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 First 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.
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 as revenge for crimes against the Soviet people whilst the Allies(Britain, France, Columbia and America) whom maintained total Air superiority on the West, were poised on striking a fatal blow on the Industrial heart of the Reich ~ Germany.
The USC and USA launch a two pronged attack on the Philippines and other Japanese occupied islands in Oceania. The campaign begins on May the 1st and ends on August the 22nd with US General MacArthur and CS General Greyson co-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 operation due to a number of logistics issues. On the 9th of September both US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and CS President Catherine J. Holloway 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 occupied SE Asia.
After a brutal naval campaign and a subsequent land invasion of South East Asia by the USC, Columbian troops finally liberate Indochina from Japanese Occupation after months of brutal military action between the Columbians and battle hardened Imperial Japanese troops. The Japanese would defend their occupation of the French Colony so brutally that 780,000 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. The retreat would happen on the 27th of September, marking an end to the Columbian military's bloodiest Pacific campaign so far.
On October, Soviet forces liberate all of Eastern Europe from Nazi Germany and plan their last offensive against the Wehrmacht and 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 would gain absolute air and ground superiority in Poland and would quickly surround Warsaw before liberating the Polish Capital on the 25th of November
The American Manhattan 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 as how by February that year, the USC had begun funding the Manhattan Project with millions of Dollars to the point where they would begin their own similar Nuclear project in the USC Capital - Lexington AD, it was thought it would not be long before Columbia produced its own A-bomb, so best take some of the glory for it.
1945
On January the 26th, the Japanese Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere would collapse 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 re-invade 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 Japan 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 his advantage. 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. He also orders Lagunov to take Manchuria for communism.
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 agree to launch the biggest and most devastating air raids of Germany to date. By bombing the major German cities of Hamburg, Frankfurt and Berlin for a merciless seven days and ten nights, the raid is devastating but proves to not be enough in forcing Germany to surrender. Adolf Hitler urges his Reich to fight on, whilst hanging to 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 whilst taking the Eastern part of Austria and meeting Columbian troops for the first time in the war in Salzburg in central Austria in what would become Salzburg day. Their leader, the Marshal of the Soviet Union - Georgi Zhukov, decides to enter Germany just two days later after the Premier ordered him to race to Berlin.
In the Pacific the brutal hopping island campaign headed by the USA and 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, because of US support, the top secret Lexington Project is completed with Columbia's first nuclear detonation on the USC State of San Para, in the Monte Desert. The USC thus 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 weapon.
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 in American history - President Franklin Delano Roosevelt dies from a cerebral hemorrhage. His Vice President Harry S. Truman is inducted into office the same day.
On the 18th of April the Western Allies also enter German. 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 Doenitz 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 overrunning the Japanese in Manchuria, whilst 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 Doenitz 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 Greater Japanese South-East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere completely collapses with the defeat of Imperial Japanese forces in Korea, a victory that would lead to them being squeezed out of Mainland Asia.
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, CS-US forces under General Greyson and General MacArthur finally defeat the Japanese on Iwo Jima, although at a great price as nearly 15,000 Americans and 11,000 Columbians die, including 7,000 US Marines. Nevertheless, preparations for the invasion of Okinawa are made and eventually carried out 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, of whom refused to retreat let alone surrender. This behaviour causes worry in the Soviet High Command concerning the eventual invasion of Japan itself due to the high casualty rates incurred. The Russian military was already weakened by the Germans, they couldn't afford to waste away lives. Even so the Soviets fought the Japanese brilliantly, inflicting far more devastating blows for every soldier they lost.
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 Christin J. Holloway, 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 as 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 Eastern 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, Christina J. Holloway and Winston Churchill attempt to intimidate Stalin by informing him of their new device weapon - the Atomic Bomb. They are all blown away when an unmoved Stalin 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 its main mandate being in the prevention of WW3, its 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 its 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 its 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-Chek.
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. Its people had won but its 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 its 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 Doenitz, 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 UniversalSocialist 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 its 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 its grip on its 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 FederalDepartment 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 FederalDefence 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 NationalSecurity 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 mainobjective 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 Sovie t 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 its Capital. 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 reluctance to give up its 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 agrarian.
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 100 miles behind Soviet lines and its Western half was part of West Germany and thus a gateway into East Germany and its 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 Columbians 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 Columbians 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 its 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 three years. Soviet officials believed that although East Germany had a long way to go before it could be compared to its 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 would 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 its 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 Air Force 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.
Espionage
Probably one of the most famous and well known features of the Cold War was espionage. All the major powers of the Cold War engaged each using its methods. From spies to double agents and the improvement espionage technology for this purpose, the Superpowers and their allies used all three as methods to conduct covert sabotage missions against each other and secretly back their agendas on an international scale. Although this 'War of Shadows' was largely between the three Superpowers, some of their allies also participated and due to the many unconventional methods used by each Superpower's respective organizations, other countries would find themselves either dragged into Cold War politics or caught in the crossfire.
The most famous and active espionage organizations of the Cold War are America's CIA(Central Intelligence Agency), Columbia's OSI (Office of Secret Intelligence) and the Soviet Union's KGB (State Security Committee). The East German Stasi and the British Mi6 were also largely reputed for their international espionage operations. Although the East German Stasi was mostly concerned with internal security, its Main Directorate for Reconnaissance operated internationally and with Soviet funding, maintained some surveillance of West Germany, the UK and France.
The CIA and the OSI subsidized and promoted anti-communist organizations and activities around the world, much like how the KGB did the opposite. The OSI and the CIA were also largely involved in European politics, especially in Italy and France. Espionage took place all over the world but Berlin became the most important battleground for spying activities in the early days of the Cold War. Due to the use of international espionage, the jurisdiction of every country involved were largely violated and this directly affected the transparency of many operations carried out by the governments of each nation, especially the Superpowers of whom struggled with paranoia as a result. In order to protect highly classified information, people would be arrested or in most cases killed.
Both the CIA and the OSI had been created for the sole purpose of countering the KGB, but quickly grew into a larger role and would thus remain largely active even after the Cold War had ended. From small scale reconnaissance missions to the overthrowing of entire governments, these organizations became instrumental in how each side fared in what USC Diplomat Raymond Gulf referred to as "The War of Ideologies". From extortion, cover ups, corruption and murder, all organizations involved did it all.
The Soviet KGB had used espionage to acquire the A-bomb, the most agreed on theory is that it was most likely members of the Manhattan Project whom had defected to the Soviet side, or simply the KGB bought them. The KGB were more or less the most effective on the field than its counterparts, having spies in almost every aspect of Western life and governance. So much so that whenever the US or CS would send spies into the Soviet Union, the KGB would be ready to arrest most of them on the spot. In mid-1946, Soviet agents caught Columbian operatives digging tunnels under East Berlin to tap their communications, in late November 1947, an American spy living in Moscow was arrested by the KGB and then in February 1948, a Columbian spy whom had been feeding a Russian agent false information and stealing Russian military secrets in Eastern Europe was assassinated by KGB agents in London, UK in 1950. This was only a tip of the iceberg concerning Soviet brilliance on the field and the true nature of the Cold War.
But one place where the Americans and the Columbians held an advantage over the Soviets was in their espionage technology. Although the Soviet Union would develop iconic spy equipment and gear, those belonging to its rival Superpowers were more or less better. Although this still did not change the fact that the Soviets were surpassed only by two nations in spy technology during the Cold War. Apart from equipment to achievements on the field, this spy rivalry would also lead both Eastern and Western nations to develop a rather pro-spy culture, leading to the ever growing popularity of spy films, in particular in the West where kids and adults adored spies and fiction concerning them. This would broaden the scope of propaganda incorporated by each side on who was actually winning what Lindel F. Johnson dubbed as "A war between shadows".
Radio Free Europe and Cold War Propaganda
Many American and Columbian policymakers acknowledged that the Cold War in its essence was a war of ideas than it was a war about weapons, technology and a global struggle for hegemony. The USC and the USA stood together for the entirety of the Cold War, in their belief that Communism was coherently a flawed system that could not create a truly safe and habitable world for fully civilized human beings. As a result both the OSI and the CIA would mount a long list of projects opposing the appeal of Communism amongst intellectuals in Europe, the developing world and in their own backyards. This would lead to large scale propaganda and in some cases politically forced censorship in both the USA &and USC, which many intellectuals believed to be undemocratic and against everything both nations stood for. To this end both the CIA and the OSI would embark and sponsor a joint covert propaganda campaign called 'The Crusade for Freedom' in both the USA and the USC.
The availability of information in the Eastern Bloc was relatively the same if not worse. In the Eastern Bloc media was considered an organ of the State, in which case it was completely reliability and subservient to the Communist Party. Stalin was very aware of how instrumental media outlets were in gaining support against a rival political and socioeconomic ideal, after all he once ran the Communist newspaper 'Pravda' for the Party before the Communist Revolution in 1917. As a result radio and television organizations in the USSR and its Eastern Bloc were completely State owned, whilst print media was mostly run by local Communist organizations affiliated with the Party. Media outlets not promoted, permitted or endorsed by the Communist Party were illegal, thus making them extremely harder to operate than it would be in the West due to frequent crackdowns by Communist law enforcers and officials.
The 'British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), along with the 'Voice of America' and the 'Freedom Bulletin of Columbia' would begin a major propaganda effort from 1949 known as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty from Central to Eastern Europe dedicated to bringing a tranquil demise to the Communist system on the Eastern Bloc. Radio Free Europe attempted to achieve this goals by serving as a surrogate home radio station, an alternative to the state-controlled and party-dominated domestic press. Radio Free Europe was a product of some of the most prominent architects of America and Columbia's early Cold War strategists, in particular those who believed that the Cold War would eventually be fought by political means rather than military. Meanwhile, in Western Europe, America and Columbia's radio stations played almost everyday with the Columbians and Americans letting their allies know that they were not alone in their journey to recovery from the terrible World War. But in reality the Voice of America and the Freedom Bulletin of Columbia were mostly used for propaganda campaigns against Eastern Communism.
Meanwhile, in the East, the Soviet Union began their own propaganda efforts to counter American and Columbian public dissent for Communism. The Soviet Broadcasting Entity (SBE) had launched their own inter-Communist newspaper known as the Marxist-Rhetoric and would use Marxist expressions to attack Capitalism in all its forms, emphasizing the system's themes of Imperialism, Labour exploitation and War-mongering. As a result millions of papers would be printed from Moscow and sent all over Eastern and Central Europe. By 1951, efforts to get this paper to Western colonies in Asia and Africa had also begun under Stalin's orders. The SBE would go so far as to form the Radio Vanguard of Hope (RVH), which was a radio that was broadcast everyday from Moscow to the entire Eastern Bloc and beyond. Josef Stalin would frequently use the radio to address the people in the East to help boost morale and support for the Communist regime, gaining the radio huge popularity around the world. By 1960, even Communists in the West were listening to it.Many American and Columbian policymakers acknowledged that the Cold War in its essence was a war of ideas than it was a war about weapons, technology and a global struggle for hegemony. The USC and the USA stood together for the entirety of the Cold War, in their belief that Communism was coherently a flawed system that could not create a truly safe and habitable world for fully civilized human beings. As a result both the OSI and the CIA would mount a long list of projects opposing the appeal of Communism amongst intellectuals in Europe, the developing world and in their own backyards. This would lead to large scale propaganda and in some cases politically forced censorship in both the USA & USC, which many intellectuals believed to be undemocratic and against everything both nations stood for. To this end both the CIA and the OSI would embark and sponsor a joint covert propaganda campaign called 'The Crusade for Freedom' in both the USA and the USC.
NATO & Projekt Posle Khiro
The end of World War 2 not only saw a crippled Europe, but ironically a Soviet Military that was far more powerful than it was prior to the war considering how more than 9 million troops had perished and 30,000 tanks had been lost because of the Nazis. By the end of WW2 the Soviet military had a massive +22 Million men(and some women) in the armed forces, by far the greatest force in the world against Western Europe's manpower force of just 4.5 Million troops. To back up this force they also had a massive fleet of over94,000 Tanks stationed from Moscow to the East German border, these were more tanks than the entire world combined excluding one of the two sister Superpowers in the Western Hemisphere. Soviet armor was also credited for being of the best quality in the world at the time, and a fleet that big made the Soviet ground forces unstoppable. This was not all, the USSR under Josef Stalin had dethroned Britain as the main naval power in Europe with a build up of over 6,823 fully combat ready Ships for the Soviet Navy against Western Europe's meagre total of just 762 ships. To make matters even worse the Soviet Union had an even larger AirForce operating a total 157,000 Aircrafts against Western Europe's force of 40,000 Aircraft, most of which were just cargo planes instead of fighters, bombers and multirole Aircrafts like the Soviet Union had.
This massive Soviet force on the East was cause for concern in the eyes of Western European leaders like former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The Soviet military could easily invade and do what Hitler couldn't, and that was conquerer all of Europe. A shocked Columbian diplomat upon realizing these numbers would go so far as to say "No wonder the Germans were overwhelmed. The Soviet juggernaut is a conventional force that could conquer the world". The sheer size of the Soviet military posed a great threat to Western Europe. Winston Churchill was also unhappy about matters concerning Central and Eastern Europe and demanded their independence as a buffer between the Soviet Union and the Western allies.
Even with this frightening force in the East, the West had a remedy ~ the USC & the USA. Apart from their outstanding Technological and Military innovations, both nations had re-armed themselves so fast prior to WW2 and especially during the war that they both virtually out produced all Allied and Axis countries combined, excluding the USSR. Their massive militaries could each take on the Soviet Union without help from the other. By the end of the war the USA had a total force of +16 Million men(and some women) in the armed forces and the USC had a total force of +14 Million men in their armed forces. The USA also had a massive fleet of over 67,000 tanks whilst the USC had 62,000. Although their tank fleet wasn't individually more powerful than the Soviets, together it was a force to be reckoned with. They each individually had a tank fleet enough to squash all of Western Europe without a fuss. In chronological order they were both in the world's top three alongside the Soviets as Armored Tank Giants.
The Air and Water was where the power of the Sister Superpowers really lied as they were both all about global power projection. The USC alone had more ships than the Soviet Union after WW2 with over 7,815 naval assets whilst America held an even larger inventory of over 8,011 ships. Both the USA and the USC were highly reputed for their naval technology as well, with only Soviet naval technology being thought to come close. The AirForce capabilities of both nations were even more staggering by the end of the war, with the USA alone having a growing total of over 145,000 Aircrafts and the USC being the only country in the world to surpass the USSR with a massive build up of over 167,000 Aircrafts, to top it off both countries possessed the destructive power of nuclear capabilities, something the Soviets didn't have at the time.
Indeed if any country could choose a force to fight the Soviet Communists, one of these two Superpowers would be the first pick, especially the countries of Western Europe. But there was a problem, these powerful militaries, the only force in the world that could deter possible Soviet aggression towards Western Europe was way to far from the battlefields, "If World War 3 ever occurs, and believe me ladies and gentlemen with a man like Stalin acting as the head of a very powerful Totalitarian Superpower that despises our way of life, that's a very possible if. Then by the time our Columbian and American allies arrive in Europe, they will have no beachhead, no staging ground nor a standing ally to fight the massive Soviet Army with hopes to win, for all of Europe would've by then fallen into the hands of a force considerably larger than Hitler's Germany. Believe me then ladies and gentlemen, no one will be able to come to defend nor liberate us, and even this Great island I stand upon will be without effort invaded and crushed by the massive Soviet Navy and Army" said Winston Churchill in an impromptu speech to the House of Commons in the United Kingdom on January,1949. The only way to protect Western Europe was to allow Columbian and American troops to be stationed there in numbers long before Stalin could even consider an offensive against the West.
Luckily for Churchill, many Western European leaders held the same concerns as he did considering how Stalin took no crap from anyone and was very reputed for his aggressive measures when dealing with diplomatic issues and countries who refused to submit to Soviet demands and interests. Although the Spanish saw this as occupation and were very opposed to having Columbian and American troops being stationed in their country after such a volatile war against Adolf Hitler, virtually all other Western European countries supported this military intervention from the Sister Superpowers, and so it was final. A Western European military alliance would be formed as a major deterrence against possible Soviet military expedition in the West.
The leaders of America, Columbia, Britain, France, Norway, Turkey and eight other Western European nations would all meet in the 'Escutcheon Office', the main office of the Cardinal Fortress(the USC National Military Command Centre) in Lexington A.D to sign the North Atlantic Treaty, firmly establishing NATO(North Atlantic Treaty Organization), a military alliance led by the USC and the USA. This was a great victory for Cold War figures like Churchill whom had always advocated Imperialist and anti-Soviet dissents.
Most Columbian-American troops had been recalled back to their homelands almost immediately after the war, now with the NATO alliance the USC and the USA would build up their military presence in Western Europe so as to be able to quickly bring any potential conflict with the USSR home for the Soviets than they could against them. The formation of NATO served as a validation of Stalin's view on how the Capitalists felt about their existence, and the Soviets were now sure that the West was out to encircle and destroy them. Ultimately this would only heighten tensions between the Superpowers. It was a victory for the West, but a victory short lived.
Although they now had NATO, following Stalin's aggression towards West Berlin culminating in the Berlin Blockade, Western leaders were worried about Stalin's hostile behavior towards the West, but not as much as this did ~ E=mc². On August 6,1949 the first Soviet atomic instrument of destruction would be detonated in Semipalatinsk, Kazakh SSR. Making the USSR the third country in the history of humanity to obtain nuclear technology. The West was shocked. Most British engineers had vastly underestimated Soviet technology, with British scientists stating that "After the devastation they suffered from Nazi Germany, they probably wont be able to produce a new invention any time soon, let alone a nuclear device", what made matters worse was that reputed American engineer Steven Carson had even agreed to this hypothesis by stating "But if they do, and that's a big if. Then I'd say the Commies will probably develop their own nuke in the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. But I'm pretty sure it will be of low quality compared to ours".
They were all completely wrong, the Soviet nuke worked just fine and was destructive enough to lay waste to an entire city in a single blow. Instead of producing it in the 1970s barely five years passed since the West had the bomb and now the East did too. This was a massive turning point in the Cold War and Western Allies, in particular the USA(whom had ridiculed Soviet engineering) were humiliated by the stound. Through espionage, Soviet engineering and technology, the KGB and Moscow had completed Projekt Posle Khíro and satisfied Stalin's taxing demand for the Motherland's own nuclear weapon. The USA and USC no longer held a nuclear monopoly, this moment in the Cold War would mark a revolution in the methods of modern warfare forever. Three very dangerous and hostile enemy Superpowers now had devices that in an event of an all out war, would certainly destroy them all.
ARed Alliance(Victory in China)
Apart from the Soviet Union, China was one of the nations that had suffered immensely during WWII. A huge reason for this was because of the long standing violent power struggle between the two political powers of the nation. A long and bloody civil war between the CCP(Chinese Communist Party) and the KMT(Kuomintang) which had begun from 1927 had badly affected the nation's health. This thus left the nation unprepared for the vicious Japanese assault in 1937. Even after Chiang Kai Shek and Mao Zedong decided to call a temporary truce to defend their homeland against Imperial Japan, the decade long internal conflict had left them too weakened to muster a real devastating response against an Industrial and greatly disciplined and organized Imperial Japanese Military.
It was only after the massive militaries of the USC and USA began their conflict with Japan on the Pacific that the pressure began to be alleviated and morale was boosted. After the Soviets got involved in Manchuria and the Kuril Islands, it was clear that the collapse of the Japanese Empire was imminent. After Japan was nuked by America and Columbia in 1945, Chiang Kai Shek and Mao Zedong would organize a meeting in Beijing to discuss the future of China. After it became clear that both leaders would never agree on how China should be ruled, the civil war would quickly be reinitiated immediately after WWII. As a result China would experience four long years of political upheaval, warfare and a state were they lacked true Central governance. Conveniently for Mao, Stalin would sign the Universal Socialist Solidarity Act from Moscow in May 24, 1946 thus promising him aid in his conflict against the KMT.
Although before the Japanese attack Mao's army had mostly been defeated and forced to retreat into the more remote regions of the Chinese interior, by the end of World War 2 the Nationalist Army had been severely weakened, and although the Communists suffered just as badly, they had gained the support of millions of peasants by taking away land and wealth from the rich and redistributing it to them. As a result the Communist Army would grow quicker after the war and armed by the Soviet Union, they would begin to turn the tide of the long and bloody battle. Soviet tanks, planes, guns, bombs and other important supplies ensured the Communists a great advantage.
By April 1947, the Columbians would equalize things. They saw Chiang Kai Shek as a capitalist ally and seeing Mao Zedong's forces roll through his own made Chiang agree. The Columbians would thus finance the Nationalists by providing them with Columbian military equipment and supplies. But even then, the Nationalists had suffered too many devastating blows to muster a meaningful response, to the Nationalist leader "Columbian aid had come too late". Although the involvement of Columbia would help boost the morale of Nationalist troops, by 1949 the Communists had unequivocally won the civil war. The Nationalists and some 2 million troops, refugees and anti-communists would flee from the mainlands to the island of Taiwan.
According to Columbian historian Richard Frisk, the Communists won the civil war because they made far fewer military mistakes than Chiang Kai Shek, plus because in his search for a centralized government, Chiang had antagonized too many of his people and the various interest groups that the Columbians had advised him not to. Meanwhile, the Communists told the Chinese people exactly what they wanted to hear and cloaked their intents under Chinese Nationalism, moreover, Soviet tanks and guns were far more superior and granted Mao a strategic advantage against Chiang's army considering both their armies were ground based rather than Air based like the Columbians or Americans, plus the Nationalist Army did not recover from the devastation suffered from the Japanese during World War 2, "Even if the Columbians sent triple the aid they did, if Chiang had no one to carry the guns or drive the tanks for him, he couldn't have won that war. The Communists simply outsmarted them ten to one" said Frisk in an interview in Adeapolis, the capital of the USC state of New Africa.
Instantly after taking over in 1949, Mao Zedong would proclaim the nation as being the PRC(People's Republic of China) and would face instant hostility from the West. The Columbians and Americans would not recognize the CCP as the true Government of China and Chiang Kai Chek's KMT would continue representing China on an international scale as its Government with major CS and US backing. As a result the Communists would not be allowed to represent their own nation in the UN Security Council as one of its temporary seat Member States since the Kuomintang were representing China. This would cause uproar in the Soviet Union with Josef Stalin accusing the West of hypocrisy and of turning the UN into a mainly Capitalist organization, this would lead the Soviets to begin boycotting the UN Security Council and the organization entirely in protest. This would polarize relations between the West and yet another World War 2 ally, something the Columbians wanted to avoid.
After the CCP took over China, there would be an increased pro-Soviet style of rule by the Zedong Regime, banning other major political parties and purging potential opponents. In November 8, 1949 Mao Zedong would visit Moscow where he would meet with Stalin to discuss the prospects of a Communist alliance possibly as close as the Capitalist Sister Nations of the Western Hemisphere. The pictures taken during the meeting would confirm what Columbian and American leaders feared, the Soviets had gained a major power as an ally in the Cold War. The Red Treaty of Leningrad would be signed just days later on the 15th of November, and would serve as confirmation of this dangerous Red Alliance. Both Superpowers had initially planned a two on one gang up on the USSR, but now a communist China would more or less serve as an equalizer.
Many American leaders would suggest a military attack on Communist China in an effort to back the Nationalist government much like how they had done against the Soviets all those years ago during the Russian Civil War. Since they were still occupying Japan, they had an easy staging ground to use in order to achieve a swift and deadly strike against a weakened PRC. After they defeated them, they could easily replace Mao's regime with Chiang Kai Shek. Unfortunately it wasn't that simple. With China now being a proclaimed Communist state, Stalin had anticipated that the West might resort to personally getting involved, "They are very capable" he would say to Mao whilst watching an entertaining display in Moscow during their meeting.
Stalin believed that the West merely stayed out of the war in an effort to catch China off guard after the civil conflict had ended, to the Soviet Premier this was a strategic effort that would allow them the capability of easily dispatching an exhausted Chinese military. It is for this reason that the Red Treaty of Leningrad would not only establish Economic and political ties between the two Communist nations, but also a military alliance that would conversely act in the same mandate as NATO. This would allow the Soviet military the liberty of erecting Soviet military installations inside of China, thus vastly improving the nation's weakened military capabilities. So attacking China would mean an attack on the Soviet Union, and although the Sister Nations might've accepted that a couple of years ago, it was no longer an option. Provoking Russia into a war where it had to defend its allies was inconceivable for the leaders of the White House and the Chief Condominium. Confronted by an irreversible Communist Revolution in China, a shocking end to Columbian-American atomic monopoly and a fierce red alliance in Asia and Europe, this was obviously a huge Communist victory.
The availability of information in the Eastern Bloc was relatively the same if not worse. In the Eastern Bloc media was considered an organ of the State, in which case it was completely reliability and subservient to the Communist Party. Stalin was very aware of how instrumental media outlets were in gaining support against a rival political and socioeconomic ideal, after all he once ran the Communist newspaper 'Pravda' for the Party before the Communist Revolution in 1917. As a result radio and television organizations in the USSR and its Eastern Bloc were completely State owned, whilst print media was mostly run by local Communist organizations affiliated with the Party. Media outlets not promoted, permitted or endorsed by the Communist Party were illegal, thus making them extremely harder to operate than it would be in the West due to frequent crackdowns by Communist law enforcers and officials.
The 'British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), along with the 'Voice of America' and the 'Freedom Bulletin of Columbia' would begin a major propaganda effort from 1949 known as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty from Central to Eastern Europe dedicated to bringing a tranquil demise to the Communist system on the Eastern Bloc. Radio Free Europe attempted to achieve this goals by serving as a surrogate home radio station, an alternative to the state-controlled and party-dominated domestic press. Radio Free Europe was a product of some of the most prominent architects of America and Columbia's early Cold War strategists, in particular those who believed that the Cold War would eventually be fought by political means rather than military. Meanwhile, in Western Europe, America and Columbia's radio stations played almost everyday with the Columbians and Americans letting their allies know that they were not alone in their journey to recovery from the terrible World War. But in reality, the Voice of America and the Freedom Bulletin of Columbia were mostly used for propaganda campaigns against Eastern Communism.
in the East, the Soviet Union began their own propaganda efforts to counter American and Columbian public dissent for Communism. The Soviet Broadcasting Entity (SBE) had launched their own inter-Communist newspaper known as the Marxist-Rhetoric and would use Marxist expressions to attack Capitalism in all its forms, emphasizing the system's themes of Imperialism, Labour exploitation and War-mongering. As a result millions of papers would be printed from Moscow and sent all over Eastern and Central Europe. By 1951, efforts to get this paper to Western colonies in Asia and Africa had also begun under Stalin's orders. The SBE would go so far as to form the Radio Vanguard of Hope (RVH), which was a radio that was broadcast everyday from Moscow to the entire Eastern Bloc and beyond. Josef Stalin would frequently use the radio to address the people in the East to help boost morale and support for the Communist regime, gaining the radio huge popularity around the world. By 1960, even Communists in the West were listening to it.
Meanwhile, in the East, the Soviet Union began their own propaganda efforts to counter American and Columbian public dissent for Communism. The Soviet Broadcasting Entity (SBE) had launched their own inter-Communist newspaper known as the Marxist-Rhetoric and would use Marxist expressions to attack Capitalism in all its forms, emphasizing the system's themes of Imperialism, Labour exploitation and War-mongering. As a result millions of papers would be printed from Moscow and sent all over Eastern & Central Europe. By 1951, efforts to get this paper to Western colonies in Asia and Africa had also begun under Stalin's orders. The SBE would go so far as to form the Radio Vanguard of Hope (RVH), which was a radio that was broadcast everyday from Moscow to the entire Eastern Bloc and beyond. Josef Stalin would frequently use the radio to address the people in the East to help boost morale and support for the Communist regime, gaining the radio huge popularity around the world. By 1960, even Communists in the West were listening to it.
The availability of information in the Eastern Bloc was relatively the same if not worse. In the Eastern Bloc media was considered an organ of the State, in which case it was completely reliability and subservient to the Communist Party. Stalin was very aware of how instrumental media outlets were in gaining support against a rival political and socioeconomic ideal, after all he once ran the Communist newspaper 'Pravda' for the Party before the Communist Revolution in 1917. As a result radio and television organizations in the USSR and its Eastern Bloc were completely State owned, whilst print media was mostly run by local Communist organizations affiliated with the Party. Media outlets not promoted, permitted or endorsed by the Communist Party were illegal, thus making them extremely harder to operate than it would be in the West due to frequent crackdowns by Communist law enforcers and officials.
The 'British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), along with the 'Voice of America' and the 'Freedom Bulletin of Columbia' would begin a major propaganda effort from 1949 known as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty from Central to Eastern Europe dedicated to bringing a tranquil demise to the Communist system on the Eastern Bloc. Radio Free Europe attempted to achieve this goals by serving as a surrogate home radio station, an alternative to the state-controlled and party-dominated domestic press. Radio Free Europe was a product of some of the most prominent architects of America and Columbia's early Cold War strategists, in particular those who believed that the Cold War would eventually be fought by political means rather than military. Meanwhile, in Western Europe, America and Columbia's radio stations played almost everyday with the Columbians and Americans letting their allies know that they were not alone in their journey to recovery from the terrible World War. But in reality the Voice of America and the Freedom Bulletin of Columbia were mostly used for propaganda campaigns against Eastern Communism.
Meanwhile, in the East, the Soviet Union began their own propaganda efforts to counter American and Columbian public dissent for Communism. The Soviet Broadcasting Entity (SBE) had launched their own inter-Communist newspaper known as the Marxist-Rhetoric and would use Marxist expressions to attack Capitalism in all its forms, emphasizing the system's themes of Imperialism, Labour exploitation and War-mongering. As a result millions of papers would be printed from Moscow and sent all over Eastern and Central Europe. By 1951, efforts to get this paper to Western colonies in Asia and Africa had also begun under Stalin's orders. The SBE would go so far as to form the Radio Vanguard of Hope (RVH), which was a radio that was broadcast everyday from Moscow to the entire Eastern Bloc and beyond. Josef Stalin would frequently use the radio to address the people in the East to help boost morale and support for the Communist regime, gaining the radio huge popularity around the world. By 1960, even Communists in the West were listening to it.
Korean War
One of the most significant examples of the policy of containment was US-CS intervention in the Korean War(June 1950 – January 1953). After WW2, Korea had been split along the 38th parallel with the Soviets having set up a Communist regime in the North and the Columbians having set up an anti-communist regime in the South. From the moment these two countries were set up, due to their ideological differences and a ravanche policy towards the country's divided territory, they were incredibly hostile to one another and would not accept the border between them as permanent. When North Korea was established, Kim Il-sung's regime had received massive Soviet military and economic aid, as opposed to Rhee Syng-Man's South Korean regime which received mainly economic aid due to the White House and the Chief Condominium denying him arms in late 1946 as a result of increased evidence showcasing Rhee's brutality against South Koreans who opposed his Dictatorship and including those that were completely innocent as well.
Both Rhee and Kim wanted to reunite Korea under their own repressive regime. Stalin had prevented Kim from attacking the South out of concerns of an all out war with the West, but now that he had the bomb, he was feeling more confident and would give Kim permission to assault. Thus on June 1950, Kim's significantly stronger North Korean People's Army would suddenly invade South Korea at the 38th parallel. Although the South Koreans expected the attack and were quick to mobilize, the North Koreans had Soviet T-34 tanks, AK47 Assault rifles along with an abundance of other Soviet made military equipment which granted them a huge technical and tactical advantage. Stalin had also sent Soviet advisors to help coordinate the North Koreans. As a result, the North Korean Army made of 75,000 troops would steamroll through their Southern counterparts, taking the South Korean Capital of Seoul in just 3 days.
Shortly after taking over Seoul, the North Koreans would overrun the whole of South Korea, all except for the port city of Pusan, which the South Koreans were using as their last tactical position of resistance against the occupying North Koreans. South Korea had been quickly dispatched by the North Koreans in humiliating fashion. To President Truman this was a problem, as he had intended to contain the spread of Communism by preventing the "domino effect", that is if South Korea fell to the ideology, then so would its neighboring countries. This belief would lay the foundation of how the USA and USC believed the Soviets were planning to spread Communism around the world.
Following the attack, in early July 1950 former Columbian President and war hero Christina K. Holloway(first female President in world history) would deliver a public speech in St. Liberty in the Freedom Tower(The World's tallest building until 1979) where she would encourage Trenton to despatch troops to Korea in order to "restore South Korea's sovereign integrity". Coincidentally the South Koreans would appeal for support thus causing both Trenton and Truman to push a resolution through the UN Security Council. The USSR would not use its veto power as it was boycotting the council because the new Communist China was not accepted. In China's temporary UNSC seat was the pro-Columbian Nationalist Government from Taiwan, which also supported Truman and Trenton's resolution.
An appeal would then be made by the UN Security Council for North Korea to withdraw its troops from the South, but would be ignored by Kim. Left with no other option, the UNSC would give approval for a UN Army made up of 16 different countries to send help to South Korea. This UN Force would be led by US General Douglas MacArthur from the Pacific Theatre of World War 2 and would mobilize quickly due to the naval superiority of the two Sister Superpowers.
The UN troops, composed mainly of American troops and Columbian naval forces would land in the besieged city of Pusan in late July 1950, but even so they would soon be pushed back onto the defense by the North Koreans whom would push them deeper into the city. This would force General Douglas whom had underestimated the North Koreans to re-strategize, and thus his UN force would form a defensive perimeter around the greater half of Southern Pusan to defend the line until reinforcements arrived. Indeed after successfully defending the beachhead, in early September MacArthur's American reinforcements would arrive.
Now that their position in Pusan was strengthened, US and CS tanks were being delivered into Korea in numbers and American troops were mounting against the North Koreans as well. They could now finally go on the offensive. With their position strengthened, after a few clashes with the North Koreans in occupied South Korea, on October the 17th, the US Marine's X-Corp would launch an amphibious assault on Incheon(a city close to Seoul) with assistance from Columbian destroyers firing shells along the city's shores as well as Columbian Missile cruisers bombarding the North Koreans mercilessly from the coast. This devastating loss would push the North Koreans onto the retreat over the 38th parallel and by November the 5th, although the North Koreans fought fiercely, Seoul and the whole of South Korea had been recaptured.
Now General MacArthur was to go beyond the initial idea of containment due to Christina Holloway, of whom was believed to be influencing the American UN Commander, the former Columbian President wished to see the whole of Korea reunited under a Capitalist government. As a result, due to what Stalin referred to as "Manipulation from the devil(Holloway)", MacArthur would recommend they move into North Korea. President Truman, worried of a Chinese attack in solidarity with Communist Korea, nevertheless approved. Trenton, who had provided mainly naval and Airforce support to his allies wished to withdraw the Columbian Marines fighting in Korea because of this, believing it was against the policy of containment to invade sovereign nations just for being Communist, but would be advised otherwise by the FDC(Federal Defence Council) as this might make the West appear disunited.
As a result, UN troops would move into North Korea from the 38th parallel on November the 10th, 1950. With the numerical advantage, the UN Army would steamroll into North Korea and on November the 16th, would capture the North Korean capital of Pyongyang and the Yalu River, which was the border with Communist China. With this, the PRC President Mao Zedong was worried that the West might just continue up the Korean peninsula and into China in an attempt to overthrow the Communist regime there. Stalin assured him that should the West invade China, then the Red Treaty of Leningrad would come into effect and the Soviets would retaliate, but nevertheless Mao was still unconvinced that this Soviet commitment would deter the hostile capitalists from attacking China.
The Chinese had suffered immensely at the hands of the Japanese during WWII and were thus "not prepared to allow another invasion of our homeland to take place whilst we remained idle under Capitalist claims of world peace and sovereign respect" said the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party – Deng Xiaoping, in a telegram to the Kremlin in Moscow. As a result, the Chinese would retaliate with a massive force of 350,000 troops crossing into North Korea in an effort to help their Communist ally and "restore North Korea's autonomous integrity against US-Columbian Imperialism" as said by Mao Zedong in a speech to his Army Generals as a rebuttal to Christina Holloway's speech in Freedom Tower, USC on July that year. Although Stalin had been reluctant to back this Chinese invasion, his Soviet Union had been rebuilding China both economically and most importantly, militarily. This meant Chinese troops were far from being what they were during the 1930s.
The UN troops, overwhelmed by this new force, would be pushed out of North Korea with heavy losses. By February the 4th, 1951, the Chinese and the North Koreans had recaptured Seoul and forced the UN troops together with the South Koreans back to where they had all almost started fighting from – behind the 38th Parallel. General Douglas MacArthur angered by yet another major setback in the conflict would recommend the use of the atomic bomb on China, citing this attack as "a declaration of war against America and its sister nation". Truman, whom as a result of Chinese interference had now reverted back to the Western policy of containment would, however, refuse to grant him permission by rejecting him the 50 nukes he had requested. But nevertheless, General Douglas MacArthur would insist vehemently, even going so far as to demand the 50 nukes from Lexington AD. As a result Truman would dismiss him for insubordination in a scandalous event in the USA, MacArthur's former partner from the Pacific Theatre – Columbian General Andrew Greyson would quickly be called up to replace him on orders from President Trenton and Truman.
The Americans had considered the nuclear option but would be dissuaded by their Columbian counterpart, and knowing that the Soviets had the bomb too, Truman had refused MacArthur's proposal as he did not want to risk all out global destruction in what would become a devastating nuclear war with the Soviets. He argued that "using the bomb for even the smallest of conflicts will epitomize its frequent use in all wars, which will eventually lead to a cataclysmic nuclear war down the line should we have any clashes with the Soviets, in which case millions of innocent souls will perish". Plus Stalin's speech to the Communist Party in January 1950 where he would say "War with Columbia and America is INEVITABLE" would serve as further discouragement to Western powers concerning the use of the atomic bomb. General Greyson was very much in agreement with both President Truman and Trenton, and believed their conventional forces could defeat the Chinese and North Koreans, or at least push them out of South Korea, whose protection was the main point of their initial intervention in Korea anyway.
Thus on April 1951, President Trenton would grant Greyson his full support by allowing a massive wave of CS reinforcements under the control of the UN to be shipped to the battlefields of Korea, symbolizing the beginning of Columbia's full intervention into the conflict. With fresh reinforcements, General Greyson's forces would eventually drive the North Koreans and their Chinese allies of whom were pushing deeper into South Korea, back over the 38th parallel, retaking the South Korean capital for the second time and stabilizing the front. Now a stalemate would set in, thus on July 1951 peace talks would be initiated, but a compromise could not be found. Meanwhile, the Soviets of whom had stayed distant from the war would finally get involved, with Soviet pilots disguised in Chinese uniforms and using Soviet jet fighters beginning their fight against the Americans and Columbians in the air. The conflict would continue for the next two years with the nation becoming a full on battlefield.
Although a stalemate had set in, the arrival of Columbian troops was what truly made a difference, strengthening American positions and providing an abundance of supplies for the UN troops. Soon, the now numerically superior UN troops under General Greyson would begin slowly pushing the Chinese army out of North Korea, retaking Pyongyang in August 12, 1952 after the brutal Battle of Pyongyang concluded in Columbian victory. When asked to surrender, Kim would retreat further north into the Peninsula from where he took full command of the North Koreans People's Army, blaming Mao Zedong's Chinese forces for the loss of the North Korean capital. Feeling betrayed, Mao Zedong would order the general retreat of his military over the Yalu River, citing that he would no longer sacrifice any more Chinese lives for an ungrateful Korea. Plus his military was still in the process of modernization under Soviet aid and guidance, thus meaning there were many shortages, which was the main reason they had lost the North Korean capital, so Mao and his generals felt they could not hold North Korea. Even though the USSR proposed more military aid for China in order to fill up the shortages, Mao was no longer prepared to continue the fight in Korea due to a clash of interest and general resentment between the leadership of China and North Korea, in particular after Kim blamed China for the military situation in Korea.
With the Chinese on the retreat, the Columbians and the Americans would take this opportunity to quicken their various offensives before China got involved again, with orders from the Presidents of both Sister nations to put the conflict to rest by October. Feeling their Korean ally slipping away, the Soviets would deploy even more tanks, planes, artillery pieces and guns to North Korea, with Stalin ordering Kim to conscript more people into his army. It would be due to this that the UN advance up the Korean peninsula would slow to a halt as the stalemate between them and the North Koreans set in. With the bloody stalemate re-established the lives of every Korean, in particular in North Korea, was in danger. But nevertheless Kim Ill-Sung would continue the fight to maintain his Communist regime. The fighting would continue all the way to December, but by then the General Stuff of the North Korean People's Army was as war weary as every Korean was. Millions had already died, and the military leaders of North Korea under the guidance of General XXXXXXXX had had enough of the war. They needed to put an end to it one way or another, to them it was no longer about victory, but about saving Korean lives.
General XXXXXXXX and his 'comrades' had organized a coup and January the 7th was the set date. After the fall of Pyongyang, Kim Ill-Sung had retreated to his bunker, from where he would continue to give orders to the military fighting on the front. General XXXXXXXX's plan was to slowly conscript a majority of the Kim Guard to the front so as to ensure that the dictator had little to no security, and since Kim trusted the General, he did not protest as the General had promised to replenish the ranks of Kim's personal Guard with the best that he could find. At the day of the coup, Soviet personnel had left Kim's bunker for the Soviet city of Vladivostok, where Beria, Stalin's right hand man, had summoned them for a personal briefing on the military situation in Korea. This meant that the Soviets would not be there to intervene and stop the coup. On January 7, 1953 during Kim's daily military conferences, XXXXXX loyalists would surround the base where the Kim's bunker was at and would then storm it, catching Kim and the rest of the General stuff that remained loyal to him by surprise. With General XXXXXXX declaring them "under arrest", Kim and his comrades knew then and there that it was a coup.
A majority of the North Korean People's Army had been demoralized by the grueling stalemate with Columbia and America, which was maintained at a heavy human cost. Plus Columbian-American front line propaganda made things even worse for troops. Even so, most of the troops had kept the fight against what they considered Imperialism going. But it was mostly due to the support they shared for General XXXXXXX as well as fear of being executed by Kim's ruthless Barrier troops, whom shot them when they retreated under pressure from the Americans and Columbians, something Stalin did not like. So more or less many of their faith on Kim Ill-Sung's Communist rule had slowly diminished, so when it was announced by the General that he was arresting Kim Ill-Sung for "Crimes against the Korean people" and that he was also assuming temporary control of the military, close to non of them protested, in fact a great portion of the soldiers were happy. The first thing General XXXXXXX had recognized was the fighting ability of America, and to him fighting the Americans on their own was difficult but possible, but fighting the Americans and their Columbian allies was close to suicidal. Although he was Communist, he was mostly a man of nationalistic integrity and wanted to see Korea as one again, so this was his opportunity. Plus he genuinely believed that all of Korea could be transformed into a Communist utopia through democratic elections instead of military force.
General XXXXXXX would send diplomats to Seoul, where he would offer America and Columbia the full capitulation of North Korea, under the conditions that all foreign troops withdraw from Korea within the next year, the UN allow the nation of Korea to unite under a democratic government, to with the secret terms that Rhee Syng-Man's ruthless regime be deposed by the occupying powers, as he felt both Kim and Rhee had wronged the Korean people. Both Washington and Lexington had a lot to deliberate about, although the American leadership wanted to refuse XXXXXXX's demands, their new President Dwight D. Eisenhower as well as recently re-elected Trenton both wanted to put an end to the conflict. Trenton also felt that allowing Rhee to continue his despotic rule over Korea would be disastrous for democracy, he had to go. Meanwhile, after the coup, Moscow would deploy troops to the Korean border, the Red Army was now poised to invade North Korea and depose XXXXXXXX from power, thus restoring Kim's regime. When American reconnaissance would confirm Soviet military build up on the Soviet-Korean border, both America and Columbia would reluctantly agree to the terms that would end the conflict, inviting General XXXXXXXX aboard the Columbian Battleship, the CSS Holloway based at the docks of Tokyo, Japan on the 20th of January 1953. It would be here where General XXXXXXX would sign North Korea's official surrender to the UN.
With the surrender signed, the North Korean People's Army would throw down their weapons and surrender to the Columbians and the Americans. It was at this time when Soviet troops had crossed the Korean border, but amid the news of North Korea's official surrender, Stalin would order his troops to return to the USSR in what the Soviet Premier considered a humiliating event in Soviet history. The Korean war was over. Although it ended in a general victory for the UN and Western Capitalism, it was at a great human cost, with over 3.6 million Koreans, mostly civilians, dying from the conflict. Now that they had won, America and Columbia had to honour their promise, the people of Korea were just happy that the war was over. So meaning they cared very little about the political aspect of things. So on February 3, 1953, as secretly agreed Rhee Syng-Man would be arrested by Korean troops loyal to XXXXXXXX, and the Americans as well as their Columbian brethren would not intervene. Now both Kim and Rhee were going to be sent to America where they would be trialed for war-crimes, both President Eisenhower and Trenton wished for them to be trialed in a UN chamber to ensure impartiality. Since he didn't care, XXXXXXXX would agree to hand over both dictators to the Sister Superpowers.
President Eisenhower would arrange for both men to be shipped to New York City, where the trial was set to take place, but something would go wrong during the handover. The American soldiers that came to pick up both men would be shocked to find the small military base where they were both detained literally burning in rubble of stone and corpses of Korean soldiers. Reports to Lexington and Washington were vague and although the ruthless attack was greatly detailed to the leadership of the Sister Superpowers, information as to who the perpatrators were was clearly not known. American personnel surveying the area would find Rhee Syng-Man's body under the rubble, although distorted due to the pressure it underwent during the falling of the rubble and the severe burns from the fire, he was identified. Kim on the other hand, was nowhere to be found. Many thought he, too, had been killed during the ruthless attack until days later Kim would appear in Moscow, being guarded by Soviet personnel and escorted inside the Kremlin to go and see Stalin himself. Upon further investigation it had been found that the ***Spetznas****, Soviet Special Forces, were there ones responsible for the ruthless attack. What shocked the West was that apart from a few injured, they had suffered no casualties whatsoever in an attack that killed more than 70 Korean personnel.
Naturally both the Americans and Columbians would demand they hand over Kim, whom Stalin now regarded as a political prisoner persecuted by Capitalist forces, "To the USSR, Kim and his entire family are refugees escaping persecution. We WONT be handing him over to the Americans or their Columbian brethren". Indeed, Stalin would reward Kim for his loyalty although he took into account his massive failures as well. Stalin would grant Kim and his entire family Soviet citizenship, and would welcome Kim as a member of the Communist Party. Also, 500,000 Koreans had fled to China and to the USSR during the war, and Stalin would propose that the Soviet Union also begin the process of granting full civilian rights to the 478,000 hungry Korean refugees standing at their gates, believing that they could be resettled in Vladivostok and possibly other Soviet cities, where new Korean enclaves – Korea Town, as it was called, would be used to house them. The Central Committee and the Politburo was ver opposed to Stalin's proposal, but began the process nonetheless. NATO was outraged at the actions of Stalin's USSR, going so far as to accuse him of meddling in their business. Nonetheless, it was done and there was no going back, Kim had escaped their clutches, but nonetheless a new, Capitalist government could be established in a now unified Korea, an ally against the Russians in the Cold War.
Meanwhile, as America and Columbia began propping up the new democratic government of Korea, the Russians were moving towards a new and more aggressive stance into the Cold War, not willing to lose another ally like they had lost Korea. Soviet Premier Josef Stalin would begin this by approving the Georgi Zhukov plan of a stronger Soviet Navy, thus allowing Russia to begin constructing the biggest Naval Base on the entire Pacific Ocean in Vladivostok, in order to enhance the Soviet Pacific Fleet. Stalin would also use the Red Treaty of Leningrad to begin constructing other Soviet Naval Bases in the Chinese cities of Hangzhou and Shanghai. Stalin would also begin propping up the Soviet ruble, calling on all Communist states to meet in Moscow in what would be the Kremlin Conference. In this conference, the Soviet ruble would be declared the inter-communist reserve currency, allowing the Soviets better control of the Central banks of Communist states as well as raising the international value and strength of the Soviet currency. Now every Soviet citizen had better purchasing power, and the ruble began to quickly catch up to the US and Columbian dollars as the foreign market demand for Soviet goods, in particular military hardware, began to steadily increase. Nevertheless, the Americans and the Columbians would establish a provisional government in Korea under NNNNNNN, in which it was tasked with holding the country's very first democratic Presidential elections. The Democratic Republic of Korea was born.
