Geopolitical History of Earth Part 3
During the Great Revolutionary War both sides pursued research into nuclear technology. Even though the Americans were not directly involved in the war, they – in collaboration with the British – progressed the furthest and even achieved successful testing of nuclear bombs. Fortunately the war came to an end without the military use of nuclear weapons, but both the newly-established TTO and the USREA continued to stockpile the new weapons of mass destruction. On the other hand, without the direct evidence of the effects of nuclear weaponry both sides also seriously explored the civilian uses of nuclear power. The proliferation of nuclear weapons resulted in one of the earlier flashpoints of the Cold War; in the late 1950s, the United States had established nuclear bases in the newest TTO member, the Republic of Turkey. Soviet intelligence agencies discovered the threat and of course the Comintern and USREA leadership could not abide by a hostile nuclear presence on their border. Their immediate response was to publicise the TTO's aggression and cut all economic ties with Turkey. A stronger retaliation was desired by some in the communist leadership, while others were wary of risking a nuclear attack. An opportunity presented itself in Egypt where the opposition in the military had organised themselves into the Free Officers Movement, and were in the process of planning a coup. Soviet agents established contact with the coup plotters, offering logistical and intelligence aid; the Free Officers Movement accepted and successfully deposed King Farouk. The new revolutionary government immediately signed a collection of treaties with the USREA, mostly concerning trade and military cooperation. In the following years, the government of Gamal Abdel Nasser was secure enough to nationalise the Suez Canal and strictly regulate transit for the TTO and other enemies of the USREA.
Meanwhile in Asia, the Indonesian Revolution was nearing its conclusion. Driven on by the belief that Japanese defeat was inevitable and aided by the USREA and its allied states of India and China, the broad Indonesian revolutionary alliance inflicted stunningly high casualties against the Japanese military. Discontent at home resulted in the unthinkable; mass student protests against the war were joined by trade union strikes organised under the influence of the large but outlawed Japanese Communist Party. The crisis culminated in a number of liberals from within the governing Imperial Rule Assistance Association throwing their support behind the ant-war movement. Consequently, most of the Japanese cabinet resigned and were replaced by those within the Association who were cunning enough to see which way the wind was blowing. The new government carried out a hasty withdrawal from Indonesia and made a show of scapegoating some of the most visible ministers and generals responsible for the war. For its part, the Indonesian government of Sukarno made an effort to institute a multi-party liberal democracy and to rebuild the country. However factionalism, especially in the form of conservative opposition to Sukarno's orientation towards the USREA, paralysed the government's attempted reforms. As a result, Sukarno and his allies in the Communist Party (PKI) began a period of 'Guided Democracy' whereby all of the major parties were forced into a coalition government.
The success of the Egyptian Revolution acted as a clarion call for the rest of Africa. Across North Africa, previously low-level anti-colonial insurgencies exploded into violence against the French and Italian exile governments. Further to the south, the exiled European warlord states of West Africa responded with extreme repression against leftist anti-imperialist movements. This was only exacerbated when the various warlord states lobbied the TTO for aid and diplomatic recognition. British and American military advisors were deployed in gradually increasing numbers over the years that followed; the USREA and their allies responded in kind. As the casualties mounted on all sides, domestic discontent in the TTO against the West African War increased and also became associated with civil rights movements which, in America, was dominated by the Federated Farmer-Labor Party; an alliance of the Farmer-Labor Party, the Progressive Party, the Socialist Party, and the Communist Party. The anti-war movement's victory came with the surprise presidential win of Federated Farmer-Labor candidates Glen H. Taylor and Charlene Mitchell in 1972. The Taylor-Mitchell administration immediately began to withdraw its troops from West Africa so it could focus on the battle for civil rights with the segregated Democrat-controlled southern states. Numerous civil rights acts were passed with the support of liberal Democrats and Republicans, but the immediate effects were not so apparent when executive agencies and task forces ran into opposition from state governments. Likewise the Liberal-Conservative coalition in Britain was replaced by a Labour government which had devised a roadmap to decolonisation and black-majority rule in Africa. By contrast, popular support in the Soviet states for West African intervention remained high – especially so in the original republics of the Union – and over the years most of the new natively-ruled African countries aligned firmly with the USREA.
With the election of a new left-wing American government, the once-tight grip the United States had over Latin America relaxed. The Central Intelligence Agency still aided their southern allies in repressing any movement to the left of pro-American economic liberalism, but they had to do it discretely to avoid attention from the Taylor-Mitchell administration. While the Cuban Revolution at the end of the 1950s had been a failure, its example remained potent across Latin America. In President Taylor's second term, Brazil's military dictatorship was the first to succumb to leftist revolution, followed soon after by Argentina and Uruguay. The revolutionary victory emboldened socialist guerrillas throughout Latin America, while also causing the CIA to become more overt in their operations. What followed was a public confrontation between the administration and the intelligence community, along with their Democrat and Republican backers. The resulting conservative backlash led to a Democrat presidential victory in 1980, but by that time the USREA had gained a firm foothold in South America and continued to push for more influence.
By the 1980s the Liberal Party of the UK had been reduced to third party status, being squeezed for votes by both Labour and the Conservatives in an age of increasing polarisation. During that decade the Conservative government attempted to carry out wide-sweeping privatisation of British industry but were faced with intense opposition. Despite the relatively small amount of travel and migration between Britain and the USREA, it was becoming common knowledge that in the socialist states indices such as living standards and wealth equality were rapidly increasing due to experimental computerisation of the already democratically planned economy; some of the more industrialised countries, such as Germany and Belgium, were even transitioning from traditional currency to labour vouchers. Even in the liberal democracies of Scandinavia, worker ownership and management was being expanded in an effort to manage the growing deficiency of resources available in the capitalist world. As such, the British proletariat made their displeasure known through industrial action and protests. The Labour Party and the Trades Union Congress leadership, eager to forestall the Communist Party's popularity, supported the strikes and went further by announcing a policy of introducing worker representation on the boards of state-owned corporations once Labour were in government. The public's anger had no immediate effect on the government's plans; the Conservatives had a parliamentary majority and were united behind the party policy, so the privatisation legislation was passed easily. The next general election however resulted in a resounding Labour victory. The new government reversed the preceding privatisation and followed through on their pledge to introduce worker management. British foreign policy underwent an even greater shift; Prime Minister Michael Meacher was the first UK leader to visit the USREA, touring the capital cities of Paris, Berlin, and Moscow, in addition to addressing the annual congress of the Comintern. The, ultimately successful, purpose of the state visits was to dramatically reduce tensions between the two blocs and open the way for negotiations on nuclear proliferation.
Britain's turn towards détente however caused a rift with the Americans; President Zell Miller vetoed Meacher's proposal for a treaty to limit nuclear warhead production. With Anglo-American relations reaching a new low, the US began to reconcile with Japan and began negotiations to bring them into the TTO. Alongside the fervently anti-communist Turkey, the Americans were able to convince the other TTO members to admit Japan into the organisation. The Comintern saw the move as a provocation however, and the Republic of China was inducted as a full member state of the USREA. Simultaneously, the Guomindang became the first non-communist party to join the Comintern, though it had previously sent non-voting delegates to the annual International congresses. By the end of the 1990s, Indonesia had also joined the USREA and India was continuing to strengthen its ties to the Union. Moreover, socialist and left-leaning African countries had established their own African Union with the help of the Comintern.
