Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM

   Headlines  |  Alternate Histories  |  International Edition


Home Page

Announcements 

Alternate Histories

International Edition

List of Updates

Want to join?

Join Writer Development Section

Writer Development Member Section

Join Club ChangerS

Editorial

Chris Comments

Book Reviews

Blog

Letters To The Editor

FAQ

Links Page

Terms and Conditions

Resources

Donations

Alternate Histories

International Edition

Alison Brooks

Fiction

Essays

Other Stuff

Authors

If Baseball Integrated Early

Counter-Factual.Net

Today in Alternate History

This Day in Alternate History Blog



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How many divisions have the French (v.2)?

By: Christopher G. Nuttall

“How many divisions has the Pope?”

Stalin to Molotov

As the big three, Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt, met to discuss the shape of the post-war world, Stalin presented them with a surprising demand that, for different reasons, they were inclined to support.  Why, he asked them, should a nation, which was defeated due to its own incompetence, nearly dragging another down with it, and then collaborating shamelessly with their mutual enemy until it became clear who was going to win, be allowed a share of the spoils of war?  The nation discussed, of course, was France, which was demanding a share in the government of Germany and assistance in a return to it becoming a great power.

Stalin, needless to say, was not pushing this idea out of his sense of natural justice.  Studying the strategic position of the war, he concluded that the west would unite to some degree against the USSR.  Having concluded that, he decided to damage any concept of European unity – and if the allies would help him with that, so much the better. 

So, the allied invasion plan for North Africa goes ahead, but with new orders – disarm and intern all the French troops and arrest the French collaborators.  The allies land and start arresting the French troops, while preparing to hold off Rommel (who is being chased backwards by Montgomery).  Once the French troops realise what is happening, there is some resistance, but the allied equipment is better and they have no popular support from the Arabs.  By the end of 1942, the allies have occupied French Africa and, by the end of March 1943, the allies have defeated Rommel and ended the war in Africa. 

The allies set up a local council of Arabs to run Algeria and the other nations, and promise them full sovenity after the war.  American businesses take the chance to invest in the new nations.

Meanwhile, the Americans have made contact with Ho Chi Minh.  In a real difference from OTL, the Americans agree to support him in exchange for repatriating the French troops (Ho wanted to kill them outright or use them as cannon fodder).  Ho becomes the new ruler of Indochina after the Japanese surrender. 

The reminder of the war proceeds pretty much as in OTL, but at the end of it, France has no colonies left.  From this flow vast changes:

There is no war in Vietnam to bedevil either the French or Americans.  Ho continues to admire the US and becomes an ally of the US.  The investment of American business improves the economic status of Vietnam and the nearby nations, bringing peace to the region.

There is no war in Algeria.  The French have more resources and can feel that they have lost the part of their nation that shamefully collaborated with the Germans.  However, there is a strong anti-American trend running through French politics, causing them to concentrate on developing their nuclear capabilities and their relations with Europe.

The division of Germany into three sections causes no real changes, while the increased American presence convinces the Soviets to adopt a less-belliigent posture towards the US and the rest of the world.