Eastern Europe eh? For one thing, I'd like to know what's happened to Stalin. Also, is Romania becoming independent of the Soviet Union? If you haven't, when you get to the Middle East again, let's see what you do with Iran.
Stars and Sickles - An Alternative Cold War
- Thread starter Hrvatskiwi
- Start date
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- cold war
Chapter 15a: Repentence - Eastern Europe (1950s)
A New World (1950s): Repentance (Pt.1)
As the Cold War developed into maturity, the Eastern Bloc was profoundly transformed by the death of the tyrannical dictator who held two continents at his mercy. Josef Vissarionovich Stalin's iron-fisted reign ended in 1953, when a stroke and associated hemorrhaging took his life. Recently declassified Soviet documents of the period (and renewed inspection of medical records and modern toxicological knowledge) suggest that Stalin was poisoned with a strong dose of warfarin, most likely by Lavrentiy Beria, chief of the security apparatus [46]. The death of Stalin led to a dramatic change in life in Eastern Europe, driven by the De-stalinisation policies of Nikita Khrushchev, who climbed to power atop the carcass of Beria in 1955. But to fully understand the De-stalinisation process, we have to understand the developments in Eastern Europe immediately prior, in the time of High Stalinism.
In Poland, the High Stalinist period was characterised by an unprecedented level of surveillance and oppression. Upon Stalin's death, the Polish Secret Police had swelled to 32,000 agents. At the peak of the repression, there was one Urząd Bezpieczeństwa (Office of Public Security) agent for every 800 Poles. Although an official amnesty was extended to anti-Communist resistance fighters, unofficially they were persecuted, subject to unjustified arrest and harassment. In October 1950, a mass arrest was conducted, "Operation K", where 5,000 people were arrested in one night. In the year of 1952, over 21,000 civilians were arrested. In the second half of 1952, there were 49,500 political prisoners in Polish prisons.
Whilst the high levels of adherence to the Catholic church in Poland necessitated a somewhat lenient attitude to religion by the Communist authorities, the intellectual sphere was exempt from such mercy. By contrast, the peasantry avoided wholesale collectivisation and the existence of some private enterprise at the village level was preserved, thanks to the efforts of anti-Stalinists within the ranks of the PZPR.
The death of Stalin saw a period of relative liberalisation in Poland. The defections of Jozef Swiatlo and Anatol Fejgin led to revelations on the true extent of abuses by the UB, forcing the Communist government to abolish the office in December of 1954 to contain public outrage. Władysław Gomułka and his associates were released from confinement, censorship was slightly relaxed and political discussion groups formed all over the country.
Emboldened by political liberalisation, metalworkers in the Polish city of Poznań demonstrated against the raising of taxes on 'udarniki', or "most productive workers". These mass uprisings were suppressed by Polish Army forces led by General Stanisław Popławski, which violently dispersed the crowd under authorisation of Marshal of Poland Konstanty Rokossowski. Although successful in stopping the immediate protest, the death of Bolesław Bierut, the Stalinist leader of Poland, in suspicious circumstances in Moscow allowed public disaffection to manifest itself in the Polish October of 1956, where monuments to the Red Army and portraits of Rokossowski were attacked and defaced. Mass public demonstrations created a crisis for the Polish leadership. Unlike in Poznań, the protesters were relatively moderate with their demands, which several Polish social historians have noted was likely the reason that the October protests were not dispersed by force. Instead, Edward Ochab (Bierut's successor) appointed Gomułka for First Secretary of the Party (he soon after became Chairman of the Central Committee, the new collective Head of State after Bierut's death). Whilst Gomułka enjoyed widespread popularity in Poland, he was viewed with suspicion by the Soviets. A high-level delegation led by Khrushchev, and including Kaganovich, Molotov and other high-ranking Soviet politicians travelled to Poland and entered into negotiations with the Poles. Although initially fairly hardline, the Soviet delegation proved open to compromise, and the Polish Communists' negotiation of terms (which essentially amounted to autonomy and full self-governance) legitimised the ideology and party in the eyes of many ordinary Poles. Gomułka's Communists ensured the Soviets that all treaties between Poland and the Soviet Union would remain, and that they would stay loyal to the Warsaw Pact. Unsuccessful in convincing Khrushchev to invade Poland, Rokossowski left Poland and lived in the USSR for the rest of his life. By peaceful protest, Poland had transformed itself from a puppet state to a client state, becoming an assertive and self-respecting member of the brotherhood of socialist nations.[47]
In Czechoslovakia, the local Communists essentially ignored the post-Stalin social thaw which characterised the rest of the Eastern European states. The Stalinist-era regime had persecuted "dissident" elements of society, including the Catholic Church, as well as taking total control of education and economic activity. Even low-level private enterprise was outlawed. In March 1953, Klement Gottwald, Stalin's lackey in Czechoslovakia, died of a burst artery (although his poor health had been aggravated by syphilis and alcoholism). Antonín Zápotocký, a delegate of the party's left wing, replaced him, although he was forced to concede more and more authority to neo-Stalinist Antonín Novotný, who politically outflanked him. Nevertheless, Zápotocký remained in office until his death in 1957, where Novotný officially gained control over Czechoslovakia. In 1958, the XI KSČ Party Congress formalised the continuation of Stalinist policies. The only notable exception to the economic and innovative stagnation in Czechoslovakia in this period was the development of the Škorpion, a cheap submachine gun which was to become one of Czechoslovakia's main exports, establishing Czechoslovakia's tradition of arms sales in the developing world. Whilst historians have debated in recent years Khrushchev's apparent double-standard in regards to Stalinism, the current prevailing thought is that Khrushchev tolerated stricter social controls by Communist leaders in Czechoslovakia and East Germany due to their physical proximity to the West. As Czech historian Jan Mačarek pointed out, "the other nations of the Eastern Bloc had the luxury of a degree of separation from the West. It was necessary in those times that the Czechs and Socialist Germans be the immovable brick-wall of the Socialist Sphere, a march of sorts, which we fortunately are exempt from given the fundamental change in the geography of modern power dynamics". [48]
The Finnish situation was essentially the inverse of the Czechoslovakian. Khrushchev had little to no qualms with the moderate and competent Finnish Communists, who had gotten through the High Stalinist period through lip service. Kuusinen's presence in Finland had always been comforting for Stalin, and his comparative liberalism (and enthusiasm for criticisms of Stalinist oppression, calling it "a blight on the Red flag") satisfied Khrushchev. Both Aaltonen and Kuusinen stayed in power through the 1950s.
Perhaps the most notable success story of De-Stalinisation was the People's Republic of Bulgaria. Upon Georgi Dimitrov's death in 1949, Bulgaria entered into a short period of collective leadership, with Vulko Chervenkov as General Secretary of the Communist Party and Vasil Kolarov as Prime Minister. Kolarov's death in 1950 allowed Chervenkov to fuse the two most powerful offices in Bulgaria with full Soviet approval. As unchallenged master of Bulgaria, Chervenkov instituted a policy of rapid and intensive collectivisation, along with his own series of purges. This "little Stalin" of Bulgaria crushed peasant rebellions by force and set up labour camps. At their peak, these camps housed 100,000 Bulgarians. Chervenkov's purges of the party (in the name of party "discipline") expelled a fifth of all members. Intimidation and supply discrimination began to be utilised by the government to enforce collectivisation. Trade with the West became virtually non-existent, with 90% of Bulgarian trade involving partnership with the USSR. Collectivisation was comparatively more successful in Bulgaria than many other Eastern European nations, and there was no decrease (nor significant increase) in agricultural production, although Chervenkov's Stalinist policies greatly increased industrial output (which unfortunately wasn't reflected in living standards).
After the death of Stalin, Chervenkov had little in the way of a domestic powerbase to ensure his power.Reliant on Stalin's patronage for his position, Chervenkov was little more than the "Sofia Satrap". In 1954, Chervenkov was deposed as Party Secretary (with Moscow's approval) by 43-year-old Todor Zhivkov. Two years later, Chervenkov was replaced as Prime Minister by Anton Yugov. Under Zhivkov's guidance, Bulgaria developed from a backwater to one of the most extensive welfare states in the Eastern Bloc. Within a few years, real wages increased by 75%, co-inciding with a better, more varied diet (from stable crops to vegetables, fruits and meat as well) for Bulgarians, universal access to healthcare and the introduction of Eastern Europe's first agricultural pension and welfare scheme.
Mystifyingly, despite the upheavals and dramatic change in many of the Eastern European states, Hungary was the only example which spilt over into violence. Under Matyas Rákosi's control, Hungary had been one of the most repressive states in the Bloc. American journalist John Gunther said of Rákosi: "[he is] the most malevolent character I ever met in my political life". Paying lip service to the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, in reality Rákosi developed a party aristocracy, characterised by the confiscation of wealth from the common people. From 1950-1952, the Hungarian Secret Police (AVH) relocated thousands of Hungarians to vacate their property for party members. In a single year, more than 26,000 were forcibly expelled from Budapest. Deportees were forced onto collective farms. Deaths from malnutrition and exhaustion weren't uncommon. Religious leaders were persecuted to an even harsher extent than in Czechoslovakia. Even without the disruption of collectivisation, Hungary was experiencing economic difficulties. Hungary was required to pay $300 million to the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia in war reparations, as well as supporting Soviet garrisons in the country. Hungary saw one of the highest rates of hyperinflation in history, surpassing even that of post-WWI Germany. Poorly-implemented Five-Year Plans led to a 18% fall in real industrial wages between 1949 and 1952. Collectivisation caused a significant fall in agricultural output and a consequent increase in food shortages, contributing to the problems of malnutrition in High Stalinist Hungary.
Shortly after the death of Stalin, Imre Nagy replaced Rákosi as Prime Minister. Despite Imre Nagy's surpassing of Rákosi in theoretical power, Rákosi still had strong links in the security services and the army and in 1955 attempted to take power in a coup, with the assistance of the AVH and units of the Hungarian Army. The military was split between the pro-Nagy and pro-Rakosi factions. Whilst Rákosi had the support of several high-ranking army officers, mutinies were widespread, and the slight majority of the newer units (there had been rapid expansion of the Hungarian Army due to the tension between Tito and Stalin) sided with the Nagy government. The Hungarian Air Force also sided with the Nagy government. Whilst at first leaning towards support of Rákosi and concerned by Nagy's intentions, the Soviets entered into Polish-style talks with Nagy. Concerned at the Rákosi forces' disproportionate control of artillery and tanks, Nagy promised the Soviets that he would remain inside the Warsaw Pact if they prevented the Rákosi forces from overthrowing the new anti-Stalinist regime. The Soviet agreed. Whilst Soviet troops had been previously ordered to stay in their barracks and only act in self-defence, Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest only an hour after a column of Rákosi-ist tanks had broken through barricades erected by Nagyist troops and local armed civilians. The Soviet presence proved decisive, with most of Rákosi's forces surrendering immediately to Soviet forces, without offering any resistance. Nevertheless, hundreds of civilians were killed(and between four and six thousand wounded), along with a few dozen Nagyist military casualties in chaotic street-fighting. Rákosi was captured and exiled to Kazakhstan, where he managed a grocery store until his retirement. The Soviet presence in Hungary became significantly more popular, and Soviet support for liberalised Communist and anti-Stalinist movements seemed sincere and altruistic, proving a major public relations coup for the superpower. [49]
[46] Same cause as OTL. Although it hasn't been conclusively proven that Stalin was poisoned, the particular pattern of hemorrhaging experienced by Stalin is unusual for a natural stroke, but are consistent with warfarin. Also, Beria bragged to other Central Committee members of killing Stalin. He could have been talking shit, but poisoning Stalin seems within his capabilities, and I highly doubt Tito did it. Beria would have a far better chance.
[47] All of this Polish stuff essentially happened as OTL.
[48] Jan is a fictional character that I've made up to add convenient historiography into the universe of 'Stars and Sickles'.
[49] So the Soviets are pulled into supporting the Nagy movement, given that it has repudiated the whole "Austria-style neutral" goal that it had for pragmatic purposes. IOTL, Soviet intervention in Hungary ruined the Soviets' reputation with most European Communists, as they appeared to be imposing an unpopular system on a populace. This splintering caused the genesis of movements such as Eurocommunism. Whilst Western Communists will still have a different outlook than Eastern European Communists, this will be more cultural than oppositional/disassociative than in OTL.
ALSO: Wow, its been a month since the last post! I've just started university, so I've been pretty busy, and I had to do a lot of pretty mundane research for this post. I am going to do another post on Greece, the Soviet Union and East Germany. And I already have a detailed outline of a near-future update on Cuba! I'll try to post when I can, but obviously my education has to take precedent. I would like to know if there's anything you readers are really desperate to know about with this TL though!
As the Cold War developed into maturity, the Eastern Bloc was profoundly transformed by the death of the tyrannical dictator who held two continents at his mercy. Josef Vissarionovich Stalin's iron-fisted reign ended in 1953, when a stroke and associated hemorrhaging took his life. Recently declassified Soviet documents of the period (and renewed inspection of medical records and modern toxicological knowledge) suggest that Stalin was poisoned with a strong dose of warfarin, most likely by Lavrentiy Beria, chief of the security apparatus [46]. The death of Stalin led to a dramatic change in life in Eastern Europe, driven by the De-stalinisation policies of Nikita Khrushchev, who climbed to power atop the carcass of Beria in 1955. But to fully understand the De-stalinisation process, we have to understand the developments in Eastern Europe immediately prior, in the time of High Stalinism.
In Poland, the High Stalinist period was characterised by an unprecedented level of surveillance and oppression. Upon Stalin's death, the Polish Secret Police had swelled to 32,000 agents. At the peak of the repression, there was one Urząd Bezpieczeństwa (Office of Public Security) agent for every 800 Poles. Although an official amnesty was extended to anti-Communist resistance fighters, unofficially they were persecuted, subject to unjustified arrest and harassment. In October 1950, a mass arrest was conducted, "Operation K", where 5,000 people were arrested in one night. In the year of 1952, over 21,000 civilians were arrested. In the second half of 1952, there were 49,500 political prisoners in Polish prisons.
Whilst the high levels of adherence to the Catholic church in Poland necessitated a somewhat lenient attitude to religion by the Communist authorities, the intellectual sphere was exempt from such mercy. By contrast, the peasantry avoided wholesale collectivisation and the existence of some private enterprise at the village level was preserved, thanks to the efforts of anti-Stalinists within the ranks of the PZPR.
The death of Stalin saw a period of relative liberalisation in Poland. The defections of Jozef Swiatlo and Anatol Fejgin led to revelations on the true extent of abuses by the UB, forcing the Communist government to abolish the office in December of 1954 to contain public outrage. Władysław Gomułka and his associates were released from confinement, censorship was slightly relaxed and political discussion groups formed all over the country.
Emboldened by political liberalisation, metalworkers in the Polish city of Poznań demonstrated against the raising of taxes on 'udarniki', or "most productive workers". These mass uprisings were suppressed by Polish Army forces led by General Stanisław Popławski, which violently dispersed the crowd under authorisation of Marshal of Poland Konstanty Rokossowski. Although successful in stopping the immediate protest, the death of Bolesław Bierut, the Stalinist leader of Poland, in suspicious circumstances in Moscow allowed public disaffection to manifest itself in the Polish October of 1956, where monuments to the Red Army and portraits of Rokossowski were attacked and defaced. Mass public demonstrations created a crisis for the Polish leadership. Unlike in Poznań, the protesters were relatively moderate with their demands, which several Polish social historians have noted was likely the reason that the October protests were not dispersed by force. Instead, Edward Ochab (Bierut's successor) appointed Gomułka for First Secretary of the Party (he soon after became Chairman of the Central Committee, the new collective Head of State after Bierut's death). Whilst Gomułka enjoyed widespread popularity in Poland, he was viewed with suspicion by the Soviets. A high-level delegation led by Khrushchev, and including Kaganovich, Molotov and other high-ranking Soviet politicians travelled to Poland and entered into negotiations with the Poles. Although initially fairly hardline, the Soviet delegation proved open to compromise, and the Polish Communists' negotiation of terms (which essentially amounted to autonomy and full self-governance) legitimised the ideology and party in the eyes of many ordinary Poles. Gomułka's Communists ensured the Soviets that all treaties between Poland and the Soviet Union would remain, and that they would stay loyal to the Warsaw Pact. Unsuccessful in convincing Khrushchev to invade Poland, Rokossowski left Poland and lived in the USSR for the rest of his life. By peaceful protest, Poland had transformed itself from a puppet state to a client state, becoming an assertive and self-respecting member of the brotherhood of socialist nations.[47]
In Czechoslovakia, the local Communists essentially ignored the post-Stalin social thaw which characterised the rest of the Eastern European states. The Stalinist-era regime had persecuted "dissident" elements of society, including the Catholic Church, as well as taking total control of education and economic activity. Even low-level private enterprise was outlawed. In March 1953, Klement Gottwald, Stalin's lackey in Czechoslovakia, died of a burst artery (although his poor health had been aggravated by syphilis and alcoholism). Antonín Zápotocký, a delegate of the party's left wing, replaced him, although he was forced to concede more and more authority to neo-Stalinist Antonín Novotný, who politically outflanked him. Nevertheless, Zápotocký remained in office until his death in 1957, where Novotný officially gained control over Czechoslovakia. In 1958, the XI KSČ Party Congress formalised the continuation of Stalinist policies. The only notable exception to the economic and innovative stagnation in Czechoslovakia in this period was the development of the Škorpion, a cheap submachine gun which was to become one of Czechoslovakia's main exports, establishing Czechoslovakia's tradition of arms sales in the developing world. Whilst historians have debated in recent years Khrushchev's apparent double-standard in regards to Stalinism, the current prevailing thought is that Khrushchev tolerated stricter social controls by Communist leaders in Czechoslovakia and East Germany due to their physical proximity to the West. As Czech historian Jan Mačarek pointed out, "the other nations of the Eastern Bloc had the luxury of a degree of separation from the West. It was necessary in those times that the Czechs and Socialist Germans be the immovable brick-wall of the Socialist Sphere, a march of sorts, which we fortunately are exempt from given the fundamental change in the geography of modern power dynamics". [48]
The Finnish situation was essentially the inverse of the Czechoslovakian. Khrushchev had little to no qualms with the moderate and competent Finnish Communists, who had gotten through the High Stalinist period through lip service. Kuusinen's presence in Finland had always been comforting for Stalin, and his comparative liberalism (and enthusiasm for criticisms of Stalinist oppression, calling it "a blight on the Red flag") satisfied Khrushchev. Both Aaltonen and Kuusinen stayed in power through the 1950s.
Perhaps the most notable success story of De-Stalinisation was the People's Republic of Bulgaria. Upon Georgi Dimitrov's death in 1949, Bulgaria entered into a short period of collective leadership, with Vulko Chervenkov as General Secretary of the Communist Party and Vasil Kolarov as Prime Minister. Kolarov's death in 1950 allowed Chervenkov to fuse the two most powerful offices in Bulgaria with full Soviet approval. As unchallenged master of Bulgaria, Chervenkov instituted a policy of rapid and intensive collectivisation, along with his own series of purges. This "little Stalin" of Bulgaria crushed peasant rebellions by force and set up labour camps. At their peak, these camps housed 100,000 Bulgarians. Chervenkov's purges of the party (in the name of party "discipline") expelled a fifth of all members. Intimidation and supply discrimination began to be utilised by the government to enforce collectivisation. Trade with the West became virtually non-existent, with 90% of Bulgarian trade involving partnership with the USSR. Collectivisation was comparatively more successful in Bulgaria than many other Eastern European nations, and there was no decrease (nor significant increase) in agricultural production, although Chervenkov's Stalinist policies greatly increased industrial output (which unfortunately wasn't reflected in living standards).
After the death of Stalin, Chervenkov had little in the way of a domestic powerbase to ensure his power.Reliant on Stalin's patronage for his position, Chervenkov was little more than the "Sofia Satrap". In 1954, Chervenkov was deposed as Party Secretary (with Moscow's approval) by 43-year-old Todor Zhivkov. Two years later, Chervenkov was replaced as Prime Minister by Anton Yugov. Under Zhivkov's guidance, Bulgaria developed from a backwater to one of the most extensive welfare states in the Eastern Bloc. Within a few years, real wages increased by 75%, co-inciding with a better, more varied diet (from stable crops to vegetables, fruits and meat as well) for Bulgarians, universal access to healthcare and the introduction of Eastern Europe's first agricultural pension and welfare scheme.
Mystifyingly, despite the upheavals and dramatic change in many of the Eastern European states, Hungary was the only example which spilt over into violence. Under Matyas Rákosi's control, Hungary had been one of the most repressive states in the Bloc. American journalist John Gunther said of Rákosi: "[he is] the most malevolent character I ever met in my political life". Paying lip service to the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, in reality Rákosi developed a party aristocracy, characterised by the confiscation of wealth from the common people. From 1950-1952, the Hungarian Secret Police (AVH) relocated thousands of Hungarians to vacate their property for party members. In a single year, more than 26,000 were forcibly expelled from Budapest. Deportees were forced onto collective farms. Deaths from malnutrition and exhaustion weren't uncommon. Religious leaders were persecuted to an even harsher extent than in Czechoslovakia. Even without the disruption of collectivisation, Hungary was experiencing economic difficulties. Hungary was required to pay $300 million to the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia in war reparations, as well as supporting Soviet garrisons in the country. Hungary saw one of the highest rates of hyperinflation in history, surpassing even that of post-WWI Germany. Poorly-implemented Five-Year Plans led to a 18% fall in real industrial wages between 1949 and 1952. Collectivisation caused a significant fall in agricultural output and a consequent increase in food shortages, contributing to the problems of malnutrition in High Stalinist Hungary.
Shortly after the death of Stalin, Imre Nagy replaced Rákosi as Prime Minister. Despite Imre Nagy's surpassing of Rákosi in theoretical power, Rákosi still had strong links in the security services and the army and in 1955 attempted to take power in a coup, with the assistance of the AVH and units of the Hungarian Army. The military was split between the pro-Nagy and pro-Rakosi factions. Whilst Rákosi had the support of several high-ranking army officers, mutinies were widespread, and the slight majority of the newer units (there had been rapid expansion of the Hungarian Army due to the tension between Tito and Stalin) sided with the Nagy government. The Hungarian Air Force also sided with the Nagy government. Whilst at first leaning towards support of Rákosi and concerned by Nagy's intentions, the Soviets entered into Polish-style talks with Nagy. Concerned at the Rákosi forces' disproportionate control of artillery and tanks, Nagy promised the Soviets that he would remain inside the Warsaw Pact if they prevented the Rákosi forces from overthrowing the new anti-Stalinist regime. The Soviet agreed. Whilst Soviet troops had been previously ordered to stay in their barracks and only act in self-defence, Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest only an hour after a column of Rákosi-ist tanks had broken through barricades erected by Nagyist troops and local armed civilians. The Soviet presence proved decisive, with most of Rákosi's forces surrendering immediately to Soviet forces, without offering any resistance. Nevertheless, hundreds of civilians were killed(and between four and six thousand wounded), along with a few dozen Nagyist military casualties in chaotic street-fighting. Rákosi was captured and exiled to Kazakhstan, where he managed a grocery store until his retirement. The Soviet presence in Hungary became significantly more popular, and Soviet support for liberalised Communist and anti-Stalinist movements seemed sincere and altruistic, proving a major public relations coup for the superpower. [49]
[46] Same cause as OTL. Although it hasn't been conclusively proven that Stalin was poisoned, the particular pattern of hemorrhaging experienced by Stalin is unusual for a natural stroke, but are consistent with warfarin. Also, Beria bragged to other Central Committee members of killing Stalin. He could have been talking shit, but poisoning Stalin seems within his capabilities, and I highly doubt Tito did it. Beria would have a far better chance.
[47] All of this Polish stuff essentially happened as OTL.
[48] Jan is a fictional character that I've made up to add convenient historiography into the universe of 'Stars and Sickles'.
[49] So the Soviets are pulled into supporting the Nagy movement, given that it has repudiated the whole "Austria-style neutral" goal that it had for pragmatic purposes. IOTL, Soviet intervention in Hungary ruined the Soviets' reputation with most European Communists, as they appeared to be imposing an unpopular system on a populace. This splintering caused the genesis of movements such as Eurocommunism. Whilst Western Communists will still have a different outlook than Eastern European Communists, this will be more cultural than oppositional/disassociative than in OTL.
ALSO: Wow, its been a month since the last post! I've just started university, so I've been pretty busy, and I had to do a lot of pretty mundane research for this post. I am going to do another post on Greece, the Soviet Union and East Germany. And I already have a detailed outline of a near-future update on Cuba! I'll try to post when I can, but obviously my education has to take precedent. I would like to know if there's anything you readers are really desperate to know about with this TL though!
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Excellent. I forget if you ever mentioned North Korea at all or China. Great update.
I mentioned China and Korea in the Chinese Civil War/America's worse Vietnam update. Korea is unified under Kim, whilst China is a bit smaller, but also Communist.
Okay. So far, the only Warsaw Pact nations you haven't mentioned yet to my knowledge are East Germany and Romania.
Yeah, they're coming in the next update (along with Communist Greece and the Soviet Union) I still need to do a bit more research on those three, particularly Germany.
I still need to do a bit more research on those three, particularly Germany.Okay. Perhaps I can help. Google the name Wilhelm Zaisser. It was an interesting event in East Germany.
Shouldn't that be "Rákosi was captured and exiled..." instead of "Nagy"? Unless I'm reading it all wrong, I thought the Soviets sided with Nagy and invaded to stop Rákosi (and presumably Nagy wouldn't then be exiled just because).
Chapter 15b: Repentence II - Eastern Europe (1950s)
A New World (1950s): Repentance (Pt.2)
In the Popular Republic of Greece, the transition between a Stalinist and Khrushchevian state was relatively easy. The Stalinist General Secretary of the KKE, Nikos Zachariadis, was ousted from power by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers Alexandros Svolos, a prominent Greek expert in constitutional law and a committed liberal socialist. Nikos Ploumpidis was rehabilitated by the KKE and ascended to the post of Finance Minister, whilst Nikos Beloyannis [50] became Minister of Justice and Charilaos Florakis (who would lead Greece during the Turkish Emergency) became Minister of Labour. The notable exception to the anti-Stalinist current was Aris Velouchiotis, the leader of the ELAS guerrillas in WWII and the Greek Civil War, who had stayed loyal to Stalin during the Tito-Stalin split despite Tito's generous supply of arms and ammunition to the Greek Communists. It was politically untenable for Svolos to openly remove Velouchiotis from power, given his popularity as a war hero. Instead, Svolos appealed to the ordinary Greek's patriotic idealisation of Velouchiotis by installing him as Head of State (although, given the Head of State's power of vetoing laws passed by the Central Committee, a legal proviso was inserted into the new Greek Constitution of 1957 which allowed laws with 80% approval from the legislature to pass without the HoS's approval). Svolos allowed Velouchiotis to retain his post as Minister of Defence, but increasingly diverted funds away from the Army towards the intelligence services, who would form the Special Forces contingent of the Greek 'military'. Thus Svolos prevented Velouchiotis from being able to overthrow his government in future.
During this period, Greece experienced an expansion of the navy, primarily in relatively small ships and submarines, intended to intercept any possible sabotage attempts. This expansion was largely a response forced upon the Greeks by Soviet pressure after the Novorossiysk Incident. There was also a programme of construction of military bases, largely used (and paid for) by the Soviets, including submarine pens on Corfu and a large airbase on Rhodes (which would be the base of the Soviet air squadrons during the bombardment of Ankara). Svolos' tenure was remembered positively by future generations, especially the relative social liberalisation.
Romania in the 1950s experienced a major fissure in the Communist Party, taking place both within and apart from the greater de-Stalinisation movement. The Party was divided into 3 camps: the "Muscovites" (Communists who spent WWII in the USSR) led by Ana Pauker and Vasile Luca; the "Prison Communists", followers of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (who spent most of WWII in the Romanian prison system) and the "Secretariat Communists", represented by Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, a leading ideologue and Marxist intellectual.
Until 1952, Romania was led by Petru Groza (the so-called "red bourgeois", due to his wealthy origins). Groza resigned in 1952 (and would die in 1958 from complications following a stomach operation) and was succeeded by Gheorghiu-Dej until 1954, when Gheorghe Apostol became the First Secretary of the PCR. During Apostol's tenure, Gheorghiu-Dej was Prime Minister. After realising that the true seat of power was the post of First Secretary, Gheorghiu-Dej had Apostol step down in the winter of 1955. Although Gheorghiu-Dej had solidified his power during the Stalinist era (primarily by taking advantage of Stalin's anti-semitism to oust Ana Pauker), his position was destabilised by the accession of Khrushchev. Gheorghiu-Dej was unable to deflect criticism for the brainwashing programs of 'Experimentul Pitești', the 're-education' experiments at Pitești Prison and the forced labour use in the Danube-Black Sea Canal project, which was suspended with Soviet pressure [51]. Pătrășcanu was installed by Khrushchev as the new leader of Romania, who continued to promote a Romanian "Communist patriotism" which gained public support (despite the occasional marginalisations of the Hungarian minority), whilst his intellectual background appealed to the intellectuals. He has since been both praised and criticised by commentators for his social-engineering campaigns (inspired by his sociological background). Pătrășcanu was particularly harsh against opposers of land-reform, which he saw as the primary factor holding Romania back from social and economic progress.
In East Germany, the foundation was set which allowed the development of a diverse range of socialist ideological currents. Nevertheless, East Germany in 1950 was a typical Stalinist state. Although Wilhelm Pieck was President of the German Democratic Republic until 1960 (when he was succeeded by Rudolf Herrnstadt[52]), the real power laid in the First Secretary, Walter Ulbricht. In July 1950, the third SED Party Congress emphasised the expansion of heavy industry, a wave of nationalisations and the establishment of "People's Enterprises" owned by the state. 75% of the industrial sector fell into the hands of these PEs. In the period 1951-55, the first Five-Year Plan in East Germany introduced a formal system of central planning. The stresses put onto the general population caused the "Republikflucht" (Republic-flight), an exodus of East Germans into the Federal Republic of Germany. In response, Ulbricht tried to ensure a continued staunch Stalinist policy by expelling moderate and liberal socialists out of the SED. Socially, Ulbricht's regime was also autocratic. Despite nominal tolerance for the Church, in reality there was significant pressure put on clergy by the East German authorities. In response, an episcopal ban was issued on the SED.
A combination of social and economic pressures contributed to mass emigration. In 1951, monthly emigration fluctuated between 11,500 and 17,000. By 1953, monthly emigration averaged 37,000. This emigration created a notable 'brain drain' of professionals and intelligentsia from the GDR to the FRG. In June 1953, after the death of Stalin, Malenkov's "New Course" economic policy was instituted in the GDR, with a focus on consumer, as opposed to industrial goods. Welfare programs were introduced to assist with eliminating economic hardships and financial support was made available for small businesses in the form of state loans. In September 1953, the Stalinist Ulbricht was replaced by Wilhelm Zaisser, the Minister of State Security who had been responsible for the expansion of the Stasi [53]. Without Ulbricht in power, moderate and liberal socialists were rehabilitated, leading to a more liberal Volkskammer (GDR parliament). In 1954, a Soviet delegation led by Khrushchev negotiated with Zaisser, establishing a client-state, as opposed to puppet-state relationship (as was the case with Poland). Zaisser continued to lead Germany, allowing significant humanist-socialist (led by Wolfgang Harich) and hardline (led by Erich Mielke) factions in the Volkskammer. Harich would later be notable for leading the Green Stalinist movement in the 1970s which espoused "protection of the environmental base for the assurance of the social base".
[50] Nikos Beloyannis was a law student imprisoned during the Metaxas regime who joined Velouchiotis' resistance in the Peloponnese. Historically he was immortalised in Pablo Picasso's "The Man with the Carnation". With the military trials butterflied by the victory of ELAS in the Greek Civil War, Beloyannis has more real power, despite having less symbolic and cultural significance.
[51] Historically, Gheorghiu-Dej used Pauker and Luca as scapegoats for the abuses under Stalinism, but an earlier marginalisation of the Muscovite Communists makes this impossible.
[52] Herrnstadt was a member of the anti-Ulbricht wing of the SED and a close ally of Wilhelm Zaisser.
[53] IOTL, there were plans to replace Ulbricht, but these were aborted due to the perception that the SED had to appear constant and strong after the 1953 Uprising in East Germany, which has been butterflied away ITTL, due to the SED not raising work quotas for industrial workers.
In the Popular Republic of Greece, the transition between a Stalinist and Khrushchevian state was relatively easy. The Stalinist General Secretary of the KKE, Nikos Zachariadis, was ousted from power by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers Alexandros Svolos, a prominent Greek expert in constitutional law and a committed liberal socialist. Nikos Ploumpidis was rehabilitated by the KKE and ascended to the post of Finance Minister, whilst Nikos Beloyannis [50] became Minister of Justice and Charilaos Florakis (who would lead Greece during the Turkish Emergency) became Minister of Labour. The notable exception to the anti-Stalinist current was Aris Velouchiotis, the leader of the ELAS guerrillas in WWII and the Greek Civil War, who had stayed loyal to Stalin during the Tito-Stalin split despite Tito's generous supply of arms and ammunition to the Greek Communists. It was politically untenable for Svolos to openly remove Velouchiotis from power, given his popularity as a war hero. Instead, Svolos appealed to the ordinary Greek's patriotic idealisation of Velouchiotis by installing him as Head of State (although, given the Head of State's power of vetoing laws passed by the Central Committee, a legal proviso was inserted into the new Greek Constitution of 1957 which allowed laws with 80% approval from the legislature to pass without the HoS's approval). Svolos allowed Velouchiotis to retain his post as Minister of Defence, but increasingly diverted funds away from the Army towards the intelligence services, who would form the Special Forces contingent of the Greek 'military'. Thus Svolos prevented Velouchiotis from being able to overthrow his government in future.
During this period, Greece experienced an expansion of the navy, primarily in relatively small ships and submarines, intended to intercept any possible sabotage attempts. This expansion was largely a response forced upon the Greeks by Soviet pressure after the Novorossiysk Incident. There was also a programme of construction of military bases, largely used (and paid for) by the Soviets, including submarine pens on Corfu and a large airbase on Rhodes (which would be the base of the Soviet air squadrons during the bombardment of Ankara). Svolos' tenure was remembered positively by future generations, especially the relative social liberalisation.
Romania in the 1950s experienced a major fissure in the Communist Party, taking place both within and apart from the greater de-Stalinisation movement. The Party was divided into 3 camps: the "Muscovites" (Communists who spent WWII in the USSR) led by Ana Pauker and Vasile Luca; the "Prison Communists", followers of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (who spent most of WWII in the Romanian prison system) and the "Secretariat Communists", represented by Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, a leading ideologue and Marxist intellectual.
Until 1952, Romania was led by Petru Groza (the so-called "red bourgeois", due to his wealthy origins). Groza resigned in 1952 (and would die in 1958 from complications following a stomach operation) and was succeeded by Gheorghiu-Dej until 1954, when Gheorghe Apostol became the First Secretary of the PCR. During Apostol's tenure, Gheorghiu-Dej was Prime Minister. After realising that the true seat of power was the post of First Secretary, Gheorghiu-Dej had Apostol step down in the winter of 1955. Although Gheorghiu-Dej had solidified his power during the Stalinist era (primarily by taking advantage of Stalin's anti-semitism to oust Ana Pauker), his position was destabilised by the accession of Khrushchev. Gheorghiu-Dej was unable to deflect criticism for the brainwashing programs of 'Experimentul Pitești', the 're-education' experiments at Pitești Prison and the forced labour use in the Danube-Black Sea Canal project, which was suspended with Soviet pressure [51]. Pătrășcanu was installed by Khrushchev as the new leader of Romania, who continued to promote a Romanian "Communist patriotism" which gained public support (despite the occasional marginalisations of the Hungarian minority), whilst his intellectual background appealed to the intellectuals. He has since been both praised and criticised by commentators for his social-engineering campaigns (inspired by his sociological background). Pătrășcanu was particularly harsh against opposers of land-reform, which he saw as the primary factor holding Romania back from social and economic progress.
In East Germany, the foundation was set which allowed the development of a diverse range of socialist ideological currents. Nevertheless, East Germany in 1950 was a typical Stalinist state. Although Wilhelm Pieck was President of the German Democratic Republic until 1960 (when he was succeeded by Rudolf Herrnstadt[52]), the real power laid in the First Secretary, Walter Ulbricht. In July 1950, the third SED Party Congress emphasised the expansion of heavy industry, a wave of nationalisations and the establishment of "People's Enterprises" owned by the state. 75% of the industrial sector fell into the hands of these PEs. In the period 1951-55, the first Five-Year Plan in East Germany introduced a formal system of central planning. The stresses put onto the general population caused the "Republikflucht" (Republic-flight), an exodus of East Germans into the Federal Republic of Germany. In response, Ulbricht tried to ensure a continued staunch Stalinist policy by expelling moderate and liberal socialists out of the SED. Socially, Ulbricht's regime was also autocratic. Despite nominal tolerance for the Church, in reality there was significant pressure put on clergy by the East German authorities. In response, an episcopal ban was issued on the SED.
A combination of social and economic pressures contributed to mass emigration. In 1951, monthly emigration fluctuated between 11,500 and 17,000. By 1953, monthly emigration averaged 37,000. This emigration created a notable 'brain drain' of professionals and intelligentsia from the GDR to the FRG. In June 1953, after the death of Stalin, Malenkov's "New Course" economic policy was instituted in the GDR, with a focus on consumer, as opposed to industrial goods. Welfare programs were introduced to assist with eliminating economic hardships and financial support was made available for small businesses in the form of state loans. In September 1953, the Stalinist Ulbricht was replaced by Wilhelm Zaisser, the Minister of State Security who had been responsible for the expansion of the Stasi [53]. Without Ulbricht in power, moderate and liberal socialists were rehabilitated, leading to a more liberal Volkskammer (GDR parliament). In 1954, a Soviet delegation led by Khrushchev negotiated with Zaisser, establishing a client-state, as opposed to puppet-state relationship (as was the case with Poland). Zaisser continued to lead Germany, allowing significant humanist-socialist (led by Wolfgang Harich) and hardline (led by Erich Mielke) factions in the Volkskammer. Harich would later be notable for leading the Green Stalinist movement in the 1970s which espoused "protection of the environmental base for the assurance of the social base".
[50] Nikos Beloyannis was a law student imprisoned during the Metaxas regime who joined Velouchiotis' resistance in the Peloponnese. Historically he was immortalised in Pablo Picasso's "The Man with the Carnation". With the military trials butterflied by the victory of ELAS in the Greek Civil War, Beloyannis has more real power, despite having less symbolic and cultural significance.
[51] Historically, Gheorghiu-Dej used Pauker and Luca as scapegoats for the abuses under Stalinism, but an earlier marginalisation of the Muscovite Communists makes this impossible.
[52] Herrnstadt was a member of the anti-Ulbricht wing of the SED and a close ally of Wilhelm Zaisser.
[53] IOTL, there were plans to replace Ulbricht, but these were aborted due to the perception that the SED had to appear constant and strong after the 1953 Uprising in East Germany, which has been butterflied away ITTL, due to the SED not raising work quotas for industrial workers.
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Seems reformers have taken power in the Eastern Block, most of it any way. How long they can hold onto power is anyone's guess.
Chapter 16: Cuban Sunrise - Cuba (1950s)
A New World (1950s): Cuban Sunrise
Cuban politics in the 1950s presented a dynamic and ever-changing landscape of movements and personalities, vying for control of the Caribbean island. The most notable of these competitors were Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar, Carlos Prío Socarrás, José Antonio "Manzanita" Echeverría, Frank País and Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz.
Since 1948, Cuba had been governed by Carlos Prío, Partido Auténtico (PCR-A) leader. Despite a positive reputation for constitutional order and political freedom in hindsight, the Prío Administration came under increasing criticism in during the onset of the 1950s for being soft and ineffectual in the face of increasingly severe political violence and gaining a reputation for corruption (much like the Grau administration that preceded it) due to the theft and self-enrichment of some figures of government. Opposing Prío's Auténtico Party was the Ortodoxo Party and Batista's United Action coalition. During the lead-up to the elections of 1952, Batista (who had been a member of the Cuban senate in absentia since 1948) returned to compete. It quickly became apparent, however, that Batista would be unable to defeat Roberto Agramonte of the Partido Ortodoxo or Carlos Hevia of the Partido Auténtico.
With electoral victory clearly eluding Batista's grasp, he instead turned to his established support network in the Cuban military. On March 10, 1952, Batista's collaborators seized police and military commands nationwide, as well as major radio and television stations. Having failed in his attempts to organise an opposition, Prío fled first to Mexico and then to Miami, FL. But from the onset, Prío refused to concede defeat, stating "I'll triumph by any means, even the most extreme". The Auténticos allied with Prío began to stockpile weapons smuggled into Cuba from the United States by Aureliano Sánchez Arango, Prío's Minister of Education and an amateur pilot. Whilst Arango daringly evaded Batista's authorities on several occasions and eluded a manhunt not long after the assault on the Moncada Barracks, he left behind a briefcase containing documents naming most of Prío's collaborators. Subsequently, Batista hunted down Auténtico affiliates.
To secure his power, Batista allied (and ingratiated himself) with the wealthy landowners from whom he had longed for acceptance. These wealthy landowners exploited poor Cubans in factories and sugar plantations, enriching themselves off of the profits from exports largely destined for the United States (most of which was refined in the American Sugar Refining Company's massive refinery in Brooklyn, NY). Batista also notoriously developed ties with the American Mafia, particular Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano. Although pressure from the United States led to Luciano's deportation to Sicily, he nevertheless continued to profit off of Mafia-operated Cuban casinos. Lansky operated as Batista's unofficial "Minister of Gambling". By 1955, Batista had introduced legislation which granted a gaming licence to anyone investing US $1m in a hotel or US $200,000 in a nightclub, exempting venture capitalists from background checks and allowing the duty-free importation of casino furnishings. Often, Cuban contractors with the right contacts would order extra furnishings, selling them on the black market. With Batista's encouragement, the American mafia took control of the gambling, drug and prostitution rackets in Cuba, turning Havana into a mere appendage of Chicago and New York mob interests. Immense sums of money were made by Batista-allied mobsters and American multi-national corporations whilst the average Cuban family earned US $6 a week, only a third of homes had running water and the nation experienced chronic unemployment of 15-20%. By 1959, US companies were in control of 40% of Cuba's sugar, 90% of mineral concessions and mines, 80% of utilities, the entire oil industry and the vast majority of cattle ranches as well as supplying Cuba with two-thirds of it's imports. Havana also became a major den of hedonism for American tourists, inspiring Constantino Arias' famous photograph "Ugly American".
The conduct of Batista's corrupt and repressive regime provoked a violent response from political opposition. The first major attempt at the forcible ejection of Batista's government was from Rafael Garcia Barcena's Movimiento Nacional Revolucionario (National Revolutionary Movement, MNR). Garcia was a university professor with connections to many young army officers, most of whom were former students of his. Garcia's strong nationalist but anti-Communist beliefs caused him to resent foreign dominance over the Cuban economy (the charismatic Garcia was also notable for his reliance not on ideology, but personal loyalty for support). In an operation originally set for March 8, 1953 but later postponed to April 5, MNR forces attacked Camp Columbia with the intention of seizing control of army assets and convincing officers there to join a coup against Batista. Garcia had asked Fidel Castro to join his coup, but Castro had refused, describing the coup attempt as "the most advertised action in the history of Cuba", although it is just as likely that he refused due to the "bourgeois" nature of the MNR and Castro's belief that any coup involving the military would naturally become a military coup. The MNR attack was anticipated by the local military forces, who arrested Garcia and many of his supporters on the day the coup was supposed to be launched. Garcia was tortured severely, which many believe broke his will entirely. He refrained from future political activity and sources close to him noted a drastic change in his personality, which went from confident extroversion to sullen despair.
At 6:00AM on July 26, 1953, Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl led a force of young Ortodoxo Party rank-and-file members on an attack on Moncada Barracks in Santiago. Although meticulously planned, the attack on the barracks began poorly when Castro's forces (which approached the barracks disguised as a high-level military delegation) were discovered by soldiers at the barracks gates. The rebels retreated, and Castro was captured and imprisoned in the Presidio Modelo (Model Prison) on the Isla de Pinos. Imprisoned with 25 comrades, Castro renames his group the "26 of July Movement" (MR-26-7) and formed a school for prisoners. He was locked in solitary confinement after prisoners sung anti-Batista songs during a visit by Batista in February 1954. Meanwhile, Castro discovered from a radio announcement that his wife Mirta had taken employment at the Interior Ministry. Enraged, Castro divorced her. In many ways, Castro took his wife's employment in the Interior Ministry as a personal slight, a personal victory of Batista's that would be avenged.
Whilst Castro was in prison, Frank País had already gained a prominent role in the anti-Batista resistance, leading the Accion Revolucionara Oriente in the Eastern 'Oriente' Province (it would later be named Accion Nacional Revolucionara after Jose "Pepito" Tey, a fellow revolutionary, recruited students from other provinces to the movement), despite being only 18 years old.
In May 1955, considering them no longer a threat, Castro's MR-26-7 group was released from prison. However, a wave bombings and violent demonstrations in a short-lived burst of civil anger that characterised the latter half of 1955 led to a government crackdown on dissidents. The Castros moved to Mexico, befriending Argentine revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara and Spaniard Alberto Bayo, the latter of which taught them the skills necessary to engage in effective guerrilla warfare. Fidel sent messages to Frank País, offering him the post of "Chief of Action and Sabotage" in Oriente Province. País accepted, marking the effective fusion of the ANR with MR-26-7.
Whilst the leftist revolutionaries were rebuilding their position, Prío was also trying to rebuild his influence in Cuba. On August 11, 1955, Prío returned to Cuba, calling to mend fences with Grau San Martin (the Auténtico Party had effectively split into two factions, with Grau leading one and Prío the other) and promising to oppose Batista electorally. On October 1, 1955, Prío addressed a large audience in Havana, perhaps 50,000, denouncing all government acts since the 1952 coup illegal.
In April 1956, yet another faction conspired to mount an uprising against the Batista regime, the Puros, led by Colonel Ramon Barquin (the military attache in Washington) and supported by tank commander Colonel Manuel Varela. The Puros were largely composed of young army officers, who intended to take Camp Columbia pronunciamento-style and exile Batista back to the US. The Puros had strongly opposed the Prío administration as well as the Batista regime. But before the Puros could act, they were tipped off to Batista's secret police, who purged the army of much of the cream of their officer corps.
On April 29, a young Auténtico, Reynol Garcia, refuses to put down arms, instead leading a small, failed attack on Goicuria army barracks in Matanzas. Batista took advantage of this incident to put Prío on house arrest, but allowed him to leave for Miami. Prío, desperate for support, looked to both Castro and Rafael Trujillo, the brutal caudillo of the Dominican Republic. Trujillo decides to support Prío, hoping that a civil war in Cuba would weaken it's sugar exports, strengthening the competitiveness of Dominican sugar and allowing him to line his own pockets. Trujillo agreed to train a pro-Prío force for an invasion of Oriente. Castro also approached Prío, swimming across the Rio Grande and conferring with him in a hotel in McAllen, TX. Prío agrees to provide $100,000 for Castro's expedition. This was enough to buy arms, a boat and the 'neglect' of Mexican authorities. In late 1956 however, Trujillo dropped support for Prío, due to Batista's concessions on Dominican meat exports to Cuba. By early 1957, Luis Chaviano (the leader of Prío's militia) and his 147 men had returned to Miami from the Dominican Republic. Prío felt ready to mount an invasion. Chaviano's force attacked near Baracoa on the Northern Coast of Oriente. Crashing away from their intended landing place, they marched inland, trying to reach the Sierra Cristal. They were unsuccessful. Batista's army cut them off. The rebels surrendered and were summarily executed.
A more successful group was the Directorio Revolucionaro (DR), a Catholic student group led by José Antonio Echeverría and committed to political liberty, economic independence and social justice. Whilst their first major action, an attack on the Presidential Palace on March 13, 1957, was unsuccessful [54], they retreated into the Escambray Mountains to conduct a guerrilla war. The location was prime for irregular warfare. The Trinidad-Sancti-Spiritus region it was located within produces the second-largest share of coffee production in Cuba. Surrounding valleys provided good rice, bean and vegetable crops and cattle ranches. It had a central location to strike into the surrounding regions, with access to urban recruits from Cienfuegos to the South-West and was near sugar workers which had allied with the DR in Las Villas. By September 1958, the DR had 800 active guerrillas.
With guerrillas led by Castro and Echeverría bleeding the Cuban army in the countryside, Batista's regime was coming under increasing stress. País' urban guerrillas had become increasingly powerful, especially amongst trade unions, and had expanded even into Havana. On Christmas Day 1958, País, taking advantage of the Cuban Army's crushing defeat in their September campaign to annihilate Castro's Sierra guerrillas, stormed the Presidential Palace with the aid of sympathetic army officers. Batista had managed to flee beforehand, taking with him enormous sums of American dollars. The fall of the Batista regime left the guerrilla forces in something of a limbo. Whilst País' forces were part of MR-26-7, they were still quite separate from the Sierra guerrillas, and whilst the DR wasn't in direct opposition to the MR-26-7, they still disagreed on many significant policies. As somewhat of an olive branch, País and Castro invited Echeverría into a power-sharing arrangement, with the three running the nation as a triumvirate. Whilst the DRs had initiallly intended to keep their arms, Castro had outmaneuvered them with his "arms for what?" speech, and the DRs put down their arms. Nevertheless, whilst the MR-26-7 was popular in the East of the country, the DRs were still more popular in the centre, and in Havana, where they had occupied the University of Havana during País' assault on the Presidential Palace. In fact, the University had become Echeverría's base of operations. Although the factions had largely laid down their arms, relations between them weren't necessarily amenable.
[54] IOTL, Echeverría was killed in this attack. ITTL, he is not.
Cuban politics in the 1950s presented a dynamic and ever-changing landscape of movements and personalities, vying for control of the Caribbean island. The most notable of these competitors were Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar, Carlos Prío Socarrás, José Antonio "Manzanita" Echeverría, Frank País and Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz.
Since 1948, Cuba had been governed by Carlos Prío, Partido Auténtico (PCR-A) leader. Despite a positive reputation for constitutional order and political freedom in hindsight, the Prío Administration came under increasing criticism in during the onset of the 1950s for being soft and ineffectual in the face of increasingly severe political violence and gaining a reputation for corruption (much like the Grau administration that preceded it) due to the theft and self-enrichment of some figures of government. Opposing Prío's Auténtico Party was the Ortodoxo Party and Batista's United Action coalition. During the lead-up to the elections of 1952, Batista (who had been a member of the Cuban senate in absentia since 1948) returned to compete. It quickly became apparent, however, that Batista would be unable to defeat Roberto Agramonte of the Partido Ortodoxo or Carlos Hevia of the Partido Auténtico.
With electoral victory clearly eluding Batista's grasp, he instead turned to his established support network in the Cuban military. On March 10, 1952, Batista's collaborators seized police and military commands nationwide, as well as major radio and television stations. Having failed in his attempts to organise an opposition, Prío fled first to Mexico and then to Miami, FL. But from the onset, Prío refused to concede defeat, stating "I'll triumph by any means, even the most extreme". The Auténticos allied with Prío began to stockpile weapons smuggled into Cuba from the United States by Aureliano Sánchez Arango, Prío's Minister of Education and an amateur pilot. Whilst Arango daringly evaded Batista's authorities on several occasions and eluded a manhunt not long after the assault on the Moncada Barracks, he left behind a briefcase containing documents naming most of Prío's collaborators. Subsequently, Batista hunted down Auténtico affiliates.
To secure his power, Batista allied (and ingratiated himself) with the wealthy landowners from whom he had longed for acceptance. These wealthy landowners exploited poor Cubans in factories and sugar plantations, enriching themselves off of the profits from exports largely destined for the United States (most of which was refined in the American Sugar Refining Company's massive refinery in Brooklyn, NY). Batista also notoriously developed ties with the American Mafia, particular Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano. Although pressure from the United States led to Luciano's deportation to Sicily, he nevertheless continued to profit off of Mafia-operated Cuban casinos. Lansky operated as Batista's unofficial "Minister of Gambling". By 1955, Batista had introduced legislation which granted a gaming licence to anyone investing US $1m in a hotel or US $200,000 in a nightclub, exempting venture capitalists from background checks and allowing the duty-free importation of casino furnishings. Often, Cuban contractors with the right contacts would order extra furnishings, selling them on the black market. With Batista's encouragement, the American mafia took control of the gambling, drug and prostitution rackets in Cuba, turning Havana into a mere appendage of Chicago and New York mob interests. Immense sums of money were made by Batista-allied mobsters and American multi-national corporations whilst the average Cuban family earned US $6 a week, only a third of homes had running water and the nation experienced chronic unemployment of 15-20%. By 1959, US companies were in control of 40% of Cuba's sugar, 90% of mineral concessions and mines, 80% of utilities, the entire oil industry and the vast majority of cattle ranches as well as supplying Cuba with two-thirds of it's imports. Havana also became a major den of hedonism for American tourists, inspiring Constantino Arias' famous photograph "Ugly American".
The conduct of Batista's corrupt and repressive regime provoked a violent response from political opposition. The first major attempt at the forcible ejection of Batista's government was from Rafael Garcia Barcena's Movimiento Nacional Revolucionario (National Revolutionary Movement, MNR). Garcia was a university professor with connections to many young army officers, most of whom were former students of his. Garcia's strong nationalist but anti-Communist beliefs caused him to resent foreign dominance over the Cuban economy (the charismatic Garcia was also notable for his reliance not on ideology, but personal loyalty for support). In an operation originally set for March 8, 1953 but later postponed to April 5, MNR forces attacked Camp Columbia with the intention of seizing control of army assets and convincing officers there to join a coup against Batista. Garcia had asked Fidel Castro to join his coup, but Castro had refused, describing the coup attempt as "the most advertised action in the history of Cuba", although it is just as likely that he refused due to the "bourgeois" nature of the MNR and Castro's belief that any coup involving the military would naturally become a military coup. The MNR attack was anticipated by the local military forces, who arrested Garcia and many of his supporters on the day the coup was supposed to be launched. Garcia was tortured severely, which many believe broke his will entirely. He refrained from future political activity and sources close to him noted a drastic change in his personality, which went from confident extroversion to sullen despair.
At 6:00AM on July 26, 1953, Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl led a force of young Ortodoxo Party rank-and-file members on an attack on Moncada Barracks in Santiago. Although meticulously planned, the attack on the barracks began poorly when Castro's forces (which approached the barracks disguised as a high-level military delegation) were discovered by soldiers at the barracks gates. The rebels retreated, and Castro was captured and imprisoned in the Presidio Modelo (Model Prison) on the Isla de Pinos. Imprisoned with 25 comrades, Castro renames his group the "26 of July Movement" (MR-26-7) and formed a school for prisoners. He was locked in solitary confinement after prisoners sung anti-Batista songs during a visit by Batista in February 1954. Meanwhile, Castro discovered from a radio announcement that his wife Mirta had taken employment at the Interior Ministry. Enraged, Castro divorced her. In many ways, Castro took his wife's employment in the Interior Ministry as a personal slight, a personal victory of Batista's that would be avenged.
Whilst Castro was in prison, Frank País had already gained a prominent role in the anti-Batista resistance, leading the Accion Revolucionara Oriente in the Eastern 'Oriente' Province (it would later be named Accion Nacional Revolucionara after Jose "Pepito" Tey, a fellow revolutionary, recruited students from other provinces to the movement), despite being only 18 years old.
In May 1955, considering them no longer a threat, Castro's MR-26-7 group was released from prison. However, a wave bombings and violent demonstrations in a short-lived burst of civil anger that characterised the latter half of 1955 led to a government crackdown on dissidents. The Castros moved to Mexico, befriending Argentine revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara and Spaniard Alberto Bayo, the latter of which taught them the skills necessary to engage in effective guerrilla warfare. Fidel sent messages to Frank País, offering him the post of "Chief of Action and Sabotage" in Oriente Province. País accepted, marking the effective fusion of the ANR with MR-26-7.
Whilst the leftist revolutionaries were rebuilding their position, Prío was also trying to rebuild his influence in Cuba. On August 11, 1955, Prío returned to Cuba, calling to mend fences with Grau San Martin (the Auténtico Party had effectively split into two factions, with Grau leading one and Prío the other) and promising to oppose Batista electorally. On October 1, 1955, Prío addressed a large audience in Havana, perhaps 50,000, denouncing all government acts since the 1952 coup illegal.
In April 1956, yet another faction conspired to mount an uprising against the Batista regime, the Puros, led by Colonel Ramon Barquin (the military attache in Washington) and supported by tank commander Colonel Manuel Varela. The Puros were largely composed of young army officers, who intended to take Camp Columbia pronunciamento-style and exile Batista back to the US. The Puros had strongly opposed the Prío administration as well as the Batista regime. But before the Puros could act, they were tipped off to Batista's secret police, who purged the army of much of the cream of their officer corps.
On April 29, a young Auténtico, Reynol Garcia, refuses to put down arms, instead leading a small, failed attack on Goicuria army barracks in Matanzas. Batista took advantage of this incident to put Prío on house arrest, but allowed him to leave for Miami. Prío, desperate for support, looked to both Castro and Rafael Trujillo, the brutal caudillo of the Dominican Republic. Trujillo decides to support Prío, hoping that a civil war in Cuba would weaken it's sugar exports, strengthening the competitiveness of Dominican sugar and allowing him to line his own pockets. Trujillo agreed to train a pro-Prío force for an invasion of Oriente. Castro also approached Prío, swimming across the Rio Grande and conferring with him in a hotel in McAllen, TX. Prío agrees to provide $100,000 for Castro's expedition. This was enough to buy arms, a boat and the 'neglect' of Mexican authorities. In late 1956 however, Trujillo dropped support for Prío, due to Batista's concessions on Dominican meat exports to Cuba. By early 1957, Luis Chaviano (the leader of Prío's militia) and his 147 men had returned to Miami from the Dominican Republic. Prío felt ready to mount an invasion. Chaviano's force attacked near Baracoa on the Northern Coast of Oriente. Crashing away from their intended landing place, they marched inland, trying to reach the Sierra Cristal. They were unsuccessful. Batista's army cut them off. The rebels surrendered and were summarily executed.
A more successful group was the Directorio Revolucionaro (DR), a Catholic student group led by José Antonio Echeverría and committed to political liberty, economic independence and social justice. Whilst their first major action, an attack on the Presidential Palace on March 13, 1957, was unsuccessful [54], they retreated into the Escambray Mountains to conduct a guerrilla war. The location was prime for irregular warfare. The Trinidad-Sancti-Spiritus region it was located within produces the second-largest share of coffee production in Cuba. Surrounding valleys provided good rice, bean and vegetable crops and cattle ranches. It had a central location to strike into the surrounding regions, with access to urban recruits from Cienfuegos to the South-West and was near sugar workers which had allied with the DR in Las Villas. By September 1958, the DR had 800 active guerrillas.
With guerrillas led by Castro and Echeverría bleeding the Cuban army in the countryside, Batista's regime was coming under increasing stress. País' urban guerrillas had become increasingly powerful, especially amongst trade unions, and had expanded even into Havana. On Christmas Day 1958, País, taking advantage of the Cuban Army's crushing defeat in their September campaign to annihilate Castro's Sierra guerrillas, stormed the Presidential Palace with the aid of sympathetic army officers. Batista had managed to flee beforehand, taking with him enormous sums of American dollars. The fall of the Batista regime left the guerrilla forces in something of a limbo. Whilst País' forces were part of MR-26-7, they were still quite separate from the Sierra guerrillas, and whilst the DR wasn't in direct opposition to the MR-26-7, they still disagreed on many significant policies. As somewhat of an olive branch, País and Castro invited Echeverría into a power-sharing arrangement, with the three running the nation as a triumvirate. Whilst the DRs had initiallly intended to keep their arms, Castro had outmaneuvered them with his "arms for what?" speech, and the DRs put down their arms. Nevertheless, whilst the MR-26-7 was popular in the East of the country, the DRs were still more popular in the centre, and in Havana, where they had occupied the University of Havana during País' assault on the Presidential Palace. In fact, the University had become Echeverría's base of operations. Although the factions had largely laid down their arms, relations between them weren't necessarily amenable.
[54] IOTL, Echeverría was killed in this attack. ITTL, he is not.
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bump bump bump.
What do you guys think that Cuba without a single figure in command will look like, both policywise and socially? What about political orientation? And what would you guys like to see in future updates?
What do you guys think that Cuba without a single figure in command will look like, both policywise and socially? What about political orientation? And what would you guys like to see in future updates?
Chapter 17: Molon Labe - Cypriot Decolonisation
A New World (1950s): Molon Labe
Cyprus is an island which has been blighted by factionalism and violence in the second half of the 20th Century. The roots of this division lay in the struggle against British colonialism. Cyprus, traditionally a Greek island, had experienced an influx of Turks during the period of Ottoman rule. This community remained when the British were awarded control in 1878 (in return for guarantees of protection against Russian imperialism). Although the Greeks and Turks had lived in relative peace for centuries, the efforts of the British to maintain their control over the entirety of the island also served to sow the seeds of discord between and amongst the two peoples.
In the early hours of the 1st April 1955, Cypriots in the capital city of Nicosia awoke to the sound of explosions. Fighters from the previously unknown Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters, EOKA) had simultaneously launched three attacks: The attack on the Cyprus Broadcasting Station by the so-called "Astrape" (lightning) team, led by Markos "Lykourgos" Drakos; attacks on targets in Famagusta by the forces of Grigoris "Zhedros" Afxentiou; and raids on the British Army's Wolseley Barracks in the Lefkosia Municipality of Nicosia. An attempt was also made on the life of Robert Perceval Armitage, the British Governor of the island. By June, EOKA was attacking police stations across the island. EOKA was a pro-monarchist group that called for the end to British colonialism in Cyprus and the restoration of the Greek monarchy under Paul of Greece, the brother of King George II who had died during the Greek Civil War.
EOKA was led by two notable figures: Archbishop Makarios III (who led the political wing of the movement) and Colonel Georgios Grivas (who led the guerrillas). EOKA had been formed on 2nd July 1952 by Archbishop Makarios, and by 7 March 1953, a 'Council of Revolution' which directed EOKA. Grivas himself arrived in Cyprus in November 1954 to coordinate preparations for a prolonged insurgency. Prior to the attacks of April 1, 1955, EOKA was a virtually unknown organisation, particularly amongst the British military and police forces on the island. Nevertheless, by October, when Armitage was replaced by Field Marshal Baron Harding of Petherton, the British were already organising a forceful response. Tensions had increased on the island significantly: A group of 15 EOKA members, led by one of Grivas' lieutenants from April 1, Marko Drakos, escaped imprisonment in Kyrenia Castle by tying blankets together and abseiling out of their cell windows. Grivas, having orchestrated the first few guerrilla actions from a hideout in Nicosia, left the city for the Troodos Mountains to conduct a long campaign. In the Popular Republic of Greece, a bomb went off near Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's old home in Salonika, provoking vicious pogroms (known to the Greeks as the Septemvriana) in Istanbul and Izmir. The bomb was later revealed to have been planted by a Turkish usher, with the intention of inflaming Greco-Turkish relations. 30 died in the pogroms, all non-Turks. The majority of victims were Greeks, who were assaulted and had their properties vandalised, but Jews, Georgians and Armenians were also targeted by the Turkish mobs. In August, the Popular Republic of Greece (PRG) somewhat prematurely made a request to the UN to support Cypriot self-determination, aware that the Greek Cypriot majority desired enosis, unification with the mainland, regardless of political orientation. Nevertheless, they held reservations about EOKA, given Grivas' actions against ELAS during the Greek Civil War and his leadership of the ultra-right "Organisation X" movement active in Greece between 1944 and the Communist victory in the Civil War.
Baron Harding was challenged by EOKA action upon arrival in Cyprus. The day after he arrived (4th October 1955), EOKA forces commanded by Afxentiou raided the Lefkoniko Police Station in broad daylight and seized the entire contents of the armoury. Unwilling to let such audacious defiance go unpunished, Baron Harding declared a state of emergency on 26 November. Talks with Archbishop Makarios broke down, and in early 1956, the Archbishop was intercepted by Special Branch officers whilst attempting to board a flight at Nicosia Airport. Makarios was exiled to Mahe Island in the Seychelles, as a "guest" of Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Seychelles Sir William Addis. By this point, the British were desperate to suppress the rebellion. In the December of 1955, Afxentiou had been relocated to the Troodos Mountains with Grivas, and the British tried to take advantage of this by surrounding their headquarters in the mountains near the village of Spilia. The British aimed to capture or kill both Giorgios Grivas and Grigoris Afxentiou, thus decapitating EOKA's leadership. 700 British soldiers approached the mountain from either side. Grivas separated his forces into two, personally leading half of his troops to fight the British units advancing up the North side, whilst leaving Afxentiou to defend the South. The EOKA guerrillas were aware of the British advance, having spotted them approaching.
Pvt. Douglas tightened the grip on his L1A1 rifle, a British knock-off of the Belgian FN FAL, as he saw the silhouette scamper up the mountain. "They've seen us, Fletch", Douglas muttered to his comrade. "Well its not like there's only a handful of us or nothing. A right commando raid we are. Maybe you'll get to use that fancy 'baaatle-rifle' to use? Fletcher always had a particularly thick accent. Douglas was also the only one in the unit to be issued an L1A1, the rest of his squad armed with the Lee-Enfield No.5 Mk.1 "jungle rifles" and Sterling Mk.4 submachine guns. Sgt. MacPherson strolled over. "Well what're you ladies fookin' around for? Get a move-on, will ya?" The Scots Guardsmen had orders to storm the mountain and capture the leaders of the Cypriot resistance. As Douglas' unit advanced, they encountered relatively weak resistance. "A potshot here and there we can handle", Douglas thought to himself. "But then again, they might just have something waiting for us up on the summit". As the Scots ascended the mountain, the fog became denser and denser, until they had finally reached the summit. Visibility was poor. In the mist fog clouds they saw shadows moving about. Fletcher was the first one to open fire, downing two of the phantom silhouttes with his Sterling. Douglas fired upon one of the shadows which appeared to be charging towards him. Almost simultaneously, Fletcher took a .308 Winchester round to the side of the neck, slicing through his jugular. Eyes wide with disbelief, Fletcher put his hand to his neck, then stared at his bloody palm. Another round shot into his chest, then his shoulder. "Get to cover!" the Sergeant shouted as Fletcher convulsed in agony.
The Battle at Spilia lasted eight hours, with 250 casualties for the British. As the British approached, the Greek units had both retreated to the summit, then escaped the British noose through a path on the Western side of the mountain. EOKA casualties are unknown, but thought to be minimal. By contrast, the British had experienced the bloodiest single battle of the insurgency, almost all of which were inflicted by other British troops. With increasing pressure on EOKA guerrillas in the countryside (and after a close shave at Kykkos in May 1956), Grivas again relocated, this time to the town of Limassol.
By 1956, violence between the Greek and Turkish communities on Cyprus was becoming worryingly commonplace. To compensate for the resignation en masse of Greeks from the police, the British colonial authorities started to recruit almost entirely from the Turkish population, which opposed enosis. EOKA shootings of policemen were met with reprisals against Greek families in largely Turkish neighbourhoods. As such, a trickle of Greeks began to leave Turkish communities in the North, whilst the same was true of Southern Turks moving North to avoid counter-reprisals. The local Communist party, the Anorthotikó Kómma Ergazómenou Laoú (Progressive Party of the Working People, AKEL) attempted to prevent the violence. AKEL was committed to a unified Cyprus, with equal rights for both Greek and Turkish Cypriots. They also opposed a violent struggle with the British, at least at first. The Communists in mainland Greece were also becoming increasingly concerned with the situation. Whilst they were proponents of enosis, like many of the Greek Cypriots, they knew such a unification would not be possible with EOKA dominance in Greece. On the other hand, they knew that it would be disadvantageous to undermine the EOKA using AKEL, as the Turkish community on the island (not to mention their NATO adversaries in Turkey itself) would then be in a position of strength. Nevertheless, the Soviets were encouraging the mainland Greeks behind the scenes, hoping to neutralise (or at least endanger) Britain's key base in the Levant.
In 1957, Archbishop Makarios III was released from exile in the Maldives, but was forbidden to return to Cyprus. Instead, he was transferred to Italy [55]. On June 18, he was kidnapped by Greek agents in Bovesia and transferred to Patras in the Peloponnese. The new Greek leader, Alexandros Svolos, met with the Archbishop and negotiated a deal with the clergyman. The Greeks were willing to give both material and diplomatic support for the Cypriot independence struggle, provided that the Archbishop denounce EOKA in favour of AKEL, and to try and prevent ethnic violence on the island. Whilst Makarios was no Communist, his first priority was expulsion of the British, although the privileges he secured for the Greek Orthodox Church in mainland Greece added a level of temptation to the PRG leadership's offer. It was decided. Makarios' old EOKA group would be forsaken.
Archbishop Makarios' broadcasts from Rhodes was the latest in a series of blows suffered by EOKA in 1957. On the 18th of January, British forces had attacked Markos Drakos and his men near their hideout in Solea. Allowing his men to retreat, Drakos fought a heroic rearguard action singlehandedly in pouring rain and a hailstorm. His body was recovered with other 40 bullet-holes in it, and spookily, the Bible he always kept on his person was nowhere to be found. On March 3, the British surrounded Afxentiou's unit at his hideout near the Machairos Monastery. Whilst Afxentiou ordered his men to surrender, he himself responded with "molon labe!" ("come and get them", as said by King Leonidas to the Persian King Xerxes at Thermopylae) to the British command to lay down his arms. Taking heavy casualties in their attempts to storm his hideout, the British poured gasoline into it and set it on fire, burning Afxentiou alive. Furthermore, the Turkish minority on the island had formed the Türk Mukavemet Teşkilatı (Turkish Resistance Organisation, TMT) to oppose EOKA (with British encouragement), led by Rauf Denktaş (although Fatin Rüştü Zorlu was the honorary leader). TMT paramilitaries had been trained by Turkish Special Forces veterans and army officers (such as Alparslan Türkeş) who had clandestinely entered the country disguised as teachers, bankers or businessmen. The paramilitaries in the TMT were known as mujahid, and took part in inflaming Turkish opinion against Greek Cypriots, as well as committing atrocities against Greeks and intimidating Turkish workers into disassociating with the AKEL.
The situation in Cyprus only worsened with the recall of Baron Harding from his post as Governor. Back in the UK, his supposedly 'ineffective' handling of the Emergency had caused significant displeasure amongst the people. He was replaced by Hugh Mackintosh Foot, Baron Caradon. Although Baron Caradon had been Governor of Cyprus between 1943 -1945, he was poorly informed about the current situation and the allegiance of the current groups in Cypriot society. Desperate to keep the peace, he began to take action against all groups perceived to be working against British colonial rule, including the hitherto-non-violent AKEL and the previously British-aligned Turks. On January 27, 1958, a riot incited by the TMT, where Turkish mobs roamed through the streets looting businesses owned by Greeks and beating Greeks in the streets, the British military took action by firing upon the rioters, dispersing the crowd. This action secured the opposition of Turkish Cypriots to the British colonial regime. The increasingly withering EOKA attempted to revitalise it's public support by engaging in anti-Turkish violence. By the end of 1958, EOKA had killed 55 Turkish Cypriots, with TMT killing 60 Greeks in response.
As the situation became increasingly unstable, it was clear that AKEL would be pulled into the escalating violence sooner or later. They had tried in the past few years to promote peace between the two communities. They had been accepting of both Greeks and Turks. But as AKEL competed with EOKA for the hearts of the Greek population, and as their Turkish membership slowly eroded from the stand-over tactics of TMT thugs, the tail of the dog was wagging the body. AKEL was under increasing pressure to protect it's citizens, particularly in it's strongholds of Limassol and Famagusta. Makarios had gone to AKEL's side, legitimising it in the eyes of many Cypriot Greeks. The PRG had been clandestinely been supplying them with arms for months. AKEL members began making armed patrols into Turkish neighbourhoods with Greek minorities, escorting the Greeks out, much to the pleasure of the pro-taksim (partition) TMT militia. AKEL units barricaded streets to protect Greek and bi-ethnic communities. The British didn't approve of such unilateral action, particularly from a Communist party and who were equipped with clearly Eastern-bloc WWII surplus equipment. Skirmishes in the street between the British and AKEL forces became increasingly frequent[56].
By 1959, it was clear that the situation in Cyprus could not be sustained. As such, Britain, Turkey and Makarios (even the British acknowledged he was the most influential person in Cypriot society) [57] entered into negotiations about the future of Cyprus. In the end, the London Agreement was signed, where Cyprus would become an independent, sovereign state (with the exception of the remaining British bases at Akrotiri and Dhekelia) with a Greek president and a Turkish Vice-President. Both enosis and taksim were prohibited. A number of complicated and difficult constitutional safeguards were put into place in order to protect the Turkish minority. Although Cyprus was recognised as an independent country in 1960, sever problems still remained. There were major differences of opinion between AKEL and Archbishop Makarios, although his spiritual authority and popularity left him essentially untouchable. The Turkish TMT militias remained a significant threat, which couldn't be disarmed without sparking a civil war, and the EOKA insurgency continued in part of the countryside against what they considered "godless Communist puppets" [58], although they didn't say anything so harsh about Makarios, who clearly still sympathised with their cause unofficially. The Cypriot problem would flare up again, and have massive implications not only for Cyprus, but also for the mother countries: Greece and Turkey.
[55] Historically, Archbishop Makarios was allowed to return to Athens, during the rule of the right-wing Greek military junta. But ITTL, with a Communist Greece, allowing him to go there out of all places would be unlikely.
[56] In OTL, AKEL consistently supported a peaceful, united-island policy. They wanted Gandhiesque non-violent resistance, but with circumstances on the island as they are ITTL, this isn't really possible. Plus, whilst EOKA doesn't have the right-wing Greek benefactors they did OTL, AKEL has left-wing Greek benefactors in the Popular Republic of Greece.
[57] In OTL, Greece was also invited. But the British aren't going to invite a Communist Greece to the table.
[58] IOTL, the EOKA insurgency ceased with the granting of Cypriot independence. Grivas only reluctantly ordered a ceasefire, largely out of respect for Makarios, despite no enosis. With a more leftist Greek government, it is highly unlikely he'll halt the armed struggle.
Cyprus is an island which has been blighted by factionalism and violence in the second half of the 20th Century. The roots of this division lay in the struggle against British colonialism. Cyprus, traditionally a Greek island, had experienced an influx of Turks during the period of Ottoman rule. This community remained when the British were awarded control in 1878 (in return for guarantees of protection against Russian imperialism). Although the Greeks and Turks had lived in relative peace for centuries, the efforts of the British to maintain their control over the entirety of the island also served to sow the seeds of discord between and amongst the two peoples.
In the early hours of the 1st April 1955, Cypriots in the capital city of Nicosia awoke to the sound of explosions. Fighters from the previously unknown Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters, EOKA) had simultaneously launched three attacks: The attack on the Cyprus Broadcasting Station by the so-called "Astrape" (lightning) team, led by Markos "Lykourgos" Drakos; attacks on targets in Famagusta by the forces of Grigoris "Zhedros" Afxentiou; and raids on the British Army's Wolseley Barracks in the Lefkosia Municipality of Nicosia. An attempt was also made on the life of Robert Perceval Armitage, the British Governor of the island. By June, EOKA was attacking police stations across the island. EOKA was a pro-monarchist group that called for the end to British colonialism in Cyprus and the restoration of the Greek monarchy under Paul of Greece, the brother of King George II who had died during the Greek Civil War.
EOKA was led by two notable figures: Archbishop Makarios III (who led the political wing of the movement) and Colonel Georgios Grivas (who led the guerrillas). EOKA had been formed on 2nd July 1952 by Archbishop Makarios, and by 7 March 1953, a 'Council of Revolution' which directed EOKA. Grivas himself arrived in Cyprus in November 1954 to coordinate preparations for a prolonged insurgency. Prior to the attacks of April 1, 1955, EOKA was a virtually unknown organisation, particularly amongst the British military and police forces on the island. Nevertheless, by October, when Armitage was replaced by Field Marshal Baron Harding of Petherton, the British were already organising a forceful response. Tensions had increased on the island significantly: A group of 15 EOKA members, led by one of Grivas' lieutenants from April 1, Marko Drakos, escaped imprisonment in Kyrenia Castle by tying blankets together and abseiling out of their cell windows. Grivas, having orchestrated the first few guerrilla actions from a hideout in Nicosia, left the city for the Troodos Mountains to conduct a long campaign. In the Popular Republic of Greece, a bomb went off near Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's old home in Salonika, provoking vicious pogroms (known to the Greeks as the Septemvriana) in Istanbul and Izmir. The bomb was later revealed to have been planted by a Turkish usher, with the intention of inflaming Greco-Turkish relations. 30 died in the pogroms, all non-Turks. The majority of victims were Greeks, who were assaulted and had their properties vandalised, but Jews, Georgians and Armenians were also targeted by the Turkish mobs. In August, the Popular Republic of Greece (PRG) somewhat prematurely made a request to the UN to support Cypriot self-determination, aware that the Greek Cypriot majority desired enosis, unification with the mainland, regardless of political orientation. Nevertheless, they held reservations about EOKA, given Grivas' actions against ELAS during the Greek Civil War and his leadership of the ultra-right "Organisation X" movement active in Greece between 1944 and the Communist victory in the Civil War.
Baron Harding was challenged by EOKA action upon arrival in Cyprus. The day after he arrived (4th October 1955), EOKA forces commanded by Afxentiou raided the Lefkoniko Police Station in broad daylight and seized the entire contents of the armoury. Unwilling to let such audacious defiance go unpunished, Baron Harding declared a state of emergency on 26 November. Talks with Archbishop Makarios broke down, and in early 1956, the Archbishop was intercepted by Special Branch officers whilst attempting to board a flight at Nicosia Airport. Makarios was exiled to Mahe Island in the Seychelles, as a "guest" of Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Seychelles Sir William Addis. By this point, the British were desperate to suppress the rebellion. In the December of 1955, Afxentiou had been relocated to the Troodos Mountains with Grivas, and the British tried to take advantage of this by surrounding their headquarters in the mountains near the village of Spilia. The British aimed to capture or kill both Giorgios Grivas and Grigoris Afxentiou, thus decapitating EOKA's leadership. 700 British soldiers approached the mountain from either side. Grivas separated his forces into two, personally leading half of his troops to fight the British units advancing up the North side, whilst leaving Afxentiou to defend the South. The EOKA guerrillas were aware of the British advance, having spotted them approaching.
Pvt. Douglas tightened the grip on his L1A1 rifle, a British knock-off of the Belgian FN FAL, as he saw the silhouette scamper up the mountain. "They've seen us, Fletch", Douglas muttered to his comrade. "Well its not like there's only a handful of us or nothing. A right commando raid we are. Maybe you'll get to use that fancy 'baaatle-rifle' to use? Fletcher always had a particularly thick accent. Douglas was also the only one in the unit to be issued an L1A1, the rest of his squad armed with the Lee-Enfield No.5 Mk.1 "jungle rifles" and Sterling Mk.4 submachine guns. Sgt. MacPherson strolled over. "Well what're you ladies fookin' around for? Get a move-on, will ya?" The Scots Guardsmen had orders to storm the mountain and capture the leaders of the Cypriot resistance. As Douglas' unit advanced, they encountered relatively weak resistance. "A potshot here and there we can handle", Douglas thought to himself. "But then again, they might just have something waiting for us up on the summit". As the Scots ascended the mountain, the fog became denser and denser, until they had finally reached the summit. Visibility was poor. In the mist fog clouds they saw shadows moving about. Fletcher was the first one to open fire, downing two of the phantom silhouttes with his Sterling. Douglas fired upon one of the shadows which appeared to be charging towards him. Almost simultaneously, Fletcher took a .308 Winchester round to the side of the neck, slicing through his jugular. Eyes wide with disbelief, Fletcher put his hand to his neck, then stared at his bloody palm. Another round shot into his chest, then his shoulder. "Get to cover!" the Sergeant shouted as Fletcher convulsed in agony.
The Battle at Spilia lasted eight hours, with 250 casualties for the British. As the British approached, the Greek units had both retreated to the summit, then escaped the British noose through a path on the Western side of the mountain. EOKA casualties are unknown, but thought to be minimal. By contrast, the British had experienced the bloodiest single battle of the insurgency, almost all of which were inflicted by other British troops. With increasing pressure on EOKA guerrillas in the countryside (and after a close shave at Kykkos in May 1956), Grivas again relocated, this time to the town of Limassol.
By 1956, violence between the Greek and Turkish communities on Cyprus was becoming worryingly commonplace. To compensate for the resignation en masse of Greeks from the police, the British colonial authorities started to recruit almost entirely from the Turkish population, which opposed enosis. EOKA shootings of policemen were met with reprisals against Greek families in largely Turkish neighbourhoods. As such, a trickle of Greeks began to leave Turkish communities in the North, whilst the same was true of Southern Turks moving North to avoid counter-reprisals. The local Communist party, the Anorthotikó Kómma Ergazómenou Laoú (Progressive Party of the Working People, AKEL) attempted to prevent the violence. AKEL was committed to a unified Cyprus, with equal rights for both Greek and Turkish Cypriots. They also opposed a violent struggle with the British, at least at first. The Communists in mainland Greece were also becoming increasingly concerned with the situation. Whilst they were proponents of enosis, like many of the Greek Cypriots, they knew such a unification would not be possible with EOKA dominance in Greece. On the other hand, they knew that it would be disadvantageous to undermine the EOKA using AKEL, as the Turkish community on the island (not to mention their NATO adversaries in Turkey itself) would then be in a position of strength. Nevertheless, the Soviets were encouraging the mainland Greeks behind the scenes, hoping to neutralise (or at least endanger) Britain's key base in the Levant.
In 1957, Archbishop Makarios III was released from exile in the Maldives, but was forbidden to return to Cyprus. Instead, he was transferred to Italy [55]. On June 18, he was kidnapped by Greek agents in Bovesia and transferred to Patras in the Peloponnese. The new Greek leader, Alexandros Svolos, met with the Archbishop and negotiated a deal with the clergyman. The Greeks were willing to give both material and diplomatic support for the Cypriot independence struggle, provided that the Archbishop denounce EOKA in favour of AKEL, and to try and prevent ethnic violence on the island. Whilst Makarios was no Communist, his first priority was expulsion of the British, although the privileges he secured for the Greek Orthodox Church in mainland Greece added a level of temptation to the PRG leadership's offer. It was decided. Makarios' old EOKA group would be forsaken.
Archbishop Makarios' broadcasts from Rhodes was the latest in a series of blows suffered by EOKA in 1957. On the 18th of January, British forces had attacked Markos Drakos and his men near their hideout in Solea. Allowing his men to retreat, Drakos fought a heroic rearguard action singlehandedly in pouring rain and a hailstorm. His body was recovered with other 40 bullet-holes in it, and spookily, the Bible he always kept on his person was nowhere to be found. On March 3, the British surrounded Afxentiou's unit at his hideout near the Machairos Monastery. Whilst Afxentiou ordered his men to surrender, he himself responded with "molon labe!" ("come and get them", as said by King Leonidas to the Persian King Xerxes at Thermopylae) to the British command to lay down his arms. Taking heavy casualties in their attempts to storm his hideout, the British poured gasoline into it and set it on fire, burning Afxentiou alive. Furthermore, the Turkish minority on the island had formed the Türk Mukavemet Teşkilatı (Turkish Resistance Organisation, TMT) to oppose EOKA (with British encouragement), led by Rauf Denktaş (although Fatin Rüştü Zorlu was the honorary leader). TMT paramilitaries had been trained by Turkish Special Forces veterans and army officers (such as Alparslan Türkeş) who had clandestinely entered the country disguised as teachers, bankers or businessmen. The paramilitaries in the TMT were known as mujahid, and took part in inflaming Turkish opinion against Greek Cypriots, as well as committing atrocities against Greeks and intimidating Turkish workers into disassociating with the AKEL.
The situation in Cyprus only worsened with the recall of Baron Harding from his post as Governor. Back in the UK, his supposedly 'ineffective' handling of the Emergency had caused significant displeasure amongst the people. He was replaced by Hugh Mackintosh Foot, Baron Caradon. Although Baron Caradon had been Governor of Cyprus between 1943 -1945, he was poorly informed about the current situation and the allegiance of the current groups in Cypriot society. Desperate to keep the peace, he began to take action against all groups perceived to be working against British colonial rule, including the hitherto-non-violent AKEL and the previously British-aligned Turks. On January 27, 1958, a riot incited by the TMT, where Turkish mobs roamed through the streets looting businesses owned by Greeks and beating Greeks in the streets, the British military took action by firing upon the rioters, dispersing the crowd. This action secured the opposition of Turkish Cypriots to the British colonial regime. The increasingly withering EOKA attempted to revitalise it's public support by engaging in anti-Turkish violence. By the end of 1958, EOKA had killed 55 Turkish Cypriots, with TMT killing 60 Greeks in response.
As the situation became increasingly unstable, it was clear that AKEL would be pulled into the escalating violence sooner or later. They had tried in the past few years to promote peace between the two communities. They had been accepting of both Greeks and Turks. But as AKEL competed with EOKA for the hearts of the Greek population, and as their Turkish membership slowly eroded from the stand-over tactics of TMT thugs, the tail of the dog was wagging the body. AKEL was under increasing pressure to protect it's citizens, particularly in it's strongholds of Limassol and Famagusta. Makarios had gone to AKEL's side, legitimising it in the eyes of many Cypriot Greeks. The PRG had been clandestinely been supplying them with arms for months. AKEL members began making armed patrols into Turkish neighbourhoods with Greek minorities, escorting the Greeks out, much to the pleasure of the pro-taksim (partition) TMT militia. AKEL units barricaded streets to protect Greek and bi-ethnic communities. The British didn't approve of such unilateral action, particularly from a Communist party and who were equipped with clearly Eastern-bloc WWII surplus equipment. Skirmishes in the street between the British and AKEL forces became increasingly frequent[56].
By 1959, it was clear that the situation in Cyprus could not be sustained. As such, Britain, Turkey and Makarios (even the British acknowledged he was the most influential person in Cypriot society) [57] entered into negotiations about the future of Cyprus. In the end, the London Agreement was signed, where Cyprus would become an independent, sovereign state (with the exception of the remaining British bases at Akrotiri and Dhekelia) with a Greek president and a Turkish Vice-President. Both enosis and taksim were prohibited. A number of complicated and difficult constitutional safeguards were put into place in order to protect the Turkish minority. Although Cyprus was recognised as an independent country in 1960, sever problems still remained. There were major differences of opinion between AKEL and Archbishop Makarios, although his spiritual authority and popularity left him essentially untouchable. The Turkish TMT militias remained a significant threat, which couldn't be disarmed without sparking a civil war, and the EOKA insurgency continued in part of the countryside against what they considered "godless Communist puppets" [58], although they didn't say anything so harsh about Makarios, who clearly still sympathised with their cause unofficially. The Cypriot problem would flare up again, and have massive implications not only for Cyprus, but also for the mother countries: Greece and Turkey.
[55] Historically, Archbishop Makarios was allowed to return to Athens, during the rule of the right-wing Greek military junta. But ITTL, with a Communist Greece, allowing him to go there out of all places would be unlikely.
[56] In OTL, AKEL consistently supported a peaceful, united-island policy. They wanted Gandhiesque non-violent resistance, but with circumstances on the island as they are ITTL, this isn't really possible. Plus, whilst EOKA doesn't have the right-wing Greek benefactors they did OTL, AKEL has left-wing Greek benefactors in the Popular Republic of Greece.
[57] In OTL, Greece was also invited. But the British aren't going to invite a Communist Greece to the table.
[58] IOTL, the EOKA insurgency ceased with the granting of Cypriot independence. Grivas only reluctantly ordered a ceasefire, largely out of respect for Makarios, despite no enosis. With a more leftist Greek government, it is highly unlikely he'll halt the armed struggle.
Bumping for the sake of feedback! (please do comment, it is encouraging to know that there are people reading and whether they're liking or disliking any aspect of the TL)
Also thinking about what to do for some more updates in the near future. I'm sort of thinking Mau Mau, but there's a few other things I could do as well, and I'd need to research. Areas I definitely need to research soon are Latin America and Western Europe (much earlier in the thread, there were some suggestions about the Belgian Royal Question, which I will be discussing, although I'm deciding what to do with it). If anyone has anything interesting to share, links or what-not, I'll make sure to have a look
Also thinking about what to do for some more updates in the near future. I'm sort of thinking Mau Mau, but there's a few other things I could do as well, and I'd need to research. Areas I definitely need to research soon are Latin America and Western Europe (much earlier in the thread, there were some suggestions about the Belgian Royal Question, which I will be discussing, although I'm deciding what to do with it). If anyone has anything interesting to share, links or what-not, I'll make sure to have a look
I am very much enjoying this, especially the allusions to the future. Am I to expect there's going to be some sort of war in Turkey?
Yes there is going to be a war in Turkey, General Mosh . It is going to involve an ultranationalist movement coming to power and being unacceptable to either of the superpowers. (Glad someone has been following with interest!)
. It is going to involve an ultranationalist movement coming to power and being unacceptable to either of the superpowers. (Glad someone has been following with interest!) 
I've been following with a lot of interest waiting for you to write the next update, (hint hint
I just haven't found anything in your updates to pick you up on.
I've been pretty busy lately with uni (it's that essay time of the month), but I have been getting some research together and I should have another update by Friday (possibly even tomorrow, but I wouldn't count on it).
Also, remember that those times are in New Zealand time.