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The French Domain 1950 (Alt. history)

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DISCLAIMER: This map doesn't aim to be a support for any kind of fascist ideas. It doesn't reflect at all my political opinions. I just think this scenario can be a quite interesting one for an alternate history map.

This map is my first one setting in a modern world dominated by authoritarian regimes.

The main idea was to ask what if it was France and not Germany (nor Italy) which yields to fascism and what to modify to make this scenario plausible.

My first point of divergence is about Belgium during the Great War. In this scenario the Flamenpolitik of the German occupier is much more successful. At the end of the war in 1918, tensions between the Flemings and the Walloons are so high that it makes impossible to keep Belgium alive.

My second point of divergence is about the communist Russia: Russian military successes are much more important and communists forces are already in Poland during the Paris Peace Conference, trying to convert all Europe to their ideology.

This situation leads the allies, actually mainly the UK and the USA, to adopt a more conciliatory attitude toward Germany to ensure that it doesn't became a new communist state but on the contrary a shield against the communism.

That's why in this scenario Germany had to pay much less reparations than in our timeline, likewise the military restrictions were lower.
Also the territorial losses were less important. At the East, nothing is lost to the communist Poland (later member state of the USSR). At the West only some parts of Moselle are lost to France but they are offset by the allowed union with Austria.

France also obtains Wallonia because of the breaking of Belgium. A rich province for sure, and a very strategic one for the defence of France against Germany.
But French are angry. All those dead, all those destructions in this stupid war and the lost provinces aren't retrieved. The enemy is still menacing and holds more lands than before the war while France has to rebuild all by itself.

In the next years, while Germany is recovering to become the shield of Europe, France falls into the crisis: economic and political.

In this post-war France, the communist party is continuously strengthening, and the other great parties, called the traitors by the street, are weakening.

But a new comer will change everything...
Louis Crévic was no one but a war veteran before that. Like many of his compatriots, he is revolted by the treaty of Versailles. As a true nationalist, he is very sceptical about the communism and its internationalism, even if he thinks it's attractive from an economic point of view. Shortly after the war, he decides to found a new political party to express his ideas : the Party of the patriotic solidarity, frequently shortened in Soltic (its members are also called by this name).

His political acumen was to mix ideas taken from the nationalists and from the communists.
Some points summarise the position of his party :
- against the parliamentary system and democracy but for a wide use of plebiscite and a limited liberty of expression
- for an intense nationalism and patriotism but relatively opened to the world
- for the use of the French language and the French ground to define the nationality but clearly not supporter of the race theory and anti-Semitism
- against the collectivisation and the end of the capitalism but for the economic planning and the rights of the worker class
- for the militarism and for a French imperialism in Europe but very sceptical about the colonisation of Africa and Asia
- anticlerical but with some linking for the monarchy
- revolutionary but with an high interest in maintaining a kind of historical continuity
- against the abolition of the classes but for the creation of a new social class : the patriot, a citizen who has by his action favoured the nation, and who is permanently rewarded with beneficial economic and political rights
- of course its anticommunism is clearly declared and the private militia of the party regularly takes actions against the communists...

The Soltic party attracts more and more people and even some people of the economic, political and cultural elites start to think that it could be a solution to fight the influence of the communism.

The legislative election of 1924 is a shock : the Soltic party is the first party of France. With an alliance with some others parties, the continual pressure of the militia and the overthrow of the government, the march of France toward the dictatorship is now unstoppable...

In a few years only the Third Republic is entirely abolished and France becomes gradually the French Domain because of the will of the new national leader to remove all references to the republic but without re-establishing a king at the head of the state.

Also the “winged cross” flag replaces the old tricolour flag...


All the economy is turned to serve the coming war of revenge against Germany, so the economic situation momentarily improves.

In the mid-30's France is ready for the war. The help given to the Spanish nationalists to fight the communists has given to the French army a good experience of what should be the modern war.

Germany isn't ready, but the demographical gap between France and Germany, and a probable English intervention make essential to find allies.

Staline, leader of the USSR (allied with all the countries of the communist block, which includes Italy) wants an access to the opened North Sea, so he makes a suitable (and of course temporary) ally to fight Germany.

The French-Soviet pact is made to lead to an incomplete partition of Germany between France and the USSR. For what remains of Germany, the pact provides to make occupation zones.

The war breaks out in 1935 and the invasion of Germany by the French-Soviet alliance is a success. French forces choose to pass by the Ardennes and the Netherlands (with the goal to annex them too) to invade the German territory by the strategical Ruhr.

The UK immediately declares war to France and to the USSR, but the quick fall of Germany (1 month) makes impossible for the British forces to do anything on the continent. This situation is a true nightmare for the British : France owns all the Dutch ports and the USSR has now a direct access to their North Sea.

Moreover, France has promised to release most of its colonies after the war, which is leading to make troubles in the British colonies, the heart of the British power.

However, in 1937, a twist in the situation happens : Staline decides to break the pact and to take advantage of the good situation of the communist block in Europe to invade western Europe.

As the communists forces are progressing quickly in the French occupation zone, France and the UK have to find a solution together if they don't want to see the communism subjugate all Europe.

The peace treaty between them includes that France has to renounce to the Netherlands but can keep the Flanders and the Rhineland, and will be able to annex more German territories after the victory in compensation, becoming in this way the new shield of Europe. Moreover the UK gives the Channel Islands (occupied since 1935) to France.

After one year of initial successes, the Red Army and its allies fall back everywhere. In 1940, the alliance - composed mainly by France, the UK, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Switzerland (which was convinced to give up its neutrality to fight the red danger), and the anticommunist German militia, all this financially supported by the USA - puts the European frontline roughly on the 12th meridian.

At this moment three facts appear to the belligerents:
- the size of the territory controlled by the communists will continuously and slowly decreases...
- ...slowly, too slowly for the allies to obtain a complete victory
- the both factions has developed nuclear weapons and some have already been used on the battlefield. Their power of destruction is enormous and if the war continues the only winner will be the Death itself.

The vital peace ensuing from these observations will durably divide the world in two blocks : the Western block, the most miscellaneous, made with the capitalist countries, democratic or not, and the Eastern block, made of the communist countries.

Because the Eastern block is still a powerful threat, France obtains a corridor to the Baltic Sea, and a financial support by the allies to build a strong line of defence (called the “Hanover Line”), to prevent any future attempt from the USSR to get back an access to the North Sea.

The Second Great War has ended.
The USA, the French Domain, the USSR and the empire of Japan will become the four dominating powers of this new world.

In spite of the decolonisation, French will keep their former colonies in their sphere of influence.
The new territories annexed will be progressively gallicised with the help of education, mass media and a soft policy that favours mixed marriage, French migration to the newly annexed territories, and migration from these territories to the historical France.

During the next decades, and helped in this way by the great economic successes of the French Domain, the regime will progressively become less authoritarian.
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What would happen to the germans? Deportated to africa and asia, or extermination camps. And how would the life of a german be in french germany?