down resistance, fortifying the nation and of course purging the nation of undesirables. Their ties with the Allied Nations and their remaining corporations do provide a thin veneer of moderate prosperity but beneath that is a festering underbelly of desperation and paranoia with heavy rationing and constant propaganda. Strategies employed during the Blitz have returned in order to maximize the productive output of the nation and keep them as self-sufficient as possible in case of another (unlikely for a while) war. The British people simply get by much as they have done.

The Holy Soviet Republic was born from the rump USSR in Siberia. Though it is not very holy and definitely not a republic, thanks to the nepotism of the previous Premier but there is a Soviet so that's something. The Soviets lost a lot of their remaining industry in the vindictive German first strike and only recovered thanks to the efforts of a particularly inhuman Premier of the time. The Red Army rose to prominence before the religious reaction of the 70s. Now the Orthodox Church are the supreme institution of Soviet society. The government quickly took advantage of this, supporting and endorsing the Church in return for the Church supporting them. Now street preachers and church sermons repeat propaganda similar to the kind seen on street posters across the Republic. They have swallowed most of Muscovy once again and are gearing up to retake the remaining German settled states of Western Russia.

Joining the Allies are a collection of other fascist states and political puppets that are either run by the USA or, occasionally, the other more powerful Allies. The Japanese dictatorship used to be run by a right wing party but is now more fascist-lite these days and has become an economically valuable asset in the Pacific for the Allies. Areas of the Middle East turned to a form of Islamic fascism that helped smooth political issues over their not-occupation by the Allies. With Australian, American and Japanese forces in the area, most of South East Asia also fell nude the Alliance’s thumb.

However the Allied hegemony does have some challengers that have also risen out of the ashes of WWIII. The Southern Hemisphere received a far lighter price than the conflicting power blocs of the short Cold War. Receiving a number of refugees from the North helped increase their skilled population base and their more intact infrastructure allowed them to rise to power. Whilst they are far from actually rivalling the Allies they continue to grow stronger.

Brazil has become an industrial power under a democratic government. Brazil was another dictatorship during the post-war period but they managed to recover from that short interim and even industrialise. The Brazilians are the leaders of a South American power bloc that is devoted to opposing American interventions in Latin America. The short fascist/military government did lead to several policies that preserved most of the Amazon Rainforest but large areas have still been cleared for new industries and infrastructure. Most wealth is also concentrated in the coastal regions whilst the interior remains fairly impoverished. Argentina is a weaker but richer rival to Brazil's ambitions in South America. Like Brazil they are also democratic but are somewhat more militant and right wing than Brazil has become. At the very least they avoided Peron and stayed first world until the Third World War. Unfortunately these two power blocs are very limited in their power projection and really just work to defend their existing interests and hold off the Allies.

South Africa received a number of refugees from Europe which reinforced white rule even further. They have since developed and modernised South Africa further and built up a number of puppets from the surrounding chaos and warlord states. South Africa is devoted to maintaining white control and keeping the black population in their place but they have improved as the nation developed. For the white population, South Africa has gone from a military dictatorship to a one party state whilst for the black population it has gone from a totalitarian hell-hole to a totalitarian nightmare which is an improvement. Their independent streak has upset their relationship with the Allies and the squabbling of the three British governments has definitely held back chances of reconciliation.

Eventually after much bloodshed a coherent Chinese state was formed by one of the more successful warlords. They have struggled to make it out of the 19th Century in much of the country and their small nuclear arsenal still requires bomber planes to carry them but they're are improving with every year. Their industry is expanding all the time and technology is either recovered, developed or re-innovated constantly. They have a particular grudge against the Japanese and the British for past mistreatments as well as the fact that they sponsor several states in Southern China that they believe belong in the new Chinese state.

Europe received the brunt of the nuclear attacks in WWIII. The Nazi government splintered in the aftermath and after a brief civil war coalesced into three different Reichs. The three Germanies are the supreme powers of Europe, all of them different flavours of Nazi, but their efforts are largely directed towards fighting one another and competing for what influence they can find. Europe is rather backward with technology rarely exceeding the Late 40s (this does mean the Reichs have a nuclear arsenal at least). The Swedes weathered the war in decent shape and absorbed the recently collapsed Nazi governments in Denmark and Norway to form the Scandinavian Union. The Union is still neutral but has built a large chemical weapons deterrent in order to stave off the attention of the Reichs and the Allies. The Kingdom of Italy pulled through despite a nuclear attack on Rome and the invasion of starving Swiss. They have actually grown into a decent power in the Mediterranean. The Italians have really calmed down from the post-war “kill the Arabs/Africans before they kill us” phase but the damage has been done and they still suffer from terrorism in their colonial territories.

Technology recovered to 1960s levels in the 90s and has progressed further since then. The United States and Australia have actually made it to early 1980s levels in military hardware and a few civilian fields. Most of the rest of the world is at 30s to 50s levels of development. The independent areas of Africa mostly struggle to stay at 19th Century levels though. Nuclear arsenals are being rebuilt and tensions are rising once again as the old hegemony is challenged by other powers rising to prominence.

Credit to various B.Munro/Quantumbranching maps involving Nazi victories and/or nuclear wars.