The Twin Projects, Part 1: Deutschland

So currently I'm in the middle of a couple of really big projects, which are a big part of the reason I decided to set up this Patreon. Writing initially started off as a little hobby of mine, but over the years I've gotten more and more interested in it. (Even if my uploads on Fanfic.net are inconsistent.) So, this ultimately led me to start two little projects, which I'll talk about here. This 'post' will be divided into two parts for convenience and ease, so let's start with the first and oldest of these two projects here:

PART 1: DEUTSCHLAND

The first is my very own novel, titled 'Deutschland.'

What is Deutschland?

Well, it's my first attempt at writing my very own novel. Ever since I've gotten into writing, I've always wanted to give writing my own story a try, and being someone who loves history and alternate history so much, I decided to go with an alternate history novel as my first novel. One of my biggest inspirations was of course the Master of Alternate History himself, Harry Turtledove, as he's always written incredible stories that I've always enjoyed reading. (If you haven't read Turtledove's work and enjoy Alternate History/Historic Fiction, then I definitely recommend you give him a try. The War that came Early and the South Victory series are probably some of his best.)

What is the Premise of the Story? What's it about?

Deutschland is an alternate history novel set in the year 1944, nearly 30 years after Germany won the 'Weltkrieg' or World War 1, standing on the precipice of a new World War just after getting out of a brutal, 4-year long war with the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe. France, leading a Fascist League, prepares to invade Germany to 'Wipe out the German Menace' once and for all, and restore France's position as a global power. 

Germany, since winning the war in 1918, has been pretty much the undisputed masters of Europe, are the only ones out of the original Central Powers that have really prospered (Austria-Hungary collapsed during the Great Depression and the Ottomans collapsed shortly after the war in the 1920s) and since their victory and the territorial/colonial gains that were made have become powerful enough to contest the British Empire and the United States across the world's oceans, as they not only have the world's largest professional army (Not largest army overall) but the world's 3rd largest navy by 1944, tied with Britain who were forced to rebuild their navy after having it reduced to a third and placed on restrictions by the Germans until 1935. (In response to Japan's growing aggression/expansion and France's rearmament programs.)  However, all is not well within the Empire. Germany had just ended a devastating 4-year long war with the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe in what is known as the German-Soviet War or Great Eastern European War, with millions dead and its economy strained by being forced into a total war economy for so long, and its manpower reserves depleted by the vicious and horrific fighting in the east. And to make matters worse, France is showing signs of getting ready for a massive invasion. If France and its allies choose to invade now, it's quite possible Germany may not have the strength of arms in the west to stop them.

France, which has been under the rule of a Fascist regime since the 1920s, has begun massive rearmament and militarization programs to restore the glories of Napoleonic France and re-establish itself as a world power. (Essentially France has become this world's equivalent to Nazi Germany) In its wake, several other nations in Western and Southern Europe, such as Italy, Spain, and Portugal have all either fallen under Fascist regimes or become more radically right-wing in politics, with many more nations across Europe becoming more ultra-nationalist as a result. France suffered greatly in its defeat in World War 1, being forced to give up much in territory and required to reduce its army and pay massive reparations to Germany, which completely broke its economy. This led to a march on Paris by French Fascists who quickly seized control of the country and have slowly and quietly been rebuilding and rearming for a second round against their now hated enemy, 'the Hun.' They work closely with the other members of the Fascist League to compensate for both their inferior population and industry compared to the Germans, and have had significant success in financing and building up support for other Fascist Parties across Europe, looking to gain as many allies as possible for their inevitable war with Germany. And now, in 1944, as Germany comes out of a long, exhausting, and devastating war with the Soviet Union, their chance at vengeance may have just come.

In the Pacific, Japan still wages war on America and... pretty much anyone/everyone in the Pacific. (Because, you know, it's the Japanese Empire, being the mad psychopaths they were.) However, in this universe, Japan's in a much stronger position due to one particular event/gamble that ended up paying dividends for them. During World War 1, Japan and Siam initially fought on the side of the Entente (As they did in our world), but in 1917, not satisfied with what little territory they've gained and the lack of respect to their contributions by the Entente, end up choosing to switch sides and invading several areas controlled by the Entente, such as China and several European/American Colonies throughout the Pacific. While not the sole reason, this factor forcing the Entente to divert hundreds of thousands/millions of soldiers to the Pacific to fight the Japanese helps contribute to a Central Power victory in WW1, and in turn results in Japan and Siam seizing lots of territory in the Pacific as spoils of war. This resulted in more resources for the Empire of the Rising Sun, which in turn led to more industry for the Empire to use to expand its military might. In the years after the war, the Pacific was essentially stuck in a cold war between Japan and the United States/United Kingdom as both sides didn't want to see the other achieve dominance in the Pacific. Aside from this, history more or less stays the same in the Pacific. Japan still invades China to gain its resources, but Nationalist China is backed by both the US and Britain, which results in bitter struggles across the Chinese mainland as Japan gets stuck in a brutal war of attrition. The Pacific War still happens in 1941, with Japan launching surprise attacks on the US, Britain, and other Entente allies across the Pacific, but now in 1944, the war is reaching a critical point. Japan is slowly being pushed back in the Dutch East Indies and America is poised to invade the Philippines to liberate and cut off Japan's access to the Far East's resources, while Britain is slowly pushing the Japanese and Siamese back through Burma and China continues to slug it with them out across the Chinese Mainland. 

In South America, the German-back Argentine League, which has seized control of Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay, are waging a massive war with the Soviet-backed Brazilian Soviet Republic for what will likely result in control and dominance of the South American Continent. If either side wins and seizes control of the other, it could very well lead to the establishment of a South American Superpower, shifting the balance of power across the globe. (It's actually being covered in the first chapter of the story, with some artwork to go with it. I'm hoping to have artwork go along with every chapter in the story to help get the reader invested in the story as they read it.)

And lastly, in the Soviet Union, it is Leon Trotsky who has seized power instead of Joseph Stalin, and Trotsky has ruled Russia with an Iron Fist since Lenin's Death. However, with the loss of the Baltic States, Poland, Ukraine, and Finland, the Soviet Union had lost much of both its industrial centers and breadbaskets to feed its population. The Soviet Union, still a force to be reckoned with, is somewhat weaker in this timeline as opposed to our own due to this loss of strategic territory. Trotsky has compensated for this by instituting several '5-year plans' to heavily industrialize the Union and create vast swaths of new farmlands, which have more or less succeeded. (Even if millions died from starvation. Fun Fact, the whole 5-year plan thing that Stalin did in our timeline, was actually Trotsky's idea. Stalin just simply 'borrowed' the idea, since he was in charge of the USSR and Trotsky was hiding away in Mexico.) The Soviet Union did attempt to retake its old Imperial Territories from the 'Monarcists' Germans in the Great German-Soviet War in 1940, but this merely resulted in 4 years of bloodshed and devastation across Eastern Europe, ending with only a small change in territory for both sides and a ceasefire clause of 10 years. Now, the USSR focuses on rebuilding and helping fledgling communist movements in other countries gain more momentum in order to help spread the 'workers' revolution' across the globe. In regards to Eastern Europe, and eventually the rest of Europe, however, the Soviet Union will merely have to bide its time and see whether or not this French invasion will actually happen or not.

There's a lot more information and lore for this, but at the moment I just want to give you a general idea of the state of the world in this Alternate History novel. This is something I've been working on for the better part of a year. (Unfortunately, progress has been slow due to a lot of personal stuff going on that kept me from just sitting down and working on it.) However, I have made some progress on it. The prologue chapter is roughly two-thirds down and the first chapter is about halfway done. When I finish the Prologue, I'll probably post it on here as a bit of a teaser for you. 

Anyway, that's all I have for now. I'll get to work on the second part of this post as soon as possible, but I'm waiting on some more artwork and concept art to finish so I can show just what exactly is being worked on. When I have some, I'll upload it here as soon as possible. Until then, see you next time.

-Azores