World map during the latter stages of the Second World War. Dark blue indicates Allied nations. Red indicates Soviet controlled nations. China, shown in light blue, was not a formal member of the Allies but was invaded by the USSR during the war.[2] The brown nations had outposts of the USSR but were not formal participants in the war.[3]
The Second World War or World War II was a major armed conflict, triggered when the Soviet Union begun a campaign of aggression to realise Joseph Stalin's dream: a Communist Union stretching from the coast of Atlantic Ocean to the coast of the Pacific. Opposing them were the Allied Forces, a military alliance established to resist Soviet aggression against any first world powers and uphold the ideals defined in the World Association of Nations charter. Thanks to the superior skill of the Allied commanders, the Soviet invasion was halted and the tide turned in favor of the Allies. Despite a desperate defense, the Soviet war machine was broken and Moscow was taken by the Allies.
Background
After the end of the Second World War in our timeline, Albert Einstein developed a time machine in order to prevent the Nazi Party from gaining power and starting the war. Einstein went back in time to 1924, to the Landsberg Prison, Germany, where Adolf Hitler had just been released after serving his sentence for his role in the Bavarian Beer Hall Putsch. After meeting Hitler outside the prison, Einstein erased him from the timeline.
However, without the Third Reich to challenge it, the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin grew unchecked. Stalin envisioned a global Soviet Union, with himself as the supreme ruler of the mind and spirit of every Soviet citizen. This made war inevitable.[3]
At the outset of the war, the Soviet Union had a considerable army, with 14,000,000 enlisted troops and over 7,000,000 men in the police, NKVD and other services. It was also a major economic power, with operating assets believed to be in excess of 486,200,000,000 Swiss Francs. Supporting it was a vast network of over 200,000,000 agents that infiltrated the governments of most Pan-African, Pan-Indian and Pan-Asian governments with suspected strongholds in Mexico City and Vancouver. Command posts known to the Allies included Moscow, Kiev, Stalingrad, Khartoum, Karachi and Da Nang. The Soviet Union also had ties to global organizations, such as the World Democratic Society, Asian Defense League and the Freedom Consortium.[3]
By comparison, the Allied Forces were considerably weaker, numbering only 3,400,000 enlisted troops and about 1,700,000 irregular (guerilla and resistance) forces. As a military organisation, it operated out of three main command posts: Unified Operations Headquarters in London, Northern Theatre command center in Oslo and Southern Theatre command center in Madrid.[3]
Prelude to the War
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The following is based on the Soviet campaign of Red Alert and might contradict canon. |
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Invasion of Asia
The Soviet war effort began with the invasion of East Asia by Soviet troops. During this campaign, Marshall Gradenko distinguished himself in service.[2]
Sarin gas
One of Gradenko's assignments before the invasion of Europe was field-testing the USSR's Sarin nerve gas.
Toruń massacre
One of the more tragic events was the killing of a large detachment of Polish resistance movement that took up arms outside Toruń. They, along with all civilians living in the area, were snuffed out by Soviet forces under the command of a certain Soviet commander.[4]
At this point, the USSR controlled Finland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Poland and, as a staging point for its invasion of Turkey, Iraq. The Allied Forces controlled a majority of Europe, including Norway, Sweden and the Czech Republic.
Allied perspective
Soviet invasion of Western Europe
In a raid deep behind enemy lines in Germany, Soviets captured Albert Einstein, who had offered plans to develop a new weapon for the Allies. The Allies reacted quickly and Tanya Adams was dispatched with a small raiding party to the Slovakian-Hungarian border with orders to retrieve the scientist. The base fell surprisingly quickly to the small commando force, due to the fact that it relied heavily on Tesla Coils to defend it, yet did not have adequate protection for its power plants. This was most likely due to the base being hastily built by the invading Soviets on the border. [5]
Delaying the Red Advance
Due to heavy defeats, the Allies were forced to retreat, and Field Commander A9 was ordered to take control of a passage through the Sudetes mountain pass on the Polish-Czechoslovakian border. With limited resources, he managed to destroy enemy forces in the region and allow the Allied convoy to pass through safely.[6]
The Allied army managed to gain ground in central and eastern Poland, and to prevent it from being retaken by the enemy, Tanya Adams was dispatched to destroy key bridges on the Polish-Soviet border, a task she performed flawlessly.[7][8] Meanwhile, Soviet forces invaded Bulgaria and Turkey and steadily gained ground in Scandinavia. In the Aegean theater, Turkey was taken by the Soviets.
Despite the success of Tanya's assignment, the plan ultimately failed, as Soviet forces managed to encircle and destroy the overstretched Allied military in Poland, regaining lost ground quickly and threatening the same mountain pass Commander A9 cleared earlier in the Sudetes. In a pitched defence, the Soviets were pushed back, despite their technological advantage (Allied light tanks vs. Soviet heavy tanks and Yak aircraft).[9]
Fall of Greece
Soon, the Greek front collapsed and the Soviet banners flew high in the capitals of Greece, Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Cyprus. At the same time Soviet offensive in Central Europe overran Germany and penetrated into eastern France, northern Italy and Benelux. However, a breakthrough happened as Allied diplomats convinced the UN to establish a unique military funding to back the Allied cause. In a 281 to 7 vote, the initiative was passed, and it was agreed that a global defence agency would be formed in an undisclosed European capital.[10][11]
Despite the bleak outlook, with the Allied front in Greece collapsing, the UN funding initiative marked a turning point in the war, though at the time, it did not seem so. Agent Tanya Adams, who proved key to recovering Einstein, has been captured by Soviets while transporting vital information about one of the Soviet top secret research projects. In order to prevent her from being transported to Moscow for interrogation and execution, General Von Esling dispatched Commander A9 with the mission of saving her from a Soviet prison facility near Grodno. Despite suffering torture, Agent Adams escaped captivity (though the spy who aided her was killed in the process) and delivered information on the Iron Curtain project to the Allies.[10][11]
Gaining the initiative
The Allies rallied and regained the initiative
After consultation with professor Albert Einstein, it was decided that in order to prevent the deployment of the Iron Curtain, a strike force was sent from the newly liberated Greek coastal areas to attack the Soviet submarine bases in the Aegean Sea doubling as research bases. The objective was to infiltrate the research centers and gain information on the project and then destroy them. The attack was successful and the Allies hampered the research into this device. However, this merely delayed its deployment. [12][13]
A report sent to Soviet High Command which confirmed that was traced to Bornholm, Denmark. Shortly afterwards, a large strike force was deployed to the area that conquered the Soviet bases and commandeered their radar domes in order to assess their relation with the Iron Curtain Project.[14] On other fronts, Allied armies attacked from Asia Minor, liberating Syria and Iraq. Furthermore, after a swift campaign, Norway and the most of Sweden were liberated, free from the Soviet grasp, as was the same for Greece and Cyprus.
The Chronosphere project
All this time, Allied researchers under the lead of Professor Albert Einstein worked hard to create a weapon that would turn the tide of the war. Basing on Einstein's research, the Philadelphia Experiment was conducted to test theories that would later pave way for the Chronosphere project, meant to provide reliable control over the Chrono effect. The primary research center was situated in Leich, Austria concentrating on controlling the effect. The scientists there were nearing a breakthrough when the Soviet leadership learned of the location of this facility and began to attack it on the eve of a critical experiment. In a pitched defence, Commander A9 skillfully employed his forces and safeguarded the tech center housing the project, possibly saving the future of Europe.[15][16]
At this stage, most of Europe was free from Soviet grip, with Soviet forces in Eastern Germany encircled and besieged, the Balkans almost fully liberated and Allied divisions pushing through Turkey and Finland. The Soviets in Germany were desperate, going as far as taking hostages and making demands.[17]
The Soviet Union was forced to shift their offensive into a defensive.
Foiling Soviet nuclear attack
It was then that a high ranking Soviet researcher, Vladimir Kosygin, wishing to defect to the Allied Forces, contacted General Von Esling, disclosing his location. A small strike force was dispatched to Riga, the capital of the Latvian Soviet Republic, where they infiltrated the enemy base and secured Kosygin, making a daring escape from the research base.[18]
The defector revealed details on another of Stalin's secret weapons - the nuclear bombs. Recognizing the threat, General Von Esling deployed A9 with his men to the Ural mountains, deep in Soviet territory, where they attacked the Dark Horseman military base housing the nuclear weapons research and development center.[19] However, during their attack it turned out that the base also housed silos - and at the very moment it was apparent that the Allies could conquer the base, the missiles were launched against European capitals. Keeping a cool head, A9 left command of his surface forces to one of his lieutenants and personally commanded the squad that infiltrated the missile plant. With help from Tanya Adams who was quickly sent to assist, he managed to deactivate the four silos and prevent the missiles from detonating in Europe.[20]
The sight of a warhead buried outside the British parliament remains an iconic image of just how close the Allied Forces came to defeat when victory seemed to be so close. Following this victory, Allied Forces finally removed the last pockets of Soviet resistance in Europe, leaving the USSR defending itself on its own soil.
Allied invasion of the Soviet Union
To provide heavy fire support and spearhead the assault, a large detachment of Allied forces landed near Stalingrad (referred to during that mission as 'Volgograd', possibly as a mistake) and cleared the bottleneck that prevented warships from moving up the Volga river. Supported by cruisers and destroyers, the Allies swiftly moved deep into enemy territory, the navy proving instrumental in the campaign.[21][22]
Allied Longbows were instrumental in nullifying Soviet armoured superiority during the later stages of the war.
Before they could proceed, however, the Allies had to investigate rumours of an even more powerful version of the Iron Curtain coming online. Supported by new Longbow helicopters, the European military quickly intercepted and destroyed the device before it could become a significant threat.[23] Tech centres captured during the assignment revealed the existence of a major underground weapons plant supplying the Soviet forces, which was quickly put out of commission by an elite commando team.[24]
End of the war
Occupying most of the European USSR landmass, the Allied Forces cracked down on Moscow and utilized its entire arsenal in this one final battle. Tanya Adams was sent as the harbinger of defeat and secured funds for the initial deployment of the Allied military, and as she succeeded, the bulk of the Allied expeditionary force arrived. Quickly, they established a base and, in a massive, bloody battle, eventually defeated the last Soviet defenders.[25]
During the fighting, Stalin was heavily wounded and buried under rubble during the assault. The dictator was discovered by Allied infantry and later by Nikos Stavros. Stavros ordered the infantry to abandon rather than capture Stalin. With the intent of avenging his homeland of Greece, Stavros gagged Stalin and left the dictator to die.[25]
The war was finally over.
Soviet Perspective
The red tide
The preparations for an assault on Germany were already well underway, with forward command posts established at the border. The same Soviet commander who destroyed Toruń was assigned, together with Georgi Kukov, to guard the bridges leading over the river. The German military, in a desperate move, attacked well entrenched Soviet positions and sabotaged the bridges. However, the Soviets did not let that stop them, and deployed infantry divisions that traversed the river and engaged the enemy on his own soil, beginning the campaign.[26][27]
While Soviet forces pushed through Finland to take control of Norway and Sweden, it turned out that in southern Sweden, where the Red Army executed a swift naval assault, an Allied spy had infiltrated one of the few remaining gas production facilities and destroyed it. Gradenko attempted to hide the fact from Stalin, but Nadia brought it to Stalin's attention and the Commander was sent to deal with the spy. Eventually, despite help from the Swedish resistance and Allied remnants, the spy was captured and shot.[28]
Executing a plan formulated by Nadia, Soviet forces engaged German communication centers near Berlin, forcing the Allied military to divide their forces to save the critical communication node. This left Berlin exposed, which allowed the Soviets to swiftly take the capital.[29][30]
Gaining the initiative
To support their assault on Greece, Soviet command dispatched a mining team to Khalkis island in order to establish operations there. They also were assigned to capture the Allied Radar dome in order to monitor the enemy movements in the sector.[31]
With the UN involved with the war, the war turned into a stalemate, and the Allies were starting to recapture territory. Stalin ordered one of his commanders to get trucks carrying important technology to Gorzow. [32][33]
The Allies have started resorting to unorthodox methods to defeating the Soviets. Having infiltrated a Nuclear Reactor deep into Russia and starting a meltdown. Despite Kukov's request to handle the operation, Nadia insisted that the Soviet Commander protects the reactor from having a meltdown, the commander does indeed succeed. [34]
Liability elimination
Stalin, angry that a "private briefing" with Nadia had been interrupted, asks Gradenko why has he called for him to attend a meeting, Gradenko then shows a transmission showing units disappearing out of a sudden, Nadia and Stalin proceed to talk about a Iron Curtain project that leaves Kukov confused, the commander then gets ordered to destroy resistance on Elba Island[35][36]
After the operation, the commander witnessed a drunk Stalin and Gradenko issuing death warrants. Kukov was baffled at the fact that Stalin had seemingly forgot that a convoy carrying important elements had been captured by the Allies, he proceeded to order the commander to destroy the truck since it has now become a liability, the commander succeeded. [37]
A rather envious Kukov tells the commander that he must escort a convoy through a mountain pass in France, the mission proved rather simple as he could field test a new Soviet invention, the MiG [38]
After the operation, Gradenko gets invited to a meeting by Nadia, which turns out to be a ploy to assasinate him, as Gradenko lays dead on the table. Kukov comes in and tells the commander that the Allies are refueling a large fleet of cruisers that can be a threat to the Soviets. [39]
I want it...
Proving useful to the wonderful Soviet Commander after an attack on Allied naval forces, Stalin ordered his Commander who now takes up as Supreme Commander of the Red Army after Gradenko's death and his next mission proves to be on his next target: the Allied Chronosphere. Having placed a tracking device on Einstein before his escape, the Soviets located the Chronosphere somewhere in Switzerland.[40]
The Soviets had failed to capture the Chronosphere in Switzerland, but occupied the country in the process and captured Albert Einstein. Einstein's execution was publicly announced, and before he could be shot by a firing squad, the Allies teleported Einstein to safety using another Chronosphere. The Soviets had previously equipped Einstein's pocket watch with a transmitter. The transmitter pointed to the location of the second Chronosphere being in either Spain or Portugal. Stalin, obsessed with capturing the Allied superweapon, ordered the commander to capture the Chronosphere.[41]
Ultimately, the operation fails. The Allies manage to destroy the chronosphere before it's too late, Stalin, furious at his commander. Orders him to be shot, until Nadia intervenes and tells her that the operation was all Kukov's fault and that there was a fourth transmitter, the moment Kukov tried to reason with Stalin, Stalin strangled him.. he ordered the commander to establish a strike team..[42]
a continental Soviet Union is their destiny.
After days of brutal fighting, the battle ended. The Soviets, despite facing many casualties, have finally done it. The UK had surrendered, and the entirety of Europe was under Soviet control, Stalin celebrated in the Buckingham palace.
Aftermath, Allied perspective
The victory parade in Moscow.
Red Alert Universe, Allied Perspective.
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With the defeat of the USSR, the Allied Forces managed to successfully defend the freedom of Europe, and ended Stalin's tyranny. However, the cost of victory was high, with an estimated 100 million people killed during the conflict.
What's worse, the Allies never found the Yuri-led Psychic Corps and their mind control project, which would allow Russia to recover and resume the conflict in the Third World War. Stalin's Advisor was also nowhere to be seen.
After the war was over, America stepped in and aided in reconstruction efforts, which included appointing Premier Alexander Romanov, a distant relative of the ex-royal family, and a Communist figure who promoted peace, as the nation's new leader. This, too, would also be a costly mistake.
Tiberium Universe, Allied perspective
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The Second World War is widely recognized as the most destructive armed conflict in human history, with the possible exception of the Third Tiberium War and the subsequent Scrin invasion of Earth. Casualties were numbered in the tens of millions, and the material losses and destruction of irreplaceable works of art, historical monuments and others could not be counted. In the post-war world, the Allied Forces forced the USSR to disarm most of its military, leaving it only with forces necessary to defend itself. They also ensured that the Soviet Union would pay for reparations, according to the Peace Treaty. Eventually, the Soviet Union itself disbanded; reorganising into 15 independent states, with Russia being the largest and the most powerful of them.
Nobody sought to locate Stalin's mysterious advisor or Nadia, who was allegedly shot to death by the advisor.
One permanent effect of the war was the establishment of Black Ops 9, the predecessor to GDI, which acted covertly under UN rule to ensure that another great war would never take place.
Alas, the Tiberium meteor impact at the Tiber River in 1995 changed all that.
Aftermath, Soviet perspective
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Inside the Buckingham Palace, Stalin congratulated his Commander on a job well done, and that he will see it to personally that he be "rewarded". Stalin was overjoyed with this decisive victory and danced around the room in the presence of Nadia and his closest advisor. Nadia prepared her brew of tea to Stalin and he cheerily drunk it. Only moments later, Stalin began to choke and Nadia revealed that she poisoned the tea. As Stalin fell to the floor dying from the poison, Nadia sadistically shot him at point blank range, now free from being Stalin's mistress four times in the back and one inside the victim's eye.
Nadia revealed herself to be a member of a shadowy organisation that controlled the Soviet Union (and thus manipulated the whole war) calling itself the Brotherhood of Nod, who would be "tired" of the Soviet Union sometime in the 1990s. Nadia appointed the Soviet Commander to succeed Stalin as Premier but, Stalin's advisor shot Nadia in the back, apparently no longer needing her. Going by the name of Kane, he said just one thing to the commander...
| “ | I am the future...- Kane | ” |
Behind the scenes
Originally, Red Alert was planned to be C&C0, a prequel to Tiberian Dawn, explaining the background for some of the more outlandish technologies seen in the first Command & Conquer. However, eventually Westwood dropped this approach and Red Alert 1 became the nexus for an entire universe of its own. Uniquely among C&C titles, Red Alert is canon in both the Tiberium and Red Alert universes.
Maps
References
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