Shattered Union
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Timeline
October 19, 1987: Black Monday occurs worse than in OTL. The United States experiences rampant inflation, high unemployment, increasing government debt and frequent fuel shortages.
November 8, 1988: Following a disputed and sham election, the U.S. Congress installs the unpopular Dan Quayle as 41st President of the United States.
December 10, 1988: Increased unrest, rioting and a growing number of militias and extremists have given rise to ever-increasing domestic violence and terrorism in the United States and western countries.
March, 1989: Conditions continue to deteriorate in the United States, the economy continues to decline. President Quayle deploys National Guard units to areas of significant unrest, placing them under martial law.
May 1989: East Germany is in turmoil. Many citizens are dissatisfied with their nation’s Communist leadership and seek reunification with West Germany.
June 4, 1989: Tiananmen Square protests occur, China brutality cracks down.
August 19, 1989: The Pan-European Picnic does not occur from OTL due to European economic issues resulting from Black Monday in 1987.
October 7, 1989: Mikhail Gorbachev, a supporter of East German reforms, visits East Berlin. During his return flight, the hard-line Communist leadership stages a coup that deposes Gorbachev and installs Gennady Yanayev and his State Committee on the State of Emergency as the de-facto government of the Soviet Union. The Soviet government announces that Gorbachev resigned for "reasons of ill health." He is never heard from again.
October 25, 1989: Yanayev and the hard-liners fiercely resist the rise of glasnost and perestroika. They are determined to end the uprisings in East Germany and the rest of the Eastern Bloc with a swift Chinese-style military crackdown in late October. In East Germany, the crackdown is not limited to demonstrators; numerous moderate Communists such as Egon Krenz and Günter Schabowski are "disappeared", never to be heard from again. The crackdown inflames popular opposition to communism.
November 2, 1989: The People's Republic of China announces support for Yanayev and the State Committee for the State Emergency.
Late November, 1989: A demonstration in Leipzig is brutally repressed by the East German Army at great loss of life. Two days later, a demonstration at the Brandenburg Gate ends with East German soldiers killing many East Berlin residents trying to scale the Berlin Wall and a West German cameraman filming the events. Those soldiers also fire shots over the wall into West Berlin. Soon after, the East German government responds to the international condemnation of their conduct by ordering all foreign journalists out of the country.
Mid-December 1989: NATO airlifts military reinforcements to West Berlin. Soon after, Secretary of State James Baker arrives in West Berlin to secretly meet with General Dmitry Leonov, the Soviet commander in East Germany, who strongly opposes Yanayev's crackdown. However, on the way to the meeting, Leonov is killed by a car bomb, for which a West German neo-Nazi group claims responsibility. After an interview with West German TV in which Yanayev implicitly threatens West Berlin, an American colonel orders that tactical nuclear weapons in West Germany be placed on high alert. Yanayev responds with new threats, a massive deployment of the Soviet submarine fleet, and incursions of Soviet Bear bombers into Alaskan airspace.
January 25, 1990: Several East German and Soviet tank divisions are mobilized to cut off transportation and supply links between West Germany and West Berlin, and the Soviet Air Force moves to close off East Germany's airspace. Yanayev hopes the plan will prevent the West from encroaching into the Soviet sphere of influence and isolate Berlin from the West. NATO responds by deploying thousands of additional troops into West Germany to strengthen their existing garrisons there.
February 12, 1990: Though wildly unpopular, the United States prepares their first military convoy across the North Atlantic, the Soviets announce their intention to blockade the U.S. Navy transports. Yanayev desires to cut off Western Europe and weaken the NATO buildup.
February 14, 1990: The US and Britain condemn the blockade and last-minute attempts at a compromise fall through.
February 20, 1990: When the convoy crosses into the designated exclusion zone, Soviet forces are ordered to attack. Nearly a quarter of the convoy is sunk in the ensuing battle before the NATO fleet clears the air and sea lanes to Europe.
February 22, 1990: The United Nations Security Council holds an emergency session in New York City in the hopes of diffusing the hostilities between the superpowers, but the United States and Soviet Union both refuse to back down until the other does so.
March 1, 1990: The world panics after the failed session. The world economy fails over fears of war. Protests break out across the United States and the West. Unrest increases. The United States logistics system grinds to a halt. Separatist sentiment rises. Riots, looting and shootouts occur over fears of mutual destruction and doomsday ideology.
March 5, 1990: The United States sends National Security Advisor Martin Jacobs to the Soviet Union for last-ditch effort talks with Yanayev. Figuring that he knows that the Soviets are losing power in Eastern Europe, Jacobs offers Yanayev an extended timetable for the Soviet withdrawal from Eastern Europe in exchange for a de-escalation of the military buildup. Yanayev refuses.
March 23, 1990: Polish anti-communists cause disarray in Soviet supply lines to East Germany.
March 27, 1990: East German central government falls apart, open revolt erupts across the Eastern Bloc anti-communists, hardline communists, as well ethnic minorities within the Soviet Union, press for the overthrow of their own leaders, emboldened by the collapsing East Germany and fearing the Soviets are losing control. Regions within the Soviet Union begin to declare independence.
March 29, 1990: Similar to the Soviet Union, anti-communist and pro-communist revolts occur across the United States. Rioting continues to worsen. Federal relief comes to a halt as government debt mounts. States begin to lose faith in the federal government and start to rely on themselves.
March 30, 1990: Inspired by the events in the Soviet Union and losing faith in the federal governments actions to prevent a global crisis, California, Idaho, Utah, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Vermont and Alaska declare home rule and activate their respective State Defense Forces. Martial law declared in breakaway states.
March 31, 1990: U.S. President Quayle calls for an emergency session of Congress in an attempt to solve the crisis at home.
April 1, 1990: The United Kingdom, West Germany, France, Italy and Greece all experience increased unrest and increasingly violent protests over concerns of the impending crisis.
April 3, 1990: Washington DC is struck by a low-yield nuclear weapon, killing President Quayle and most of the US Congress, effectively wiping out the presidential line of succession and thrusting the United States into total chaos. Multiple groups claim responsibility.
It is speculated that the low-yield nuclear weapon is of Soviet origin and constructed by KGB and/or communist agents in Washington D.C.
April 4, 1990: The United States fractures. Mass violence ravages the country, killing thousands. States begin to declare home-rule and some band together to maintain security.
April 7, 1990: A contingent United States government relocates to Hawaii, but is never heard of again.
April 8, 1990: NATO dissolves, internal strife is at an all time high in European countries. Abandoned US soldiers on foreign soil become mercenaries or disappear into civilian life. The United Kingdom dissolves into England, Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland is reunited with Ireland proper.
April 19, 1990: As revolt continues in the Soviet Union, Yanayev situates the Soviet Army around the most central regions of the USSR in an attempt to solidify control and maintain what remains of the Soviet Union. Spain, France and Italy fracture.
April 23, 1990: Canada fractures in a state of panic. World stability is at an all time low.
By this point, both Soviet and U.S. nuclear arsenals are in jeopardy. Many missile silos seal themselves off to maintain security. Self-proclaimed breakaway states now remain.
Nations in this Timeline
United States
- Republic of Superior
- Great Plains Federation
- Federal Republic of Texas
- New California Republic
- Cascadia
- Federated Republic of Greater Ohio
- Republic of Florida
- Georgia Federation
- Gulf States Confederaton
- New England Commonwealth
- Pennsylvania Commonwealth
- The Union of Nevada and Utah
- Free Republic of Franklin
- Free Republic of Lincoln
- Republic of Vermont
- Republic of Jefferson
- Republic of Absaroka
- Independent State of Alaska