14. Hitler never attacked the Soviet Union. He realized that it would be easier to conquer the Soviet Union after Britain. The secret pact between Hitler and Stalin remains in effect throughout the war. The Soviet Union is officially non-belligerent but is leaning in the direction of Germany.

In many ways, the Soviet Union is an unnatural ally for the Axis powers. First of all, Communism and Fascism are supposedly opposites even though the governments of these nations were quite similar. Second of all, there was tension between the Soviet Union and Japan going back to the Russo-Japanese War. Despite this, the alliance held. The primary effect was that Hitler could put seven times as many troops on the western front, making a D-Day style invasion impossible. Keep in mind that in our world, six sevenths of the German army was fighting the Soviets, and only one seventh was defending France from western attack. 80% of Germans who died in the war were killed by the Soviets. Without that, Hitler could use his entire military force to defend France. The allies knew this and did not even attempt a D-Day invasion. With the Americans defending Britain, Hitler couldn’t invade Britain, but likewise the Americans couldn’t liberate France. The front-line was essentially frozen where it was. Churchill suggested that they travel through the Mediterranean to Greece, and from there, go northward, and try to invade Germany where they had few troops. However, if they did that, the Soviets might openly join the war on the side of Germany. The Allies were pretty much at a loss as to how to proceed when American scientists finished developing the atomic bomb. Here they had a chance to win the war. There was some argument as to where to drop it. The easiest place to drop it would be France, but they were trying to liberate France, and the weapon would kill a large number of French civilians.

Stalin had spies in Mexico and the American southwest ever since he assassinated Trotsky. Therefore, Stalin had spies at Los Alamos, and knew all about the atomic bomb. Stalin built an atomic bomb himself from the American plans. Stalin could use the bomb to win the war for the Axis powers, and simultaneously make them realize who was the boss. A Soviet bomber left the Baltic for Britain. Stalin dropped an atomic bomb on southern England. The effect was unbelievable. The Americans were shocked and horrified, first that the Soviets had the atomic bomb, and second that they would use it against Britain in their only military action of the entire war. The Soviet Union was supposed to be non-belligerent. The United States had two atomic bombs. They dropped one on France which was the closest they could get to Germany. The other was dropped on Siberia from a plane that left Alaska. The Americans suddenly became terrified that the Soviets would drop an atomic bomb on the United States. In reality, the Soviets had used their one and only bomb. It was around then that the truly horrific nature of these weapons was realized. Both sides thought they had no more atomic bomb but that the other side had an infinite supply. Therefore, the Allies, the Axis powers, and the Soviet Union signed a cease-fire. Hitler wanted to challenge Stalin but couldn’t do it when Stalin had the atomic bomb, and he did not. Around then, German spies stole plans for the bomb from the Soviets. The Germans built their own bomb, and then the United States, the Soviet Union, and Germany all had the atomic bomb. Everyone knew that if the war resumed, atomic bombs would be used, and so nobody wanted to resume the war. The borders were essentially fixed in 1946.

Germany controlled all of Europe except Britain, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, and Greece. The United States and Britain were the main democracies in the world. Spain and Italy had some sense of nominal independence under German protection. In 1949 and 1950, German troops invaded Switzerland and Greece respectively, without resistance. The Soviet Union controlled everything east of Germany, and was the third major power in the world. Global geopolitics was tripolar, with the United States, Nazi Germany, and the Soviet Union forming three points on a triangle for the next 50 years. In the late 1950’s, there was a rift between Germany and the Soviet Union. When Stalin died in 1959, and Krushchev came to power, relations with Germany worsened. In the early 1960’s, tensions between the two countries were so high that many people thought there would be war. President Patton in the United States applauded this. Always Americans had felt that two thirds of the world were against them, and that there were two bad guys in the world and one good guy. To have the two enemies of the United States fighting against each other would be perfect. The hopes of Americans however were not fulfilled as tensions between Germany and Russia subsided. In 1975, a Soviet plane accidentally flew over German territory and was shot down. Then Soviets were put on high military alert, and then the Germans did likewise. Relations became very tense. Many people thought war could erupt between Germany and Russia. This time, Americans were terrified, since by this time, Germany and the Soviet Union had vast nuclear arsenals, and it was common knowledge that if there were a nuclear war, it would result in the extinction of the human species.

It’s difficult to capture how absolutely panic-stricken the American population was that there would be a nuclear war between Germany and the Soviet Union that would obliterate all life on Earth. President Rockefeller, in last minute shuttle diplomacy, met with both Furer Waldheim and General Secretary Andropov to try to defuse the situation. Mainly because of his efforts, tensions subsided, and the world gave a collective sigh of relief. Later, Rockefeller made an alliance with the Soviet Union. His purpose was the decrease the likelihood of another conflict. If the Soviets were allied with the Americans, they would consider themselves to be in a position of strength, and would feel they didn’t need to attack Germany. If the Soviets and Americans were allied, the Germans would see themselves as in a position of weakness, and would be afraid to attack the Soviet Union. In 1985, there was a disarmament treaty between the United States, Germany, and the Soviet Union. President Hudson was harshly criticized for making any treaty with Nazi Germany but he defended it by saying that it was in the best interest of peace. The United States continued to supply arms to the Free French resistance even though this was expressly forbidden by the treaty. Around this time, there was also talk of down-sizing the American presence in Britain. There were some two million American troops in Britain, ostensibly to protect Britain from German attack, which is hardly imaginable today. One interesting note is that nobody cared very much about Japan, which still controls Korea, the Philippines, and dozens of Pacific islands today.

15. John F. Kennedy survives the assassination attempt. He was hit by the first bullet. He was taken to the hospital and survived. The second bullet whizzed by his head. Lee Harvey Oswald was apprehended, arrested, convicted, and executed. John F. Kennedy erroneously believed that Krushchev was behind the assassination attempt. For the rest of his life, he was convinced that the Soviets had tried to kill him. Later, Kennedy sends U. S. advisors to Vietnam to help the Vietnamese free themselves from “Soviet domination”. He says that if an American citizen is ever killed by a “Soviet-backed puppet regime” it will be “an act of war by the Soviet Union on the United States”. He starts sending U. S. troops to Vietnam. Eventually, an American soldier steps on a mine and is killed. The American public is outraged. Kennedy bombs Vietnam. Then to make sure the Soviets get the message, Kennedy also bombs Cuba, we might say out of the blue, but Kennedy considered the Communist world to be a single monolithic entity bent on destroying the United States. Brezhnev had no choice but to respond. The Soviets had previously “blinked” during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and you can only blink once. One of the reasons Krushchev had been forced from power is because he blinked. Brezhnev bombed the Philippines. The shock and horror of the American population was surpassed only by that of Kennedy himself who flew into a hysterical madness that frightened his advisors. Keep in mind that his doctors had him on amphetamines. Kennedy issues Brezhnev an ultimatum that if the Soviet Union did not immediately withdraw from Eastern Europe and everywhere else in the world, he would launch nuclear weapons. Brezhnev did not respond favorably to this request. Declaring this to be the ultimate showdown between Communism and democracy, Kennedy launches the entire U. S. arsenal of long range nuclear weapons against the Soviet Union. The Soviets respond in kind. The missiles hit, and all life on Earth is obliterated.

Enough dust is tossed into the air that it blots out the Sun. The surface of the Earth is in pitch black darkness and subzero temperatures for the next 100 years. During that time, plants can’t photosynthesize, so plants go extinct. Animals have nothing to eat so animals go extinct. The last humans die about 25 years after the attack.

16. After the 1967 Six-Day War, the Israelis decide to build the Third Temple on the Temple Mount. They tear down the mosque on the site, and build the temple according to the description in the Bible. The Islamic world is furious and vows revenge. At that moment, they can’t respond because they are still smarting from the 1967 war. By 1970, they have recovered. Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia all attack simultaneously. The Third Temple is destroyed by a surface to surface missile. American Jews are outraged that Third Temple was destroyed, and are afraid that Israel might be destroyed also. Bowing to domestic pressure, Nixon vows to protect Israel. U. S. troops are sent to Israel, and fight the Muslims. The Soviets support the Muslims and provide them with arms. The Israelis blast open the legendary Eighth Gate of Jerusalem in order to get tanks into that part of the old city. Neither side seems to be winning the war, so the Soviets send troops in to back up the Syrians. In the climate of hysteria, some people mistake the air raid sirens for the blowing of the magic rams horn signaling the end of the world. Things escalate out of control, and on-site tactical nuclear weapons are used. It’s hard to say which side used them first because they were used virtually simultaneously. Nixon gets on the hot-line to Brezhnev, and brings down the situation.

The immediate crisis is averted, and the superpowers agree to phase out their troops, although the Israelis and Arabs fight on. The few nuclear weapons used killed millions, and people throughout the Middle East suffer radiation poisoning. There are enough biblical parallels that dozens of people around the world suddenly claim to be the Messiah, and that phenomena lasts for decades afterwards.

17. When Konstatin Chernenko died on March 10, 1985, and the Soviet Communist Party met on March 11 to choose a successor, they chose not Mikhail Gorbachev, but instead Viktor Grishin, member of politburo and the first secretary of the Soviet Communist Party in Moscow. Grishin wasn’t a hard-liner in our sense, but a status-quo man like his recent predecessors. His tenure as General-Secretary. The world in 1995 was as similar to the world in 1985 as the world in 1985 was as similar to the world in 1975. Grishin is still the leader of the Soviet Union today. Gorbachev is still the Minister of Agriculture, and only a Sovietologist would have heard of him. It is generally believed that the Soviets will put the first humans on Mars.