It's also pretty hilarious, changing his mind however Eastern front went (expulsion of Soviets and inviting Kuomintang around Battle of Stalingrad, inviting Soviets back after Kursks and claiming to USSR this new Kuomintang personel are Japanese spies), taking 135 trucks of loot when abandoning his his guvernerial palace, purging Islamic elements, then purging CCP, then Kuomintang, then Soviets, etc.
Probably not that funny if you were there at the time.
If there was any justice he would have ended up purged himself, alas he got a semi-comfortable retirement in Taiwan.
I'm not only impressed with the longevity of this work, El P, but the amount of information and research you've put into it. I can't guarantee I'll have time to read all 3,254 pages of this opus before I croak, but I'm giving it a try. Of course, a Cole's Notes version or bullet points covering what has happened to date would go a long way...
I am just pleased that you are making the attempt. As it happens there is a summary post produced by
@TheButterflyComposer which should help in getting you somewhat up to date, you can consider him to be my Boswell in this regard;
The TBC Unofficial Summary Post
Another amazing installment Pip, thank you!
Very kind.
I confess that I am still a bit confused about why there isn't a 2nd Sino Japanese War in TTL. I get that there was no Marco Polo Bridge Incident (or that if there was it didn't flare up and the Japanese just seized the railway depot at Wanping) and I'm assuming that this is because, without the Xi'an Incident, Chiang Kaishek is allowed to continue focusing on fighting Communists instead of fighting Japan and can continue ignoring minor Japanese provocations. But I don't totally understand why the Xi'an Incident didn't happen in TTL. Is it because Chiang's position is stronger than OTL due to the success of the Leith-Ross Mission? Is it because Germany is still assisting China, there being no pact with Japan in TTL? Something I'm missing?
It is all of that and some changes on the Japanese side. To start with China Chiang is in a stronger position, the successful Leith-Ross mission and follow on investment is helping the economy and he's kept Germany and Italy on side. The Italian connection was surprisingly important, as mentioned a lot of China's domestically constructed/assembled air force was planned to rely on Italian support, plus a number of military training missions. The Xi'an plotters are still not convinced about Chiang but there is a desire not to rock the boat, China is getting stronger and there is no guarantee that all this investment will continue if the Incident goes badly.
The other big change is on the Japanese side as there are far fewer provocations happening. 2-26 becoming the June Incident has mixed up Japanese politics, compare to OTL the uprising is more shambolic which means it's opponents feel safer in cracking down, so a few more fire breathers actually suffered consequences and officers who were 'rotated' to the provinces, where they caused trouble, instead get sent to actual backwaters far from the border, that sort of thing. Then the bad defeat to the Soviets is another blow to the IJA and there is another reshuffle. All of this gives Tokyo a bit more chance to actually implement their policy, which was to stop antagonising China and try diplomacy. Which seems incredible but was OTL, the IJA leadership knew China would be a meatgrinder and most of them wanted to fight the soviets, the IJN didn't care but didn't want money 'wasted' on the Army and much of the civilians knew they couldn't really afford a massive war, at least not until Manchuria had been developed which was going to take until the mid 1940s at best.
One practical example, the last chapter mentioned the Grand Han Righteous Army being part of the Sinkiang Legion. OTL that unit existed, but got basically wiped out in the Suiyuan Campaign in Oct/Dec 1936, a failed attempt by a Japanese puppet to invade a Chinese province. I think that was was an under-rated motivator for the Xi'an Incident, despite Japanese denials everyone knew the IJA had been heavily involved and it was proof to the conspirators that China needed to unite as Japan was going to keep trying to slice bits off. In Butterfly that campaign never happens, all the planning was in the Summer of 1936 and so the June Incident completely disrupts it. By the time the dust has settled Tokyo has pushed out it's New China Policy and asserted enough control to stop the provocations, at least for now. This also feeds into their support for Sinkiang, it has the potential to be a good outlet for the IJA's aggression, every IJA faction wanted to fight the Soviets/Communism, they just disagreed on the priority and how to handle China. Give them an actual proxy war against Communism and they should be less keen on poking China, is at least the hope.
So fewer provocations due to changes in Japan, Chiang being a bit more secure and a bit more money and growth sloshing around China giving people hope things are turning a corner. I wouldn't say Chiang is secure, but his biggest risk is not over foreign policy but the various regional governors/warlords not liking the more assertive Finance Ministry trying to collect the taxes that are due rather than what the warlords deign to pay.
Overall, I just want to say again that the amount of effort you put into all of this is amazing. Truly a great story and I am always delighted to see another update.
That is very kind thank you. I also appreciate this sort of question, it is wonderful to have readers who do think about these things so please feel free to ask away if you have any more queries.
