I was thinking more along the lines of Hitler aligning with the Chiang Kai-shek.
The State Department was already filled with Socialists, so they would have been favorable to Mao, but siding with the Nationalists in China might have broken Japanese relations. Weirdly, there's a chance that Nationalist troops don't stop the war with Mao because of anti-Communism of the Germans. But then, what if Hitler sees it as a better opportunity to just have the Nationalists open up a southern front against the USSR instead of fighting with Mao, and leaving Mao to fight the Japanese alone.
Even if the Japanese still bomb Pearl Harbor, without an alliance with Japan, the US can't justify going to war with Europe, especially if Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini come out condemning Japanese aggression.
Obviously Chinese Nationalists aren't going to march on Moscow, but an early Sino-Soviet conflict with an invading German Army, and no involvement with the Americans... does that turn the war? Does Hitler actually get to the Caucuses if the Soviets have to fight a war in the South-East without direct American economic support? I get the feeling they might. It was really close as it was, and the USSR wouldn't have made it without major US involvement.
Depending on who wins the war, God only knows how this plays out in the Cold War. If the Germans lose, do you get a Pro-Mao USA? Does Taiwan and Hong Kong cease to exist? Do you get a fully communist Korea? Are the Russians facing a pro-USA Communist China? Or, does Mao (as crazy ideological as he is) betray the US anyway? If the Germans win... Well, fuck if I know. What do you do if the Soviet Union breaks up into a dozen states, but Japan still gets conquered by the USA? Does the Chinese Civil War now become a major front for a Fascist v. Democratic Socialist west? Does the US ever invade Europe? Does the use of nuclear weapons become normalized in China to defeat both fronts having armies of hundreds of thousands?
I don't fuckin' know. But it would be a fun Alternate History novel.
I was thinking more along the lines of Hitler aligning with the Chiang Kai-shek.
The State Department was already filled with Socialists, so they would have been favorable to Mao, but siding with the Nationalists in China might have broken Japanese relations. Weirdly, there's a chance that Nationalist troops don't stop the war with Mao because of anti-Communism of the Germans. But then, what if Hitler sees it as a better opportunity to just have the Nationalists open up a southern front against the USSR instead of fighting with Mao, and leaving Mao to fight the Japanese alone.
Even if the Japanese still bomb Pearl Harbor, without an alliance with Japan, the US can't justify going to war with Europe, especially if Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini come out condemning Japanese aggression.
Obviously Chinese Nationalists aren't going to march on Moscow, but an early Sino-Soviet conflict with an invading German Army, and no involvement with the Americans... does that turn the war? Does Hitler actually get to the Caucuses if the Soviets have to fight a war in the South-East without direct American economic support? I get the feeling they might. It was really close as it was, and the USSR wouldn't have made it without major US involvement.
Depending on who wins the war, God only knows how this plays out in the Cold War. If the Germans lose, do you get a Pro-Mao USA? Does Taiwan and Hong Kong cease to exist? Do you get a fully communist Korea? Are the Russians facing a pro-USA Communist China? Or, does Mao (as crazy ideological as he is) betray the US anyway? If the Germans win... Well, fuck if I know. What do you do if the Soviet Union breaks up into a dozen states, but Japan still gets conquered by the USA? Does the Chinese Civil War now become a major front for a Fascist v. Democratic Socialist west? Does the US ever invade Europe? Does the use of nuclear weapons become normalized in China to defeat both fronts having armies of hundreds of thousands?
I don't fuckin' know. But it would be a fun Alternate History novel.