"There's a great and a bloody fight
'round this whole world tonight
And the battle, the bombs and shrapnel reign
Trotsky told the world around he would tear our union down
Our union's gonna break them red rebels down!

I walked up on a mountain in the middle of the sky
Could see every farm and every town
I could see all the people in this whole wide world
That's the union that'll tear the reds down, down, down!
That's the union that'll tear the reds down!

When I think of the men and the ships going down
While the Germans fight on across the Don
There's Detriot in ruins and Richmond in chains
Good people, what are we waiting on?
Good people, what are we waiting on?

So, I thank the Germans and the mighty British vets
The Allies the whole wide world around
To the battling British, thanks, you can have ten million Yanks
If it takes 'em to tear the reds down, down, down!
If it takes 'em to tear the reds down!

But when I think of the ships and the men going down
And the Germans fight on across the Don
There's Detroit in ruins and Richmond in chains
Good people, what are we waiting on?
Good people, what are we waiting on?

So I thank the Germans and the mighty British vets
The Allies the whole wide world around
To the battling British, thanks, you can have ten million Yanks
If it takes 'em to tear the reds down, down, down!
If it takes 'em to tear the reds down!"

- Unknown Artist, during the onset of the War Against the Red Menace

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Bleeding Kansas was the start of it all, with John Brown and his followers having died thanks to an infectious disease. Without added momentum for the Abolitionist Cause, Kansas entirely becomes a slave state. During the onset of the Civil War, Tensions are high, with John Bell's presidential Campaign failing before it could even get started. With that, Kentucky and Missouri would have went to Beckenridge in the 1860 Presidential Election. The Southern States one by one, including Kansas, Kentucky, and Missouri would leave the Union. West Virginia and the newly created state of Jefferson (Northern Missouri) would counter-secede from the seceded states, entering the Union as new states.

The Civil War proved especially bloody and hard fought, but it was the Confederates who secured the momentum before certain doom was near. The battle of Gettysburg was won, with more troops and with more plain old luck, the Confederates had proven their fighting prowess after the deadly battle of Philadelphia - of which the Confederates had secured victory over. It was this battle that turned international opinion, that the Confederates were capable of standing proud as it's own nation. The UK and France had pressured the United States to concede to Confederate aims for independence. The United States, forced to its knees would accept and the Confederate States would become independent. While the CSA had the diplomatic high ground, they would abandon claims on Maryland and Delaware - allowing for a settlement of the border between the two nations.

After the war, president Lincoln would be tarnished by having his legacy cemented as the President who lost the south. More radical Republicans would succeed in subsequent elections, with some wanting to attempt to reconquer the South - even though it was known that it was not possible at this time. With hundreds of thousands dead, the Confederate War for Independence was over.

The trials had just yet begun for the Confederacy, however, with the pressure of having to maintain internal unity higher than ever. The two nations would expand and settle out west, with the Confederates further settling the Arizona territory. With the Confederates in play, the French were able to see victory against Mexico, seeing the rise of the Mexican Empire. The Confederates would use this to their advantage, using corporations and private groups throughout Latin America to pursue resource extraction and trade to bolster their somewhat weak economy.

The Union would strike gold more gold out west in California, with the Confederates reeling in envy. The two nations had hostile relations with the other, like brothers who could never get along. Constant arguments, border spats, but nothing would come of it. The Confederate-Spanish War of 1898 would see Cuba and Puerto Rico enter the Confederacy as territories, with added extraction of resources as the goal.

Tensions between the Union and Confederacy continued to mount until the Second American-Confederate war from 1908-1911. This war would prove quite deadly and wasteful, with both sides not being able to crack the other, while the whole world watch the two nations floundering in the wind. In 1911 minor border changes had been made, but it was that war that cemented the idea - that the Confederacy would never return to the Union. With more dead, the two nations would be spent, and would not be involved in WW1 on either side. The Confederacy was forced to officially abolish slavery, though it had been on its way out by this point in history.

World War One was fought over for the same reasons as in our timeline, with the absence of the USA and CSA from the war, the Entente nations would struggle against the Central Powers. The Central Powers would have a slight victory over that of the Entente, which agreed to a "White Peace". Russia fell into revolution, with the Bolsheviks coming out ontop. The unstable German Empire would wear through the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the French Communist Revolution. The Germans and their sphere had two aborted Communist Revolutions, and the German Empire would see fit to adopt a more militaristic policy to deal with threats internal and external. Lead by none other, General Adolf Hitler. With the German victory in WW1, Hitler never develops the level of extremism that lead to the rise of Nazi Germany. He is instead, a revered General who is well renowned for his military services against Domestic threats to German Security. With Communist victory, the leaders of the White Army and the Romanov dynasty would flee into exile in Russian Alaska - which remained firmly in Russian hands. The Whites would shoot any red that tried to cross the arctic gap, with legend being they had perfect record.

The French Communists were ruthless, violent, and thuggish. The French Communist revolt would see the installation of a Communist regime, then aligned with the USSR. Both of them would combine intelligence and foreign policies, forming the Internationale - first lead by Lenin, then succeeded by Trotsky who pursued brutal global revolutionary tactics, funding Communist Revolutions all over the world, including the USA and the CSA. The 20's and 30's were brutal decades for the world, which saw the world adapt to the new order of things post-Great War. The 30's saw additional Communist revolutions in Italy, Spain, and Western Europe. It looked like the USSR was stronger than ever, with Germany and the UK being forced to move past their mutual dislike of the other for the sake of survival.

Eventually, something would crack - and that something would be a French Communist assassinating the British King, causing Britain and France to go to war. This would cause Germany to declare war on France, and the USSR to go to war with Germany. One by one, the dominoes fell and the world was at war once again. Initially eager to sit on the sidelines, the USA would face a Communist Uprising in the MidWest after the 1940 Presidential Election would see the Communists win in the General election, however the Army and large parts of the Populace would call voter Fraud and throw out the results of the election - instilling a military dictatorship, and war would once again come to the Americans.

With their northern neighbors at war, the CSA's black population would revolt against the government, finding Communism to be the successor of abolitionism. The two nations, were forced onto the same side by their mutual revolutions breaking out the same time. With the black revolution in the CSA, the former slave populations had turned to Communism to be their salvation. They would torch and destroy many buildings, burning whole cities and looting anything they could find for their cause. They did not spare any from their revolutionary fervor, man, woman, or child. After years of slavery and subsequent abusive labor - they had cried out with rage, violence, to the ones that had wronged them. The CSA in this timeframe, was no better than a petty dictatorship - fighting for it's survival.

In Europe, Germany was lodged between Communist France and the USSR, the USSR was rapidly starting to over-run Germany's puppet states, while British and allied bombers were sent to bomb France to prepare an invasion. The war was excessively brutal, with either side committing horrific acts of violence against the other. The Soviets and Germans would dogfight in the skies over Eastern Europe, with British Pilots being downed over France. Britain's other dominions had offered aid in this war, though Canada was mostly aiding the CSA and USA against their revolutionary counterparts.

Throughout all of this, Japan remained committed to their invasion of China, something they fought with brutality that outpaced that seen in Europe by far. Japanese Troops fought with deadly intent, razing China down for the Imperial Banner. Though still, they were intimidated by the USSR - who had fought nearly to Berlin.

With combined German and British might, with a token of USA, CSA help, the Communist French had finally fallen by 1943. German troops marched down the streets of Paris once again, this time - they were intent to stay. The battle had not been over, with Italy and Spain, as well as Portugal being on the list of red nations to fall. By this point as well, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Norway had been fighting on allied side, the Finns heroically fighting on against the Soviets. As the war turned to more of a stalemate, the Germans, with collaboration from the UK began to develop "Superbombs" (Atomic Bombs) for use in the war effort.

The Communists throughout the midwest were crushed in Brutal street to street battles throughout the midwest - leaving towers of smoldering ruins across the great lakes. One man once said, that he had never seen a sight so grim. Many of the CSA's former plantations were torched, many elite plantar class people had been outright murdered. The black-American Communists had rebelled with fervor, and they were not going to go out quietly. By the time the Communists in the North had fallen to United States federal forces, the Yankees would begin to deploy some of their own troops to secure the Confederacy from the Communist rebels there. After combined assault after assault, the rebels in the Confederacy were crushed - though the price paid was heavy. Many Confederate landmarks, cities, and areas were absolutely destroyed from the battles that occurred here.

Now the two brotherly nations stood together in the ruins of fire and ash, re-united in spirit, and rekindled side by side.

It was not over yet, however, with the USA and CSA both sending over amounts of troops to aid the Allies against the Reds. Spain, then Portugal, and Finally Italy would fall to the Allies. Seeing the writing on the wall, the USSR would begin to send more and more people to the front lines to prepare a massive assault on Europe. Reeling in rage from the loss of their allies across the world, the USSR would begin indiscriminate warfare against the Allies (if not already), with Soviet bombers razing German cities to the ground in suicidal attacks. It was then that German scientists split the atom for the first time in mid 1944. In the later half of the year, the Germans had prepared the first bombs to be used over Russia. German bomber planes would carry the first bomb, and drop it on a large Soviet field army over Poznan, Poland for the first time an Atomic Bomb was used in war. This act is highly controversial, especially in Poland - though the Germans justified it due to the mass Soviet troop presence there.

The Soviets still did not withdraw their troops like Germany requested, and so more bombs were used. St. Petersburg, and finally Leningrad. The Germans then made it well and clear that they had the ability to wipe Moscow off the map, if they did not withdraw the troops from German and allied state territory. A bed ridden, and cancerous Trotsky would be informed of the demands from the Germans, his last words were reportedly "Do not give in..." as the news of the bombings had shocked him to his death. The Soviet leadership would promptly begin withdrawing the troops to beyond the Urals, of which the Germans demanded them to do so. Afterwards, Trotsky would be laid to rest in Omsk.

European Russia and Eastern Europe had been completely destroyed by fighting, with the last of the fighting in the Second World War being fought in Asia, which the Soviets were forced out of Vladivostok by a combined Japanese-White Russian Army.

Soviet Leadership would agree to a ceasefire, though not a legal peace agreement. And so, the Second World War had ended. Dozens of millions of deaths, destroyed nations, and rekindled relations later - it was over. France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain would have their Pre-War governments established after a joint German, USA, CSA, and British Occupation. The Eastern European countries were re-stablished under German influence, and West Russia was formed out of European Russia, first as an occupation zone (with Moscow as a joint occupation between the 4 great powers, with a token Japanese force sent there). European Russia would be occupied from 1946-1954, of which it would then gain "Independence" under a German Sponsored monarchy, much to the complaining of the Romanovs in Alaska.

After the ashes settled from the war, the League of Nations was modified

The CSA and USA would see continued dictatorship in both nations, to see to it the "removal" of communist sympathizers from both countries. Dictatorship would end in the USA in 1956, with the CSA dictator ending his term in 1959. Democratic Elections would return to both nations, with the two of them forging an official alliance and unified space agency on the same day, in 1959. The "Great Question" of what to do with the Black Populations of the CSA was a great struggle, and it was eventually decided that they would be put onto "autonomous zones" set aside for Blacks. It was a brutal, and nasty affair, with the USA being convinced to look the other way, after being reminded of the damage the Black Population caused. Nobody was happy with the "Great Question", to put it lightly. A social stigma of Black Populations being one in the same with Communist agitators was made a stereotype, with many Blacks in the CSA having been forced to say they are not Communists, the holdouts that were Communists got nothing but a hard time.

Divisions between the British and German Empires would grow over colonies in Africa and influence in Europe. With the two of them soon returning to their old rivalry. This rivalry would kick off the Space Race and Proxy wars within Africa, the two of them having amassed large amounts of Atom Bombs enough to wipe out the human race if the two went to war. The USA and the CSA would subsequently begin testing their own Atom Bombs out in the Western Desert, both growing concerned over the divisions between Germany and Britain. Germany would launch the first satellite into space in 1954, earning the ire of many other nations. Germany would also launch the first man in space in 1956, followed by a joint USA / CSA un-manned launch in 1956. From there, the Space Race had started. The Americans managed to launch the first woman in space in 1957, followed by various manned British Space Missions.

The race to the moon was overshadowed by the immense burden on the world of the British-German Cold war, and the threat of the Japanese Empire looming on the horizon. The Soviets and their rump ally of Communist China made regular threats to the world to maintain relevancy - while the Soviets committed ungodly horrific experiments in secret, their loss of WW2 and isolationism consuming the minds of the leadership.

As manned presence on the moon began to expand throughout the 60s, so did interest in other planetary bodies. The Americans and Confederates would send the first probes to Venus - confirming Venus was a steam-house oceanic world with a biosphere of its own. The British-German cold war would take its toll on the British Commonwealth, with the Commonwealth inevitably unraveling at the seams by 2003. The United Kingdom would experience an economic recession, followed by various corruption scandals, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales would break away - and Northern Ireland would be made part of Ireland. It was not an entirely bloodless affair.

The Japanese Empire would see gradual assimilation of Koreans and other minorities in the Empire, and the Empire would more or less reform to an economic union by the modern era, though highly dominated by Japan.

Decolonization would be a slow and gradual effort throughout the 20th and 21st century, with there being lots of blood, carnage and chaos in the process as the European Nations - greatly weakened from WW2 couldn't physically be able to keep up their Empires.

In the present, nations such as Alaska (Russian Empire), the Ottomans, Persians, and others would become regional powers especially with the oil market.

The advancement of technology would be a major development of the later 20th and 21st century. The Germans would create the Internet, originally as a way to connect them and their aligned states throughout Eastern Europe. Earlier limitations to the internet would remain in place, perhaps due to political or other limitations - there would be no global internet. Internet is instead dealt with at a national level between each nation or zone at a broader level. This also carries over to movies and Entertainment, with the idea of having foreign media being something as a "Great Novelty" as opposed to an everyday occurrence.

By the present, there is a stable peace between each nation. The tensions the USSR and the Rogue States, such as Brazil's modern dictatorship, as well as issues within the Developing World are lingering on still. This world saw no Covid-19 equivalent, however there was a Global Pandemic that occurred in the Late 90's that contributed to the fall of the British Commonwealth.

In the darkness of space, the final planet in the solar system (Planet X) has earned the name 'Telisto' meaning "farthest point". Telisto is the lost "5th Giant", having a mass similar to that of Neptune. It orbits far beyond the Kuiper Belt, and when it was discovered was at it's closest approach to the Sun, 5 times that of Neptune. A lucky catch by Confederate and American astronomers.