Nuclear Axis

Background & PODs
World War II was a global military conflict engulfing most of the world's nations in war for about 6 years. Near the end of 1940, Adolf Hitler, the Führer of Nazi Germany, was drunk with power like none before, and was ready to make some of the most disastrous decisions of his life, including the decision to invade the Soviet Union. In OTL, he scared one of his inferiors, General Georg Thomas, into giving him an economics report on the feasibility of an invasion of the Soviet Union that supported his own personal desires, leading to the disastrous Operation Barbarossa. Then, a few years later, a group of Norwegian commandos aided by the British destroyed one of Germany's most precious supplies of heavy water (needed to make a nuclear weapon) at the hydroelectric plant in Vermork in occupied Norway, and with it any possibility of a Nazi nuclear weapon.

First Point of Divergence
On December 18, 1940, General Georg Thomas submits a report to Hitler, reaffirming what the other generals had already been telling him although it may cost him his life, and Hitler reluctantly decides to cancel the war in the east until a later date in order to focus on the Nazi consolidation of power in Europe and defeat of the west. In a fit of irrational rage, Hitler sends Thomas to prison for life (only to be released later on).

Second Point of Divergence
At 2:07 AM on February 28, 1943, Nazi soldiers notice explosive charges in the hydroelectric plant at Vermork, and the all but one of the Norwegian commandos responsible for the stealth mission are promptly found and executed. Security at the facility is stepped up significantly and, despite desperate allied air raids, much of the heavy water is transferred out of Norway and into the heart of the Reich, inaccessible to the Allied powers, leading to the creation of a nuclear weapon in a few years.

Immediate Implications
The short term effects of the cancellation of the war in the east fall into Hitler's hands. It is from then on his decision. Does he focus on defeating Great Britain? Does he work on superweapons for war against the USA? He has many options (many more than in OTL), but only one chance to choose, so what he chooses will decide the future of the world.

At the same time, following the transportation of the heavy water, he orders Directive 49, which heightens funding for the nuclear bomb, stating that the target year for obtaining it is 1946, a goal which is very realistic with such a large amount of materials to work with.