The Cold War (Universe X)

The Main belligerents of the ideological struggle. The three Superpowers of the Cold era.

The Cold War was a state of military and political tensions between the Western Bloc of Europe and the Capitalist 1st World (primarily the United States of America and the United States of Columbia along with their NATO allies), against the Eastern Bloc of the Communist 2nd World (primarily the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and its satellite states along with their allies in the Warsaw Pact).  

There is no total agreement between historians of the exact dates but 1947-1991 is the most common time period. The term "Cold" was used by the international community because although it was a war, the three superpowers never really engaged each other in direct conflict but merely bankrolled and funded violent proxy wars around the world. This period of history would destroy the temporary alliance against Nazi Germany as the sides involved had vastly differing socio-economic systems and as a result, saw each other as natural enemies. The Cold War would emerge immediately after WW2 due to a series of altercations between the newly materialized superpowers of the world (i.e., the USA, USC and USSR).  

Being a Marxist-Leninist State, the USSR was a One-Party Totalitarian State where the Communist Party governed as the sole ruler of Soviet Society, owning exclusive rights to control all forms of media, expression, intellectual debate and resources whilst with its obligations being in the equal distribution of wealth and resources amongst its citizens. The Politburo is the main legislative body of the Soviet Union and acts as the main governing council responsible for the maintenance of the country's economic system, comprising of an anti-consumerist centralized economy. The Communist Party had the duty of ensuring the creation of a classless society as articulated by Karl Marx, and after the death of Josef Stalin moved to the inception of this kind of society by leading the spread of the workers revolution around the world. This was one of the main reasons why the USA & the USC would adopt a policy of containment against the Motherland, thus causing the Cold war to emerge.

In contrast, the USA & USC operated a totally different socioeconomic and political systems. As Capitalist-Democracies, both states were administered by a Multi-Party government where a Democratic Constitution regulated its power and guaranteed free elections, free press as well as freedom of expression, assembly and association. Egalitarian by nature, all citizens under both nations were assured equal human rights and opportunity (although this fact was disputed by the international community and USC itself in terms of the USA, especially after WW2). The Congress(in both the USC & USA) is the main legislative body for both Superpowers and due to the Capitalist policies of the nations intervene minimally in the active running of the economy. This means both the USC and USA govern economies where market forces operate freely and private ownership dominates. Due to its political system, both the USA & USC are home to societies where class divisions are vast and the gap in wealth between citizens is extremely huge, characterized by a rich minority class and a poor/middle class majority. This is the main system that the Soviet Union looks to overthrow, thus both nations look at the entire Soviet system as a threat to democracy and most importantly, Capitalism.

The End of World War 2 (1944-1947)

1944

• World War 2 was at its peak with Nazi Germany at the brink of collapse upon a brutal two front war. The Soviet Red Army was ripping the Wermatch apart from the East with Soviet Premier Josef Stalin demanding German blood whilst the Allies(Britain, France, Columbia and America) whom mantained total Air superiority on the West were poised on striking a fatal blow on the Industrial heart of Germany ~ Berlin.
• The USC and USA launch a two pronged attack on the Phillipines and other Japanese occupied islands in Oceania. The campaign begins on May the 1st and ends on August the 22nd with US General McAurthur and CS General Greyson leading the campaign. After the successful liberation of Oceania from Imperial Japan, both generals would begin plans for an equally brutal campaign if not worse - The Island Hopping Campaign. But both the Columbian and American high command would postpone the dates for this brutal operation due to a number of logistics issues. On the 9th of September both US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and CS President Howard F. Johnson would agree for the campaign to take place the following year whilst their militaries prepared the logistics and continued their fight against the Japanese in China.
• After a brutal naval campaign and land invasion of SouthEast Asia by the USC, Columbian troops finally liberate Indochina from Japanese Occupation after months of brutal military clashes between the Columbians and Imperial Japan of whom defended their extent into the French Colony to the point where 1.7 Million Japanese troops would be lost in a matter of months before the Imperial Japanese Command would finally decide to tactically withdraw from Indochina so as to save their men from the ongoing onslaught on the 27th of September.
• On October, the Soviet forces liberate all of Eastern Europe from Nazi Germany and plan their last offensive against the Wermatch & Luftwaffe stationed in Poland. On November the 3rd, Soviet Forces enter Poland.
• After some brilliant tactical work from Soviet General Georgi Zhukov, the Soviet Army gain absolute air superiority in Poland and surround Warsaw thus liberating the Polish Capital on the 25th of November
• The American Manhatten Project is completed and the world's first Nuclear Bomb is produced by the USA. The Trinity Test is conducted in Jornada del Muerto,New Mexico in the USA on the 19th of December, where the first Atomic bomb is detonated for testing. The US Government is first reluctant to share the horrifying breakthrough with their Sister Nation, the USC, but seeing how by February that year, the USC had begun funding the Manhatten Project with millions of Dollars to the point where they would begin their own similarnproject in the USC Capitol - Lexington DA, the Roosevelt Administration would begin considering letting the USC in on their new Trump card. Plus with their project in Lexington, sooner or later the Americans knew the USC would make their own, so best take some of the glory for it.

1945

• On January the 26th, the Japanese Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere collapses as the last of the forces of Imperial Japan are expelled from the Asian mainlands by the the combined Columbian-Chinese Forces in Manchuria with a disorganized retreat from the Japanese forces there. The Columbians are quickly recalled afterwards so as to spare manpower for the upcoming Island Hopping Campaign with America. 
• Due to the withdrawal of the Columbians from Manchuria, on the 18th of February the Japanese attack Korea with all that's left of their Naval capacity, successfully occupied the nation with plans to reinvade China. The Yalta Conference in Crimea,USSR takes place between the Big Four(USA,USC,USSR,UK) on the 25th of February. The consensus is that the only way for WW2 to end is with the Unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, four zones of occupation for each major Allied power would be created in Germany after it was defeated, Germany would undergo de-Nazification and demilitarization after it was defeated and much to Josef Stalin's reluctance, the Soviet Union would have to declare war on the empire of January due to having neglected to since WW2 began. 
• Although Stalin knew why they were cornered into declaring war on the Japanese, he planned to use the situation to the best of his ability. Stalin orders Soviet General Isodor Lagunov to prepare an attack against Japan similar to the joint US-CS island-hopping campaign with the Kuril Islands as his main objective. 
• Meanwhile in Europe, the Western Allies (USC, USA, UK) finally enter the borders of Nazi Germany on the 27th of February after the disastrous Battle of the Bulge offensive by the Nazis.
• The CS Air Force and US Air Force launch one of the biggest and most devastating air raids of Germany by bombing the major German cities of Hamburg, Frankfurt and Berlin for a merciless seven days and ten nights - but Adolf Hitler urges his Reich to fight on with the delusional plan of attempting to form an alliance with the West and defeat the Soviets, whose tank fleet and air superiority on the east was overwhelming.
• On March the 3rd, Soviet Forces finally liberate Poland and Austria with their leader General Georgi Zhukov deciding to enter Germany just two days later.
• In the Pacific the brutal hopping island campaign headed by the USA & USC with intents to invade the Japanese Imperial heartland begins on the 6th of March. The Columbian-American Allied forces would be forced to fight on the fiercely defended Japanese islands whilst slowly making their way up to Japan.
• On the 18th of March, the top secret Lexington Project is completed with US support and the first nuclear bomb made by the USC is detonated on the USC State of San Para, in the Monte Desert. Thus the USC becomes the second nation in human history to develop an atomic bomb. On the 26th of March, Josef Stalin's spies in the American White House inform him of the existence of Columbia and America's new powerful bomb.
• On the 6th of April, Soviet Forces enter Berlin. The total collapse of the German military was imminent. On April 12, the longest reigning leader of America US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt dies from a cerebral hemorrhage. His Vice President Harry S. Trump is inducted into office the same day. 
• On the 18th of April the Western Allies also enter Berlin. With all the damage done by the Germans back at home, the Soviets would be the most brutal in their campaign to destroy Berlin and Nazi Germany. 
• On the 22nd of April, with all hope lost after General Dwight D. Eisenhower's refusal to allow the Allied expeditionary forces in Europe to align themselves with the Nazis due to revelations concerning the holocaust, the German Führer Adolf Hitler is believed to have committed suicide with a bullet to the head, although Allied forces are unable to retrieve his remains because his body is allegedly cremated instantly afterwards on his orders. On the 28th of April the requests that had previously been made several generals in the USC forces - in particular General Thompson - to nuke Japan and Germany are rejected by the Union Congress and Columbian President Pierce. On the 30th Admiral Karl Donitz becomes President of Nazi Germany.
• On the 3rd of May both the Soviet Union and USC enter Japanese Occupied Korea, with the Soviets coming from the North after passing through Manchuria and pushing the Japanese out of re-invaded China, whilst the CS Forces would come from the South through a Naval based invasion. Faced by a brutal attack from two sides, the Japanese are ripped to shreds.
• Realizing that all hope was lost, Karl Donitz signs Germany's unconditional surrender to Allied forces on the 13th of May. Symbolizing the Capitulation of Nazi Germany and an end to Adolf Hitler's dream of a Greater German Reich. On the 14th of May, the Japanese in Korea are defeated by the Soviet-Columbian Force and are squeezed out of the Asian Mainland for the last time.
• On the 25th of May the Soviet forces enter the first Kuril Island under the leadership of General Isodor Lagunov.
• Many Nazi War criminals use the 'Ratlines' to escape Europe and head to French West Africa, modern day Mauritania whilst others use the same 'Ratlines' and escape to South Africa, where a racist white minority ruled.
• On the 4th of June the CS-US forces under CS General Greyson and US General McArthur finally defeat the Japanese on Iwo Jima, although at a great price as nearly 15,000 Americans and 11,000 Columbians died - as well as 7,000 US Marines. Nevertheless, preparations for the invasion of Okinawa are made and is eventually invaded on the 13th of June.
• After fierce fighting on the first Kuril Island, on the 16th of June the Soviets finally secure the island by defeating the Japanese whom refused to retreat let alone surrender. This behaviour causes worry in the Soviet High Command concerning the eventually invasion of Japan itself due to it causing high casualty rates on their side. The Russian military was already weakened by the Germans, they couldn't afford to waste away lives.
• On the 2nd of July the Potsdam Conference in Germany takes place with all the leaders of the Big Four Present i.e. United States President Harry S. Truman, Columbian States President Howard F. Pierce, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet Premier Josef Stalin. The consensus of the conference is that the German and Austrian capital of Berlin and Vienna would be divided between these four powers, although Churchill is a little unhappy because the UK is given a very small zone of occupation in Berlin and Vienna on top of the fact that they were given the smallest piece of divided Germany in comparison to the other three occupying powers. Due to the West feeling that the Soviets were not honouring their pledge from the Yalta Conference and were instead occupying East European countries liberated from the Nazis instead of allowing free and fair Democratic elections to take place as agreed in Yalta, Crimea Harry S. Truman, Howard F. Pierce and Winston Churchill attempt to intimidate Stalin by informing him of their new device weapon - the Atomic Bomb, all of them are shown when Stalin is unmoved and hints that he already knew of its existence, instead telling Harry S. Truman to "put the weapon to good use". The Potsdam Conference would also see the Allied Control Council being converted into the UN(United Nations), officially dissolving the incompetent League of Nations.
• The Soviets take the last of the four Kuril Islands after defeating the Japanese forces with their massive tank fleet on the 15th of July, ending the bloody Battle of Kuril. Stalin orders a stop to General Isodor Lagunov's advance, telling him that "We will not sacrifice anymore Soviet blood for war between Imperialists, the island of Japan is not our concern, let the Americans and Columbians fight those Japanese savages". Stalin was right on one thing, the Japanese were all about honour and thought the most dishonourable thing to do was to surrender, as a result they fought ferociously to the end in every battle, this made them fight like savages indifferent of their own lives.
• After 38 days of fierce fighting, on the 22nd of July, the CS-US Forces finally defeat the Japanese in Okinawa, although at a great cost yet again. By this time the Columbian and American High Command were already noticing the devastation their forces suffered from Japanese hands. On top of what happened in Iwo Jima, they had lost a combined force of 12,000 soldiers with 50,000 soldiers severely wounded. When the ATA (Amalgamation Treaty of the Americas) released the Asian Theatre Document on the 28th of July to both the US and CS Presidents, it would be found that of the 20,000 soldiers who fought in Iwo Jima, only 1,000 had actually surrendered whilst the rest died, it also revealed that of the 130,000 Japanese soldiers who fought in Okinawa, a total 110,000 had died and only 16,346 whilst the rest of them retreated, the document also revealed that of the 206,000 Japanese soldiers who fought in the Battle of Kuril, almost 185,000 had died in Soviet hands whilst only 15,012 actually surrendered whilst 6,000 retreated, the document also revealed that of the 6,234,996 soldiers the Japanese had at the start of the war more than 4.8 million of them had died. To the Pierce and Truman administrations this meant that the Japanese would rather lose their entire force than surrender, this meant that many Columbian and American lives would have to be lost before Japan was defeated, plus it was becoming increasingly clear that they could not depend on the Soviets anymore. Thus on the 29th of July both President Truman and President Pierce together with their advisors would meet on the Chief Condominium (equivalent to the 'White House') in the USC capital of Lexington DA to discuss the possible use of nuclear weapons against Imperial Japan.
• On the 6th of August both the CS and US Presidents came to an agreement and gave the go-ahead. On the 9th of August the USA drops the atomic bomb (nicknamed 'Little Boy') on Hiroshima. When Emperor Hirohito refuses to surrender, the USC drops the second atomic bomb (nicknamed 'Thunder') on Nagasaki just four days later, a terrible fate for those living there, but for the Allies it achieved their main aim and on the 15th of August, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's surrender to the Allies in WW2. Japan would be split into two zones of occupation, the Columbians would occupy the North whilst America would occupy the South.
• The War would be declared over on the 20th of August with the Japanese Foreign Minister signing Imperial Japan's surrender aboard the Columbian Battleship - the CSS Bristolite. This day would be celebrated as Victory over Japan Day(V-J day) in both the USA and the USC.
• In the aftermath of WW2, the San Francisco Treaty of the 27th of August would establish the USSR, USA, USC, UK and France as the Five permanent members of the UN Security Council whilst the other 20 members would become temporary participants that can be voted off the council and replaced. The UN is established as an international peace-keeping organization with it's main mandate being in the prevention of WW3, it's headquarters are established in St. Liberty,USC.
• The deaths for WW2 are accounted for and number to a massive 80 000 000 civilian and military casualties, with civilian populations suffering the most throughout the terrible war. The Soviet Union had suffered the most with 26 000 000 of it's people dying on the Eastern Front, plus much of the Western side of the USSR had been utterly destroyed. Stalin as a result wanted a very harsh punishment for the Germans, something the American and Columbian Presidents when both opposed to at the San Francisco Treaty in the USA, they both argued that it was the harsh punishment imposed on Germany in the Treaty of Versailles that led to WW2. Josef Stalin on the other hand felt that they could never understand, since in contrast to the USSR both countries barely suffered from the war apart from it's economic consequences and the military deaths. 292 000 Columbians and 327 000 Americans had died. A heavy toll but still nothing compared to the Soviets. Cities, towns and villages from the border to Moscow had been devastated. No American or Columbian cities were destroyed. Soviet civilians had been massacred by the Nazis, on the other hand no Columbian or American civilian was in any real danger. This was true, both countries suffered no civilian casualties apart from 6 American deaths due to Japanese balloon bombs, even the attempts by Nazi saboteurs attempting to bomb buildings in St. Liberty had been captured by the CSI(Commission for State Intelligence) after they received a tip from the American FBI(Federal Bureau of Investigations) thus meaning the USC sure no civilian casualties at all. Nevertheless this dispute between Stalin against Truman and Pierce would mark the beginning of tensions between the USSR and the West. Stalin was also feeling uneasy about what his spies told him of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's vigorous advocation for the secret Operation Unthinkable.
• Due to his outstanding performance during World War 2, on the 15th of September Premier Stalin would award Georgi Zhukov with the newly made title of 'Great General' the Soviet Armed Forces.
• Meanwhile China who had just gotten out of the devastating World War would be plunged into another civil war on October the 6th, between the Soviet backed Chinese Communists led by Mao Zedong and the Chinese Capitalists led by Chiang Kai Shek.

• Due to their dominant grip on world affairs, massive militaries and ernomous economies, the USSR,USA and USC are declared World Superpowers.
• On September the 22nd, to Stalin's delight both the governments of the USA and USC would declare that they would not take any action towards the economic rehabilitation of Germany. Although Stalin wanted to ensure the punishment of Germany through harsh reparations, like the Americans and Columbians, he would also send relief and aid supplies in the form of food to the Soviet occupied zone of Germany.

• Although the war was over, Churchill was concerned about the Soviet Union given the enormous size of the Soviet Military which numbered to an enormous 11 Million troops, to him this force in Eastern Europe posed a great threat to Western Europe, of which was considerably weaker in comparison
• Stalin begins asserting control over Eastern Europe by enforcing the establishment of Communist Governments in all liberated nations except for Chzechoslovakia, which is allowed to hold free and fair elections. This action breaks Stalin's promise to Truman and Pierce. As a result tensions between Moscow against Lexington and Washington D.C flare.

1946

• 

  The War was over but mainly Europe felt the effects. Cities had been reduced to rubble, food was scarce,basic consumer goods were unavailable and the people had been demoralized by a poor standard of living. Stalin was the leader of the only Superpower in the continent, but refused to send aid to the West due to his disputes with the USC and USA, plus he believed the more they suffered the more likely they would turn to Communist. The Soviet Union emerged victorious, but exhausted. It's people had won but it's massive industries had mostly been destroyed. The USSR had suffered the most during the terrible war and had to look to rebuild itself. Although both the USA and USC had suffered as well, their misery paled in comparison, which was why both nations were in an economically more stable position than the Soviet Union.
• On February the 7th, during a meeting in the Chief Condominium in Lexington between the Columbian President and the Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, the Columbians would try unsuccessfully to convince the Russians to allow the recreation of an economically self-sufficient Germany with a detailed account of the Industrial plants, goods and infrastructure that had been removed by the Soviets including the complete re-unification of Germany. The Soviets would refuse adamantly, although those present in the meeting could sense Molotov's nervousness due to being in one of Columbia's glittering cities whilst people back at home were pulling up rocks trying to recover theirs, he was adamant that Stalin would never allow that to happen. It would be due the "Bad Temper Meeting" due to the growing distrust between the East and West. 
• Due to the establishment of pro-Soviet governments in liberated Eastern Europe, Winston Churchill, the former British Prime Minister would deliver his famous 'Iron Curtain' speech in Fulton,Missouri in Westminster College on the 13th of March. In this speech he lamented about the Iron Curtain separating Europe into West and East, where he claims that the populations and cities of the latter were "Not only subject Soviet influence, but to a very high and in some cases increasing control from Moscow". Although the speech was not well received, it set the tone for the incoming Cold War and would soon be considered an iconic address to the Western world.
• On the 21st of March the Greek Civil War begins where the British backed Greek government would fight Soviet backed Communist insurgents in a bloody war.
• On the 7th of April Stalin would begin to muscle in on the only non-communist country at peace in Eastern Europe by demanding all of Turkey's sea access routes. To protect Capitalism in Turkey and prevent what some may have considered a exaggerated reason by the CS President of an incoming Soviet invasion of Turkey, an Allied country, the Columbian President would send two of his battleships to Turkey for what he referred to as "a friendly visit". This act would further increase tensions between the World Superpowers.
• Churchill would continue with his anti-Soviet campaign in Manchester,England when he would deliver another speech in front of the Queen on the 11th of April, where he continued to call for an Anglo-Columbian-American alliance against the Soviet Union, whom he blamed for establishing and enforcing the Iron Curtain in Europe. This time Stalin would reply on the 30th of April during a national address to the Soviet people, saying "Churchill could be compared to Hitler insofar as he has advocated the racial superiority of English-speaking nations just so they could satisfy their hunger for world domination". He would also threaten that "the carrying out of Churchill's genocidal requests will mean war with the Soviet Union". These statements would cause outrage throughout America and Britain.

• Whilst the Superpowers continued to bicker, the French government would decide to send troops to the freshly liberated Indochina on May the 7th to ironically reassert their colonial control. After the Columbians had liberated the region from Imperial Japan, the victorious people of Columbia would call for the return of their men from overseas after the war, by January all Columbians occupying Indochina had returned to the USC. This meant all the aid the occupying Columbians had provided to the traumatized people of Indochina was gone, as a result the people of Indochina slowly drifted back into the hands of their peril, with France having suffered terribly from WW2, little to no attention was given to most of it's colonies, especially one as far as Indochina. This would cause the restless people of Indochina to instantly mutiny against French colonial rule, demanding their independence. As a result French forces were now in Indochina fighting the insurgents whom used guerilla tactics against the US backed French troops.

• After having denounced Hitler and the holocaust, Karl Donitz, former President of Nazi Germany is spared the Death Sentence and only gets 20 years in prison on the 17th of May in the Nuremberg Trials.

• Seeing it as his destiny to destroy Western Imperialism, Soviet Premier Josef Stalin would sign the Universal Socialist Solidarity Act on the 24th of May, which the Politburo in Moscow would ratify almost immediately. The act would authorize the provision of Soviet aid to international organizations that wished to establish Communist states around the world. Solidifying Stalin's change in policy from "Socialism in one State" to "Communism for all Proletariats around the world". Some Historians would argue that it was with this legislation that the Cold War actually began. Although many Soviet officials and Communist Party higher-ups were opposed to the act due to the USSR still in the process of recovering from the devastation of WW2, no one dared challenge Stalin. The act would thus ensure the continuation of Soviet aid to Communists fighting against the Capitalist governments in countries like the Kingdom of Greece and China. As a result of Stalin's legislation, on the 17th of June the Politburo would approve the deployment of Soviet aid to the anti-colonialists in Indochina fighting the French. The arrival of Soviet tanks, fighter planes, guns and bombs would make the war in Indochina extremely bloody for the French. Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill would beseech for more aid from America to the French against the Soviet backed Indochinese people, also requesting for more involvement from the Columbian government against what he referred to as "Increased Soviet Expansionism around the world". Both the Columbians and Americans had a lot to debate about, although they got involved in WW2, it was only because they had been attacked by Imperial Japan and both had war declared on them by Nazi Germany, so both Superpowers were technically still very isolationist. But this was going to change with the upcoming Columbian elections, after being elected for two terms, war hero President Howard F. Pierce's time as Columbian leader was coming to an end.

• On July the 1st, the Union Congress of the USC would honour President Pierce's request by initiating a series of debates and motions concerning a possible change in CS foreign policy.

• On August the 15th the Soviet Premier Josef Stalin would form the State Security Committee, otherwise known as the notorious KGB, the main preserver of Soviet secrets and operator of covert military operations. It would later become the main Soviet bureaucracy in the Cold War and the biggest enemy of the USA and USC in terms espionage.

• Meanwhile in Iran, the nation had been occupied by the British in the South and the Soviets in the far North, with both nations agreeing to pull out once the war was over. The Western Allies had used the nation to supply the Soviets with vast amounts of aid in their battle against the Nazis. The agreement was that both nations would pull out six months after the cessation of all hostilities. New British Prime Minister Clement Atlee would order British forces to pull out early after five months of occupation Post-WW2 by having British Forces withdraw from Iran on February the 15th so as to preserve the resources of the already drained out British Empire, the deadline for the Soviets would arrive in March the 15th, but Stalin decided to stay in an attempt to enforce a Communist regime in the nation and thus access it's valuable oil resources for the equipment used by his massive army. The Columbians kept quiet, focusing mainly on domestic disputes and how the nation would recover economically from the war although the Union Congress continued to be divided on the matter concerning Columbia's Isolationism, the Americans on the other hand would show solidarity with the British by giving Stalin a deadline of three months to withdraw from Iran. But the 15th of June would come with Stalin's army unbudging. Thus the Americans would call for a UN meeting on the 27th of June. There entire UN Security Council, including China which was by then still controlled by Chiang Kai Shek's Kuomintang, would unanimously vote for the withdrawal of Soviet Russia from Iran. Stalin would've refused but the Americans would hint the initiation of war in which they would "use any means necessary to stop the Soviet Union". Stalin wasn't stupid and knew that both the USC and USA held a nuclear monopoly, in which put the cards into their hands. So Josef Stalin would reluctantly agree with the mandate to withdraw completely from Iran. By September the 8th, all Soviet Military installations in Iran had been dismantled and the Soviet soldiers there were back home.

• Meanwhile, the nation of Korea had been devastated by WW2 and occupation by the Imperial Japan. Although the Japanese were gone, the nation was now being occupied by new forces. The Soviet Army occupied the Northern half of the country whilst the Columbian Army occupied the South. By October the Korean people were getting more and more restless concerning the occupation of their nation by so many foreign forces. So both nations would decide to pull out, plus the maintenance of occupied land who's people and infrastructure had been devastated was expensive for both Superpowers. But before they would withdraw, due to the inability to reach a resolution of the situation and disputes on how Korea should be united, on early December both nations would decide to officially split the nation of Korea into two along the 38th parallel. The USC would set up an anti-communist Regime on the South under Rhee Syng-Man, whilst the USSR would set up a pro-Soviet Regime led by Kim II-Sung. Both nations would receive funding from the two Superpowers, although their leaders were both ruthless dictators who sought to reunite Korea under their own regime.

• On December the 22nd both the Chief Condominium and the White House would deny Rhee Syng-Man weapons and equipment to militarize his part of Korea due to evidence produced by the Chief Condominium linking the Dictator to crimes associated with the mass slaughter of his own people. Meanwhile, the Soviets would begin to fund and provide Kim II-Sung with all he needed to militarize his part of Korea as stipulated by the Universal Socialist Solidarity Act. Moscow would send North Korea with a wild variety of weapons, from T-34 tanks to fighter planes and from guns to bombs as well as money and Soviet advisors to help maintain the military of North Korea

• Meanwhile Moscow was turned upside down, Stalin was growing increasingly uneasy and as a result fear ruled the streets of the Soviet Capital as everyone knew that Stalin struggled with paranoia. The Soviet Dictator was very concerned about the West's nuclear capabilities. Although he wasn't there, he had received first hand witness accounts from Japanese people who experienced the whole thing. The nukes were devastating and the Soviet High Command knew this, the nuke dropped on Hiroshima had murdered 95 000 people, about 50 000 of them had died from the initial fire whilst the rest died from nuclear radiation days later. The bomb dropped by the Columbians in Nagasaki was even more destructive, it managed to kill 135 000 people. Both cities had been reduced to ash. Stalin knew of the destruction nukes could bring and he wanted that power, thus on the 25th of December the Soviet military led by the KGB would begin the top secret Projekt Posle Khíro in Moscow.

1947

• January the 20th, results for the 1946 Columbian elections are released and PFU(People's Federal Union) candidate Thomas D. Trenton narrowly defeats WCP(Worker's Confederalist Party) candidate Stacy G. Wilky. On the 25th of January Trenton is ushered in as the new President of the United States of Columbia by taking the Oath. The Trenton Administration was much more aggressive towards Communism than the previous Pierce Administration was. Instantly upon being ushered in as President of the USC, Thomas Trenton would fly down to Washington DC after an invite from the US President in order to discuss matters concerning Europe's political and socioeconomic status. Truman knew how Trenton felt about Soviet Russia's "aggression" and attempted to win over President Thomas D. Trenton as a way to "enlighten the Congresses of both countries in the importance matters concerning a change in foreign policy". In the meeting, President Harry S. Truman would argue that if both countries continued in their route then Soviet Russia would spread Communism around the world and their cowardice stance would have only helped precipitate Russia's rise to power as a global hegemony and the disastrous fall of liberty from grace after such a morally challenging war with Hitler. When asked for a solution Truman would use mainly one word - "Containment". For Trenton, Stalin's aggression was all but apparent, and for him the last straw came in the Korean dispute with the Soviets that ended up dividing the nation, Truman had his full support. The moulding of the 'Truman Doctrine' had begun.

• On February the 5th, British Prime Minister Clement Atlee announces on behalf of the British Government that the UK could no longer afford to finance the Kingdom of Greece in its civil war against the Communist-led insurgents. The British Empire had been bankrupt after the war and was slowly losing it's grip on it's foreign colonies, so they had no choice. Outraged by perceived 'Soviet resistance' to American and Columbian demands in Greece and China as well as the Soviet rejection of the Baruch Plan on nuclear weapons, the Truman Administration responds to this by announcing that the USA was now adopting a policy of containment against the spread of Communism around the world. This new policy, referred to as the 'Truman Doctrine' also asserted US opinion of the Soviet Union and this was that "the Soviet Union could no longer be trusted as an ally". President Harry S. Truman would then deliver a speech in Chamberlain Metropolis in the Dixie state of the USC on the 11th of February where he called for the allocation of Ç$400 Million from both the USA and USC to intervene in the Greek civil war and thus unveiled the Truman Doctrine, which framed the conflict as being between free peoples against Totalitarian regimes. American policymakers would thus accuse the USSR of conspiring against Greek royalists in order to expand their sphere of influence. The Cold War had begun.

• President Thomas D. Trenton would respond by passing the Federal Security Statute of 1947 on February the 25th, a legislation that would create a unified Federal Department of Defence, with the creation of the Office of Secret Intelligence(OSI) working at an even deeper level than the CSI(Commission for State Intelligence), and the formation of the Federal Defence Council(FDC). These organizations would serve as the main bureaucracies for CS defence policy in the Cold War.

• Truman would follow suit by passing the National Security Act of 1947 on March the 7th also creating a unified Department of Defence, with the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency(CIA), which like the Columbian OSI was much more tightly tied to the Federal government than the FBI(Federal Bureau of Investigations), the act would also lead to the creation of the National Security Council(NSC).

• By March, the Trenton Administration in Lexington DA had begun denouncing the the Morgenthau Plan (a proposal to partition and de-industrialize post-war Germany) and warned the Soviets, much to Truman's delight that the USC intended to maintain a military presence in Europe indefinitely. Legate Samuel C. Hindenburg, a German-Columbian above all else, who supported the turn taken by the Trenton Administration concerning CS Foreign Policy would back the President by saying "The main objective of our program is to win the minds and hearts of all German people. It is battle between us and Russia over minds, so I appeal to all those showing skepticism here to please be patient with our President" said Hindenburg to the Columbian House of Legates in Lexington DA. Josef Stalin was furious and accused the west of attempting to remilitarize Germany for a third consecutive fatal attack on the Soviet Union.

• The Columbian government under Trenton would begin funding the heavily weakened Kuomintang in China. Mao Zedong's forces had been backed by the Soviets since the reinitiation of the civil war after WW2 so Chiang Kai Sheks forces had a lot of ground to cover, "The Columbians are supplying them with guns, bombs, tanks and even planes. Now China has to do the rest" said US Secretary of State George Marshall during an address to the US Congress in March the 28th. President Truman would organize Ç$350 Million for the Greek government's civil war whilst Trenton would organize the other Ç$50 Million.

• Meanwhile whilst the Columbians and Americans lived an evidently better life, Europeans were living in a post-apocalyptic void brought on by the second world war and economic recovery was extremely slow if not completely stagnant. Cities were reduced to rubble, food was scarce and European economies had been destroyed. Even the UK was struggling with a bankrupt Empire. For President Trenton this was causing major problems for the USC and USA due to the increased influx of European refugees to both nations, "It is not wrong to ask for help, but the influx of so many European refugees into our homeland is cause for concern, not just here but in Europe as well. The brain drain it sources on Europe will worsen the effects of WW2 there, and thus will allow the collapsed European economy to be integrated into a Soviet style of governance, for the Communists always prey on the perils of people" said Columbian Secretary of State Kassidy T. Greene during an address to the Union Congress.

• With the statement from Greene acting as his back up and support to the Truman Doctrine, on the 10th of April President Trenton would enact the Greene Plan, a pledge of economic assistance for all European nations willing to participate, including the wounded motherland[Soviet Union]. The CS President would begin his campaign to attain the 'right amount from a resistant Union Congress'.

• On the 23rd of April, the USC finally completes the construction of the Cardinal Fortress(equivalence of the US Pentagon) in Lexington DA. This raises support for the Trenton Administration, the President then announces on the 28th that there would be the construction of the Triagonal Complex(the twin quarter of the Cardinal Fortress) which was set to begin three months later in Saint Liberty.

• After unsuccessful attempts to get Soviet involvement on the matter, leaders of the West in US President Harry S. Truman, CS President Thomas D. Trenton, British Prime Minister Clement Atlee would meet in Los Angeles, California in the USA in the Angeles Summit of the 11th of May. The consensus of the Summit would be the emalgamation of all of West Germany, including all their sectors of control in Berlin. This would form Trizonia otherwise known as the Federal Republic of Germany or simply West Germany, with West Berlin as it's Capitol. In accordance to the Greene Plan, the Columbians would begin slowly re-industrializing and rebuilding the economy of West Germany, they would also introduce a new Duetschesmark currency to replace the old Reichsmark currency that the Soviets had debased. Although the Columbians took the initiative, they had secretly agreed with the Americans that a unified and neutral Germany was undesirable, with CS Vice President Harold B. Myles telling America's Eisenhower that "in spite of our announced position on the German matter, we do not wish nor intend to support German unification on any terms, which makes the Soviet Union's reluctancy to give up it's sector of control in the nation a convenient thing".

• On the 17th of May, major protests occur in the USC as Columbians are increasingly dissatisfied by the slow pace of the ongoing costly Nuremberg Trials in Germany concerning German War Criminals, with many calling for the prosecution of the obviously guilty in mass trials. The protests also called for German POWs in camp prisons around the USC state of New Spain, to be sent back home due to Columbian citizens not wanting "live Nazis in their beautiful homeland of liberty". The same protests would also emerge in the USA on the 27th of May. Although the protests were unable to achieve their goal, it made Western Governments reluctant to continue the Trials, thus the West would begin sentencing Nazi War criminals in mass trials, much to Churchill's distaste.

• On June the 5th, the Columbian President promises European countries that the USC was committed to the economic rehabilitation of Europe. On the 12th of June, CS President orders the return of European refugees to their original homelands by shipment, announcing that citizenship was "out of the question". A controversial decision, with many seeing it as "the deportation of traumatized people", although many people in America and Columbia would support the decision, with many in America calling for President Truman to take similar steps towards the influx of Europeans into the USA. Both nations felt that they had helped as many Europeans as they could and "are not interested in absorbing the entire European population" said US Secretary of State George Marshall.

• On July the 17th, under the Greene Aid Plan, President Thomas D. Trenton would sign over Ç$19 Billion (equivalent to Ç$277.692 Billion in 2017) to the Greene Plan for the rebuilding of the European Economy. The main goal of the plan was to ensure the preservation of Western European governments by countering the Soviet strategy of using Europe's current situation as a means and opportunity for Communist parties to seize power through revolutions and elections. 

Early Years of the Cold War Era (1947-1953)

Containment & The Truman Doctrine

By 1947 Europe's economic and political instability had become all too apparent to the Federal Government of both the USC and USA. The demoralized people of Europe were living in hell and hunger. Europe was destroyed and entire economies plundered into ruin. But of the two Capitalist Superpowers, only the Trenton Administration seemed more willing to act than Truman's government. Stalin planned to use this state of misery into his advantage by funding pro-Soviet revolutions. Even so the Trenton-Truman meeting of January 26, 1947 in the White House would prove that Truman was very much anti-communist and was only unable to act against the U.S.S.R due to being "tied down by Congress". Truman would further publicize his anti-Communist stance against the Soviet Union by announcing his Truman Doctrine after Soviet resistance to Columbian & American demands concerning the withdrawal of Soviet funds & military equipment to Mao Zedong's Communist Army and the Communist insurgents in Greece. Under the Doctrine, Truman announced that his Administration was adopting a policy of 'Containment' against the Soviet spread of Communism, although little was done to back up this policy apart from a speech calling for the joint Columbian-American allocation of funds for the government of the Kingdom of Greece.

The Columbians on the other side were neutral on the matter, although President Trenton advocated anti-communist assents. This neutrality would soon be terminated by President Trenton's public support for the Truman Doctrine and the telegram by Columbian Secretary of State Kessidy T. Greene to the White House served as proof of this. In contrast to America, the pace of Columbian support to the Truman Doctrine's policy of containment was staggering with the passing the Federal Security Statitute of 1947 which mandated the quick major reorganization of Columbian foreign Policy and defence. The Americans would soon follow suit with the passing of the National Security Act, which acted as proof that President Truman was finally getting through to Congress concerning the need for change in America's foreign policy.

With Europe's current socioeconomic situation, the Soviet Union were in a dominant position and not even Britain could deter Soviet intervention in the East. If nothing was done to change this, then Soviet power would disseminate to the West as well. Stalin's Universal Socialist Solidarity Act was particularly seen as a threat due to militaristic pro-Soviet organizations in Western Europe being assured Superpower support for their Communist revolutions. President Trenton would do a prodigious job making this clear to the Union Congress. The only way to ensure the containment of Communism was to rebuild the Capitalist economy of Europe, this meant that the Union Congress had to commit more money to the Greene Aid Plan.

The Soviet & American response to the Greene Aid Plan

With the separation of Germany and Berlin into East & West, the Columbian government was becoming more and more convinced that they could no longer rely nor trust the Russians, and the militaristic enforcement of Communist regimes in the East weren't making things better. After the Union Congress committed Ç$19 Billion to the Greene Aid Plan for the rebuilding of Europe's economy, Trenton would encourage all European countries to participate, including the Soviet Union, whom he believed needed the aid the most.

Josef Stalin would however deny his Soviet Bloc a piece of the cash pool as he believed any reintegration with the West would allow Eastern European countries to escape Soviet control and believed that the USC was trying to buy a pro-Columbian realignment of Europe as a telegram from Lexington AD to the Kremlin in Moscow by Soviet diplomat Abram Shvets revealed that both the USC and USA held a Capitalist monopoly on the free market economies of the world, thus if the Soviet Bloc accepted then both the Columbians and Americans would be able to mobilize Europe into the hostile encirclement of the Soviet Union. Prior to the Greene Plan, Stalin had hoped for limited association with the West, now he apparently believed that even limited cooperation was impossible as any further cooperation with the West meant that the Soviet Union would be opened to Western exploitation and moved to implement policies that would not only secure his sphere of influence in Eastern Europe, but undermine perceived Columbian efforts to consolidate an anti-Soviet Bloc in Western Europe.

Meanwhile, due to Western-Soviet disputes over the fate of Germany, the nation would be divided into two after the Angeles Summit of May 11, 1947. The Allies would control their combined sectors of what would become the Federal Republic of Germany or simply West Germany. The Soviet Union would quickly form the Socialist Republic of Germany or East Germany out of their sector of Germany. The same would be done with Berlin, with the Western Allies combining their sectors of control into West Berlin, the Capital of the Federal Republic of Germany whilst East Berlin became the Capital of the Socialist Republic of Germany. Josef Stalin was evidently pleased with how he had managed to cripple Germany. Due to the inability to afford the occupation of Germany, the British would withdraw their forces from West Germany whilst the Americans and Columbians would retain some military presence there, although unlike the Soviets whom used the Red Army to enforce the creation of East Germany by personally backing the Heinrich Rau regime in crushing opposition to the Communist government there, their(America and Columbia) military presence in West Germany was slowly dwindling with troops being sent back home.

The Greene Aid Plan would begin to rebuild the economy of Western Europe. The USC Department of Economic Affairs would ensure that the funds allocated for the European Economic Recovery Program would be spent on an almost equal basis, thus smaller European States would be granted monetary opportunity to develop their Industrial Complex. Food would be given to the starving whilst agricultural production would increase drastically, the Industrial output of Western Europe would also see a sharp increase from what it was after WW2. With the Greene Plan, the Columbians would rebuild the most ravaged parts of Europe and improve morale by granting relief to those most affected by the war. The Greene Aid Plan would lead to the creation of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation. President Trenton was clearly initiating a full on economic war on the Soviet Union and believed that if the West recovered and redeveloped faster and better than the East, it would be a defeat for Stalin.

As a result, Josef Stalin would enact his own rival economic redevelopment plan called Comecon, also known as the Molotov Aid Plan. The USSR was still being slowly rebuilt and the Soviet Union was still devastated, but nevertheless Moscow would put a investment of Soviet rubles equivalent to a massive US$7 Billion (equivalent to US$101.769 Billion in 2015). Since the plan was enacted on October 1947, the economies of Eastern Europe would quickly catch up to those of the West, heightening Communist morale and expanding Stalin's cult of personality into Eastern Europe as well. Comecon would bring the economies of Eastern Europe together through the encouragement of free trade between the Communist countries. Although Stalin wamted to stimulate the economic recovery of all Eastern European countries, a bigger share of the money was given to communist European countries which had a larger industrial base as the leader of the Comecon Recovefy Plan Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov believed that the resuscitation of these economies would be vital in rejuvenating the economy of Eastern Europe, which suffered the most during the war because of Nazi German control. To President Truman, this Soviet economic program posed a great threat to the Greene Aid Plan and served to undermine American & Columbian global economic hegemony. Meanwhile Soviet Politburo would encourage the enactment of Stalinist Five Year plans in order to re-industrialize countries of Eastern Europe as well as Industrialize the economies of countries that had previously been agrian.

This Soviet-Columbian economic battle would be enough to convince the US Congress to pass on a massive US$13 Billion(Equivalent to US$189.199 Billion) to the newly created Marshall Plan in May 1948. Although smaller than Columbia's contribution, it quickly turned the economic war into a rat one sided battle. The main goal of the Marshall Plan was to reinforce the Greene Plan by overwhelming Eastern Europe economically and using Molotov's plan against him. As a result the economic rehabilitation of the West would soar in comparison to the East, but nowhere did this economic battle rage harder than in the city of Berlin.

Stalin's Blockade & the Great Berlin Airlift

As part of the Angeles Summit agreement of 1947, the Federal Republic of Germany was born. Germany would become the main battle front of the economic war between Columbian-American Capitalism and Soviet Communism. At first the Capitalist Superpowers of the Western hemisphere were reluctant to help resuscitate the crippled West German economy, but the city of Berlin would change all of this. Berlin was caught over a 100 miles behind Soviet lines and it's Western half was part of West Germany and thus a gateway into East Germany and it's people, many Columbian policymakers would begin seeing this city as a symbol of the Cold War. Therefore, in accordance to the Greene & Marshall Aid Plans they would begin to re-industrialize and rebuild the West German economy, the Americans were very reluctant to rebuild West Berlin, fearing a Soviet attack due to it being surrounded by Soviet-controlled East Germany. The Columbians on the other side were very enthusiastic concerning West Berlin's recovery. They saw Berlin's position as an opportunity to show East Berliners, thus ALL East Germans why Columbian-American Capitalism was better than Soviet Communism, plus considering Berlin's Industrial capacity when fully having recovered, the Columbian's felt it would help restore the West German economy far more quicker.

The Soviet Union on the other hand would totally mistreat East Germany. Making the nation pay up war reparations and excluding the fellow Communist state from the Molotov Plan. Economic recovery was stagnant as Stalin refused to allow East Germany to accept Columbian or American aid. Although Soviet officials tried their own economic schemes to help restore the East German economy, they would prove unsuccessful due to lack of commitment from the Soviet government. The Columbian's would see this weakness and would decide to take action. The main reason for their emphasis on Berlin was because the city was the only loophole in the Iron Curtain system that was slowly being enforced by the Soviet Union. East Berliners could still travel to West Berlin and as they saw the economic prosperity there caused by Columbian and American aid, many were deciding to stay there. 

Ultimately East Germany would be massively outperformed by it's Western counterpart. The Infrastructural redevelopment, Industrial progression and manufacturing of West Berlin would see a sharp increase, the people there were living lavishly compared to the demoralized people of East Berlin. Stalin realizing this weakness wanted the Western allies completely out of East Germany, he had managed to pressure the Western allies to hand over their occupied parts of Vienna(the Austrian capital) by 1946 so he believed he could easily do the same with West Berlin. Unfortunately he had underestimated the Western Allies. After Stalin's demands for the West to hand over West Berlin would be ignored by President Trenton and Truman, he would implement the first major crisis of the Cold War ~ The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 - 12 May 1949). The Soviet military would begin to personally block all major road and railway links passing to West Berlin. Effectively blocking the movement of food, supplies and other important materials from arriving to West Berlin. The Western allies could do nothing as they had to pass a considerable amount of East German land to move supplies to their Western sector of Berlin.

On the other hand Stalin would try and enforce his blockade's success by providing relief supplies to the East Berliners for the first time since the end of the war. As a result the Soviet Union would move tonnes of materials, supplies and mostly food to East Germany, Stalin would even go so far as to announce plans to incorporate "the non-fascist Socialist German state into the Comecon aid recovery program". This course of action would end the 'East German Famine' that had lasted an insufferable 3 years. Soviet officials believed that although East Germany had a long way to go before it could be compared to it's Western counterpart, "The journey to recovery begins now" as said by Vyacheslav Molotov on an interview in Moscow on the 25th of July 1948. But just as the Soviets were enjoying their victory over America and Columbia, the unthinkable would happen.

On the 30th of August 1948, American and Columbian diplomats wAlthoughould suggest a massive airlift to supply West Berlin. Stalin blocked all major supply routes, West Berlin airports were still operational and were not being blocked by the Soviets. As a result the United States, Columbian States, France, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and several other Western European countries would participate in the massive "Great Berlin Airlift". This massive airlift would put into full use the massive Industrial capacity of America and Columbia, with thousands of planes from the two Superpowers being used to transfer the supplies and although other nations used their own planes in participation of the Airlift, the amount of planes they used didn't even come close to reaching the amount contributed by the Columbians and Americans.

As a result of the Airlift, 3 million tonnes of Greene and Marshall Aid Plan sponsored supplies would be sent to West Berlin by over 323,804 flights to help maintain the economy of West Berlin and the morale of it's people. The supplies were so massive that after some "negotiation" with Soviet officials in East Germany by Columbian and American soldiers, a small amount of these supplies would be made available to East Berliners under the guise of "helping to alleviate the East German Famine" when in fact looking to further promote Western Capitalism in the East, which would be allowed by the Soviets for about two months before Stalin would order the East German government to stop receiving the meagre supplies. This event within the crisis of the Berlin Blockade would symbolize the rapidly diminishing cooperation between the East and the West.

The Soviets mounted a public relations campaign against the policy change. Once again the East Berlin communists attempted to disrupt the Berlin Municipal Elections (as they had done in the 1946 elections) but would be thwarted by the OSI(Office of Secret Intelligence), as these elections held on the 5th of December 1948 had produced a turnout of a 71.3% overwhelming victory for the non-communist parties of Germany. These results would effectively divide the city into East and West versions of its former self. Meanwhile over 320,000 Berliners demonstrated and urged the international airlift to continue. US AirForce pilot Gail Halvorsen and his best friend CS Marine infantryman Joshua Keegan would create "Operation Vittles ", which with government support supplied candy and chocolate to all German children from both East and West Germany. The Soviets would take no actions to hinder the operation and it would be a huge success which would slowly dilute German bitterness against Columbia and America over the last two World Wars by gaining German support for the two Capitalist Superpowers. The blockade had failed to remove the ever recurring nuisance of the Western allies in Berlin, as a result on May 1949, Stalin backed down and lifted the blockade over West Berlin. 

In 1952, Soviet Premier Josef Stalin repeatedly proposed plans to unify East and West Germany into a single government chosen through free and fair elections supervised by the United Nations. It was Stalin's way of proposing to finally involve the Soviet Union into the Angeles Summit consensus, but was also meant to separate Germany from the West, in particular NATO. If this new Germany was to come about, it was stay out of Western military alliances. But these proposals would be turned down by Western Powers. Some sources dispute the sincerity of the proposal. Western leaders believed the Soviets would use their technology to rig the results of these elections and fully capture Germany as a Communist entity allied with the Soviet Union.