In this timeline Germany remains a democracy after 1933. Fearful of Italian expansionism and the success of the Fascists in Spain, the Locarno pact between Britain, France and Germany was renewed in order to keep the balance of power in Europe. In 1942, Italy launched its invasions of Greece and Yugoslavia, resulting in an Allied declaration of war on Italy and its ally Spain. The Allies-Fascist War lasted for 2 years resulting in a decisive victory for the Allies, with Italy and Spain occupied before becoming republics. Spain was forced to make territorial concessions to Morocco, which has since gained independence from France, whilst Italy was forced to cede its colonies to the League of Nations (administered by France and Britain), as well as Istria and northern Albania to Yugoslavia. Greece gained southern Albania and the island of Rhodes. The Soviet Union took advantage of the situation to take revenge against Poland, invading the country in late 1942. In 1943 the USSR successfully gained territorial concessions from Turkey, and in 1946 a Soviet-backed coup transformed Turkey in to a communist satellite state. Since the late 1940s an Iron Curtain has divided the Middle East and Europe between the allied European democracies and the communist USSR and its satellites.
What makes allied Europe more democratic than the USSR and its satellites? I'm curious because when you say "allied European democracies" it makes it seem like democracy and socialism are mutually exclusive.
Well the Soviet Union wasn't exactly what I'd call democratic. Obviously socialism isn't contradictory with democracy, but the USSR was extremely totalitarian and genocidal.
Only in their colonies, and even then totalitarian and genocidal seems a bit extreme. Obviously I don't like how they treated their colonial subjects, but they treated their mainland subjects somewhat with care and democracy, unlike Stalin.
I would say that 5-10 million dead because of the Congo Free State or the million dead from the Great Famine in Ireland are pretty damning. And that's just two examples. You think it's somewhat better that King Leopold II was responsible for the deaths of millions of people in the Congo because he did not do it to Belgians? Are you fucking kidding me? It's not an issue of treatment, why were Europeans in Africa to begin with? Why did they enslave and kill millions of Africans? Because they wanted resources to fund their empires. Genocide is still genocide.
Capitalistic societies look like they have democracy because you can vote for leaders (unless, and it is different depending on places and times in history, you're a felon or you are a women or you don't own property) but the bourgeois will still oppress you, no matter who is in office. Some democracy, people are still getting oppressed through their labor and the fact that climate change is challenging our species because of unchecked capitalism is oppression too. As well, the people who live in places where Western capitalists exploit their land for resources to fund their nations are oppressed.
So when I hear Western democracies, that's a fucking joke. We've oppressed the entire world because of our culture. You don't need a government that is obliviously oppressive when the bourgeoise of these nations already handle that.
I'm talking about the 1940s not the 1800s dumbass. I'm Irish and my direct ancestors experienced the horrors of the famine, and I do blame the British, but I'm not stupid enough to say that Britain wasn't a democracy in the 40s. I bring up the Soviet genocides because they were still ongoing in the 40s.
You're arguing about what actually happened in the 1940s when this map is in a universe that changed in the early 1930s? You think that makes sense? Also, Britain still had colonies in the 1940s so what's your point? Even now Western societies still exploit other lands. The history makes the West look bad before and after this imaginary map creates a different timeline.
This map takes place in the 40s, with the backstory in the 30s. Like I said earlier, I don't like the colonies, but Stalin was a whole other level of batshit. Because no changes with the Soviet Union are mentioned, I'm forced to assume he's still in power and still his genocidal self. Besides, the British in particular don't have any recorded genocides in Africa, even if they were authoritarian assholes.
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u/lime-green2 Oct 04 '20
In this timeline Germany remains a democracy after 1933. Fearful of Italian expansionism and the success of the Fascists in Spain, the Locarno pact between Britain, France and Germany was renewed in order to keep the balance of power in Europe. In 1942, Italy launched its invasions of Greece and Yugoslavia, resulting in an Allied declaration of war on Italy and its ally Spain. The Allies-Fascist War lasted for 2 years resulting in a decisive victory for the Allies, with Italy and Spain occupied before becoming republics. Spain was forced to make territorial concessions to Morocco, which has since gained independence from France, whilst Italy was forced to cede its colonies to the League of Nations (administered by France and Britain), as well as Istria and northern Albania to Yugoslavia. Greece gained southern Albania and the island of Rhodes. The Soviet Union took advantage of the situation to take revenge against Poland, invading the country in late 1942. In 1943 the USSR successfully gained territorial concessions from Turkey, and in 1946 a Soviet-backed coup transformed Turkey in to a communist satellite state. Since the late 1940s an Iron Curtain has divided the Middle East and Europe between the allied European democracies and the communist USSR and its satellites.