A window of opportunity 1905

[575]

1950
Death of Gustavus 5. succeeded by his oldest son Gustavus 6 Adolph.
Gustavus 5 had tried pursuading Government to join Germany at the opening of the Great War but Government had rejected his wish and only Danish deliveries of agricultural produce during that War had removed the threat of famine and made Gustavus realize the need to reconciliate Sweden with its former enemies but brothers.
Gustavus 5 had accessed the throne two years post the Norwegian War of Liberation often interfering with Government to make it do his wanting as during the initial meetings with his Nordic counterparts. He had also played an important role in securing Finland for the Nordic cause by putting his younger brother Prince Carl on the throne of that country and urging the Swedish Army to act in policing newly independent Finland to the regret of many Finns at the time but now remembered if not lovingly but necessary to cement the new foundation of the Finn Kingdom.

The Kings of Norway, Denmark and Finland as well as representatives of many other nations attended the funeral service of the late King during cold early November which wrapped Stockholm capital of Sweden into silent cold winter garb most fitting of the occasion.
Inside the Royal Castle the Royals had their own family reunion and family funeral service.

At the time the Nordic PMs would meet at the Swedish Parliament for a formal meeting regarding the situation in southern Europe and Turkey; all agreed that the Nuclear Bomb Programme had to proceed and the first talks of a bomb test and test site selection were initiated.

The year saw the opening of the first commercial Nuclear reactors in Sweden to supply hydropower works electricity generation as well as more plutonium for use in the Nuclear Bomb Programme.
The event was given greater glory and publicity by the official participation of Nobel Laureate Professor Niels Bohr who spoke on the great good nuclear power could provide the Nordics and also the World it if would seek to embrace it.

[575]

Turkish – Italian – Greek War (3. Balkan War) 1950
Actually war had spread in the Balkans; Yugoslavia was on the brink of collapse when the Croatians declared independence and then were the target of new Italian aggression as Italy declared it being protecting its territories of Zara and Fiume on the Dalmatian coast from Croatian attack.
France was dithering back and forth due to its overseas commitments and of these mostly the building up of troops in Algeria and the Italian Army was reinforcing its positions in the Western Alpes and concentrating Air units in Northen Italy the Croatian operation being mainly a Navy matter. Italian Battleships shelling Croatian positions which were then subjected to Marines assault with Air cover were really successful.
France was really in a bad situation in its percieved back yard.

As the Croatians were pulling back from Zara and Fiume the Slovenians had asked the Austrians and Czechoslovaks for aid which was delivered with German backing in the form of the German Mountain Division moving into Vienna, Austria. Germany had found a foothold in the Balkans. And sent a very clear message to Hungary.
Aid came in the eleventh hour when the Yugoslavian Army moved into Slovenia aiming at Ljubljana; what Yugoslavian Reserve Units in Slovenia had been mobilized with Slovenes only and were thrown at the Serb controlled Yugoslavian Army. Knowing their backs to be secure the Slovenes defeated the hastily assembled Serb force and saw it retreat across the border south of Novo mesto west of Zagreb towards Karlovac.
Later Croatia claimed it was their troops marching west out of Zagreb to take on the invader that had saved Slovenia, but the Slovenes didn't believe that.

Bulgaria was in a shooting war with the Serb Yugoslav Army in Macedonia and Southern Serbia with the Greeks watching from across the border in the south. Both the Greeks and the Serbians were calling for the Romanians to enter the fight along them against Bulgaria; initially the Romanians dithered back and forth but realizing the Hungarians were under pressure by Germany and cut off from Italian arms deliveries Romania decided to join in but would fight the Hungarians. Not exactly to the liking of the Greeks and Serbs but both sure the Romanians would move south once its score with Hungary had been settled.

Albanian King Zog was willing to help the Serbs but of the prize of Kosovo which the Serbs considered too integral to national myth to part with and warned the Albanians of adventurism.

In Western Anatolia the Italians were moving up to the Kayastros River determined as the boundary between them and the Greeks who were moving on Izmir north of the river.
The Italians were moving up the Menander River too with a aim of turning south towards Denizli and then for their ultimate objective of Antalya. That would cut off the southwestern corner of Anatolia.
The Greeks had had part of the burder lifted in the European theatre as the Bulgarians had been seriously engaged in Macedonia and southern Serbia which left the Greeks to mainly concern itself with the Turks.
Operations in Thrake still a trench war with neigher side wanting too much to happen; in contrast the Greek Army in Anatolia had reached Izmir and had stopped the advancing Turks at Manisa close to the Gordis River east of Izmir. Things looked good in Anatolia with the Italian ally to the south making good progress and as when choices arise the Greeks had chosen Anatolia.
The British and French being out of the war effectively was a disappointment happening too soon though expected to some extend; the Turks had to budge facing down both major powers at once.
The real Greek worry was the Turk Navy though it had suffered badly initially it still tried with pairs of Destroyers to impede the movement of supplies for the Army in Thrake; any secondline railway connecting the area with Thessaloniki had been taken command off by the Army to change the supplies from shipping to railing.

[575]

Italy 1950
The Italian Navy was moving a large part of its light units to support the Greek Navy as these wasn't needed in other places – the main force of the Italian Army was in the Western Alpes or just behind to deter the French, a smaller force in the Eastern Alpes to fight the Croatians wanting the Fiume and Zara and the Corps in the Turkish Operation. Of course a substatial force was kept in Libya though the French threat had diminished with the escalating violence in Algeria.
Italian factories in the North was churning out Jet aircraft, Tanks and Trucks as well as ammunitions to support the Italian services and its Alies Greece and Albania.
The oil production had been ramped up to supply the war needs and to serve maintaining contracts.
War was going well for Italy; the French had been held off as much by Italian Army and Airforce in place as the unrest in the Algeria and to a lesser degree in French Indo China. The Turks were good soldiers but the Italian arms had the upper end there and the Mechanized Force was driving on Antalya.
The Navy did all it was asked to do and did it well.
The Italian consumer got his/her wants fulfilled.
Italy was becoming a real Great Power.

[575]

Far East 1950
In French Indo China Ho Chi Minh had stepped up the campain against the French and their US contracters. The US should keep out of this internal struggle and had been warned of such but had persisted in partaking in building up Cam Rahn Bay base.
The French were stepping up their military presence in FIC and enlarging existing Airfields to accommodate larger numbers of aircraft to support the French anti-guerilla operations.

Some Indonesians had paid a visit to Tokyo during the year and tried convicing the Japanese of supporting their cause offering a position of first costumer once they had gained control of their Islands Nation; the Japanese had been sceptical – the US wasn't convinced Japanese militarism being dead and so the Netherlands East Indies was the prime supplier oil. For the time being the Japanese passed the request for arms but approved some financing.
The Indonesians had a stopover at Manila on their journey home. Having talked to various Philippine officials the Indonesians bounced into a US businessman of Standard Oil with affiliations to the US Government. Some months later the Dutch began having more trouble with their Indonesian colonial subjects than usual.

China was in some kind of quandry; it was quite successful in suppressing the Uygur – Kirgise and other Caucasian minorities in Xinkiang but it also had a large population still under control of Japan in Taiwan and an expat community in several countries. Usually these expats did well but some did at times get caught in a crossfire's in FIC which the Chinese Foreign Minister didn't hesitate protesting at Paris; a kind of action ridiculed by the French Press “the Yellow Monkey protests”.
That was simply too humiliating to the Chinese who took the issue to the League of Nations which discussed the issue and asked the French to rein in its Press; which of course didn't happen as the French also wieved the Chinese as annoying foreigners just as their FIC population and Algerians in rebellion in both places.

[stevep]

Dec 12, 2022 17:52:00 GMT 575 said:

Far East 1950
In French Indo China Ho Chi Minh had stepped up the campain against the French and their US contracters. The US should keep out of this internal struggle and had been warned of such but had persisted in partaking in building up Cam Rahn Bay base.
The French were stepping up their military presence in FIC and enlarging existing Airfields to accommodate larger numbers of aircraft to support the French anti-guerilla operations.

Some Indonesians had paid a visit to Tokyo during the year and tried convicing the Japanese of supporting their cause offering a position of first costumer once they had gained control of their Islands Nation; the Japanese had been sceptical – the US wasn't convinced Japanese militarism being dead and so the Netherlands East Indies was the prime supplier oil. For the time being the Japanese passed the request for arms but approved some financing.
The Indonesians had a stopover at Manila on their journey home. Having talked to various Philippine officials the Indonesians bounced into a US businessman of Standard Oil with affiliations to the US Government. Some months later the Dutch began having more trouble with their Indonesian colonial subjects than usual.

China was in some kind of quandry; it was quite successful in suppressing the Uygur – Kirgise and other Caucasian minorities in Xinkiang but it also had a large population still under control of Japan in Taiwan and an expat community in several countries. Usually these expats did well but some did at times get caught in a crossfire's in FIC which the Chinese Foreign Minister didn't hesitate protesting at Paris; a kind of action ridiculed by the French Press “the Yellow Monkey protests”.
That was simply too humiliating to the Chinese who took the issue to the League of Nations which discussed the issue and asked the French to rein in its Press; which of course didn't happen as the French also wieved the Chinese as annoying foreigners just as their FIC population and Algerians in rebellion in both places.

  That last bit sounds like the French will face problems from China more than Japan supporting rebels in FIC. 

[575]

Well in this time line the Western Powers still have a lot of interest in China because of trade and the foreign settlements haven't been evicted as there was no large scale Japanese attack on coastal China; coupled to a large number of Chinese expats in areas such as FIC but also the Philippines the Chinese may think of what to do to support its expats - if at all.
I'm in a formative phase about this with the traditional enmity of Vietnam vs China perhaps going to direct Chinese efforts towards Taiwan. Look to the next installment.

[575]

USA 1950
Meeting in the Oval Office of President, Foreign Minister, Minister of Army and Navy, OSS, Navy Intelligence, Army Chief of Staff, Commander Army Air Corps, Navy Commander.

The OSS and Navy Intelligence relayed their wiev of the Global situation following the Ministers; both Services agreed that the Nordic's were a most potend factor regionally in Europe the possibly most important scientist Bohr were leading a project to build an Atomic Weapon. The SAAB Factory had build a large jet-engine Bomber capable of carrying such a weapon. With the Airfield in Kangerlussuak, Greenland enlarged the North American continent could be subjected to such means of war.
The first commercial Nuclear Powerplant had opened operations in Sweden to supply the Hydropower of that and other Nordic Nations and diminish the dependance on coal and oil for electricity generation. It was thought that part of this much showcased opening being a cover for producing weaponsgrade Uranium and Plutonium for the Nuclear Bomb Programme. More such powerplants was scheduled to open in the other three Nordic countries. Iceland didn't plan one as it was relying on Hydro – and Geothermic Power.
The larger picture also needed to incorporate the recent start of prospecting for oil in the North Sea; apparently the Nordics wanted to be independent of imports of any kind and build a much stronger alliance perhaps even with a political view to build a Union though this was regularly being dismissed within all Five countries most vehemently in Iceland the most recent to attain independence with Norway a strong second. The advocate of such being Finland with its back on the vile Russia.

Bohr wasn't the only man though he had managed to assemble a large workforce of great minds though the majority of foreign scientist were excluded from the Atomic Weapon programme Professor Oppenheimer had told OSS and only working in the Bohr Science Faculty at Copenhagen though that in itself was more than interesting as the cream of Scientists were gathering there to exchange ideas and drive science forward. It wasn't only Scientists but also Mathematicians who visited on shorter or longer periods to add their knowledge.
Oppenheinmer related that he had been told that the Swedes during the Soviet – Polish War had been able to decipher the German Enigma codemachine which the Germans hadn't shared with their Nordic “Allies”. The Nordics were reading German encrupted traffic regularly it seemed.

The Navy expressed mixed feelings about the sharing of building up of Cam Rahn Bay in FIC; the French were running a war of repression on part of the populace differing politically which regularly caught the Chinese ex-pats in the crossfires as related in the press. The problem being that the Chinese were keeping a poker-face but were really furious with the French and this might spill over upon the US. Cam Rahn Bay would be a nice addition to the Navy Bases in the Western Pacific but it wasn't an absolute necessity and probably things could be worked out with the Chinese with regards to Hainan though such an arrangement would only come through if the US pulled out of Cam Rahn Bay which of course would be a political decision though the Navy would advocate such. On the other hand the Chinese might due to the old enmity of Vietnamese vs. Chinese take another approach; an independent Vietnam/FIC might not be on the wishlist of China's.

Japan had finished its third No 13 Class Dreadnought as an Aircraft Carrier and was proceeding to build a second such.
Several Japanese Dreadnoughts had seen upgrades with Radar for navigation and fire-control though not as many as the Navy had wanted and the main number of Dreadnoughts actually dating to the Great War and really should be replaced but the Navy doesn't seem to have the funds. The aftermath of the Sovietunion – China – Japanese War economic effects seemed to be still haunting the Japanse but also the attrition of the Japanese Army in Manchuria had been a drain on the replacement of manpower of both Services. The situation is better regarding their Cruisers where those dating to Great War or prior have been written off and Aircraft Carriers though the three oldest have been mothballed! Basically the Japanese Navy consist of two Super Dreadnoughts two Dreadnoughts with seven in reserve and nine Aircraft Carriers. Not really impressive but the Japanese kept building Aircraft Carriers due to their need for airfields in Korea and against the Soviet Vladivostok.
The Japanese Navy was doing regular exercises in ASW operations – legacy of the previous War - but according to the British they were still novices in the trade even though they should have learnt from the Soviet Submarine operations – lost them a Dreadnought and almost an Aircraft Carrier.

The RN still lead a joint RN – Australian – New Zealand Squadron in the Western Pacific and seemed determined to do so. The British – Japanese Alliance had not formally ended but neighter side seemed to do much about it. To the British Chinese trade was more important than a Japanese counter weigh to Russia which didn't exist anymore and would probably need several decades to be a player in the Far East again. At least it would support a British foothold in China which the Chinese didn't seem to mind also in light of the informal alliance during the Soviet probing into the Hindu Kush/Xinjiang during the last phase of the Sovietunion – China – Japanese War.
Another reason for the British to keep a forward presences in the Far East is the Sultanate of Brunei which small is economically viable due to the oil export and its financially upkeeping of the British Straits Settlements which in turn serve to sustain the British owned rubber plantations in Malaya – an important strategic product.

OSS pointed the Dutch East Indies as a possible next anti-Colonial insurrection area; there was quite some political movenments surfacing both to want independence or to cooperate with the Dutch the latter of course to gain political influence on their own destiny. It was still a confused scene but it had the potential to grow and could then upset the oil production in the DEI. Should such spread to Sarawak and Brunei it would of course alarm the British.
Japan might have an interest in DEI independence but a prolonged struggle for such might damage oil production to an unwanted degree in the Japanese view which wasn't wanted as it would serve to make Japan dependant on US oil. Which of course were to the advantage of the USA.
Also that the Japanese Army took huge losses in Manchuria – Japanese Infantry didn't like cowing behind the AT-guns and got slaughtered in huge numbers. Japan might be attempting to do politically what conquest hadn't.

As the Foreign – Armed Services – Intelligence meeting ended the US Treasurer and Minister of Commerce entered the Oval Office.
Having given their monthly assessment the President asked “what about payment of Great War loans?”
Treasurer “the really important about the European payments is that Germany post Recession by 1940 was able to resume debt payments. The only European country to keep payment going was Finland which was also the only Nordic country to become endebted due to the Great War. These two Germany and the Nordics were the real rebuilders of Europe which may sound odd due to the situation but apart from the Entente occupation of the Rhineland during 1921-30 Germany besides territorial losses didn't as such suffer destruction of its internal structure as had areas occupied by Germany during the Great War. Since 1934 it has had an ever increase in economic strength much added to by its working with the other strong European player the Nordics in comparison to Britain and France who have been able to keep going but their economies have suffered hence the French getting bogged down in FIC and Algeria and don't really want to invade Italy. Germany haven't resumed reparations payment due to its 1935 accord with France on the Versailles reparations.
Which leads to Italy that since the discovery of oil in Libya have resumed debt payments and is actually one the stronger economies of Europe. Should the Nordics find oil in the North Sea they will be really well off though part of that may go to the other North Sea countries especially Britain. Britain on the other hand still hold the oilfields of the Middle East Mandate Area making it an even stronger economy than France which however still have the second gold hoard. The Nordics was involved partly in the War with the Sovietunion but came out rather unscated and without territorial losses. By the way Russia in any form are out of Svalbard – the Nordics renegotiated the treaty with the Russian Republic.”
President “last one's interesting, there's coal up there – right? Would we have an interest in upscaling oilprospecting in the Middle East?”
Minister of Commerce “You want to take some steam out of Italy? That would make the French happy. Though Italy have resumed War Debts payment it is stirring up trouble in Southeastern Europe and is fighting Turkey which itself have a destabilizing effect in Central Asia still mudding the waters as everybody else there since the collapse of the Sovietunion but keeping its hands off Baku due to the British – really You can't have it all at once!”

***

This one just kept growing as it also served to pick up a few missed important issues.

[stevep]

Dec 13, 2022 9:23:46 GMT 575 said:

USA 1950
Meeting in the Oval Office of President, Foreign Minister, Minister of Army and Navy, OSS, Navy Intelligence, Army Chief of Staff, Commander Army Air Corps, Navy Commander.

The OSS and Navy Intelligence relayed their wiev of the Global situation following the Ministers; both Services agreed that the Nordic's were a most potend factor regionally in Europe the possibly most important scientist Bohr were leading a project to build an Atomic Weapon. The SAAB Factory had build a large jet-engine Bomber capable of carrying such a weapon. With the Airfield in Kangerlussuak, Greenland enlarged the North American continent could be subjected to such means of war.
The first commercial Nuclear Powerplant had opened operations in Sweden to supply the Hydropower of that and other Nordic Nations and diminish the dependance on coal and oil for electricity generation. It was thought that part of this much showcased opening being a cover for producing weaponsgrade Uranium and Plutonium for the Nuclear Bomb Programme. More such powerplants was scheduled to open in the other three Nordic countries. Iceland didn't plan one as it was relying on Hydro – and Geothermic Power.
The larger picture also needed to incorporate the recent start of prospecting for oil in the North Sea; apparently the Nordics wanted to be independent of imports of any kind and build a much stronger alliance perhaps even with a political view to build a Union though this was regularly being dismissed within all Five countries most vehemently in Iceland the most recent to attain independence with Norway a strong second. The advocate of such being Finland with its back on the vile Russia.

Bohr wasn't the only man though he had managed to assemble a large workforce of great minds though the majority of foreign scientist were excluded from the Atomic Weapon programme Professor Oppenheimer had told OSS and only working in the Bohr Science Faculty at Copenhagen though that in itself was more than interesting as the cream of Scientists were gathering there to exchange ideas and drive science forward. It wasn't only Scientists but also Mathematicians who visited on shorter or longer periods to add their knowledge.
Oppenheinmer related that he had been told that the Swedes during the Soviet – Polish War had been able to decipher the German Enigma codemachine which the Germans hadn't shared with their Nordic “Allies”. The Nordics were reading German encrupted traffic regularly it seemed.

The Navy expressed mixed feelings about the sharing of building up of Cam Rahn Bay in FIC; the French were running a war of repression on part of the populace differing politically which regularly caught the Chinese ex-pats in the crossfires as related in the press. The problem being that the Chinese were keeping a poker-face but were really furious with the French and this might spill over upon the US. Cam Rahn Bay would be a nice addition to the Navy Bases in the Western Pacific but it wasn't an absolute necessity and probably things could be worked out with the Chinese with regards to Hainan though such an arrangement would only come through if the US pulled out of Cam Rahn Bay which of course would be a political decision though the Navy would advocate such. On the other hand the Chinese might due to the old enmity of Vietnamese vs. Chinese take another approach; an independent Vietnam/FIC might not be on the wishlist of China's.

Japan had finished its third No 13 Class Dreadnought as an Aircraft Carrier and was proceeding to build a second such.
Several Japanese Dreadnoughts had seen upgrades with Radar for navigation and fire-control though not as many as the Navy had wanted and the main number of Dreadnoughts actually dating to the Great War and really should be replaced but the Navy doesn't seem to have the funds. The aftermath of the Sovietunion – China – Japanese War economic effects seemed to be still haunting the Japanse but also the attrition of the Japanese Army in Manchuria had been a drain on the replacement of manpower of both Services. The situation is better regarding their Cruisers where those dating to Great War or prior have been written off and Aircraft Carriers though the three oldest have been mothballed! Basically the Japanese Navy consist of two Super Dreadnoughts two Dreadnoughts with seven in reserve and nine Aircraft Carriers. Not really impressive but the Japanese kept building Aircraft Carriers due to their need for airfields in Korea and against the Soviet Vladivostok.
The Japanese Navy was doing regular exercises in ASW operations – legacy of the previous War - but according to the British they were still novices in the trade even though they should have learnt from the Soviet Submarine operations – lost them a Dreadnought and almost an Aircraft Carrier.

The RN still lead a joint RN – Australian – New Zealand Squadron in the Western Pacific and seemed determined to do so. The British – Japanese Alliance had not formally ended but neighter side seemed to do much about it. To the British Chinese trade was more important than a Japanese counter weigh to Russia which didn't exist anymore and would probably need several decades to be a player in the Far East again. At least it would support a British foothold in China which the Chinese didn't seem to mind also in light of the informal alliance during the Soviet probing into the Hindu Kush/Xinjiang during the last phase of the Sovietunion – China – Japanese War.
Another reason for the British to keep a forward presences in the Far East is the Sultanate of Brunei which small is economically viable due to the oil export and its financially upkeeping of the British Straits Settlements which in turn serve to sustain the British owned rubber plantations in Malaya – an important strategic product.

OSS pointed the Dutch East Indies as a possible next anti-Colonial insurrection area; there was quite some political movenments surfacing both to want independence or to cooperate with the Dutch the latter of course to gain political influence on their own destiny. It was still a confused scene but it had the potential to grow and could then upset the oil production in the DEI. Should such spread to Sarawak and Brunei it would of course alarm the British.
Japan might have an interest in DEI independence but a prolonged struggle for such might damage oil production to an unwanted degree in the Japanese view which wasn't wanted as it would serve to make Japan dependant on US oil. Which of course were to the advantage of the USA.
Also that the Japanese Army took huge losses in Manchuria – Japanese Infantry didn't like cowing behind the AT-guns and got slaughtered in huge numbers. Japan might be attempting to do politically what conquest hadn't.

As the Foreign – Armed Services – Intelligence meeting ended the US Treasurer and Minister of Commerce entered the Oval Office.
Having given their monthly assessment the President asked “what about payment of Great War loans?”
Treasurer “the really important about the European payments is that Germany post Recession by 1940 was able to resume debt payments. The only European country to keep payment going was Finland which was also the only Nordic country to become endebted due to the Great War. These two Germany and the Nordics were the real rebuilders of Europe which may sound odd due to the situation but apart from the Entente occupation of the Rhineland during 1921-30 Germany besides territorial losses didn't as such suffer destruction of its internal structure as had areas occupied by Germany during the Great War. Since 1934 it has had an ever increase in economic strength much added to by its working with the other strong European player the Nordics in comparison to Britain and France who have been able to keep going but their economies have suffered hence the French getting bogged down in FIC and Algeria and don't really want to invade Italy. Germany haven't resumed reparations payment due to its 1935 accord with France on the Versailles reparations.
Which leads to Italy that since the discovery of oil in Libya have resumed debt payments and is actually one the stronger economies of Europe. Should the Nordics find oil in the North Sea they will be really well off though part of that may go to the other North Sea countries especially Britain. Britain on the other hand still hold the oilfields of the Middle East Mandate Area making it an even stronger economy than France which however still have the second gold hoard. The Nordics was involved partly in the War with the Sovietunion but came out rather unscated and without territorial losses. By the way Russia in any form are out of Svalbard – the Nordics renegotiated the treaty with the Russian Republic.”
President “last one's interesting, there's coal up there – right? Would we have an interest in upscaling oilprospecting in the Middle East?”
Minister of Commerce “You want to take some steam out of Italy? That would make the French happy. Though Italy have resumed War Debts payment it is stirring up trouble in Southeastern Europe and is fighting Turkey which itself have a destabilizing effect in Central Asia still mudding the waters as everybody else there since the collapse of the Sovietunion but keeping its hands off Baku due to the British – really You can't have it all at once!”

***

This one just kept growing as it also served to pick up a few missed important issues.

  Interesting.  You started off with US views of the Nordic nuclear project, and especially what they would see as the threatening airfield on Iceland so I thought it was going to be a summary of what the US knows about assorted such projects, coupled with how their own one is doing.  However a more general review of US interests in Europe and elsewhere. 

  Rather surprising that no nuclear project has been completed yet - or possibly no one has admitted completing one yet?  Although that would really need at least one test and even an underground one would leave some signs.  Without the massive destruction of WWII, at least outside NE Asia and the USSR with its devastating civil war, things would be more advanced I would have thought.  You don't have the incentive of the race during WWII but you have multiple powers competing and a lot more assets to throw at the matter.

  Sounds like Britain is doing pretty good in terms of resources and if they dropped free trade during the depression and very likely have kept it in a protectionist world they should have a significantly stronger economy.  Can't remember if we had equivalents of the OTL 45 reforms which expanded education and social improvements which would further boost the economy in the longer terms.  However of course there will be the question of decolonization, which could be distinctly nastier without WWII.

  France seems to be dwindling somewhat while Italy, despite lacking a massive resource base other than Libyan oil is doing very well but could screw that over by its persistent wars.  However all the colonial powers would have that problem.

  There's no Japanese economic miracle likely here with the continued heavy military spending and probably a continuation of a somewhat reduced military domination of society their likely to struggle.  Even with a smaller number of mostly elderly BBs 9CV would be a heavy peacetime burden.

[575]

Dec 13, 2022 11:43:48 GMT stevep said:

Dec 13, 2022 9:23:46 GMT 575 said:

USA 1950
Meeting in the Oval Office of President, Foreign Minister, Minister of Army and Navy, OSS, Navy Intelligence, Army Chief of Staff, Commander Army Air Corps, Navy Commander.

The OSS and Navy Intelligence relayed their wiev of the Global situation following the Ministers; both Services agreed that the Nordic's were a most potend factor regionally in Europe the possibly most important scientist Bohr were leading a project to build an Atomic Weapon. The SAAB Factory had build a large jet-engine Bomber capable of carrying such a weapon. With the Airfield in Kangerlussuak, Greenland enlarged the North American continent could be subjected to such means of war.
The first commercial Nuclear Powerplant had opened operations in Sweden to supply the Hydropower of that and other Nordic Nations and diminish the dependance on coal and oil for electricity generation. It was thought that part of this much showcased opening being a cover for producing weaponsgrade Uranium and Plutonium for the Nuclear Bomb Programme. More such powerplants was scheduled to open in the other three Nordic countries. Iceland didn't plan one as it was relying on Hydro – and Geothermic Power.
The larger picture also needed to incorporate the recent start of prospecting for oil in the North Sea; apparently the Nordics wanted to be independent of imports of any kind and build a much stronger alliance perhaps even with a political view to build a Union though this was regularly being dismissed within all Five countries most vehemently in Iceland the most recent to attain independence with Norway a strong second. The advocate of such being Finland with its back on the vile Russia.

Bohr wasn't the only man though he had managed to assemble a large workforce of great minds though the majority of foreign scientist were excluded from the Atomic Weapon programme Professor Oppenheimer had told OSS and only working in the Bohr Science Faculty at Copenhagen though that in itself was more than interesting as the cream of Scientists were gathering there to exchange ideas and drive science forward. It wasn't only Scientists but also Mathematicians who visited on shorter or longer periods to add their knowledge.
Oppenheinmer related that he had been told that the Swedes during the Soviet – Polish War had been able to decipher the German Enigma codemachine which the Germans hadn't shared with their Nordic “Allies”. The Nordics were reading German encrupted traffic regularly it seemed.

The Navy expressed mixed feelings about the sharing of building up of Cam Rahn Bay in FIC; the French were running a war of repression on part of the populace differing politically which regularly caught the Chinese ex-pats in the crossfires as related in the press. The problem being that the Chinese were keeping a poker-face but were really furious with the French and this might spill over upon the US. Cam Rahn Bay would be a nice addition to the Navy Bases in the Western Pacific but it wasn't an absolute necessity and probably things could be worked out with the Chinese with regards to Hainan though such an arrangement would only come through if the US pulled out of Cam Rahn Bay which of course would be a political decision though the Navy would advocate such. On the other hand the Chinese might due to the old enmity of Vietnamese vs. Chinese take another approach; an independent Vietnam/FIC might not be on the wishlist of China's.

Japan had finished its third No 13 Class Dreadnought as an Aircraft Carrier and was proceeding to build a second such.
Several Japanese Dreadnoughts had seen upgrades with Radar for navigation and fire-control though not as many as the Navy had wanted and the main number of Dreadnoughts actually dating to the Great War and really should be replaced but the Navy doesn't seem to have the funds. The aftermath of the Sovietunion – China – Japanese War economic effects seemed to be still haunting the Japanse but also the attrition of the Japanese Army in Manchuria had been a drain on the replacement of manpower of both Services. The situation is better regarding their Cruisers where those dating to Great War or prior have been written off and Aircraft Carriers though the three oldest have been mothballed! Basically the Japanese Navy consist of two Super Dreadnoughts two Dreadnoughts with seven in reserve and nine Aircraft Carriers. Not really impressive but the Japanese kept building Aircraft Carriers due to their need for airfields in Korea and against the Soviet Vladivostok.
The Japanese Navy was doing regular exercises in ASW operations – legacy of the previous War - but according to the British they were still novices in the trade even though they should have learnt from the Soviet Submarine operations – lost them a Dreadnought and almost an Aircraft Carrier.

The RN still lead a joint RN – Australian – New Zealand Squadron in the Western Pacific and seemed determined to do so. The British – Japanese Alliance had not formally ended but neighter side seemed to do much about it. To the British Chinese trade was more important than a Japanese counter weigh to Russia which didn't exist anymore and would probably need several decades to be a player in the Far East again. At least it would support a British foothold in China which the Chinese didn't seem to mind also in light of the informal alliance during the Soviet probing into the Hindu Kush/Xinjiang during the last phase of the Sovietunion – China – Japanese War.
Another reason for the British to keep a forward presences in the Far East is the Sultanate of Brunei which small is economically viable due to the oil export and its financially upkeeping of the British Straits Settlements which in turn serve to sustain the British owned rubber plantations in Malaya – an important strategic product.

OSS pointed the Dutch East Indies as a possible next anti-Colonial insurrection area; there was quite some political movenments surfacing both to want independence or to cooperate with the Dutch the latter of course to gain political influence on their own destiny. It was still a confused scene but it had the potential to grow and could then upset the oil production in the DEI. Should such spread to Sarawak and Brunei it would of course alarm the British.
Japan might have an interest in DEI independence but a prolonged struggle for such might damage oil production to an unwanted degree in the Japanese view which wasn't wanted as it would serve to make Japan dependant on US oil. Which of course were to the advantage of the USA.
Also that the Japanese Army took huge losses in Manchuria – Japanese Infantry didn't like cowing behind the AT-guns and got slaughtered in huge numbers. Japan might be attempting to do politically what conquest hadn't.

As the Foreign – Armed Services – Intelligence meeting ended the US Treasurer and Minister of Commerce entered the Oval Office.
Having given their monthly assessment the President asked “what about payment of Great War loans?”
Treasurer “the really important about the European payments is that Germany post Recession by 1940 was able to resume debt payments. The only European country to keep payment going was Finland which was also the only Nordic country to become endebted due to the Great War. These two Germany and the Nordics were the real rebuilders of Europe which may sound odd due to the situation but apart from the Entente occupation of the Rhineland during 1921-30 Germany besides territorial losses didn't as such suffer destruction of its internal structure as had areas occupied by Germany during the Great War. Since 1934 it has had an ever increase in economic strength much added to by its working with the other strong European player the Nordics in comparison to Britain and France who have been able to keep going but their economies have suffered hence the French getting bogged down in FIC and Algeria and don't really want to invade Italy. Germany haven't resumed reparations payment due to its 1935 accord with France on the Versailles reparations.
Which leads to Italy that since the discovery of oil in Libya have resumed debt payments and is actually one the stronger economies of Europe. Should the Nordics find oil in the North Sea they will be really well off though part of that may go to the other North Sea countries especially Britain. Britain on the other hand still hold the oilfields of the Middle East Mandate Area making it an even stronger economy than France which however still have the second gold hoard. The Nordics was involved partly in the War with the Sovietunion but came out rather unscated and without territorial losses. By the way Russia in any form are out of Svalbard – the Nordics renegotiated the treaty with the Russian Republic.”
President “last one's interesting, there's coal up there – right? Would we have an interest in upscaling oilprospecting in the Middle East?”
Minister of Commerce “You want to take some steam out of Italy? That would make the French happy. Though Italy have resumed War Debts payment it is stirring up trouble in Southeastern Europe and is fighting Turkey which itself have a destabilizing effect in Central Asia still mudding the waters as everybody else there since the collapse of the Sovietunion but keeping its hands off Baku due to the British – really You can't have it all at once!”

***

This one just kept growing as it also served to pick up a few missed important issues.

  Interesting.  You started off with US views of the Nordic nuclear project, and especially what they would see as the threatening airfield on Iceland so I thought it was going to be a summary of what the US knows about assorted such projects, coupled with how their own one is doing.  However a more general review of US interests in Europe and elsewhere. 

  Rather surprising that no nuclear project has been completed yet - or possibly no one has admitted completing one yet?  Although that would really need at least one test and even an underground one would leave some signs.  Without the massive destruction of WWII, at least outside NE Asia and the USSR with its devastating civil war, things would be more advanced I would have thought.  You don't have the incentive of the race during WWII but you have multiple powers competing and a lot more assets to throw at the matter.

  Sounds like Britain is doing pretty good in terms of resources and if they dropped free trade during the depression and very likely have kept it in a protectionist world they should have a significantly stronger economy.  Can't remember if we had equivalents of the OTL 45 reforms which expanded education and social improvements which would further boost the economy in the longer terms.  However of course there will be the question of decolonization, which could be distinctly nastier without WWII.

  France seems to be dwindling somewhat while Italy, despite lacking a massive resource base other than Libyan oil is doing very well but could screw that over by its persistent wars.  However all the colonial powers would have that problem.

  There's no Japanese economic miracle likely here with the continued heavy military spending and probably a continuation of a somewhat reduced military domination of society their likely to struggle.  Even with a smaller number of mostly elderly BBs 9CV would be a heavy peacetime burden.

Thanks.

I wanted to do an overview of the World from the US perspective.

I'm still pondering where to do the Nordics nuclear test - the collapse of the Sovietunion following the short War in Finland made the Nordic's thinking of saving money but it is going to pull through.

I'm also thinking about Nuclear Proliferation - of course Britain and Germany will want in and perhaps the British have some testing range to use - in Oz???

Decolonization is aready ongoing in FIC and FNA as well as taking on steam in NEI - it will hit the British too which I think I hinted at earlier. Haven't thought of how bad its going to be but France is in a Vietnam War and another War in FNA at least in Algeria which is quite costly.

I view the economic situation as a kind of 1938 sliding on into 1950 with a couple of European Wars without the WWII carnage and resultant rebuilding - I expect Italy to be benefitting getting rid of fascism early to a new outlook but I also realized that my initial idea of a rather peaceful Italy wasn't going to come about without WWII taking place. Nationalism is rearing its face in Europe still.

France is in this game the real loser - they may buy oil from the USA but don't have their own well such as Italy, Britain and Netherlands. Or Poland and Romania for the matter much less the USA.

Germany have grown to a strong economy without WWII on its own.

One thing I'm sure on is unlike post WWII some of the benefits dripping off on the not so hard hit nations as Denmark in the form of new agricultural machinery will keep such in the manual labour/draught animal thing for longer. Not that many agricultural Tractors. Also I'm unsure of the 1960's economic boom don't really see it happening in this world.

Japan I'm trying to make a mix of militarism combined with aiding the decolonization of Far East to the benefit of Japans which of course will be problematic as China is much stronger than OTL.

A lot of these issues I'm not certain on mainly because of my writing style - I don't have a pre-planned scedule but is forging ahead as I've too often seen planning overruled by un-foreseen changes from OTL..

[575]

Germany 1950
The Nation had been able to slip under the radar for several decades. It had rebuild economy thanks to political stability since the Great Recession and had negotiated its place in Europe with France much to the relief of the latter and had in that way helped France to channel a lot of money that would have gone into building a huge fortification on the common border due to its anxiety that Militarism might rise again in Germany and demand borders revision.
Germany had but had given in to the peoples political selfdetermination mainly so in the east to Poland. True from time to time the unfair settlement of Great War had reared its head at the Reichstag but it had been weathered. The recent demonstration in relation to the 3. Balkan War of sending off the Mountain Division to Vienna to protect their German Brothers had taken a lot of venom out of the Militarist Political circles.
The Army was still officered by the Junkers and other nobility and second sons of the wealthy and mainly relied on drafting the peasant sons into the file – a tough, reliant source of obeyant men. Workers – no thank you. Really not much had changed since Great War. Though realizing that internal progress was needed the late Great War scheme of scooling and promoting from the ranks of the bright ones were retained though of course only to enhance the officers corps in the field not the General Staff – the horror.
This way the Armoured/Motorized units got their fair share of field officers of quality though the Divisional Commanders were usually of nobility stock that had been the reservoir of Cavalry Commanders since time immemorial.
At high command Generaloberst Ernst Rhöm was the exception to the rule; of civil servant stock, Bavarian, homosexual and of experience in both Great War and Foreign Service he epitomized the exception of the romantic traveller rising to the highest level – at long last the Army had realized it needed a few such which might induce others of their kind (not homo's of course) to stick it out and persist. In honest it must be stressed that civil servants had delivered a not insubstatial number of officers to the Army through the ages as they of course were deemed reliant to the regime and as such could be entrusted with the honor of becoming officers.
Another such man was Colonel Erwin Rommel who had won great fame on the Eastern Front and in Italy; an experienced tactician and Regimental Commander of the Mountain Division as such having gone along to Vienna to cover the Austrians east.
As Austria had been robbed of its Imperial Army highlevel Austrian officers would regularly join the German Army to gain Corps Staff training to be able to run their own should the Austrian Army be given the chance of expansion. Nobody outside Germany except the Nordics really noted as who could tell an Austrian from a German! Rommel also had the backgroud of an upbringing in Southern Germany and service alongside the Austrians in the Eastern Alps and was well liked by the Austrian officers.

As a former Bolivian Army Commander Rhöm had following his return to Germany been lobbying the German industry for development of Bolivian mining industry to serve the needs of Germany and contracts had been made for exploring the Tin, Lead, Silver, Gold, Zinc and Tungsten of Bolivia which had all served to make Rhöm quite the rich man opening more doors to the High Society of Germany but of course not into the previous Imperial upper class. Anyway Rhöm was quite pleased with the money and access to the wealthy German Industrialists.
Bolivia as well as Brazil and other South American Nations had also served Germany as an outlet of economic expansion due to it being treated by the other Great Nations as an uncivilized outback but mainly due to the in places large groups of German ex-pats which often held economic or intellectual positions in local society.
The large Continentspanning Aviacion Condor was just one example of this serving to test mainly new Airliners designs as well as civilized prototypes of Strategic Bombers in disquise; not that it fooled the others but the general public and LoN but the South Americans were only happy to see real development even if the major part of economic prosperity went into German pockets.
Of course the Caribbean was a hands off area both because of British and to a lesser degree French interests but mainly due to US economic establishment – and the Panama Canal!
When Germany also began testing new military vehicles in mostly Chile as Argentina and the USA made quite a fuss. A clear “Hands Off” slap on the fingers Germany withdrew its testing facility but sold off the quipment to the Chileans and settled some officers for five years there to enable the Chileans to get full value of their recent purchase and the Germans invaluable experience of their vehicles.
Airlines worked well though the establishment of some sport flying clubs also attracted unwanted US attention and were duly handed over to the locals; retaining a few German instructors of course just as many as not to be an annoyance.
Where problems arose was in the Naval field as Germany wanted to try out new vessel designs but the British and the USA very very much against it selling off surplus at very good prices to undercut the Germans. However the Germans were able to bid on modernizing schemes for the old USN and RN units sold off to upgrade them.
However the old enmity of Peru vs. Equador proved to be an outlet for Germany selling off arms to Equador.

The Dutch had a history of being able to serve own needs regarding their armed forces and Anthony Fokker had been able to establish himself as a valued industrialist and aircraft designer with the Germans during the Great War but the increasing unrest in the Dutch East Indies made for greater wants of the Dutch Colonial Administration to counter the unrest wants above Dutch ability to meet.
The Germans had great respect of the Nation of Anthony Fokkers but also viewed the French fighting their own insurrection in FIC at this time and had been made themselves to hand over the Far Eastern Colonies to the British and Japanese so felt no need for a visible engagement in the region as it might also upset the Chinese a highly valuable trade partner and place of development of new German military equipment to be handled by themselves with the Chinese as happy onlookers and ultimate recipients of lessons learned – there being a price to everything.
However the number of Chinese ex-pats within NEI were not on the scale of FIC and so the Germans having weighed the pros and cons opted in.

[stevep]

Dec 17, 2022 10:49:03 GMT 575 said:

Germany 1950
The Nation had been able to slip under the radar for several decades. It had rebuild economy thanks to political stability since the Great Recession and had negotiated its place in Europe with France much to the relief of the latter and had in that way helped France to channel a lot of money that would have gone into building a huge fortification on the common border due to its anxiety that Militarism might rise again in Germany and demand borders revision.
Germany had but had given in to the peoples political selfdetermination mainly so in the east to Poland. True from time to time the unfair settlement of Great War had reared its head at the Reichstag but it had been weathered. The recent demonstration in relation to the 3. Balkan War of sending off the Mountain Division to Vienna to protect their German Brothers had taken a lot of venom out of the Militarist Political circles.
The Army was still officered by the Junkers and other nobility and second sons of the wealthy and mainly relied on drafting the peasant sons into the file – a tough, reliant source of obeyant men. Workers – no thank you. Really not much had changed since Great War. Though realizing that internal progress was needed the late Great War scheme of scooling and promoting from the ranks of the bright ones were retained though of course only to enhance the officers corps in the field not the General Staff – the horror.
This way the Armoured/Motorized units got their fair share of field officers of quality though the Divisional Commanders were usually of nobility stock that had been the reservoir of Cavalry Commanders since time immemorial.
At high command Generaloberst Ernst Rhöm was the exception to the rule; of civil servant stock, Bavarian, homosexual and of experience in both Great War and Foreign Service he epitomized the exception of the romantic traveller rising to the highest level – at long last the Army had realized it needed a few such which might induce others of their kind (not homo's of course) to stick it out and persist. In honest it must be stressed that civil servants had delivered a not insubstatial number of officers to the Army through the ages as they of course were deemed reliant to the regime and as such could be entrusted with the honor of becoming officers.
Another such man was Colonel Erwin Rommel who had won great fame on the Eastern Front and in Italy; an experienced tactician and Regimental Commander of the Mountain Division as such having gone along to Vienna to cover the Austrians east.
As Austria had been robbed of its Imperial Army highlevel Austrian officers would regularly join the German Army to gain Corps Staff training to be able to run their own should the Austrian Army be given the chance of expansion. Nobody outside Germany except the Nordics really noted as who could tell an Austrian from a German! Rommel also had the backgroud of an upbringing in Southern Germany and service alongside the Austrians in the Eastern Alps and was well liked by the Austrian officers.

As a former Bolivian Army Commander Rhöm had following his return to Germany been lobbying the German industry for development of Bolivian mining industry to serve the needs of Germany and contracts had been made for exploring the Tin, Lead, Silver, Gold, Zinc and Tungsten of Bolivia which had all served to make Rhöm quite the rich man opening more doors to the High Society of Germany but of course not into the previous Imperial upper class. Anyway Rhöm was quite pleased with the money and access to the wealthy German Industrialists.
Bolivia as well as Brazil and other South American Nations had also served Germany as an outlet of economic expansion due to it being treated by the other Great Nations as an uncivilized outback but mainly due to the in places large groups of German ex-pats which often held economic or intellectual positions in local society.
The large Continentspanning Aviacion Condor was just one example of this serving to test mainly new Airliners designs as well as civilized prototypes of Strategic Bombers in disquise; not that it fooled the others but the general public and LoN but the South Americans were only happy to see real development even if the major part of economic prosperity went into German pockets.
Of course the Caribbean was a hands off area both because of British and to a lesser degree French interests but mainly due to US economic establishment – and the Panama Canal!
When Germany also began testing new military vehicles in mostly Chile as Argentina and the USA made quite a fuss. A clear “Hands Off” slap on the fingers Germany withdrew its testing facility but sold off the quipment to the Chileans and settled some officers for five years there to enable the Chileans to get full value of their recent purchase and the Germans invaluable experience of their vehicles.
Airlines worked well though the establishment of some sport flying clubs also attracted unwanted US attention and were duly handed over to the locals; retaining a few German instructors of course just as many as not to be an annoyance.
Where problems arose was in the Naval field as Germany wanted to try out new vessel designs but the British and the USA very very much against it selling off surplus at very good prices to undercut the Germans. However the Germans were able to bid on modernizing schemes for the old USN and RN units sold off to upgrade them.
However the old enmity of Peru vs. Equador proved to be an outlet for Germany selling off arms to Equador.

The Dutch had a history of being able to serve own needs regarding their armed forces and Anthony Fokker had been able to establish himself as a valued industrialist and aircraft designer with the Germans during the Great War but the increasing unrest in the Dutch East Indies made for greater wants of the Dutch Colonial Administration to counter the unrest wants above Dutch ability to meet.
The Germans had great respect of the Nation of Anthony Fokkers but also viewed the French fighting their own insurrection in FIC at this time and had been made themselves to hand over the Far Eastern Colonies to the British and Japanese so felt no need for a visible engagement in the region as it might also upset the Chinese a highly valuable trade partner and place of development of new German military equipment to be handled by themselves with the Chinese as happy onlookers and ultimate recipients of lessons learned – there being a price to everything.
However the number of Chinese ex-pats within NEI were not on the scale of FIC and so the Germans having weighed the pros and cons opted in.

  Interesting summary of German military and political power projection.  Its still dominated by the old junkers along with avoiding recruiting from the urban populations - which could cause it problems in future wars, both because of limitations on talent at the top and also a reduction of numbers of basic recruits as agricultural production is increasingly mechanised. 

  Is Germany still under a lot of restrictions dating back to TTL WWI?  It sounds like both the US and Britain get twitchy when German seeks to export weapons to Latin America or produce new ship designs which suggests the former could be seen as bypassing restrictions - similar to OTL links with the Soviets - and the latter as some fairly strict limitations on naval craft.

[575]

Dec 17, 2022 11:40:53 GMT stevep said:

Dec 17, 2022 10:49:03 GMT 575 said:

Germany 1950
The Nation had been able to slip under the radar for several decades. It had rebuild economy thanks to political stability since the Great Recession and had negotiated its place in Europe with France much to the relief of the latter and had in that way helped France to channel a lot of money that would have gone into building a huge fortification on the common border due to its anxiety that Militarism might rise again in Germany and demand borders revision.
Germany had but had given in to the peoples political selfdetermination mainly so in the east to Poland. True from time to time the unfair settlement of Great War had reared its head at the Reichstag but it had been weathered. The recent demonstration in relation to the 3. Balkan War of sending off the Mountain Division to Vienna to protect their German Brothers had taken a lot of venom out of the Militarist Political circles.
The Army was still officered by the Junkers and other nobility and second sons of the wealthy and mainly relied on drafting the peasant sons into the file – a tough, reliant source of obeyant men. Workers – no thank you. Really not much had changed since Great War. Though realizing that internal progress was needed the late Great War scheme of scooling and promoting from the ranks of the bright ones were retained though of course only to enhance the officers corps in the field not the General Staff – the horror.
This way the Armoured/Motorized units got their fair share of field officers of quality though the Divisional Commanders were usually of nobility stock that had been the reservoir of Cavalry Commanders since time immemorial.
At high command Generaloberst Ernst Rhöm was the exception to the rule; of civil servant stock, Bavarian, homosexual and of experience in both Great War and Foreign Service he epitomized the exception of the romantic traveller rising to the highest level – at long last the Army had realized it needed a few such which might induce others of their kind (not homo's of course) to stick it out and persist. In honest it must be stressed that civil servants had delivered a not insubstatial number of officers to the Army through the ages as they of course were deemed reliant to the regime and as such could be entrusted with the honor of becoming officers.
Another such man was Colonel Erwin Rommel who had won great fame on the Eastern Front and in Italy; an experienced tactician and Regimental Commander of the Mountain Division as such having gone along to Vienna to cover the Austrians east.
As Austria had been robbed of its Imperial Army highlevel Austrian officers would regularly join the German Army to gain Corps Staff training to be able to run their own should the Austrian Army be given the chance of expansion. Nobody outside Germany except the Nordics really noted as who could tell an Austrian from a German! Rommel also had the backgroud of an upbringing in Southern Germany and service alongside the Austrians in the Eastern Alps and was well liked by the Austrian officers.

As a former Bolivian Army Commander Rhöm had following his return to Germany been lobbying the German industry for development of Bolivian mining industry to serve the needs of Germany and contracts had been made for exploring the Tin, Lead, Silver, Gold, Zinc and Tungsten of Bolivia which had all served to make Rhöm quite the rich man opening more doors to the High Society of Germany but of course not into the previous Imperial upper class. Anyway Rhöm was quite pleased with the money and access to the wealthy German Industrialists.
Bolivia as well as Brazil and other South American Nations had also served Germany as an outlet of economic expansion due to it being treated by the other Great Nations as an uncivilized outback but mainly due to the in places large groups of German ex-pats which often held economic or intellectual positions in local society.
The large Continentspanning Aviacion Condor was just one example of this serving to test mainly new Airliners designs as well as civilized prototypes of Strategic Bombers in disquise; not that it fooled the others but the general public and LoN but the South Americans were only happy to see real development even if the major part of economic prosperity went into German pockets.
Of course the Caribbean was a hands off area both because of British and to a lesser degree French interests but mainly due to US economic establishment – and the Panama Canal!
When Germany also began testing new military vehicles in mostly Chile as Argentina and the USA made quite a fuss. A clear “Hands Off” slap on the fingers Germany withdrew its testing facility but sold off the quipment to the Chileans and settled some officers for five years there to enable the Chileans to get full value of their recent purchase and the Germans invaluable experience of their vehicles.
Airlines worked well though the establishment of some sport flying clubs also attracted unwanted US attention and were duly handed over to the locals; retaining a few German instructors of course just as many as not to be an annoyance.
Where problems arose was in the Naval field as Germany wanted to try out new vessel designs but the British and the USA very very much against it selling off surplus at very good prices to undercut the Germans. However the Germans were able to bid on modernizing schemes for the old USN and RN units sold off to upgrade them.
However the old enmity of Peru vs. Equador proved to be an outlet for Germany selling off arms to Equador.

The Dutch had a history of being able to serve own needs regarding their armed forces and Anthony Fokker had been able to establish himself as a valued industrialist and aircraft designer with the Germans during the Great War but the increasing unrest in the Dutch East Indies made for greater wants of the Dutch Colonial Administration to counter the unrest wants above Dutch ability to meet.
The Germans had great respect of the Nation of Anthony Fokkers but also viewed the French fighting their own insurrection in FIC at this time and had been made themselves to hand over the Far Eastern Colonies to the British and Japanese so felt no need for a visible engagement in the region as it might also upset the Chinese a highly valuable trade partner and place of development of new German military equipment to be handled by themselves with the Chinese as happy onlookers and ultimate recipients of lessons learned – there being a price to everything.
However the number of Chinese ex-pats within NEI were not on the scale of FIC and so the Germans having weighed the pros and cons opted in.

  Interesting summary of German military and political power projection.  Its still dominated by the old junkers along with avoiding recruiting from the urban populations - which could cause it problems in future wars, both because of limitations on talent at the top and also a reduction of numbers of basic recruits as agricultural production is increasingly mechanised. 

  Is Germany still under a lot of restrictions dating back to TTL WWI?  It sounds like both the US and Britain get twitchy when German seeks to export weapons to Latin America or produce new ship designs which suggests the former could be seen as bypassing restrictions - similar to OTL links with the Soviets - and the latter as some fairly strict limitations on naval craft.

Thanks - the NationalSOCIALST change to German military haven't occured and some favour with the Junker's have had to be curried to please - they made for the backbone of the Officers corps. Those don't like socialst workers in the ranks.. but realized something had to be done about officer shortage during the last years of Great War.

Germany have been basically free of restrictions since 1935 but have avoided atagonizing ze French thus a smaller buildup of armed forces though in quality. Still building new ships but not in numbers as wished for export. And quite an Airforce/Luftwaffe with heavy bombers.

The US is just twitchy regarding interference in "its" Hemisphere as always and the British just don't want too much competition with its own produce to sell to Latin Americans so Germany have gone a more covert way. Germany have stayed away from Battleships and the Soviets did eye those heavy cruisers with envy but not selling out ITTL. Germany did build a new Navy outside Versailles restrictions but having lost the Colonies and reduced to the Baltic/North Sea stayed off Capital ships.

[575]

Television 1950
Since the early – mid-1930's transmission of live pictures and sound by radiowave had been a thing developing in both USA and Britain. The thing had spread slowly mainly due to price and building of networks through the 1940's in Europe. Still it was as rare as a telephone or radioset in most areas if more so but in Germany and the Nordic countries it had been adopted as a means of dissiminating news in competition with Cinema newsreels.
Early customers were Public houses that soon saw the potential of increase in costumers at times of interesting political debate, important news such as from the 3. Balkan War, visits of foreign Royals or State occasions as well as major sports events such as the Olympic Games.
In the Nordic countries the TV served to link the various five Nations through by Scandinavian language programmes though the Finn speakers of Finland demanded own language programmes too or subtitles. The Icelanders being the minor Nation opted in on the Scandinavian language as Danish already filled the major scene of Newspapers and Periodicals as well as education for a lack of local teachers above basic education. The ruling elite of Finland were Swedish speakers so had no problems with the Scandinavian language. (there was actually attempts at creating a joint Scandinavian Language and 5 decades ago the other languages Swedish and Norwegian were taught in Danish basic schools and vice-versa – now its all English of course)
As such a Nordic wide Television News flash were born in an inter-Scandinavian language at the time of 7,30 PM in all five nations.
The Germans had wieved the development of Television in Scandinavia and decided it was a vehicle for all Germans too – including of course Germans living in neighbouring countries such as Poland, Lithuania, Czechoslovakia, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, France (Alsace-Lorraine) and Denmark – though the latter were met with unilateral protest when German propaganda of Reichsdeutsche were percieved in all the countries to have entered German news made for a very heated debate at LoN.
Mainly due to Nordic – headed by Denmark - and French as well as Belgian pressure the German news programmes were combed and filtered for subversive deemed texts. News regarding Germans in any neighbouring country continued however to be very closely followed and objections raised at the smallest hint at revisionism or secession.
For a short time German scientists were not particularly welcome at the Nordic Atomic Bomb project though Professor Niels Bohr did his best to not having it escalate into exclusion; Werner Heisenberg for one much appreciating Bohr's working being the scenes to calm the Danish politicians.

[stevep]

Dec 17, 2022 11:58:36 GMT 575 said:

Television 1950
Since the early – mid-1930's transmission of live pictures and sound by radiowave had been a thing developing in both USA and Britain. The thing had spread slowly mainly due to price and building of networks through the 1940's in Europe. Still it was as rare as a telephone or radioset in most areas if more so but in Germany and the Nordic countries it had been adopted as a means of dissiminating news in competition with Cinema newsreels.
Early customers were Public houses that soon saw the potential of increase in costumers at times of interesting political debate, important news such as from the 3. Balkan War, visits of foreign Royals or State occasions as well as major sports events such as the Olympic Games.
In the Nordic countries the TV served to link the various five Nations through by Scandinavian language programmes though the Finn speakers of Finland demanded own language programmes too or subtitles. The Icelanders being the minor Nation opted in on the Scandinavian language as Danish already filled the major scene of Newspapers and Periodicals as well as education for a lack of local teachers above basic education. The ruling elite of Finland were Swedish speakers so had no problems with the Scandinavian language. (there was actually attempts at creating a joint Scandinavian Language and 5 decades ago the other languages Swedish and Norwegian were taught in Danish basic schools and vice-versa – now its all English of course)
As such a Nordic wide Television News flash were born in an inter-Scandinavian language at the time of 7,30 PM in all five nations.
The Germans had wieved the development of Television in Scandinavia and decided it was a vehicle for all Germans too – including of course Germans living in neighbouring countries such as Poland, Lithuania, Czechoslovakia, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, France (Alsace-Lorraine) and Denmark – though the latter were met with unilateral protest when German propaganda of Reichsdeutsche were percieved in all the countries to have entered German news made for a very heated debate at LoN.
Mainly due to Nordic – headed by Denmark - and French as well as Belgian pressure the German news programmes were combed and filtered for subversive deemed texts. News regarding Germans in any neighbouring country continued however to be very closely followed and objections raised at the smallest hint at revisionism or secession.
For a short time German scientists were not particularly welcome at the Nordic Atomic Bomb project though Professor Niels Bohr did his best to not having it escalate into exclusion; Werner Heisenberg for one much appreciating Bohr's working being the scenes to calm the Danish politicians.

  Just made me think did we get a football world cup TTL?  That would also be a fairly huge incentive for TV sales in much of western Europe I suspect and the richer elements in places like Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.  In the UK there are other important sporting events, especially things like the Ashes, while in the US - which is also a big market there is baseball, basketball and American football.

  In the UK OTL the breakthrough for starting mass TV sales was the 1953 coronation of Elizabeth II which saw the 1st fairly widespread sales so similar events in countries with monarchs could perform a similar role.

[575]

Dec 17, 2022 12:32:36 GMT stevep said:

Dec 17, 2022 11:58:36 GMT 575 said:

Television 1950
Since the early – mid-1930's transmission of live pictures and sound by radiowave had been a thing developing in both USA and Britain. The thing had spread slowly mainly due to price and building of networks through the 1940's in Europe. Still it was as rare as a telephone or radioset in most areas if more so but in Germany and the Nordic countries it had been adopted as a means of dissiminating news in competition with Cinema newsreels.
Early customers were Public houses that soon saw the potential of increase in costumers at times of interesting political debate, important news such as from the 3. Balkan War, visits of foreign Royals or State occasions as well as major sports events such as the Olympic Games.
In the Nordic countries the TV served to link the various five Nations through by Scandinavian language programmes though the Finn speakers of Finland demanded own language programmes too or subtitles. The Icelanders being the minor Nation opted in on the Scandinavian language as Danish already filled the major scene of Newspapers and Periodicals as well as education for a lack of local teachers above basic education. The ruling elite of Finland were Swedish speakers so had no problems with the Scandinavian language. (there was actually attempts at creating a joint Scandinavian Language and 5 decades ago the other languages Swedish and Norwegian were taught in Danish basic schools and vice-versa – now its all English of course)
As such a Nordic wide Television News flash were born in an inter-Scandinavian language at the time of 7,30 PM in all five nations.
The Germans had wieved the development of Television in Scandinavia and decided it was a vehicle for all Germans too – including of course Germans living in neighbouring countries such as Poland, Lithuania, Czechoslovakia, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, France (Alsace-Lorraine) and Denmark – though the latter were met with unilateral protest when German propaganda of Reichsdeutsche were percieved in all the countries to have entered German news made for a very heated debate at LoN.
Mainly due to Nordic – headed by Denmark - and French as well as Belgian pressure the German news programmes were combed and filtered for subversive deemed texts. News regarding Germans in any neighbouring country continued however to be very closely followed and objections raised at the smallest hint at revisionism or secession.
For a short time German scientists were not particularly welcome at the Nordic Atomic Bomb project though Professor Niels Bohr did his best to not having it escalate into exclusion; Werner Heisenberg for one much appreciating Bohr's working being the scenes to calm the Danish politicians.

  Just made me think did we get a football world cup TTL?  That would also be a fairly huge incentive for TV sales in much of western Europe I suspect and the richer elements in places like Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.  In the UK there are other important sporting events, especially things like the Ashes, while in the US - which is also a big market there is baseball, basketball and American football.

  In the UK OTL the breakthrough for starting mass TV sales was the 1953 coronation of Elizabeth II which saw the 1st fairly widespread sales so similar events in countries with monarchs could perform a similar role.

Cheers and AAAARRRRRGGGG!

Forgot about European Championships and World Cup.. darn have been watching a number of matches but only the Olympics came to mind..

Have patience will work on it.