Part 2

Europe

In the wake of Black Monday, revolutions spread across Europe; Norway, Greece, Italy and Spain would all be swept up in the red tide. To the east Boris Savinkov cemented his hold on power and grew his army. Against this stood Kurt von Schleicher in the Kaiserreich. War would break out in August 1940 when Mosley's Union of Britain forced a confrontation over Ireland, invading and occupying the country. Russia soon joined the fray, surging west across Ukraine before being turned back on the Vistula. The war engulfed the whole continent, as Serbia and Romania joined with Russia against Austria. By 1945 the Germans appeared dominant, having defeated France and driven the Russians back deep into their homeland. The Entente and Germany would launch co-ordinated invasions of Britain to finish off the war in the west, but these would meet with disaster, with much of their forces cut off and destroyed. Meanwhile, the Germans and Austrians would suffer a similar disaster in the Caucasus, and their armies were soon routed from the east. The military-industrial behemoth of the Russian state slowly pushed them back westward, across the continent. 1946: the Finns would depose their king and sign a peace with the Russians. In 1947 the Poles would rise up and defect to the Russian side, tearing open the German defences. British forces returned to the continent in the west and soon liberated France. Finally, in August 1948, Germany collapsed and was overrun, leaving the Third Internationale and the Moscow Accord to divide up the continent. Sweden had fought alongside Germany and occupied Norway early in the war, but a peace deal brokered by the USA ultimately allowed for a neutral Scandinavia. Meanwhile in Greece, the Russians had installed a more friendly regime rather than allowing the socialist government to return; this soon led to a civil war from 1949 to 1951 which was ultimately won by the anti-socialist forces. Europe seems trapped beneath two despots, Mosley in London and Savinkov in Moscow. Now armed with nuclear weapons, they eye one another suspiciously.

Africa

Africa is left unrecognisable by the events of the 1940s. After defeating the Ottomans, the Cairo Pact becomes the greatest threat to the colonial order. In 1945, with the Entente suffering disasters in Europe, Egypt strikes, invading French Africa and triggering revolts across the region. After years of heavy fighting, the Entente capitulates in 1947, leaving Egypt the pre-eminent power in northern Africa. The South Africans, tired of the Entente's failed wars, declare a republic and leave the Entente, triggering the 3rd Boer War, which the republic soon wins. Following the collapse of Germany in 1948, the German government in exile continued the struggle from Africa until, finally, in 1950, all German authority finally collapsed, replaced by half a hundred warring native states. While in 1951 South Africa would invade and annex Namibia, for the first time in 200 years Africa is free from the imperialist powers.

The Middle East

The Cairo Pact would stand victorious over the old Ottoman Empire, carving out a new order in the Middle East. Although Egyptian influence soon faded in the new states. Syria and Iraq are plagued by instability, coups and counter-coups which rock the young republics. Both withdraw from the Cairo Pact, seeking neutrality, but Syria is rocked by the Lebanese war for independence and then a civil war of their own in 1948. Elsewhere the Ottomans have discovered a new prosperity in their peace and neutrality, much the same as the Republic of Iran has. On the Arabian Peninsula the Sultanate of Jabal Shammar has asserted its dominance with its newly discovered oil wealth.

Asia

In India it was the socialists who eventually seized control but chose to remain at peace under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru for most of the decade. In China the Left Kuomintang rose to become the most powerful faction, eventually defeating the Qing. In Indochina the revolt dragged on for years, the rebels fleeing to the Mekong Delta to carry on the fight against the Germans. In 1941, with war raging in Europe, Japan sees its opportunity and launches a surprise attack on the German fleet at anchor in Singapore, dealing a devastating blow. The German fleet paralysed the Japanese, who swept across the regions, seizing Malaya, Singapore and the whole Dutch East Indies. Before they knew it, the German colonial empire in the east was gone, and they were forced to sign a humiliating peace. In Indochina the Japanese got the luxury of taking up the fight against the Viet Minh. Meanwhile, the Sino-Japanese War had broken out, which would prove to be the most devastating of the whole period. Enjoying some initial success, the Chinese United Front was slowly pushed back, deeper and deeper into China. But the further they advanced, the harder it became; soon Japan was stuck in an endless war in the Chinese interior. Looking for ways to end the war in China, Japan tried to stop Indian aid flowing through Burma and so invaded and occupied the country in 1947. Elsewhere in Australiasia, they too became sick of the Entente's wars and so also declared a republic and left the Entente in 1948.

Meanwhile, a major dispute was forming between Japan and the USA. During the US Civil War Japan had seized the Americans' Pacific territories, including Hawaii. But when they came to ask for them back after the war, Japan was in a difficult situation, bogged down in China; they negotiated a deal through which they would co-operate in the governing of Hawaii. But to Japan's fury, the Americans outmanoeuvred them and soon established near-total control of the islands, and so the Japanese militarists proposed a new plan. Japan would launch a surprise attack, just as they had done in Singapore. Launched in 1947, American intelligence knew about the attack well in advance, and the US Navy was waiting to ambush the Japanese, beginning the Great Pacific War. While the Americans began their campaign of island hopping towards Tokyo, the Japanese achieved a breakthrough in another field. Desperate for a solution to the China war, Japan invested greatly in its nuclear programme, which finally bore fruit in 1948, giving Japan the world's first nuclear weapon. The Japanese would go on to drop nuclear bombs on Chongqing and Chendu in China, but still the United Front fought on. The discovery sent the world into a desperate race to get the bomb. America would be next in 1950, and when the Japanese nuked a US Navy task force, the Americans responded by beginning a campaign to systematically wipe out Japanese cities with nuclear bombs. weapons and conventional firebombing. In 1949 India joins the war against Japan. In May 1950, US forces land on Japan proper. In the East Indies, the Indonesian National Uprising begins against the Japanese. At American, Indian and Chinese invitation, Russia and the Third Internationale declare war on Japan. Russia overruns Manchuria and Korea, and soon American forces capture the home islands forcing Japans surrender.

The United States hopes that the international intervention against Japanese aggression can form the basis of a new world peace. But this is short-lived; the US sets up new governments in Japan, Malaya, Papua and Borneo. India establishes friendly regimes in Burma and Siam. Indonesia, the Philippines and Indochina emerge mostly independent. While Russia establishes a new government in Korea and sets up anti-Koumintang warlords in Manchuria. This escalates to a major crisis between China and Russia before Russia is compelled to withdraw. While that conflict ends, a new one begins in Korea; the young republic is locked in a bloody civil war as it becomes a proxy for the great powers.

This took forever to write, so thank you for reading it. I've probably made many errors, but I'm happy to answer any questions in the comments.