History Literature / TwilightOfTheRedTsar

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Thanks to Stalin's crimes, the Soviet Union and Russians as an ethnic group have this status with the rest of the world. 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.

** Not only does the Soviet Union face another [[ThePurge Great Purge]], but the inefficient economic policy results in decline of the Soviet economy and living standards, and, triggers a Second Russian Civil War. Said war becomes even more devastating after nuclear weaponry came in use.

* NotSoDifferent: The Soviets committing another Holocaust on the Jews, and using Einsatzgruppen-style massacres against the Chinese makes them eerily similar to what the Nazis used during WWII.

* RussianGuySuffersMost: Not only Soviet Union faces another [[ThePurge Great Purge]], but the inefficient Soviet economic policy results in decline of the Soviet economy and living standarts, and, consequently, in the bloody Second Russian Civil War. Said war becomes even more devastating after nuclear weaponry came in use. RedChina, however, doesn't get it better after being nuked, invaded by one of its former communist allies and suffering from a serious bio-chemical attack.

* 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 he is. Stalin's mental state serves his subordinates well when they don't carry out his order to send the Western powers an ultimatum to withdraw forces from Egypt which could have resulted in World War III and Stalin later either forgets about the order or thinks that the invasion has already started.

* TheBadGuyWins: 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.

** Due to Stalin's crimes, leftists in the West have forsaken Marxist-Leninism in favor of Syndicalism, a much more democratic and libertarian branch of socialism.

* DarkLordOnLifeSupport: Stalin's health is so bad that he spends almost all his 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 paralyzes the Soviet government, as Stalin's subordinates fear to issue any orders and solve problems without Stalin's approval.

** Georgy Zhukov's FamousLastWords are shouting the Russian insult to a picture of Stalin as he is lead to the gallows, saying that he is an abomination in the eyes of God and man.

* TheDreaded: Even with the weak mind and body (or even because of it), Stalin terrifies 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. Ignatiev and Khrushchev learned it the hard way.

* 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.

As of December 2019, the timeline is a DeadFic.

As of December 2019, the timeline is seemingly a DeadFic.

* DeadlyDecadentCourt: Stalin's subordinates plot against each other to diminish political influence of their rivals or even subject them to death in order to gain the favor of the Red Tsar.

* DirtyCommunists: Communism becomes even more discredited than in OTL, being unseparated in the mass consciousness from Stalin's crimes. Those Communists who don't want to be associated with Stalin's crimes abandon the ideas of Communism completely in favor of Syndicalism or any other non-Marxist far-left ideologies.

** 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 suppress 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.

* GiantWallOfWateryDoom: When the U.S. bombs Manchuria, one of their targets is the Fengman Dam. The groundburst completely annihilates the damn and unleashes a murky, almost black, radioactive flood into Jilin, adding thousands more casualties to the disaster.

* GiantWallOfWateryDoom: When the U.S. bombs Manchuria, one of their targets is the Fengman Dam near Jilin. The groundburst completely annihilates the damn and unleashes a murky, almost black, radioactive flood.

* VelvetRevolution: How things play out in UsefulNote/EastGermany, Poland and Hungary: the Army refuses to fire on the protesters and instead join them.

* BullyingADragon: After the Soviets leave China to stand alone in the Korean War and decline Chinese requests for aid, Mao Zedong, feeling betrayed by Stalin, publicity denounces him and criticizes his ideology. Needless to say, Stalin doesn't take this well and ''immediately'' declares war upon his new rival.

* 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. ''It works''.

* TheDreaded: Even with the weak mind and body (or even ''because'' of it), Stalin terrifies 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. Ignatiev and Khrushchev learned it the hard way.

** Then the Soviets brutally 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.

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

** 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.

** 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 sight), commit genocide on Chechens and ''de-facto'' commit ethnic cleansing of the deported people in Central Asia.

** Averted with the TropeNamer (see above).

* RussianGuySuffersMost: Not only Soviet Union faces ''another'' [[ThePurge Great Purge]], but the inefficient Soviet economic policy results in decline of the Soviet economy and living standarts, and, consequently, in the bloody Second Russian Civil War. Said war becomes even more devastating after nuclear weaponry came in use. RedChina, however, doesn't get it better after being nuked, invaded by one of its former communist allies and suffering from a serious bio-chemical attack.

** The Sino-Soviet War and the third stage of the Chinese Civil War ''utterly'' devastate China in ways never seen before, making the UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar look like a water balloon fight.

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

** Egypt becomes a poverty-stricken hellhole where 'criminals' are mutilated, 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. [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil Debates even arise about]] ''[[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil reintroducing slavery.]]''
* YouMonster: Georgy Zhukov's FamousLastWords are shouting the Russian equivalent to a picture of Stalin as he is lead to the gallows. It should be noted that it is a far more serious insult in Russian than in English, as it is basically saying that someone is not simply evil, but an ''abomination in the eyes of God and man''.

* HateSink: Stalin earns this designation thanks to the numerous atrocities he ordered, including outright genocide and ethnic cleansing, causing the Soviet Union to become a pariah in the eyes of the world once the Soviet Holocaust was exposed. Due to this, communism becomes a highly discredited ideology, with many leftists in the West opting to go for Syndicalism or other non-Marxist far-left ideologies.

** While the Soviet Union under Joe Stalin is unquestionably evil, America isn't too innocent either, with Eisenhower using nuclear weapons on Chinese towns, and Nixon passing laws limiting freedom of speech for anything connected to Communism.

* BullyingADragon: After the Soviets leave China to stand alone in the Korean War and decline Chinese requests for aid, Mao Zedong, 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: The fate of some Soviet officals during the Second Russian Civil War.
* ChummyCommies: Due to Stalin's crimes, leftists in the West have forsaken Marxist-Leninism in favor of Syndicalism, a much more democratic and libertarian branch of socialism.

* TheDreaded: Even with the weak mind and body (or even ''because'' of it) Stalin terrifies 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. Ignatiev and Khrushchev learned it the hard way.

** 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 continues to break out in East Germany and Hungary.

* PrayerIsALastResort: Right before being put to death, Molotov, an outspoken atheist before, becomes so terrified with the prospect of imminent death that he asks the executioner to say a prayer. [[KickTheDog This request is denied]] [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor When Stalin heards the story, he bursts into laughter and mockingly imitates Molotov saying the Lord's Prayer)]].
* PropagandaPiece: 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 children during a blood libel ritual by the main 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".

* SuddenlySignificantCity: Stalingrad becames the new Soviet capital after the rebels took Moscow.

* 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.

* AdiposeRex: Stalin gets noticebaly fatter as his illness progresses.

* 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. Ignatiev and Khrushchev learned it the hard way.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: Semyon Budyonny, especially in comprasion with Molotov.

* PrayerIsALastResort: Right before being put to death, Molotov, an outspoken atheist before, becomes so terrfied with the prospect of imminent death that he asks the executioner to say a prayer. [[KickTheDog This request is denied]] [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor When Stalin heards the story, he bursts into laughter and mockingly imitates Molotov saying the Lord's Prayer)]].

** 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. Eventually, the {{CIA}} assassinates him, and put an embargo on the Cuban economy like OTL.

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

* AlmightyJanitor: Not so much in the timeline proper, but a frequent RunningGag in the comments is that Stalin's purges are so devastating and the factional power games between his would-be successors are so vicious that when the dust settles, the only person left to take over the Soviet Union will be the Kremlin's junior janitor (his superiors, naturally, having already been shot).

** 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.

* PrayerIsALastResort: "In his final terrified moments Molotov seems to have found God, for he asked the executioner if he could say a prayer. [[KickTheDog This request was denied]] [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor (when Stalin heard the story he burst into laughter and mockingly imitated Molotov saying the Lord's Prayer)]]."

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

** 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. Eventually, the CIA assassinates him, and put an embargo on the Cuban economy like OTL.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: 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.

* StaircaseTumble: 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.

** 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.

* 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. 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.