What if: 1948 Czechoslovakia Civil War

[lordroel]

I was wondering, what if the 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état lead to a civil war with the outcome being a democratic Czech Republic and the Soviet backed People Republic of Slovakia.

[stevep]

Mar 16, 2018 15:31:44 GMT lordroel said:

I was wondering, what if the 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état lead to a civil war with the outcome being a democratic Czech Republic and the Soviet backed People Republic of Slovakia.

  I doubt it as the Czechs didn't have the power to defeat the Red army, even with their army having been infiltrated by communists at the top level and the western powers were in no condition to fight in its defence.  Any such resistance would have been bloodily crushed.  You would probably have got a stronger reaction in the west, with the defeat of the communists in France and Italy more than OTL and probably a more substantial build up.  If, as is probably likely, Stalin goes ahead with the blockade of Berlin then things could get hairy as the west might assume this was the penultimate step before war, or at least before more attempted Soviet encroachments.

[lordroel]

Mar 16, 2018 16:13:55 GMT stevep said:

Mar 16, 2018 15:31:44 GMT lordroel said:

I was wondering, what if the 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état lead to a civil war with the outcome being a democratic Czech Republic and the Soviet backed People Republic of Slovakia.

  I doubt it as the Czechs didn't have the power to defeat the Red army, even with their army having been infiltrated by communists at the top level and the western powers were in no condition to fight in its defence.  Any such resistance would have been bloodily crushed.  You would probably have got a stronger reaction in the west, with the defeat of the communists in France and Italy more than OTL and probably a more substantial build up.  If, as is probably likely, Stalin goes ahead with the blockade of Berlin then things could get hairy as the west might assume this was the penultimate step before war, or at least before more attempted Soviet encroachments.

But what if the army, under the direction of Defence Minister Ludvík Svoboda, who was formally non-partisan but had facilitated Communist infiltration into the officer corps, did interfere on behave of democracy.

What if President of Czechoslovakia Beneš did not capitulated.

Could we have a civil war which leads, which is doubtful in a democratic Czech Republic and the Soviet backed People Republic of Slovakia.

[stevep]

Mar 16, 2018 16:19:53 GMT lordroel said:

Mar 16, 2018 16:13:55 GMT stevep said:

  I doubt it as the Czechs didn't have the power to defeat the Red army, even with their army having been infiltrated by communists at the top level and the western powers were in no condition to fight in its defence.  Any such resistance would have been bloodily crushed.  You would probably have got a stronger reaction in the west, with the defeat of the communists in France and Italy more than OTL and probably a more substantial build up.  If, as is probably likely, Stalin goes ahead with the blockade of Berlin then things could get hairy as the west might assume this was the penultimate step before war, or at least before more attempted Soviet encroachments.

But what if the army, under the direction of Defence Minister Ludvík Svoboda, who was formally non-partisan but had facilitated Communist infiltration into the officer corps, did interfere on behave of democracy.

What if President of Czechoslovakia Beneš did not capitulated.

Could we have a civil war which leads, which is doubtful in a democratic Czech Republic and the Soviet backed People Republic of Slovakia.

  A civil war is possible but I can't see the democrats winning given the inevitable support of the Red Army for the communists.

[rescribor]

Yes, front page Pravda title will be something like "Contrrevolution in Czechoslovakia ! Acting Czech Minister of Defence Voroshilov welcomes fraternal Red Army in fight against hitlerist agents Benes and Svoboda!"

[lordroel]

Mar 17, 2018 19:17:34 GMT rescribor said:

Yes, front page Pravda title will be something like "Contrrevolution in Czechoslovakia ! Acting Czech Minister of Defence Voroshilov welcomes fraternal Red Army in fight against hitlerist agents Benes and Svoboda!"

But i think more dramatic and also have some Evil capitalist in the title.

[James G]

Mar 17, 2018 19:17:34 GMT rescribor said:

Yes, front page Pravda title will be something like "Contrrevolution in Czechoslovakia ! Acting Czech Minister of Defence Voroshilov welcomes fraternal Red Army in fight against hitlerist agents Benes and Svoboda!"

I was thinking "hey?" with the name of the defence minister but then I remembered that that happened with the Poles too. Red Army to the rescue!