Flags of the rival powers
The Cold War was a period of ideological, political and military tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union which both emerged as the two new superpowers of the world following the end of World War II in 1945. From 1947-1990, the United States and the Soviet Union dominated the world landscape and left the world divided as the two superpowers did whatever was necessary to spread their ideologies around the world and reduce the influence and power of each other. The Cold War itself never saw the United States and the Soviet Union go to war and instead engaged each other in various proxy wars from Korea to Vietnam to Afghanistan and many other places all across the world until 1990 when the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev had signed the needed agreements to end tensions between the two nations and ended the Cold War before December of 1991 which saw the USSR collapse and dissolve into 15 new sovereign nations and the United States left as the sole superpower of the world.
But what if the Cold War hadn't ended, however? What if the Cold War not only didn't end, but instead it managed to resurge and it intensified to new heights from the 20th century with the Soviets landing on the moon to a Soviet victory in Afghanistan and what if the conflict continued into the 21st century with the Soviet Union having reformed, but new maps are drawn and old tensions remain. The Soviets become full equals with the United States and are just as influential as their American counterparts and continue to compete with them by any means necessary. This leaves the world divided with an America desperate to maintain its influence in a world where its main rival has been and continues to undermine it by any means necessary and the two nations' competition continues despite leaving the world continuously divided.
Point of Divergence[]
Following the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953 and his succession by Nikita Khrushchev, many of Stalin's policies were undone and this caused tensions with China, which was led by Mao Zedong, who was a staunch Stalinist and modeled many of his policies based off of Stalin's regime. After Leonid Brezhnev took power in 1964, he began negotiations with the Chinese and managed to amend ties due to Brezhnev having a similar nature to Stalin in his fostering of a cult of personality. The Sino-Soviet Split is undone and the two communist states remain allies. As a result, the 1960s becomes a very intense period for the United States as the nation feared a Sino-Soviet alliance would be the start of a cross-continental communist superstate and the Americans further increased their policy to further contain communism worldwide.
Aleksey Leonov landing on the moon in 1969
On July 20th, 1969, Soviet cosmonaut, Aleksey Leonov, becomes the first man to land on the moon and plants the Soviet flag on the moon, officially winning the Space Race for the USSR. This event shocks the American public and becomes the third national embarrassment for the nation in the Space Race. However, it only motivates the United States into further pursuing space travel and the Space Race continues into the 1970s. Meanwhile, Leonov is rewarded as a hero back at home and the Soviet Union continues to cement its dominance over the world and uses their increase in moral to continue the spread of communism around the world. In 1979, Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev had taken advantage of the increase of Soviet influence and had the Soviet military invade Afghanistan in support of the communist regime that was in power during that time in what would become the Soviet war in Afghanistan. During the war, the United States issued an embargo on the USSR in response to their occupation of Afghanistan and supplied weapons and arms to the Mujahideen, but it wasn't enough and developments on weapons capable of shooting down gunships advanced at a slower pace and the Soviets won the war by 1985.
Soviet troops withdraw from Afghanistan, 1985
The Soviet Union had won their war in Afghanistan and maintained the influence and spread of communism around the world, but things at home began to look sour as the war had drained many needed funds and resources for the Soviet people and the population was growing at an alarming rate and the economy was under heavy pressure and was slower and slower to sustain the growing population. Mikhail Gorbachev soon took office in 1985 and began to reform the entire country and eased tensions with the Western powers. Following the outbreak of the Revolutions of 1989 and increased unrest and opposition in the Soviet Union, Gorbachev issued the Union of Sovereign States to reform the Soviet Union and de-centralize the country. Opposition was met from the group known as the Gang of 8 and they even planned a coup, but their plans took too long to be planned out and succeed and the treaty was signed in August of 1991 and the six republics that opposed were recognized as independent states. The Soviet Union continued to reform throughout the 1990s and saw an increase in economic, social and political conditions, but many nationalistic elements were still present and threatened to restart old Cold War tensions which Gorbachev claimed were over.
After a series of wars and conflicts throughout Europe during the 1990s, the 21st Century dawns with the World Trade Center still standing due to Bin Laden being unable to launch the attack, but instead focuses his resources on rebuilding the Mujahideen and continues an Islamic insurgency in Afghanistan against the nation's still active communist government. The Arab Spring still breaks out and Islamic extremism flourishes and spreads across the world, even into Soviet territories, and a new front has opened in a newly revived Cold War as the Soviets, under Vladimir Putin, continue their policy of competing with the United States and seek to stop and contain its influence by any means necessary.