European Colonies Without The Cold War

[danwild6]

So lets suppose the US is entirely successful in keeping the atomic bomb program under wraps until the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Soviet program is none existant until 1945, and slow progress through the late 1940's and the rise of Trofim Lysenko and Lysenkoism leads to the arrest and dismissal of physicist and an effective end of the Soviet nuclear program. Only with the death of Nikita Kruschev is Lysenkoism in 1971 repealed as offical Soviet science policy. Consequently the Korean and Vietnam Wars don't take place. And faced with American nuclear hegemony the Soviet Union effectively retreats into itself to build a socialist workers paradise.

What would the effects of no Cold War be in Africa? Would decolonisation be continued or would Europeans not faced with Soviet backed independence movements and lacking pressure from the US to leave their colonies remain in control? Would Africa be more developed or not much changed from OTL?

 

[Flocculencio]

Incidentally with no Cold War, the US is going to retain it's role as an anti-Imperialist Power. IOTL they were forced to choose what they saw as the lesser of two evils- helping out the colonial powers against Communism. In a world without a Cold War, America is going to strongly encourage decolonization.

 

[Wendell]

Incidentally with no Cold War, the US is going to retain it's role as an anti-Imperialist Power. IOTL they were forced to choose what they saw as the lesser of two evils- helping out the colonial powers against Communism. In a world without a Cold War, America is going to strongly encourage decolonization.

This, but the real challenge here is in finding a way to prevent the cold war with a POD ostensibly after 1938.

 

[danwild6]

Did the US really switch to supporting the colonial powers during the Cold War? Seems to me we forced decolonisation faster as a way to preempt the Soviet backed movements from gaining popularity. As far as the POD goes I guess thinking it over it may actually result in less brinkmanship but more proxy wars between third powers. The Soviets may stir things up with the British but court the French as suppliers of high technology.

 

[Wendell]

Did the US really switch to supporting the colonial powers during the Cold War? Seems to me we forced decolonisation faster as a way to preempt the Soviet backed movements from gaining popularity. As far as the POD goes I guess thinking it over it may actually result in less brinkmanship but more proxy wars between third powers. The Soviets may stir things up with the British but court the French as suppliers of high technology.

The U.S. propped up the French in Vietnam after the war, and went along with Italy retaining its Somaliland after the war, albeit as a U.N. mandate.

 

[danwild6]

True about Vietnam but the Korean War shaped a lot of attitudes about how the US should pursue policy in Vietnam. Wasn't there also a communist government in France at the time that the US wanted to keep out of the Soviet sphere of influence?

 

[Flocculencio]

Did the US really switch to supporting the colonial powers during the Cold War? Seems to me we forced decolonisation faster as a way to preempt the Soviet backed movements from gaining popularity.

The thing is that once the US was perceived to be supporting colonial powers (as they did with France), they lost credibility with a lot of anti-colonial movements who then turned...to the Soviets. And were then seen as dangerous scoialists. Vicious cycle.