Cold War

Cuba becomes communistVietnam unified under communist control

Korea united into Democratic Empire of Korea

Mao Zedong assassinated

Osama bin Laden killed

Angolan Civil War ongoing until 2002

World War III begins in 2017

Panama liberated

Taliban takes power in Afghanistan

## Major Events

### Battles

Iron Hand Conspiracy, 1960 Invasion of Neugar Island, Korean War, Vietnam War, Operation 40, February, 1965 Hostage Crisis, Angola Civil War, Russo-Afghan War, Russo-Federation War, Operation Yellowjacket, Operation 40, Operation Blue Medallion, Second Chinese Civil War, Chinese Russian Civil War

## Combatants

### Allied Belligerents

NATO:West Rome

United Kingdom

West Germany

Co-belligerents:

South Korea

Cuba

Republic of China

Australia

Phillippines

South Vietnam

People's Republic of China

UNITA

South Africa

Panama

Mujahideen

Orthodox Republic of Russia (Late)

Raven

Droavania

### Enemy Belligerents

Warsaw Pact:Soviet Union (Early)

China

North Korea

North Vietnam

Khmer Rouge

North Vietnam

Pathet Lao

MPLA

Afghanistan

Federation

Other Soviet supporters

Many Communist guerrillas

## Commanders

### Allied Commanders

Late 1940s-1990s:Harry S. Truman

Elliot Cochran

Evan Butler

Nixon Alexander

1960s-1990s:

* John F. Kennedy
* Richard Nixon
* Ronald Regan
* Agnes Peterson

2000s:

* Benjamin King
* Vince Crosby
* Ellie Cohen
* Nikolai Kalinin
* Emmett Mack
* Marcus Seal
* Derek Westbrook
* Lydia Ross

Other leaders:

* King of Droavania
* Presidents of the member countries of the European Union

### Enemy Commanders

Nikita KrushchevLeonid Brezhnev

Fidel Castro

Kim Il-Sung (KIA)

Mao Zedong (KIA)

Ho Chi Minh

## Strength

### Allied Strength

West Roman Armed ForcesCIA:

* Special Activities Division

UK Armed Forces:

* British Army
* SAS

MI6

Cuban Rebels

UNITA militants

Mujahideen militants

Chinese Nationalist soldiers

### Enemy Strength

Soviet Armed Forces:Spetsnaz

Spetsnaz GRU

Soviet Air Force

Numerous other forces

In the normal timeline, the **Cold War** was a period of geopolitical tension between the Communist Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union and its satellite states) and the non-Communist West (the United States of America, NATO, its allies and others), spanning from 1945 to 1991. In the alternate timeline present in the TACITUS series, the Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the Communist East and the non-Communist West, which eventually escalated into a series of military conflicts that lasted from 1946 to 2017, when, thanks to the actions of the Democratic Empire of Korea and the Islamic State of New Palestine, everybody's fears concerning the Cold War ever since it first began came true and the Cold War escalated into World War III.

## Notable Deviations from Normal Timeline

* The Second Russian Civil War occurs in this alternate timeline, which leads to the USSR falling later in this alternate timeline
* A plot is uncovered in the late 1950s-early 1960s concerning various corrupt government officials funding a terrorist organization known as the **Iron Hand**.
* West Rome develops the nuke later (in the mid 1950s) after sabotaging the Federation's own nuclear weapons program.
* The Korean War transpires differently-it is not America/West Rome that starts it, but the Federation instead. In addition, America/West Rome and the Federation lose the Korean War, leading to the birth of the Democratic Empire of Korea.
* The Federation invents the nuke instead of West Rome (due to the failure of the Manhattan Project).
* Outraged at Mao Zedong and his actions in China, the terrorist group New Dawn deploys a team of assassins to China to kill him.
* The Cuban Missile Crisis does not happen.
* The Russo-Afghan War (which replaces the Soviet War in Afghanistan ) occurs when the newly-established Christian Republic of New Russia invades Afghanistan, feeling that Russian missionaries on mission in Afghanistan are being threatened by Islamic extremists and need to be protected. At the same time, the Federation also sends soldiers in to deal with the Islamist militants in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, but also clash against the Russians due to a conflict of interest.
* The Vietnam War transpires differently in this alternate universe than in the normal timeline-Rather than just sending soldiers to assist in Vietnam without declaring war, West Rome actually ***declares war*** against North Vietnam and sends soldiers to help take out Ho Chi Minh, the leader of North Vietnam.
* There is a plot hatched by Soviet sleeper cells, in coordination with an East German terrorist group known as Obsidian, to sabotage the African American Civil Rights Movement , which is foiled.
* Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong is assassinated by Russian Orthodox extremists, believing him to be the prophesied Antichrist in the Christian Bibile.
* The assassination of Martin Luther King Junior is prevented, thus allowing Martin Luther King Junior to become the United States' first black President.
* In an attempt to turn the tide of the Cold War in their favor, the Soviet Union abducts and brainwashes Agnes Peterson into becoming a Soviet sleeper agent/super-soldier-assassin, hoping to use her to assassinate John F. Kennedy. The operation fails when Russian defector Yuri Belov sabotages the brainwashing attempt.
* The existence of a murder cult known as the Butch Family Murder Cult, which fights its own war of terror against soldiers and agencies from both sides.
* West Rome actually wins the Tet Offensive (and the war in Vietnam) due to support from the Christian Republic of New Russia.
* A war breaks out between China and the Orthodox Republic of New Russia, supposedly to avenge Mao Zedong in the wake of his assassination.