History Literature / TwilightOfTheRedTsar

* FaceDeathWithDignity: Semyon Budyonny, especially in comprasion with Molotov.
-->'''Budyonny''': (to his executioner): [[GetItOverWith Do your job properly]]. There's no sense in wasting two bullets on me.
* FamousLastWords:
** "[[YouMonster Vyrodok]]" (to a Stalin's portrait) -- Georgy Zhukov
** "God-speed to the Russians! God-speed to the Arabs! God-speed to the German people! Our Final Victory has never been closer! Heil Hitler!” -- Adolf Eichmann

** Egypt becomes a poverty-stricken hellhole where 'criminals' are mutiliated, tortured or executed in public on a daily basis, while women and opponents of the fundamentalist Islamic regime are subject to frequent attacks by the regime's thugs.

* CurbStompBattle: With the Soviet Union engulfed by civil war, every single puppet government the USSR backed collapses within a matter of weeks, except the remnant of Red China, and even then, the KMT had been delayed by weather and Yellow Banner forces.
* TheChessmaster: Stalin, despite his weakening mind, is still capable to manipulate his subordinates into infighting to ensure that no one holds too much power and influence.

* TheChessmaster: Stalin, despite his weakening mind, is still capable to manipulte his subordinates into infighting to ensure that no one holds too much power and influence.

* CoDragons: After yconstant purges, Malenkov and Suslov become the closest people to Stalin.

** Hungary also goes syndicalist after the overthrow of the Soviet backed regime.

* TheChessmaster: Stalin, despite his weakening mind, is still capable manipulating his subordinates into infighting to ensure that no one helds too much power and influence.

* CoDragons: After the constant purges, Malenkov and Suslov become the closest people to Stalin.

* ShoutOut: Some authors of InUniverse books about Asian politics are named after anime characters, like [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Misato Katsuragi]] and [[YuYuHakusho Yusuke Urameshi]].

** Subverted later during the Second Russian Civil War, when the Stalingrad Government practically loses its sanity. The Soviets launch a new campaign of terror (which includes shooting ''any'' Jew on the sight), commit genocide on Chechens and ''de-facto'' commit ethnic cleansing of the deported people in Central Asia.

** This is most evident during the Sino-Soviet War. The Red Army has become a truly odious group, slaughtering countless Chinese civilians and unleashing nuclear and biological weapons on China, while Mao causes famine and political repression out of his own pride and ever-increasing ego. Meanwhile the Yellow Banners, a group of fanatical Taoist zealots who deal opium, purchase Soviet arms and create an oppressive theocracy in China's southwest. The one force that finally brings order to the country is the US-backed authoritarian Kuomintang government under Chiang Kai-shek in Taiwan, who invade China and eventually drive out both the Chinese Communists and the Yellow Banners. The neighbouring countries in Southeast Asia, however, are none too welcoming to millions of starving and diseased Chinese refugees arriving on their shores, forcing them into slums and occasionally starting riots.

* AWorldHalfFull: After years of devastating wars and horrifying famines, the KMT under Chiang Kai-shek defeats both the Yellow Banners and the PRC and thus reunify China. Under Chiang's rule and his son's, China finally enters an era of peace and recovery from the horrors of the past, plus undergoing a cultural renaissance. Rebuilding the economy, ending government corruption and recovering from the war takes a lot of time, but China starts to slowly thrive again. On the other hand, both leaders still put China under authoritarian single-party rule during their terms.

** Asian-Americans also get a break from discrimination since Chinese are percieved as the fighters against the Soviet aggression.

** Russia undergoes a Regional Societal Collapse as well. The massive shortages of food results in the Second Civil War. During the war, both sides act with the extreme brutality, to the point that both sides use nuclear weapons, ethnic violence between Russians and the oppressed nations flourishes (the fact that Soviets commit ethnic cleanising of Chechens and deported people in Central Asia doesn't help) and the amount of the Russian refugees is estimated in millions, thus creating the largest refugee crisis in Europe since the end of the World War II.

* DystopiaIsHard: Joseph Stalin's purges, mass murders, as well the war with China have dealt serious damage to the Soviet economy and living standards due to the loss of so many doctors and other skilled professionals. Suslov and the other hardliners that succeed him are Marxist extremists who stubbornly refuse any badly needed reforms that don't meet Marxist-Leninist orthodoxy. eventually resulting in a food shortage that triggers another political revolution. And the mass incarceration in the Gulag leaves a population of millions of disillusioned citizens, who begin revolting against the Soviet state. Stalin's campaigns of ethnic cleansing create tremendous ethnic tension, further destabilizing the country]]. And the international reputation of the USSR goes down the tubes, isolating the nation from neutral nations and even other socialist groups.

** Broken. Eisenhower uses nuclear missiles on several Chinese cities after Stalin's intransigence prevents a peaceful resolution of the Korean war. During the Sino-Soviet War, Stalin unleashes a hydrogen bomb on Beijing, [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill and then another just a few miles to the North. ''And then'', in April 1958, he bombs '''[[UpToEleven four]]''' more Chinese cities, killing millions more people, just so he can kill Mao.

* TorchesAndPitchforks: Happens to the Soviet embassy in Hanoi, courtesy of angry Chinese refugees recovering from smallpox and sympathetic Vietnamese citizens. Ironically, Ho Chi Minh himself, who is disgusted with the USSR by that point and maintains a cordial relationship with Israel PM David Ben-Gurion, was about to kick the Soviet diplomats out, but the protesters do it for him by killing nearly all the staff and burning the embassy to the ground. Hanoi police, who despise the Soviets as much as the rest of the world, [[PassThePopcorn stand back to watch the destruction and only arrest the few surviving refugees when it looks like the fire will spread to other buildings, but the survivors are given extremely light sentences for arson.

* KilledOffForReal: Vyacheslav Molotov, Lavrenty Beria, Deng Xiaoping, Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev, Georgy Zhukov, Kim il-Sung, Kim Jong Il, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Shrukri al-Quwatli, Mao Zedong, Kang Sheng and Deng Xiaoping all die in this timeline, often far before their actual deaths in real life.

* ShoutOut: Some authors of InUniverse books about Asian politics are name named after anime characters, like [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Misato Katsuragi]] and [[YuYuHakusho Yusuke Urameshi]]​.

* KilledOffForReal: Vyacheslav Molotov, Lavrenty Beria, Deng Xiaoping, Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev, Georgy Zhukov, Kim il-Sung, Kim Jong Il, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Shrukri al-Quwatli, Mao Zedong, Kang Sheng and Deng Xiaoping all die in this timeline.

* KilledOffForReal: Vyacheslav Molotov, Lavrenty Beria, Deng Xiaoping, Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev, Georgy Zhukov, Kim il-Sung, Kim Jong Il, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Shrukri al-Quwatli, Mao Zedong.

** Broken. Eisenhower uses nuclear missiles on several Chinese cities after Stalin's intransigence prevents a peaceful resolution of the Korean war. During the Sino-Soviet War, Stalin unleashes one on Beijing, [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill and then another just a few miles to the North. ''And then'', in April 1958, he bombs '''[[UpToEleven four]]''' more Chinese cities, killing millions more people, just so he can kill Mao.
** In desperation, the CNS government unleashes nuclear missiles on Soviet forces as they close in on Moscow. The Soviets respond in kind with more nukes around Moscow.

** Syndicalist Hungary also makes up for its anti-Semitism after its delegates are attacked during a visit to New York in 1969 by angry protesters and Jewish Hungarian exiles. Hungary promptly establishes strong relations with Israel, celebrates Jewish culture in education and museums, rebuilds demolished synagogues]] and eventually becomes one of Israel's closest allies.
** The international community becomes one on the whole to the Soviet Jewish community in the aftermath of the Soviet Holocaust after the failure to protect Jews during the Holocaust and failing to provide aid during the Chinese Refugee Crisis]]. Foreign groups and civil rights groups, alongside philanthropists, artists and ordinary citizens, raise hundreds of thousands for the Soviet Jews. In a major PetTheDog move for them both, military dictators Chiang Kai-shek and Park Chung-Hee send hundreds of Chinese and Korean volunteers to aid Jews in the refugee camps. Heartwarmingly, there's no shortage of volunteers, as many were survivors of or had lost nearly everything in the Sino-Soviet War and Korean War. Eventually, thousands of UN soldiers arrive to help protect the camps in Siberia.

* BullyingADragon: After the Soviets left China alone in the Korean War and declined his request for aid, Mao, feeling betrayed by Stalin, publicily denounces him and criticizes his ideology. Needless to say, Stalin doesn't take this well and declares war upon his new rival.

* DefiantToTheEnd: Nasser, who spent his last moments fighting off British soldiers sent to assassinate him, opening fire on them as they tried to enter his office.

** The Soviet Politburo attempted to set Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Hungary free but to keep East Germany, Poland and Romania but the only rebels who wanted to agree were the East Austrians, who were given independence, in exchange of which they were to stay neutral.

* LiteraryAllusionTitle: Some chapters that contain [[WhamEpisode Wham Episodes]] are named after Literature/BookOfRevelation. For example, chapter named "A Great Star Named Wormwood" describes [[spoiler:the first nuclear strikes on China]] while chapter named "The First Woe" marks the beginning of [[spoiler:the Sino-Soviet war]]. Also, the first chapter of the timeline is named "Alpha and Omega''.

** Downplayed with the post-Stalin Soviet governnemt. Both Suslov and Malenkov understand that war with the Soviet ally and constant purges are harmful to the state and forsake Stalin's cult of personality. Make no mistake, however: the new Soviet government still adheres to the Marxist-Leninist orthodoxy, meeting any attempts of reforms with hostility, mercilessly supress any signs of the resistance in the satellite countries of Eastern Bloc and force the liberated Jews into the ghettoes instead of reintegrating them into society, trying to cover up Stalin's crimes.

** The Sino-Soviet War and the third stage of the Chinese Civil War utterly devastate China in ways never seen before.

* AWorldHalfFull: After years of devastating wars and horrifying famines, the KMT under Chiang Kai-shek defeats both the Yellow Banners and the PRC and thus reunify China. Under Chiang's rule and his son's, China finally enters an era of peace and recovery from the horrors of the past, plus undergoing a cultural renaissance. Rebuilding the economy, ending government corruption and recovering from the war takes a lot of time, but China starts to slowly thrive again. On the other hand, both leaders still put China under authoritarian rule during their terms.

* YouMonster: Georgy Zhukov's FamousLastWords were shouting the Russian equivalent to a picture of Stalin as he was lead to the gallows.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Thanks to Stalin's crimes, the Soviet Union and Russians as an ethnic group have this status with the rest of the world. [[spoiler:Kulakov's order to shoot any Jew on sight during the Soviet Civil War becomes the final straw for the world community and leads to the end of UN recognition of Soviet Union as a legitimate state]].

* TheAlcoholic: [[spoiler:Mao descends into rampant alcoholism after being forced out of power by the Chinese Politburo]].

** China undergoes a Regional Societal Collapse. It begins with Mao's Great Leap Forward resulting in a horrific famine that kills millions. [[spoiler: Then when the USSR and Red China go to war, Russia unleashes massacres and [[NukeEm nuclear]] and [[ThePlague germ warfare]] that cause millions more to die.]] It is not for nothing that posters remark that the Four Horsemen have arrived in China.
** [[spoiler:Russia undergoes a Regional Societal Collapse as well. The massive shortages of food results in the Second Civil War. During the war, both sides act with the extreme brutality, to the point that both sides use nuclear weapons, ethnic violence between Russians and the oppressed nations flourishes (the fact that Soviets commit ethnic cleanising of Chechens and deported people in Central Asia doesn't help) and the amount of the Russian refugees is estimated in millions, thus creating the largest refugee crisis in Europe since the end of the World War II]].

** Many communist officials, like [[spoiler: Kim Il-Sung, Matyas Rakosi and Nikita Khrushchev]], who were also ruthless leaders, are victims of Stalin's new wave of purges.
** [[spoiler:Mao Zedong, after he was removed from the power, being despised by the common people and the CPC officials alike for his disastrous policies and blind optimism in the face of the inevitable defeat in the Sino-Soviet war]].
** [[spoiler:Valko Chervenkov, the former leader of the Communist Bulgaria, was subjected to a ''horrible'' torture and death, but it is hard to feel sorry for him, as he was an actice participant in the Second Holocaust and almost totally destroyed the Bulgarian Jewry.]]

** America has a huge change in attitudes towards Jews after the revelation of the [[spoiler: Soviet Holocaust, leading to anti-Semitic views being practically eradicated]] and all Americans taught extensively about Nazi and [[spoiler: Soviet atrocities, as well as a Jewish cultural revival occurring in the USA]].
** [[spoiler: Syndicalist]] Hungary also makes up for its [[spoiler: anti-Semitism after its delegates are attacked during a visit to New York in 1969 by angry protesters and Jewish Hungarian exiles]]. Hungary promptly establishes strong relations with [[spoiler: Israel, celebrates Jewish culture in education and museums, rebuilds demolished synagogues]] and eventually becomes one of [[spoiler: Israel's]] closest allies.
** The international community becomes one on the whole to the [[spoiler: Soviet Jewish]] community in the aftermath of [[spoiler: the Soviet Holocaust after the failure to protect Jews during the Holocaust and failing to provide aid during the Chinese Refugee Crisis]]. Foreign groups and civil rights groups, alongside philanthropists, artists and ordinary citizens, raise hundreds of thousands for the [[spoiler: Soviet Jews]]. In a major PetTheDog move for them both, military dictators [[spoiler: Chiang Kai-shek and Park Chung-Hee send hundreds of Chinese and Korean volunteers to aid Jews in the refugee camps. Heartwarmingly, there's no shortage of volunteers, as many were survivors of or had lost nearly everything in the Sino-Soviet War and Korean War. Eventually, thousands of UN soldiers arrive to help protect the camps in Siberia]].
** Asian-Americans also get a break from discrimination since [[spoiler:Chinese are percieved as the fighters against the Soviet aggression]].
* BadassPreacher: [[spoiler:Fr. Lech Zelenski burned himself to inspire a people into rebellion]].
* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler: In May 1958, the Chinese Communist Party force Mao to resign, and send a peace delegation to Moscow, making Stalin the winner of the Sino-Soviet War]].

** [[spoiler: China breaks apart completely during the Sino-Soviet War. What's left is a PRC rump, a Southeastern part controlled by the KMT, an independent Tibet, a series of Soviet satellites in the Northern parts and an Taoist extremist group that rules over Chongqing. Eventually, the KMT takes over most of the country and destroys both the Taoist extremists, the PRC and finally reunifies China]].
** Soviet-occupied Austria is broken off to form a Soviet satellite state. This prompts West Germany and West Austria to unite into one country, [[spoiler: which is then joined by East Germany after the fall of the Iron Curtain, with East Austria remaining independent]].

** [[spoiler:Semyon Ignatiev, the former MGB director under Stalin, commits suicide after he understood that he would be subjected to torture and death by Stalin]].
** [[spoiler:While in Guiyang, the Tianshi Emperor elected to fight to the bitter end before killing himself and persuading his flock to kill themselves, saying them the KMT would torture, rape and murder them. However, some of the victims didn't consent to die]].

* BigBadEnsemble: [[spoiler:During the Second Civil War, the troika of Fyodor Kulakov, Dmitry Ustinov and Dmitry Polyansky takes the plenipotentiary power, which allows them to make decisions without considereing the Politburo]]

** While the Soviet Union under Joe Stalin is unquestionably evil, America isn't too innocent either, with Eisenhower using [[spoiler:nuclear weapons on Chinese towns, and Nixon passing laws limiting freedom of speech for anything connected to Communism]].
** This is most evident during the [[spoiler: Sino-Soviet War]]. The Red Army has become a truly odious group, slaughtering [[spoiler: countless Chinese civilians and unleashing nuclear and biological weapons on China, while Mao causes famine and political repression out of his own pride and ever-increasing ego]]. The forces opposing these two are the [[spoiler: Yellow Banners, a group of Taoist zealots who deal opium, purchase Soviet arms and create an oppressive theocracy, plus the US-backed authoritarian Kuomintang government under Chiang Kai-shek in Taiwan, who quickly invade China and take control of most of the country]]. The neighbouring countries in Asia, however, are none too welcoming to millions of [[spoiler: starving and diseased Chinese refugees]] arriving on their shores, forcing them into slums and occasionally starting riots.
** The Suez War is between the anti-Semitic and pro-Soviet Nasser, while the British and French armies [[spoiler: unleash their own atrocities on Egypt's civilian population]].
** [[spoiler: The Second Russian Civil War is between a ruthless and totalitarian Soviet government, equally ruthless rebels who ''literally'' take no prisoners, and ethnic groups who, after years of oppression, are not above massacring Russians to get back their sovereignty]].

** Stalin, and the USSR by extension, becomes this to many socialists when the [[spoiler: Soviet Holocaust is uncovered]].
** By May 1958, Mao Zedong has lost the respect of everybody over his failure to stop China's obliteration during the [[spoiler: Sino-Soviet War, and is overthrown in a bloodless coup. In the present day, he's become hated enough that Chiang Kai-shek is a national hero and considered to be a far better leader than Mao by many Chinese.]]
* BullyingADragon: [[spoiler:After the Soviets left China alone in the Korean War and declined his request for aid, Mao, feeling betrayed by Stalin, publicily denounces him and criticizes his ideology. Needless to say, Stalin doesn't take this well and declares war upon his new rival.]]
* BuriedAlive: [[spoiler:The fate of some Soviet officals during the Second Civil War]].

** Once Castro comes to power, he creates a syndicalist state, but his nationalization of American property and his socialist leanings earn him Nixon's ire. [[spoiler: Eventually, the CIA assassinates him, and put an embargo on the Cuban economy like OTL]].
** [[spoiler: Hungary also goes syndicalist after the overthrow of the Soviet backed regime]].
* CurbStompBattle: [[spoiler: With the Soviet Union engulfed by civil war, every single puppet government the USSR backed collapses within a matter of weeks, except the remnant of Red China, and even then, the KMT had been delayed by weather and Yellow Banner forces]].
* TheChessmaster: Stalin, despite his weakining mind, is still capable manipulating his subordinates into infighting to ensure that no one helds too much power and influence.

** The [[spoiler: Yellow Banners]] are a Taoist version of this trope.
** Egypt's [[spoiler: new Islamic government]] features gangs of fundamentalist thugs roaming the streets that violently attack anyone the regime is opposed to.

* ColdBloodedTorture: Stalin enjoys doing this to all of his supposed enemies. [[spoiler: Nikita Khrushchev is subjected to a particularly horrific AssShove, and Georgy Zhukov is strangled to death at the gallows]].
* CommieNazis: [[spoiler:Neo-Communists in America, who are more interested in the anti-Semitic aspect of the Soviet ideology to justify their violence and hatred rather than actual Communist ideals.]]

** The 1950s are truly this if you live in the Eastern Bloc and RedChina. The former is wracked by insurgency, terrorism and violent infighting, while the latter suffers [[spoiler: nuclear and biological weapon attacks, the Chinese Civil War entering its third stage between the KMT and the CCP, and a militant Taoist insurgency]].
** By the 1960s and 70s, Egypt has descended into poverty, a [[spoiler: radical Islamist revolution]] has occurred and crime is rampant. The effects are worsened by the damage from the Suez War and [[spoiler: ongoing war with Israel over the Sinai. The government churns out violent, inflammatory anti-Semitic propaganda and gangs of militant fundamentalists attack anyone the regime is against, with Egyptian Christians either fleeing to Israel or living in fear]]. Many ordinary Egyptians hate their new government and long for the old days of Nasserism, but can do nothing about it for fear of being killed.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:Valko Chervenkov, the former leader of Communist Bulgaria, is subjected to beatings, electric shocks, peeling off fingernails, knocking out teeth and had his eyes gouged out before being burned alive by Mossad agents for his participation in the Second Holocaust. Said agents regret that they didn't think of castrating him before setting him on fire]].
* CrushingThePopulace: What happens to [[spoiler: China, Eastern Europe and the Caucasus]].

* DeadlyGas: Used by Stalin in [[spoiler: China as part of his biowarfare campaign against Mao]].
* DecidedByOneVote: [[spoiler:The agreement with East Austria passed in the Politburo by only one vote]].

** Ikrali Lashkhi, a Georgian who was one of the officials involved with the purging of Georgia's Jews, and who revealed the process to the US, invoked this, claiming to have been horrified by becoming as bad as the Nazis. Some people believe that he only defected to save himself from being purged since [[spoiler: he was also a virulent anti-Semite]].
** Enrico Beringuer quits the Italian communist party after learning about the [[spoiler: Soviet Holocaust.]]
* DefiantToTheEnd: [[spoiler: Nasser, who spent his last moments fighting off British soldiers sent to assassinate him, opening fire on them as they tried to enter his office]].
* DespairEventHorizon: During the Suez War, the British and French armies realize a battle in Cairo would be too costly, in terms of manpower and civilian casualties, so they decide to do the one thing the can demoralize all Egyptians: assassinate Nasser. ''[[spoiler: It works]]''.
* {{Determinator}}: Mao Zedong, who pushes the People's Liberation Army to fight on against [[spoiler: stronger Red Army and ROCA forces]]. It is deconstructed when it becomes clear that the PLA simply can't stand up to the superior forces, and Mao's refusal to surrender hurts the Chinese more after [[spoiler: Stalin unleashes more nuclear bombs. Eventually, the CCP fires Mao, and Mao remains reviled in China as an overconfident blunderer]].

* DisproportionateRetribution: [[spoiler:Malenkov's wife Valeriya]] is sent to a gulag for remarking that Stalin should lessen the amount of work he dumps on Malenkov.
* TheDreaded: Even with the weak mind and body (or even ''because'' of it) Stalin terrifes the hearts of his subordinates and enemies alike. Even when Stalin is unable to function well, his minions don't dare to do anything as they fear to evoke the Vozhd's wrath, let alone discussing the potential successor to him. [[spoiler: Ignatiev and Khrushchev learned it the hard way]].
* DrowningMySorrows: [[spoiler: Mao falls into depression and becomes a heavy drinker after he was deposed by his own party, eventually dying from a drunken staircase fall]].
* DystopiaIsHard: Joseph Stalin's purges, mass murders, as well [[spoiler: the war with China]] have dealt serious damage to the Soviet economy and living standards due to the loss of so many doctors and other skilled professionals. [[spoiler: Suslov]] and the other hardliners that succeed him are Marxist extremists who stubbornly refuse any badly needed reforms that don't meet Marxist-Leninist orthodoxy. [[spoiler: eventually resulting in a food shortage that triggers another political revolution]]. [[spoiler: And the mass incarceration in the Gulag leaves a population of millions of disillusioned citizens, who begin revolting against the Soviet state]]. [[spoiler: Stalin's campaigns of ethnic cleansing create tremendous ethnic tension, further destabilizing the country]]. And the international reputation of the USSR goes down the tubes, isolating the nation from neutral nations and even other socialist groups.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler:Semyon Budyonny, especially in comprasion with Molotov]].
-->[[spoiler:'''Budyonny''']]: (to his executioner): [[GetItOverWith Do your job properly]]. There's no sense in wasting two bullets on me.

** Downplayed. [[spoiler: Mikhail Suslov pulls the plug on the Soviet Holocaust once he gains power. But instead of helping Jews re-integrate into society or allowing them the right to immigrate, he forces the survivors into ghettoes throughout Siberia, hoping to cover up the mass murder of Jews]].
** Malenkov is also a downplayed version, as he also seeks to restore the USSR's prestige and reputation, but [[spoiler: refuses all of Nixon's humane demands]].

** [[spoiler:Russian settlers in Portuguese Africa, who arrive as Second Civil War refugees, seize land from the black populace, forcing them either to move to less arable lands or becoming serfs in the Russian settlements]].
* EvilCripple: Stalin, who unleashes his second purge after a stroke damages his brain and confines him to a chair. [[spoiler: By the late 1950s, he has degenerated into DarkLordOnLifeSupport, and needs a whole team of doctors to keep him alive. And even then, he is so weak, he can only stay awake for a few hours at a time]].

** The [[spoiler: Jewish population]] of Russia is subjected to one.
** [[spoiler: Then the Soviets subject the Chechens to another during the Soviet Civil War. ''ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND'' Chechens from the city of Grozny are massacred in a particularly brutal manner.]]

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: By August 1967, Red Army soldiers have gone into open revolt after being ordered to fire on starving protesters again, having had enough of killing civilians by this point]].
* HeelRealization: [[spoiler:After George H. W. Bush's speech for the end of recognition of Soviet Union as a nation, Oleg Troyanovsky, a Soviet ambassador in the UN, refused to defend Soviet Union before the UN council and pleaded the UN members to vote for the end of diplomatic recognition of Soviet Union. Formerly a sincere believer in the Soviet case, Troyanovsky confesses that he had been only defending the lies of the Soviet government]].
* HellholePrison: {{The Gulag}}s, [[spoiler: particularly to Jewish prisoners]].
* HeroicBSOD: Eisenhower, who was clearly shaken by [[spoiler: the decision to use 12 nuclear missiles on China to end the Korean War. The strain on him is so bad, he suffers a heart attack, and gives up running for reelection in 1956]].
* HistoryRepeats: [[spoiler: Like in 1917, a political revolution and a civil war are ultimately caused by food riots]].

** Richard Nixon still becomes president, [[spoiler: in 1957]].
** [[spoiler: Abd al-Karim al-Nahlawi topples Syria's socialist-nationalist regime, albeit in 1958]].
** Boleslaw Bierut [[spoiler:suffer the same stroke which killed him OTL]].
** Nicolae Ceausescu stills comes to power in Romania, [[spoiler: and is executed along with his wife Elena when his regime falls, albeit in 1967]].
** Fidel Castro still overthrows Batista, only this time as a syndicalist, and still ruins American relations with his nationalization of American property. [[spoiler: An invasion by Cuban exiles also falls apart, and the US puts an embargo on Cuba]].
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Vyacheslav Molotov, Lavrenty Beria, Deng Xiaoping, Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev, Georgy Zhukov, Kim il-Sung, Kim Jong Il, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Shrukri al-Quwatli]].

** [[spoiler:The Soviet Politburo attempted to set Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Hungary free but to keep East Germany, Poland and Romania but the only rebels who wanted to agree were the East Austrians, who were given independence, in exchange of which they were to stay neutral]].
** [[spoiler: After getting the blame for the August Revolution and getting berated by Fyodor Kulakov, Suslov voluntarily steps down from power, choosing not to end up like Malenkov]].
** [[spoiler: North Korea's dictatorship, devastated by the Sino-Soviet War, surrenders rather than try and fight against the South Koreans]].

** [[spoiler: In 1960, an uprising finally breaks out in Warsaw, with people turning their homes into booby traps. While it is brutally crushed by the Red Army, and Warsaw is leveled, [[HeroicSecondWind its leaders regrouped to build a guerrilla force in the Carpathian Mountains]] Resistance continued to break out in East Germany and Hungary]].

* ManOnFire: The Polish revolt starts when two, then dozens of people begin self-immolating in protest, [[spoiler:until troops open fire at a crowd coming to watch a priest burning himself, killing many, among them two children. This triggers mutinies and an eventual takeover by the rebels]].
* MoralEventHorizon: InUniverse. The revelation of the [[spoiler: Soviet holocaust]] is what causes the US and other nations to sever diplomatic relations with the USSR.
* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Stalin when he [[spoiler:unleashes a Holocaust on Russia's Jewish population, and the Red Army committing Einsatzgruppen-style massacres against Chinese civilians]].

** [[spoiler: Broken. Eisenhower uses nuclear missiles on several Chinese cities after Stalin's intransigence prevents a peaceful resolution of the Korean war. During the Sino-Soviet War, Stalin unleashes one on Beijing, [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill and then another just a few miles to the North]]. ''And then'', in April 1958, he bombs '''[[UpToEleven four]]''' more Chinese cities, killing millions more people, just so he can kill Mao]].
** [[spoiler: In desperation, the CNS government unleashes nuclear missiles on Soviet forces as they close in on Moscow. The Soviets respond in kind with more nukes around Moscow]].
* ThePlague: Stalin unleashes a [[spoiler: bioengineered smallpox, with a 50% mortality rate among Chinese civilians already weakened by hunger]].

** [[spoiler:Downplayed with the post-Stalin Soviet governnemt. Both Suslov and Malenkov understand that war with the Soviet ally and constant purges are harmful to the state and forsake Stalin's cult of personality. Make no mistake, however: the new Soviet government still adheres to the Marxist-Leninist orthodoxy, meeting any attempts of reforms with hostility, mercilessly supress any signs of the resistance in the satellite countries of Eastern Bloc and force the liberated Jews into the ghettoes instead of reintegrating them into society, trying to cover up Stalin's crimes]].
** [[spoiler: Subverted later during the Civil War, when the Stalingrad Government practically loses its sanity. The Soviets launch a new campaign of terror (which includes shooting ''any'' Jew on the sight), commit genocide on Chechens and ''de-facto'' commit ethnic cleansing of the deported people in Central Asia]].
* PropagandaPiece: [[spoiler:The Soviet cinema during the last Stalin years becomes more and more filled with Anti-semitic and Sinophobic tropes. One of the most ridiculous examples of the Anti-semitic hysteria is "Wages of Blood", which depicts the struggle between the honest workers and the conspiracy of Jewish capitalists. The climax of the movie portrays the attempt to murder one of the worker's child during the blood libel ritual by the Jewish capitalist, only to be stopped and killed by the workers. InUniverse, Creator/RogerEbert described "Wages of Blood" as "[[Film/TheBirthOfANation1915 The Birth of a Nation]] with crayons".]]

** A surviving Stalin gleefully unleashes one, expanding the Doctors' Plot against Jewish doctors [[spoiler: into a Holocaust, and sending his associates to death or to gulags]].
** [[spoiler: After the toppling of Syria's nationalist government by Abd al-Karim al-Nahlawi, he purges the country of leftist and communist organizations, killing thousands]].

* RapeAndRevenge: The [[spoiler: anti-Chechen pogroms were started after young Chechens gang-raped a Russian woman in Grozny]].
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Richard Nixon gives one to Joe Stalin [[spoiler: in his 1957 inauguration]].
--> '''Richard Nixon''': Today we face the greatest threat our country has ever faced: the threat of Communism. In his quest to dominate the world Joseph Stalin has taken measures that were [[EvilerThanThou too evil for even the Nazis]]. [[spoiler: He has unleashed poison gas and hydrogen bombs, which make the bomb we dropped on Hiroshima seem like a child’s toy. He holds the people of Eastern Europe, China, and Southeast Asia in his iron fist. And he has launched another Final Solution against the Jews]]. To those who say we can peacefully coexist with such a monster I say: never forget! Never forget that the minute we let our guard down the Soviets will pounce, destroying everything we hold dear.
* ReluctantRuler: [[spoiler:Suslov, who prefers to be the [[DragonInChief power behind the throne]] and, after the beginning of the Civil War, calmly resigns from his position]].

** Mass pogroms occurs between [[spoiler: ethnic groups in the Caucasus, especially in Chechnya and the Nagorno-Karabakh]].

* TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified: [[spoiler: The revolts in the Eastern bloc play out like this. Hungary's rebels are syndicalists who pledge to commit a true worker's state, and renounce aggression against the West]].

** Nikolai Ryzhkov becomes a political dissident after being horrified [[spoiler: by the war crimes of the Red Army during the Sino-Soviet War. Together with Varlam Shalamov, he becomes one of the founders of the "militant" Syndicalist party during the second Civil War which is banned later and Ryzhkov himself is deported for attempting to take over the CNS]].
** Andrei Sakharov becomes [[spoiler:an important member of the Council of National Salvation]].
** Creator/AleksandrSolzhenitsyn still writes about [[Literature/TheGulagArchipelago his life as a Gulag prisoner]]. [[spoiler:He also becomes an influential figure in the CNS during the Civil War and the main editor of the Solzenytsin Report which consists of documents revealing the darkest secrets of the Soviet government]].

* RussianGuySuffersMost: Not only Soviet Union faces ''another'' [[ThePurge Great Purge]], but [[spoiler:the inefficient Soviet economic policy results in decline of the Soviet economy and living standarts, and, consequently, in the bloody Second Civil War. The war becomes even more devastating after nuclear weaponry came in use.]] China, however, doesn't get it better [[spoiler: after being nuked, invaded by one of its allies and suffering from a serious bio-chemical attack.]]
* SanitySlippage: Joseph Stalin's lunacy and paranoia get even worse as he ages and unleashed more horrors on the world.
* TheScapegoat: [[spoiler:After the fall of Moscow, the Politburo attempted to make Suslov this before resigning]].
* ScatterbrainedSenior: By the beginning of the Suez War, Stalin is suffering from severe dementia. He often talks about the people like Lenin and Trotsky as if they were alive and sometimes he even forgets who is he. [[spoiler:Stalin's mental state serves his subordinates well when they don't carry out the order of Stalin to send the Western powers an ultimatum to withdraw forces from Egypt which could be resulted in World War III and Stalin later either forgets about the order or thinks that the invasion has already started]].

* SoundtrackDissonance: InUniverse, [[spoiler:the MGB during the Second Civil War uses the music of Tchaikovsky in prisons to mute the sounds of shooting prisoners]].
* SparkOfTheRebellion: [[spoiler:A year of bad weather caused by the larger use of nukes causes bad harvests in the Soviet Union, resulting in shortages of food]].
* StaircaseTumble: [[spoiler: Mao descends into alcoholism after his sacking and dies from a fall down a staircase while drunk, just a few days before the KMT army attacks his HQ. Chiang, who wanted to put him on trial as one last humiliation for his own rival, is not very psyched about this]].

* StuffBlowingUp: During the Polish rebellion, [[spoiler: a Soviet military base is obliterated with a a truck filled with explosives]].
* SuddenlySignificantCity: [[spoiler:Stalingrad becames the new Soviet capital after the rebels took Moscow]].
* TorchesAndPitchforks: Happens to the [[spoiler: Soviet embassy in Hanoi, courtesy of angry Chinese refugees recovering from smallpox and sympathetic Vietnamese citizens]]. Ironically, Ho Chi Minh himself, [[spoiler: who was disgusted with the USSR by that point and maintaining a cordial relationship with Israel PM David Ben-Gurion, was about to kick the Soviet diplomats out, but the protesters did it for him by killing nearly all the staff and burning the embassy to the ground]]. Hanoi police, [[spoiler: who despised the Soviets as much as the rest of the world]], [[PassThePopcorn stood back to watch the destruction]] and only arrested the few surviving refugees when it looked like the fire would spread to other buildings, [[spoiler: but the survivors were given extremely light sentences for arson]].
* VelvetRevolution: [[spoiler:How things play out in UsefulNote/EastGermany, Poland and Hungary: the Army refuses to fire on the protesters and instead join them]].

** [[spoiler: The Sino-Soviet War]] and the [[spoiler: third stage of the Chinese Civil War]].
** [[spoiler: The Suez War is devastating to Egypt]].
* WeAreStrugglingTogether: [[spoiler:The Council of National Salvation created after the fall of Moscow has a political landscape ranging from religious conservatives and nationalists to socialists. Separatists are another thorn, with some supporting the CNS after promises of autonomy or independence and others deciding to play alone]].
* AWorldHalfFull: [[spoiler: After years of devastating wars and horrifying famines, the KMT under Chiang Kai-shek defeats both the Yellow Banners and the PRC and thus reunify China. Under Chiang's rule and his son's, China finally enters an era of peace and recovery from the horrors of the past, plus undergoing a cultural renaissance. Rebuilding the economy, ending government corruption and recovering from the war takes a lot of time, but China starts to slowly thrive again. On the other hand, both leaders still put China under authoritarian rule during their terms.]]

** [[spoiler:The Soviet forces massacre children in China, making [[SerialKiller Andrei Chikatilo]] comment his urges to kill started here]].
** [[spoiler:The MGB murders a young Kim Jong-Il]].
** [[spoiler:Two children are shot during a demonstration in Poland]].

** [[spoiler: Chinese refugees are forced into these all across Southeast Asia. The one in Rangoon is probably the worst]], with millions living in filthy shacks infested with cockroaches, vermin and disease.
** Egypt becomes [[spoiler: a poverty-stricken hellhole where 'criminals' are mutiliated, tortured or executed in public on a daily basis, while women and opponents of the fundamentalist Islamic regime are subject to frequent attacks by the regime's thugs]].
* YouMonster: [[spoiler: Georgy Zhukov's]] FamousLastWords were shouting the Russian equivalent to a picture of Stalin as he was lead to the gallows.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:Valko Chervenkov, the former leader of Communist Bulgaria, was subjected to beatings, electric shocks, peeling off fingernails, knocking out teeth and had his eyes gouged out before being burned alive by Mossad agents for his participation in the Second Holocaust. Said agents regret that they didn't think of castrating him before setting him on fire]].

* DarkLordOnLifeSupport: Stalin's health is so bad, he spends most time in hospital, and even outside hospital he is constantly surrounded by doctors and has to take supplemental oxygen through a nasal cannula. His incapability to rule makes the Soviet government paralyzed, as Stalin's subordinates fear to issue any orders and solve problems.

* {{Determinator}}: Mao Zedong, who pushes the People's Liberation Army to fight on against [[spoiler: better armed Red Army and ROC forces]]. It is deconstructed when it becomes clear that China simply can't stand up to the superior forces, and Mao's refusal to surrender hurts the Chinese more after [[spoiler: Stalin unleashes more nuclear bombs. Eventually, the Chinese government fires Mao, and Mao remains reviled in China as an overconfident blunderer]].

* DrowningMySorrows: [[spoiler: Mao falls to depression and becomes a heavy drinker after he was deposed by the party]].

** [[spoiler:Russian settlers in Portuguese Africa, who were taken as the Second Civil War refugees, seize the land from the black populace, forcing them either to move to less arable lands or becoming serfs in the Russian settlements]].

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: By August 1967, Red Army soldiers have gone into open revolt after being ordered to fire on starving protesters, having had enough of killing civilians by this point]].

* ChurchMilitant: The [[spoiler: Yellow Banners]] are a Taoist version of this trope.

** By the 1960s and 70s, Egypt has descended into poverty, a [[spoiler: radical Islamist revolution]] has occurred and crime is rampant. The effects are worsened by the damage from the Suez War and [[spoiler: ongoing war with Israel over the Sinai. The government churns out violent, inflammatory anti-Semitic propaganda and gangs of fundamentalists attack anyone the regime is against]]. Many ordinary Egyptians hate their new government and long for the old days of Nasserism, but can do nothing about it for fear of being killed.

* DisproportionateRetribution: [[spoiler:Malenkov's wife Valeriya]] is sent to Gulag for remarking that Stalin should lessen his overload.

** This is most evident during the [[spoiler: Sino-Soviet War]]. The Red Army has become a truly odious group, slaughtering [[spoiler: countless Chinese civilians and unleashing nuclear and biological weapons on China, while Mao causes famine and political repression out of his own pride and ever-increasing ego]]. The forces opposing these two are the [[spoiler: Yellow Banners, a group of Taoist zealots who deal opium and create an oppressive theocracy, and the authoritarian Kuomintang government under Chiang Kai-shek in Taiwan, who quickly invades China and takes control of most of the country]]. The neighbouring countries in Asia, however, are none too welcoming to millions of [[spoiler: starving and diseased Chinese refugees]] arriving on their shores, forcing them into slums and occasionally starting riots.
** The Suez War is between the anti-Semitic and pro-Soviet Nasser, while the British and French [[spoiler: unleash their own atrocities on Egypt's civilian population]].

** By May 1958, Mao Zedong has lost the respect of everybody over his failure to stop China's obliteration during the [[spoiler: Sino-Soviet War, and is overthrown in a bloodless coup. In the present day, he's become hated enough that Chiang Kai-shek is a national hero and considered to be a far better leader than Mao, whose actions make Chiang's authoritarianism and past failings as a leader look good.]]

* ManOnFire: The Polish revolt starts by two dozens of people self-immolating, [[spoiler:until the troops shot at a crowd coming to watch a priest burning himself, killing many, among them two children, and triggering mutinies and a takeover by the rebels]].

* NaziHunter: Mossad in this timeline pursues not only Nazis, but the Soviet officials as well.

** [[spoiler: Subverted later during the Civil War, when the Stalingrad Government loses all senses of sanity. The Soviets launch the new campaign of terror (which includes shooting ''any'' Jew on the sight), commit genocide of Chechens and ''de-facto'' commit ethnic cleansing of the deported people in Central Asia]].

* SanitySlippage: Joseph Stalin's lunacy and paranoia get even worse.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:Valko Chervenkov, the former leader of Communist Bulgaria, was subjected to beating, electric shocks, peeling off fingernails, knocking off teeth, gauging his eyes before burning him alive by Mossad agents for his patricipation in the Second Holocaust]].

* ShoutOut: Some authors of InUniverse books about Asian politics are name named after anime characters, like[[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Misato Katsuragi]] and [[YuYuHakusho Yusuke Urameshi]]​.

** [[spoiler: The Sino-Soviet War]].

** By May 1958, Mao Zedong has lost the respect of everybody over his failure to stop China's obliteration during the [[spoiler: Sino-Soviet War, and is overthrown in a bloodless coup. In the present day, he's become hated enough that Chiang Kai-shek is a national hero and considered to be a far better leader than Mao, despite Chiang's authoritarianism and past failings as a leader.]]

* ColdBloodedTorture: Stalin enjoys doing this to all of his supposed enemies. [[spoiler: Khrushchev is subjected to a particularly horrific AssShove, and Georgy Zhukov is strangled to death at the gallows]].
* CommieNazis: [[spoiler:Neo-Communists in America, who are more interested in the anti-Semitic aspect of the Soviet ideology to justify their violence rather than actual Communist ideals.]]

* ScatterbrainedSenior: By the beginning of the Suez War, Stalin has been suffering from the hard case of dementia. He often talks about the people like Lenin and Trotsky as if they were alive and sometimes he even forgets who is he. [[spoiler:Stalin's mental state serves his subordinates well when they don't carry out the order of Stalin to send the Western powers an ultimatum to withdraw forces from Egypt which could be resulted in World War III and Stalin later either forgets about the order or thinks that the invasion has already started]].

* CommieNazis: In a interesting use of [[Main/ForWantOfANail butterflies]] the United States implements a [[spoiler:limited hate speech law, banning anything that sounds remotely connected with communism- which includes [[Main/ThoseWackyNazis National Socialism]]. When a Nazi attempts to sue, the Supreme Court uphelds the Communism Act and deems Nazism as posing a "clear and present danger"]] to the United States' national security.

** Enrico Beringuer quits the Italian communist party after learning about the Soviet Holocaust.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Thanks to Stalin's crimes, the Soviet Union and Russians as an ethnic group have this status with the rest of the world. [[spoiler:Kulakov's order to shoot any Jew on sight becomes the final straw for the world community which results in the end of UN recognition of Soviet Union as a legitimate state]].

** [[spoiler:Valko Chervenkov, the former leader of the Bulgarian Soviet Republic, was subjected to a ''horrible'' torture and death, but it is hard to feel sorry for him, as he was an actice participant in the Second Holocaust and almost totally destroyed the Bulgarian Jewry.]]

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:Valko Chervenkov, the former leader of the Bulgarian Soviet Republic, was subjected to beating, electric shocks, peeling off fingernails, knocking off teeth, gauging his eyes before burning him alive by Mossad agents for his patricipation in the Second Holocaust]].