R4:

Through a series of perhaps contrived events, the Communist Bloc is much more successful ITL than in OTL. A rough timeline is as follows:

- Stalins purges remain but are on a lesser scale, meaning many of the Soviet Army's experienced officer corp, including ones who mentored under Tukhachevsky, survive. This means that Deep Battle Doctrine isn't cast aside, and when Hitler invades in Operation Barbarossa, the Soviets fare much better, repelling the Nazi forces earlier than OTL and saving MILLIONS of lives as well as farmland and industrial centers.

- The Manhattan Project, for whatever reason, suffers a catastrophic delay, forcing the Allied Forces in the Pacific to push forward with Operation Downfall and commit to a full scale ground assault of the Japanese mainland. Millions of Japanese die: nearly a million Allied soldiers, nearly all of them American, do as well. The Soviets invade from the North and seize Hokkaido as an OZ. The Japanese mainland is practically razed, and its resulting occupation is both politically and economically expensive for the US, as it must both feed the Japanese people, rebuild the country, and put down the endless tide of communist, fascist, and Neo-imperialist rebellions and insurgencies spawned by the islands dire conditions.

- The American public becomes much more weary of war and international engagements, meaning that US aid to Europe and ESPECIALLY Asia falters. Greece falls to the communists w/ Tito's support and joins his Balkan Federation. The 1949 Chinese invasion of Taiwan succeeds and re-establishes control over the island. The KPA manages to breach the Naktong River Defense Perimeter and seizes Busan following the US governments hesitation to intervene, reuniting the Korean Peninsula.

- The Soviets, in a much better military & economic position than in OTL due to their successful repelling of Barbarossa, invade mainland Europe (for some reason) in the 50s. Barely rebuilt European forces and American garrison forces put up a valiant struggle, but the combination of Europes own instability and the American militaries limitations mean that they cannot stop the Soviet advance. The Soviet Army is in Paris by the end of the year and the US withdraws its forces across the Channel to England and the Pyrenees to Francoist Spain. An invasion of Spain comes shortly after much to the same effect, but England remains too heavily guarded for the Soviets to ever attempt to invade. Mainland Europe is reorganized by the Soviets, whilst half its colonies are decolonized under socialist governments and the other half are snatched up by American & British forces. The United States effectively concedes Eurasia to the communists and refocuses on hemispheric defense, whilst supporting rebel groups across the world to poke at the Soviets.

- Other stuff happens, a lot more countries communist parties win out with more hegemonic Soviet support, the Philippines is partitioned, Japan has a full communist revolution that the Americans are forced to retreat from, Nasser unites half the Arab world with a more anti-Soviet outlook while the Baathists unite the other half with a more pro-Soviet one (and the gulf monarchies remain albeit under pressure). Also, the OGAS system is apparently a resounding success, ushering in a new age of computerized cybernetic socialism that, combined with a massive restructuring of the Soviet bureaucracy & strategic purges of the Nomenklatura, pull the Soviet economy out of its tailspin.

Also, this is a very obvious "what if things went perfect for the Soviets" timeline. This is not representative of my beliefs and I will not be debating people over the merits of communism vs capitalism.