In my campaign universe, history took a slight turn in March 1943.
In March 1943 Adolf Hitler, ruler of the German Third Reich, died in a plane crash near Smolensk, Russia. His death opened the door to a negotiated peace with the Allies when the Second World War finally ground to a stalemate and ended with the Treaty of Aachen in September, 1945. On the Pacific Front, Japan surrendered after viewing footage of the atomic bomb attacks on Dusseldorf and Cologne. The final note of the war was the invasion of Spain and the death of Francisco Franco in the assault on Madrid.
1945 saw two more world leaders die, as Frankin D. Roosevelt died, followed by Josef Stalin from pneumonia during the final negotiations for peace with Germany. Stalin's death was fortuitous because he wanted to continue the war against Germany until they surrendered unconditionally. After his death, Marshal Zhukov was elected General Secretary and took over negotiations. His negotiating position was more flexible.
Soon after the war, Germany sealed her borders and embarked on a comprehensive industrial and scientific reorganization under Albert Speer, rebuilding, expanding and modernizing her factories, laboratories, and infrastructure. As part of the reorganization, representatives of the countries within the Third Reich met in Warsaw and signed a treaty of alliance called Der Warscau Vertrag (Warsaw Pact). Signatories were Greater Germany, Denmark, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Serbia, the Banat, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belorussia, Ukraine and Slovakia.
In response, the Allies formed the United Nations. Member states included the United States of America, Canada, Great Britain, France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Italy, Greece, Russia, Brazil and Israel.
The Cold War began in earnest as Greater Germany sponsored National Socialism in Third World countries using propaganda, foreign aid, weapons shipments, revolutionary training programs and covert operations. The mastermind behind these plans was Himmler and his SS organization.
The two major power blocks sparred for the next 50 years in proxy wars, political confrontations and support for smaller nations. The first clash was in China, where Nationalist Chinese forces with German aid defeated Mao and the Communist party, driving them to the island of Taiwan. Nationalist China insisted that Taiwan was a renegade province of China, but the UN continued to support Mao in Taiwan, preventing an invasion.
Frustrated in Taiwan, Chiang Kai-Shek decided to remove North Korea from play. The Korean peninsula was divided as part of the treaty of Aachen. The northern half of Korea was controlled by Russia, while the south was supported by China. In a surprise attack, South Korea invaded the north and managed to take the capital of Pyongyang. As the South Koreans began to drive to the north and link up with their Chinese allies on the Yalu river, Russia warned the Chinese that if China crossed the Yalu River, they would intervene. Chiang Kai-Shek discounted this a bluster and went ahead with plans to cross the Yalu River. Russia's response was a full scale invasion of Manchuria, diverting Chinese attention from Korea to the defense of their northern border.
Meanwhile, UN forces, led by the United States, staged an amphibious landing at Inchon and driving across the peninsula, cutting off the South Korean People's Army north of the city, eventually leading to their collapse. Scrupulously respecting the South Korean border, UN forces did not cross, instead providing only logistical and air support for the North Korean forces who invaded and eventually conquered South Korea. Turning their attention to the North, UN forces put pressure on the Yalu river, threatening a two front war on the Chinese. Seeing the futility of trying to fight Russia in the North and the USA in the south, Chiang Kai-Shek agreed to a negotiated peace. The Treaty of Vladivostok recognized a unified Republic of Korea, which with Russia aid became an industrial powerhouse rivalling Japan.
This latest defeat led Chiang Kai-Shek to join the Warsaw Pact. His petition was accepted and China became the second most powerful member. The distance between Germany and China helped their cordial relations, since neither was on the other's border.
Other major incidents in the Cold War included the Arab-Israeli Conflict and the Cuban Revolution. In response to Egypt nationalizing the Suez canal, Israel attacked the Suez Canal with UN logistical support. In the many Arab-Israeli wars which followed this initial confrontation, Israel took Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and maintained control of the Sinai Peninsula up to the eastern shore of the Suez canal. In Cuba, the US intervened after police massacred 173 Cubans at an Anti-Batista rally. With aid from US Special Forces, Fidel Castro led a popular rebellion and drove the Batista government into exile in Argentina. The US continued to aid Cuba during Batista's several attempts to retake Cuba. After Argentine Naval and German reinforcements being shipped in were attacked by UN Naval forces, Germany decided not to escalate the situation and abandoned Batista.
In 1957, Russia launched the first artificial satellite. Soon after the satellite was mysteriously destroyed. Subsequent Russian satellites were also destroyed soon after launch. By 1961 Germany put the first man into space, followed two months later by Russia and a year later by the USA. In 1963, a joint USA/Russian Space Program landed the first men on the moon, beating the German Space Ministry by two and a half weeks after almost 30 astronauts, cosmonauts and raummenner died in too hasty launch attempts.
To prevent the militarization of space, the UN and Warsaw Pact signed the Bern Accords, banning the military use of outer space.
For thirty years, the cold war between the UN and Warsaw Pact continued, sometimes heating up, sometimes cooling down. In 1980 a Worldwide recession struck, causing energy prices to soar. Germany, with it's planned and centralized economy, was struck particularly hard by the recession. By 1985, right wing hardliners took control of the Reichstag and elected the aging Himmler as Fuhrer.
German losses in the Brushfire Wars and a sense that they were losing the technology race due to strict controls over researchers led to German preparations for war. After eight years, Germany invaded France in 1993. World War III had begun.
The War in Europe quickly spread to the rest of the world, devastating and shattering superpowers and their allies. The war lasted for eight long years, finally ending as the factions lost their ability to make war after the mutual exchange of nuclear missiles so dreaded by anti-war activists.
For twenty years after the last nuclear bomb fell, the world slid further into pestilence, famine, and anarchy. While the physical devastation was confined to the theaters of war in Europe, North America, China and India, the loss of infrastructure in these areas led to the collapse of the world economy and shipping throughout the world.
Over the course of the next century, the people of the world worked to rebuild their communities and reconnect them with the rest of the planet. In Europe, Germany and France took the lead. The well organized German National Socialist party was able to quickly regain control of the country and begin rebuilding. Meanwhile, France's superior diplomatic abilities came to the fore as she formed a European Federation with Germany.
By the middle of the 21st century, the European Federation was involved in every region of the world, imposing peace and forging coalitions. Since Germany was the more devastated by nuclear attack, France became the senior partner in the EF. She leveraged her wealth and influence to keep the National Socialists from gaining a majority in the German Reichstag. The French government knew that if the Nazis ever gained control of Germany, they would leave the EC.
Various countries began launching unmanned and manned space craft by the middle of the 21st Century. By the end of the century satellites began to fill near-Earth orbit, including military satellites, power satellites and orbital factories. Various disputes arose among the world powers over access to open orbits, territorial claims, and which satellites are legitimate military targets. In 2099, a comprehensive set of treaties and agreements were drafted and signed by spacefaring nations in Baghdad, known as the Baghdad Accords.
The Baghdad Accords specified that certain Earth orbits were demilitarized, that properly certified and inspected power satellites were civilian targets and off limits to attack, and all other worlds were open to colonization by all nations. At first, some countries were reluctant to sign, including the European Union, South Africa, and Canton. Eventually all countries had signed by 2165.
As countries explored the new frontier of the solar system, the European Union supported an expedition to Mars, while Manchuria sent ships to Mercury early in the 22nd Century. Other expeditions were sent to the Asteroid Belt and he moons of Jupiter. Over time, the offworld colonies began to gain in importance as they were commercially exploited.
During 21st Century, the existence of Warp Points was first theorized, then proven by observation of the gravitational effects found in their vicinity. A working theory of where they would be found based on the configuration of the solar system was created, then refined as the results were tested. By the end of the century, the theory that warp points could be used to travel between stars was considered fact. By the beginning of the 22nd Century, many public and private researchers were working on prototype Warp Drives to allow a ship to travel through a Warp Point to whatever lay on the other end.
The first working prototype of a Warp Drive was produced by the European Union in 2132. EU members shared their technology and jointly operated the starship and sucessors. Soon after, China, Argentina and the NAC built their own starships and sent expeditions through the three known warp points to worlds beyond. Expeditions during the rest of the century explored out to five or six warp points in all directions.
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