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Reich-8

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This is non-canonical fan created material.

"Ich habe das nicht gewollt." (I did not want this/I did not will it so.)

β€” God, "The last days of mankind", by Karl Kraus


Logo W6

The official logo

(So far, just an idea by Max Sinister for a timeline in which Nazi Germany wins World War 2 - without crashing down after few years already. But done in a realistic way, without Magic, Time Travel, or important persons suddenly and without any motivation acting in a way that helps the Nazis.)

The situation[]

This Quantum 8 world has been learned about by Infinity Unlimited only recently, via a data leak which source hints at Centrum. At the first glimpse, it seems to be similar to Reich-1, with Nazi Germany defeating the BEF in 1940 and the Western Allies easily overpowering Imperial Japan, but the researchers are worried by the fact that "Document Reich-8 #1" (scanned pages from this parallel world's Encyclopaedia Britannica about World War II) seems to be several years old at least, opening the possibility that Reich-8 might have progressed a lot - in the worst case, even farther than Reich-5. But until the secret source (nicknamed "Wilhelm") will speak again, all that IU can do is speculating.

Part I: The World War[]

Sidebars: Free France in Africa; Divided Turkey; Axis Kurdistan; The Greater Germanic Reich (Work in progress)

The loss of the BEF (only the smaller part of the 400,000 British, French, Belgian, and Polish men could be saved) in the encirclement battle of Dunkirk did not destroy Churchill as a PM (he had risen to power only weeks ago), but seriously damaged the Empire's ability to raise more, well-trained troops, which would hurt them in the long run.

In July of the same year, Gestapo and Sicherheitsdienst managed an important strike against their competitor, the Abwehr. The "Black Orchestra", as Heydrich called them, was uncovered, resistance members like Hans Oster arrested, admiral Canaris compromised. Opening the possibility that the Nazi regime now knew about his support for its opponents, and worse, that of Heydrich's survival - maybe to become the next "fΓΌhrer", like in Reich-5? More important however, Enigma security was notched up, which especially helped the German subs, leading to the fall of Malta in mid-1941.

Professionals study logistics

"Operation Barbarossa" went along similar as in Homeline, except for being started two weeks earlier and with a dozen more German divisions (which weren't needed in the West). In September 1941, two important divergences cropped up: First, general Dietl's Lapland Army (incl. the Finnish corps of general Siilasvuo, but Nazi propaganda liked to play that down) successfully attacked in Karelia in the Operation Golden Fox, cutting the only railroad from warm-water harbor Murmansk, thus making it useless for L&L. Second, a stray British bomb destroyed the Neue Reichskanzlei in Berlin, which the "fΓΌhrer" had loved so much.

Enraged, he made an offer to Stalin: A peace treaty giving Germany a good piece of "Lebensraum", plus deliveries of resources like oil - on the condition that the Soviets changed sides and helped with the war against the Empire. After some hesitation, Stalin (who had less respect for the Empire after Churchill had not managed to push back the Axis, except in Abyssinia, and was under more pressure than ever in Homeline) agreed. The Second Peace Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was made with Nazi Germany, handing over the Baltic states, Byelorussia, half of Ukraine, plus Crimea. Even when Nazi-Soviet hostilities would flare up later, the new border stayed.


In spring 1942, thanks to lots of support from Nazi Germany, the "caudillo" Franco reluctantly joined the war to conquer Gibraltar. Churchill even allowed him to make a separate peace with the Empire in which he received the peninsula - to avoid it falling into worse hands.

Meanwhile FDR was seriously worried about the Nazis taking over Africa next - and his chances in the midterm elections of 1942. So he pushed for an invasion of Morocco to help with both. Ironically, because he hurried it so much, the invasion army got defeated in the fall of 1942 by Rommel and SchΓΆrner - and the election handed the House to the Republicans, which didn't help FDR.

Free France in Africa[]

In September 1940, FΓ©lix Γ‰bouΓ© - first black governor, freemason, and follower of de Gaulle - made the colony of Chad break with Vichy France and started a movement which ended with all of the French colonies in French Equatorial Africa at the side of Free France. In late 1942, during the failed Operation Freedom in Morocco, de Gaulle's followers expanded their influence all over sub-Saharan French Africa. After this victory, de Gaulle would permanently move to Tombouctou (Timbuktu in Mali), which he made his capital, becoming "the uncrowned emperor of African France". His aim was having the values of the French Republic survive in its colonies - liberty, equality, fraternity, and meritocracy. Free France is by far the most important one of the European governments in exile, and thus sees itself as their natural leader in international affairs. Its intellectuals like Raymond Aron proclaim a "Fourth Way" besides nazism/fascism, orthodox Communism (although Trotskyism has become more popular since the "Eastern Peace"), and Anglo-style liberal capitalism.

Divided Turkey[]

In a secret protocol of the "Eastern Peace", Nazis and Soviets had agreed to conquer and carve up Turkey. On March 30th in 1942, their combined attack started. Despite of the heroic resistance of the Turks, their country was defeated during the next few months. President Δ°nΓΆnΓΌ died during the fighting in the capital of Ankara. European Turkey became Bulgarian, the Soviet border in the Caucasus was moved to the west, the northern parts also became part of the Soviet sphere, the western coast plus Cyprus was given to the Hellenic State (another Axis satellite), the southern coast became part of Mussolini's Impero. The Straits were to be administrated by those four conquerors together; Istanbul (now called Stambul) and Ankara were divided into sectors, one for each occupation power. The south-eastern part was a special case...

Axis Kurdistan[]

Few non-German speakers knew about it, but the Germans up to their "fΓΌhrer" always had had a soft spot for "wild Kurdistan", thanks to the adventure novels by Karl May. When the "Reich" invaded Turkey, the hour of the Kurds who hadn't had their own state for centuries had arrived. Encouraged by the Germans, many Kurdish soldiers changed sides, uprisings happened, and a Kurdish state was proclaimed. With German help, the Kurdish-settled territories in Iran, Iraq, and Syria were added soon, doubling the size of the initial state. The Kurds served the Germans as auxiliaries in the Middle East and as partisan fighters in Turkey, which went so far that they also got a sector of Stambul and Ankara each to patrol.

Besides of the romantic ideas, the alliance is based on hard realpolitik as well: Kurdistan includes the oil fields of Mosul, Kirkuk, and Masjed Soleyman, and several Luftwaffe airfields which may serve to strike the still Allied-controlled oil fields at the Gulf - or alternatively, those around Baku in a German version of Operation Pike. With time, a Kurdish community (with their own mosques even) was established in Berlin, where the Sultan-Saladin-Institut for Kurdology teaches Kurdish to Germans who go to Kurdistan as advisors, and propaganda and indoctrination to the Kurds.


Palestine under the Fascists[]

The successes of the Nazis put a high toll on the nerves of the Jews in Palestine, to put it mildly. Since summer 1940, the Italians had bombed their cities. Rommel advancing and retreating in Egypt put them onto an emotional rollercoaster. Additionally, Nazi sympathizers like the mufti of Jerusalem used every opportunity to harass them. Now already the Jews had made desperate plans of suicide or fighting in the hills if the Nazis ever entered Palestine. But things would become much worse than in Homeline: The separate peace of the "Reich" with the Soviet Union made many Jewish leftists lose their trust in their ideology. Then, the fall of Turkey and Syria brought the Nazis to their borders. The freedom fighters of the Haganah did everything they could to stop them and even surprised Nazi generals like Dietl with their fierce resistance. But it was to no avail: A panzer thrust lead by Hoth via Transjordan into the Negev almost cut them off. Finally, fanatically antisemitic Slavic volunteers under Vlasov (who already had participated in taking "Tsargrad") broke through the Jewish-British lines, indiscriminately slaughtered everyone in their way, and managed to take Jerusalem before Christmas 1942, where they committed a horrible massacre - before praying on their knees with tears in their eyes.

In this horrible situation, the Jews were saved by an unexpected ally: Mussolini's secret service had cultivated relations to the rightist Irgun. Now he successfully conspired with them to disarm the Haganah and assist Italian troops coming from the sea occupying the free part of Palestine before the Wehrmacht could do so. Thus, the Jews there ended up under a dictator who'd shamelessly exploit them - but not mass murder every single one of them. An existence which was anything but safe, but bought them some more years.

Robert Menzies[]

In Homeline, the ambitious Australian PM was among the appeasers who had hoped for negotiating a peace with the Nazi regime - albeit one where the "Reich" would still have to give up most of its conquests. During the first half of 1941, he in fact spent several months in Britain, hoping to replace Churchill. But despite getting the support of other appeasers like the press magnate Beaverbrook and former PM Lloyd George and making some speeches which impressed the Brits, at the end of the day he didn't have what he needed to replace the statesman Churchill - who had noticed his attempts and never forgot. Even so, he managed an extraordinary comeback after having lost his office in August 1941: In 1946, he lead the newly created Liberal Party to a victory, stayed PM for 17 years, and mentored no less than three more Liberal PMs, who governed ten more years after him.

In Reich-8, while his initial attempt in 1941 to become British PM failed too, he survived as PM of Australia (in this history, no Australians had to fight in Greece), formed an all-party cabinet after Japan declared war, and cooperated relatively well with Douglas MacArthur. Rather than admitting that they had been completely wrong, Menzies and his fellow appeasers - while officially standing behind Churchill - still wanted to make peace, moreso after the war against the "Reich" seemed unwinnable. Meanwhile, further defeats in Gibraltar, Palestine, and Egypt (in addition to those from our history) took their toll on Churchill. The fall of Khartoum was the last straw, so Menzies and his allies had him elected to the House of Commons first and challenged Churchill in a Tory palace rebellion. Thus, Menzies was able to make the peace of Dublin in July 1943, and soon the Anglo PoWs left the "Reich" - a propaganda success for Menzies. Even after losing his office with the anti-Tory landslide in the next election, he stayed an important figure in post-war Commonwealth politics.

The Greater Germanic Reich[]

Links[]

See also: Reich-8/Considerations

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