At World's End Wiki

## Welcome to the ***At World's End*** Wiki

***At World's End*** is an alternate universe, set in an alternate timeline where Nazi Germany wins World War II on a conditional peace, and later stagnates as it scrambles to preserve the New Order it enforced on the European Continent, and on the World. At World's End is a historically-driven alternate universe that thrives on the combination of real life personalities, real life historical plans by the victorious powers, and understanding the potential effects of a victorious Axis through a realistic lens. At World's End aims to combine the realistic and historic aspects of our real world, with the morbid and melancholic setting of this entirely different world. At World's End's ambitions are to create a compelling story where the Nazis may have emerged victorious, but struggles to maintain its control over its conquests, notwithstanding the damage that has already been done to countless peoples and nations.

## The Story

**It started on February 17, 1915**, the War to End All Wars was ongoing, and on this day, the Entente Powers launched the Gallipoli campaign against the Ottoman Empire. First Lord of the Admiralty *Winston Churchill*, proposed a naval attack on the Dardanelles with the hope of knocking out the Ottoman Empire from war. On the same day, a British plane from HMS Ark Royal flew a reconnaissance sortie over the Straits. Two days later, a joint Anglo-French task force began an attack on the Dardanelles. Unfortunately for the British, the Ottomans were able to repel the landing of the Royal Marines. Much to the frustration of Churchill, Admiral Carden refused to increase the fleet's efforts, believing it was unnecessary. Further complicating matters, Churchill's plans to increase the troop count was rejected on the basis of an intercepted German telegram that the Ottomans were running out of equipment. Later that year, the Prime Minister ordered Churchill to command near the frontlines himself after pleading to relieve Admiral Carden of his duties. On March 18, 1915, whilst Churchill was being transported by the HMS Irresistible, the ship struck a naval mine that disabled her engines. The ship began flooding and was later struck by Ottoman fire, with an estimate of 150 deaths, including Winston Churchill himself. The Gallipoli Campaign failed, and Churchill's remains were brought back to London, with the Prime Minister being blamed for the First Lord's death.

**Five years later, on November 2, 1920**, James M. Cox, with his running mate *Franklin D. Roosevelt* wins the 1920 US Presidential Elections, winning against Warren Harding and running mate Calvin Coolidge. On August 15, 1921, on a visit to the Panama Canal, Vice President Roosevelt fell ill, and contracted a paralytic illness. Unprepared for the incident, Franklin D. Roosevelt was rushed to the nearest hospital, after the paralysis began affecting the muscles responsible for his breathing. The lack of proper healthcare facilities in Panama led to a worsening of the disease. Further complicating matters, Roosevelt delayed the return trip to Florida, hoping that he would recover and not demoralize the nation. On September 5, 1921, after three weeks of struggling from his illness, and after suffering severe infections, blood clots, and cardiac arrest, Vice President Franklin D. Roosevelt died due to complications with polio, later diagnosed as Guillain-Barre syndrome instead. The United States of America was shocked to hear that the Vice President was returning to the nation as a corpse.

**Four years later, on January 22, 1924**, following his death the previous day, Vladimir Lenin post-mortem orders the expulsion of General Secretary *Iosif Dzhugashvili* from all positions within the CPSU, enforced by the faction True Opposition. On the very next day, Iosef Stalin was exiled from the Soviet Union and later sought refuge in the United Kingdom. He was assassinated years later, on the orders of the leaders of the Soviet Union.

The True Opposition was the union of the Left Opposition led by Leon Trotsky, the Right Opposition led by Nikolai Bukharin, and the New Opposition led by Lev Kamenev. Later on, the industrial policymakers of the USSR became divided on the New Economic Policy instigated by the late Vladimir Lenin. The setbacks in planning stifled industrial growth, and significantly weakened the Soviet Union's industrial capacity. Furthermore, the Red Army became divided in loyalty to the Bolshevik Old Guard, labeled as Trotsky's Red Army, and the Bolshevik New Guard, labeled as Tukhachevsky's Red Army. The division in the military caused major structural and doctrinal problems for the Red Army, which weakened its overall combat effectiveness and war planning capacity. With Stalin out of power, Trotsky, Kamenev, and Bukharin formed a political triumvirate, but were later locked in an internal political struggle.

**On June 13, 1925**, the True Opposition agrees to commit to the Leninist style of *democratic centralist* party organization. As such, the Bolsheviks shift away from strongman politics to party politics, where the Head of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union transforms from the center of all power, to *primus inter pares.* Regardless, the Left Communists led by Leon Trotsky becomes the dominant faction within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Although Premier *Alexei Rykov* was the de jure figurehead of the Soviet Union, *Leon Trotsky* was its de facto leader, in control of the Soviet government. Trotsky had known about the repercussions if he became the figurehead of the Soviet Union, primarily the anti-Semitic backlash against Communism if a man of his Jewish background would become its leader.

**On February 17, 1929**, *Leon Trotsky* ascends to the position of General Secretary succeeding his predecessor, Vyacheslav Molotov, who was reinstated as an interim powerless General Secretary after Stalin's exile. On March 23, 1930, General Secretary Trotsky officially dissolved the True Opposition faction, fearing the Right Opposition's potential alliance with the Stalinist faction-in-exile. Despite the defeat of several proletarian revolutions in countries like Germany and Hungary, the Left Communists led by Trotsky still hoped for an international world revolution. On April 22, 1930, the 60th birthday of Vladimir Lenin, General Secretary Trotsky publishes his 1929 book *The Permanent Revolution*, which was eventually adopted by the Soviet Union as state policy. Trotsky's Permanent Revolution was the political strategy of a revolutionary class of workers and peasants opposing all perceived anti-worker sections of society without compromise. The Permanent Revolution doctrine entrenched itself in Soviet law, and erased the former Stalin's Socialism in One Country doctrine, of which the former denounced the latter declaring that a global socialist revolution needed to occur in order to overthrow the global capitalist hegemony. Later, the opposition by the other factions to Trotsky's shadow rule led to Trotsky's increasing party authoritarianism, in spite of being an adherent to Lenin's democratic centralism.

**On November 7, 1937**, the 20th anniversary of the October Revolution, General Secretary Trotsky orders Chief of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs, *Alexander Beloborodov*, his Left Communist ally, to instigate the Leningrad Trials of 1937. The ***Three Leningrad Trials*** were known as the following:

1. *"Case of the Stalinist-Kaganovichite Terrorist Center",* *August 1937*. This trial persecuted the remnant Stalinist faction within the Communist Party, and led to the execution of Stalin aide, Lazar Kaganovich. On September of the same year, former General Secretary Joseph Stalin himself was assassinated in his own home in London, much to the dismay of the British Government who began to fear the Soviet Union's actions in other countries. Following this trial, much of the International Communist movement's support for Socialism in One Country and of Stalin's ideals faded away.
2. *"Case of the Anti-Soviet Zinovievite-Bukharinist Center",* *January 1938*. This trial persecuted the Right Opposition and the New Opposition, and led to the execution of Nikolai Bukharin and Grigory Zinoviev by the NKVD respectively. Following their executions, the New Economic Policy was denounced as a bourgeoisie, anti-Soviet policy, and were followed up with massive changes to the Soviet economy. These economic changes were known in the Soviet Union as the *New Economics*, becoming the formal economic policy of the Soviet Union under the leadership of People's Commissar of Finance, Yevgeni Preobrazhensky.
3. *"Case of the Anti-Soviet Bloc of Tukhachevskites and Frunzeites",* *March 1939*. This trial persecuted the Red Army's Bolshevik New Guard, and was an attempt to unify the loyalties of the Red Army to the General Secretary himself, who was once the People's Commissar of Military. The first to face execution was Ivan Konev, a suspected Stalinist within the Red Army, who was accused due to his close relations with Stalin. The next to face execution were those accused of treason, and whom were suspected Tukhachevskites and Frunzeites. Mikhail Frunze, Red Army Marshal, was executed by hanging on the 13th of March. Red Army leaders, Mikhail Tukhachevsky, Georgy Zhukov, Konstantin Rokossovsky, were charged with treason and were given the death sentence, but all three fled the Soviet Union and were self-exiled to the United States before the NKVD could capture them. The Deep Battle doctrine was purged from the Red Army following this trial.

**On August 23, 1939**, Trotskyist Foreign Minister *Christian Rakovsky* convinced Leon Trotsky to sign an informal pact with Joachim von Ribbentrop. The informal pact divided Eastern Europe into two spheres of influence, one controlled by National Socialist Germany, and the other controlled by the Soviet Union. The infamous pact came to be known as the Rakovsky-Ribbentrop Pact. Unlike Rakovsky however, Trotsky still heavily distrusted all non-Communist nations, and officially maintained a policy of strained relations with most of the world due to *War Communism*. Regardless, Trotsky was eventually convinced by Rakovsky on the presumption that the Western Powers and the fascist Central Powers would weaken each other to the point that an international revolution within those nations would become inevitable, and that a Permanent Revolution would become the only historical outcome.

**On September 1, 1939**, following the Anschluss (Annexation of Austria), the Munich Conference (Annexation of the Sudeten), and the German ultimatum to Poland (Danzig or War), Germany launched **Fall Weiss**, the Invasion of Poland. On September 3, 1939, France and the United Kingdom declares war on Germany, honoring their guarantee of Poland. On September 17, 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, merely sixteen days after Germany's invasion. The last Polish Army unit surrendered on October 6.

**On April 9, 1940**, the Germans launched Operation Weserübung, the invasion of Denmark and Norway. On May 1940, the The Lord Halifax [WIP]

**On May 10, 1940**, the Germans enacted the Manstein Plan [WIP]

**In the years of 1939-1940**, the Soviet Union, adhering to the policy of Permanent Revolution and War Communism, invaded Bucovina & Moldavia (Romania), Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Karelia (Finland), Iran, Afghanistan, and East Turkestan. Despite Trotsky's effective leadership, the Red Army performed poorly due to poor organization and equipment, exceptionally so in Finland. Despite these setbacks, the Red Army was preparing an invasion of Germany as early as 1941, contrary to the warnings given by the exiled Mikhail Tukhachevsky that defense was a better option. Furthermore, Chief of the Sicherheitsdienst Walther Schellenberg passed information to Adolf Hitler of Rakovsky's betrayal and of Soviet military deployment locations, who then informed the Oberkommando des Heer and Wehrmacht (German Military High Command). *Operation Draft East,* later known as *Operation Barbarossa*.

**On June 22, 1941**, National Socialist Germany invaded the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The [WIP]

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