Third Superpower

Welcome to the Third Superpower ATL.

In this timeline, the British Empire manages to continue as a superpower, causing a three-way cold war between the USA, British Empire and Soviet Union.

Point of Divergence
On 26th July 1945, Winston Churchill is re-elected as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, defeating Labour leader Clement Attlee. Dismayed by President Truman giving Soviet leader Joseph Stalin too much power over eastern Europe, Churchill tried to distance the UK government from America, creating a new alliance between the UK and France.

Early Events
In 1948, the British and French administered regions of Germany unite to form West Germany (capital Bonn). The American administered region becomes known as South Germany (capital Frankfurt am Main) and the Soviet administered region East Germany (capital East Berlin). Berlin is also divided into three sections; West, South and East Berlin.

In 1949, talks between the United States and the western European countries of France, West Germany and the UK about the formation of a defensive alliance, to be called the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) fail due to increasingly frosty relations between Europe and America, as western Europe blamed America for allowing Soviet expansion into eastern Europe, threatening their security. Following the failure of these talks, the Pan-European Defence Alliance is set up in 1950, comprising of the UK, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Crises of 1956
In 1956, the Hungarian people rebelled against the Soviet controlled government in Hungary. Following the collapse of the government, forces of the Pan-European Defence Alliance entered Hungary to protect the rebels from the Soviets. Fearing Mutually Assured Destruction from a Nuclear war, Soviet forces do not attempt to retake Hungary following the successful revolution. Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet premier is forced to resign after the defeat, and is replaced by Leonid Brezhnev in December 1956. A new democratic Republic of Hungary is established, which joins the Pan-European Defence Alliance.

A few days after the beginning of the Hungarian revolution, whilst Pan-European Defence Alliance forces were restoring order in Hungary, President Nasser of Egypt ordered the Egyptian army to take control of the Suez Canal. Initially, Egyptian forces took control of the canal zone. The United States tried to encourage the Pan-European Defence Alliance not to retaliate against Egypt, however their attempts to stop war failed. Both the United Kingdom, France and Israel declared war against Egypt in November 1956, sending troops to retake the Suez Canal zone. Israelite forces also occupied the Sinai peninsula. Following the end of the Suez War, Israel joined the Pan-European Defence Alliance and Egypt received aid from the Soviet Union.

Sino-Soviet Alliance
Following the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, the Warsaw Pact is replaced by the Sino-Soviet alliance comprising of the USSR, Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Albania, the People's Republic of China, Mongolia & North Korea. The Sino-Soviet alliance focuses more on defence of the Communist nations instead of spreading Communism to new countries. The USSR and PRC give limited funding to the Vietminh in Indochina.

Following the defeat of the small Vietminh army at Dien Bien Phu by the forces of the Pan-European Defence Alliance, France wins the Indochina war, securing French control on the region of Indochina. China responds by fortifying the Vietnamese border to protect against any incursions from European forces.

Collapse of the Soviet Union
Following Mikhail Gorbachev's rise to power in the Soviet Union in 1984, the Soviet economy weakened due to increased sanctions from both Europe and America. By this point, the Sino-Soviet alliance was isolated from the rest of the world, and the nations of eastern Europe had growing independence movements which the KGB tried to contain. In 1986, supporters of German re-unification attempt to cross into West and South Berlin. Due to the large scale of the protest, the East German authorities ordered the guards to not stop the protests. This resulted in the fall of the Berlin wall. Due to the economic problems and the growing movement of people to the west through Berlin, communism fell in eastern Europe, worsening the situation of the Soviet Union and People's Republic of China. On the 7th July 1987, the Soviet Union was dissolved and was replaced by the Union of Sovereign States, which excluded the Soviet republics of Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, which became independent states. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China was significantly weakened, resulting in revolutions in parts of the country, resulting in the Second Chinese Civil War.