Chapter 183
Chapter 183
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Post-Cold War(?) (2)
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The post-Cold War atmosphere was welcomed most enthusiastically by Germany and Italy, of course.
Especially West Germany revealed deep anticipation that this might be the chance for reunification to take root.
"The era of a unified Germany is approaching once more! This time, Germany must rise again, leading with peace and the economy!"
Each political party actively ramped up their propaganda, riding the rising tide of reunification sentiment.
Displaced persons from the former eastern territories jumped on the bandwagon too.
"If the homeland reunifies, we need to settle the lost eastern territories issue as well!"
The over ten million displaced persons had no intention of yielding even a single step on the eastern territories question.
The parties voiced a variety of opinions on this too.
"Of course, we must renegotiate and take them back. The borders of Greater Germany can never retreat."
Chancellor Adenauer lent his support to these voices as well.
He too had consistently maintained a hardline stance on the eastern border issue.
The Restoration Party wasn't much different on this point.
"Greater Germany cannot shrink by even 1 cm!"
As all German parties and the public raised their voices in unison on the territorial issue, the Soviets began to feel a subtle displeasure.
Perhaps Britain and America were behind Germany's outbursts.
Khrushchev decided for now to pretend he hadn't heard.
"Isn't this just the same old barking from the Western dogs? Just ignore it."
Khrushchev tried to brush it off that way, but the problem didn't end so simply.
"A revolt has broken out in East Germany, Comrade Secretary."
"W-What?"
In the original timeline, the East German uprising erupted during a labor increase campaign timed to East German Secretary Ulbricht's birthday.
But here, due to the aftermath of the Italian War, the communist regime had been watching the people's mood and avoided such pointless measures, denying the people any pretext to rise up.
Yet the uprising in East Germany still broke out because of the "German reunification issue."
"We want to live as members of a prosperous society like in West Germany too!"
"We can't live like this anymore!"
East Germans, having learned through TV and radio about the ever-widening gap with West Germany, had quietly harbored admiration for the West.
When talk of reunification emerged amid all this, they couldn't hide their excitement.
The voices that burst forth soon turned into political slogans.
"Free general elections! Communist Party step down!"
The Soviet talk of reunification had vanished with Beria's downfall, but it was impossible to simply retract words once spoken.
East Germany as a whole began to stir in an instant.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in major cities like Leipzig, Dresden, East Berlin, and Halle, shouting slogans.
If things continued this way, the East German communist regime could collapse overnight.
"The scale of the demonstrators has exceeded one million."
"O-One million?"
The Soviet Politburo viewed the situation gravely.
"If we stand by, Ulbricht is finished."
If East Germany fell, the entire Eastern European communist bloc would collapse like dominoes.
Both Malenkov and Khrushchev recognized the danger.
That left the Soviets with only one option.
"We absolutely cannot tolerate a German reunification led by reactionaries. Mobilize the military."
"Won't a bloody crackdown breed resentment from the West?"
"This is an internal communist bloc matter. What right do the Westerners have to interfere?"
Khrushchev's determination was packaged as the Council of Ministers' will and passed down to the military.
Zhukov lit up the moment he heard.
"Perfect. Crush all the reactionaries under tanks."
The Soviet Group of Forces in Germany immediately mobilized 20,000 troops.
Soviet forces drove tanks in and mercilessly ran over the demonstrators.
Live fire into the crowds occurred sporadically as well.
The series of crackdowns, lasting nearly a month, officially claimed over 300 lives.
The actual death toll was several times higher.
Britain and America were stunned by the Soviet military's brutal suppression in the heart of Europe.
"Is that what these post-Cold War bastards are doing?"
"Communist nature can't be hidden. You still gonna trust those bastards after this?"
Western social democrats, who had believed reconciliation with the Eastern bloc was possible amid the post-Cold War mood, were deeply shocked by the events.
"Still, let's not openly condemn the commie bastards."
To avoid shattering the reconciliation mood the Soviets were fostering, Britain and America refrained from commentary.
But West Germany, watching fellow countrymen massacred right before their eyes, was outraged.
"What the hell is the Adenauer government doing? When the Ivans go that crazy, you have to do something!"
"If you've got a mouth, say something! The Ivans are slaughtering Germans!"
In the original timeline, this would have boosted support for the anti-communist Adenauer government.
The problem was the existence of another major party pushing an anti-communist ideology.
"This feeble response exposes the limits of the weak Adenauer regime and the CDU. If it had been us in the Restoration Party, we wouldn't have just sat idly by watching the Ivans' atrocities. We would have punished them decisively!"
Manstein's voice rang out across Germany.
"Right on. If it had been the Junkers, the Ivans wouldn't have dared act like that."
It was ironic, but the Junkers' history of total war against Russia and the Soviets drew people's support.
People believed those madmen would have bluffed their way into stopping the Ivans.
"My fellow citizens, it's time to change your thinking. Give your strength not to the feeble CDU that can't even utter a proper word to the Soviets, but to the true patriotic conservative party. Only then will the Ivans snap to attention and stop acting so arrogantly toward Germany."
"Yeah. The CDU talks a good game but does nothing."
The Junkers' support ratings surged to threaten the CDU overnight.
It was mostly based on votes from eastern displaced persons, but that alone was sufficiently threatening.
"How can those anachronistic war criminals aspire to power?"
Moscow eyed the West suspiciously at this sight.
"The West let those war criminals loose in the first place, didn't they, comrades? Think carefully. The West might have planned this from the start."
"Western schemes really grind my teeth. Now I see why Comrade Stalin hated them so pathologically."
The moment Soviet paranoia kicked in, the post-Cold War atmosphere began flowing in a subtly different direction once more.
The Soviets felt Britain and America weren't reciprocating their outstretched hand of reconciliation.
No, they sensed hostility.
Even amid this delicate shift, both sides tried not to show ill will toward each other.
Both camps skirted highly sensitive topics and continued their talks.
"At any rate, we have to prevent nuclear war, right?"
Both sides agreed on that major premise.
But neither relinquished the weapons they held.
Both camps relentlessly expanded their influence underground, preparing for a potential Cold War resumption.
"Will these North Vietnamese really help us?"
"A cat's paw is still better than nothing."
As the Soviets reached out to North Vietnam, McCarthy didn't sit idle.
"Didn't I say it? Signs of a communist domino effect in Southeast Asia."
McCarthy argued for intervention in Vietnam this time.
"If Vietnam falls, Cambodia and Laos follow, then Thailand, then Malaya."
It was a scenario America didn't even want to contemplate.
"Mr. President. McCarthy's not entirely wrong, so we should extend a hand too."
France planned to withdraw from South Vietnam—that is, the Empire of Vietnam—by year's end.
The Stevenson administration was reluctant to reach into Vietnam, but had no intention of tolerating a communist domino.
"If that's the situation, provide aid to South Vietnam."
Stevenson passed a resolution to supply military materiel and aid funds to South Vietnam.
In this way, both sides engaged in underground struggles while smiling above the table.
Amid all this, a major incident erupted.
"You want to host a U.S. military base on your territory?"
"Ah, we've always wanted to get close to Washington. We just got tangled up with the commies by chance—it's not our true intent."
Turkey had always been a capitalist state distant from communist regimes.
It was stranger for such a country to keep snubbing the Soviets solely for security reasons.
Turkey proposed offering sites for U.S. bases, aiming to cozy up to America amid the post-Cold War mood.
America naturally accepted.
"Planting a base in strategic Turkey means we can check the commies even if they change their minds. Perfect."
The Soviets, of course, saw it as a major provocation.
"Have the Americans gone mad! Turkey is our backyard!"
Khrushchev and Malenkov could no longer hold back and openly condemned America on the record.
Washington didn't stay silent either.
"What's the problem with a sovereign nation exercising its sovereignty!"
The briefly warm post-Cold War mood chilled rapidly amid the war of words.
"Détente was a pipe dream from the start. Looks like we had a false hope."
The Soviet Communist Party essentially abandoned any hope of reconciliation with the West over the Turkey issue.
The only country pleased by this situation was Korea.