is a series I'm running where we consider an alternate future.
The first part of our series begins in 2010 with the rise to power of politicians Elijah Lee and Vladimir Hydrov, who come to power in China and the Russian Federation respectively. Lee, a devout Communist, seeks to bring the world under the banner of the People's Republic of China. Vladimir, also a Communist, is significantly dwarfed by his more powerful southern neighbor and decides to come along for the ride, converting to Communism.
Lee's plan follows an insidious policy similar to detente, in which he supposedly renounced Communism and allowed free-market reforms and bogus elections to fool Western powers, primarily Britain and the US, into believing that Communism has finally fallen. Lee went as far as changing the official state name to the Chinese Imperium and even altering the flag to a red white and blue color scheme.
This successfully fooled the world at large, as Lee and Hydrov launched a massive military research campaign. Soon, the already immense Chinese Army was now the most technologically advanced military branch in the world, and Chinese battleships and carriers rivaled even American power. Russia's achievements went even better: Their military had swollen to unbelievable size, surpassing even China, and they had a network of bombardment satellites and surveillance satellites that covered every inch of the planet.
Lee, paranoid as per the norm for dictators, decided to eliminate Hydrov, fearing competition. Hydrov suffered a sudden bout of illness and shortly died, whereupon his successor [A Chinese agent, of course] moved all of the Russian military to Chinese territory. China then secretly started forest fires, encouraged terrorism, and in general practically destroyed Russia as a nation.
With Russia falling even beyond North Korea in terms of power, Lee cunningly declared that China would step in and aid the failing nation. In reality, he was only pretending at benevolent motives while he took command of Russian troops and bases the world over and annexed Russia into the Imperium. With this, China's industry and economy boomed as Britain, America, India, Canada, and Sweden sent billions to aid in Russia's rebuilding.
Tragically, almost all Russian civilians were rounded up and massacred by the Chinese Army, practically exterminating the Russian people. With this, Russia's territories in Finland and Kazakhstan became part of the Imperium as well.
Lee cunningly took advantage of the immense resources of Russia that had fallen into his hands. With Russian oil and mineral resources, China's military advantage became overwhelming, as their killsat network sat above potential rivals. Their army, navy, air force, and secret police were the most advanced forces in the world. With this, they set about using political subversion and puppet governments to organize a reason to invade the first target of a new Communist empire: Southeast Asia.
The minute the first shots were fired, South Asia was doomed. Chinese armor and troops poured across the border in unimaginably huge numbers while the formidable Chinese navy blockaded their ports. Within the first few weeks, Laos and Vietnam gave in. Myanmar withstood slightly longer, but then fell. Cambodia was next, leaving a beleaguered Thailand alone against the Imperial juggernaut. The Thais fought bravely, but Chinese troops annihilated their military and stormed into Bangkok.
For the most part, the other major powers of the day condemned the Southeast Asians for their supposed "unprovoked aggression" and "terrorist activities" against China. They swallowed Lee's reports utterly and without question. South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan were unconvinced, as was a West Virginian congressman, Peyton Thomson, who immediately began a closer look at China's policies...
But now Lee's attention turned to his irritating neighbors in North Korea, who had begun threatening nuclear war. After Lee scornfully responded to Kim Jong-Il that "North Korean nuclear power....is an overinflated propaganda balloon. Let us see your supposed weapons," North Korea immediately declared war on China. The South, sensing opportunity, invaded the North just as the Chinese war machine swept down from the north. A manufactured incident gave Lee an excuse to wipe the South off the map as well, with no aid from the US. Taiwanese troops fought alongside the South, which allowed the crushing power of China's military to fall upon Taiwan as well. When South Korean and Taiwanese survivors fled to Japan, China accused Japan of harboring terrorists intent on disrupting the Imperium. Despite frantic denials by the Japanese, China declared war. Unfortunately, the US, by now solidly stocked with Communist spies and lulled into a sense of security by Lee's propaganda, withdrew from Japanese bases and condemned them.
Japan fell within hours of the first shots on the islands. By this point, Chinese military had invaded Afghanistan and several other states in central Asia with the pretense of taking care of Al Qaeda, which they did. However, they also annexed those states. India, highly suspicious now of Chinese invasion threat, began building up a defense force. Britain and Sweden began the usual weak appeasement policies with China, but the United States became suspicious. Radical anti-Chinese parties, led by Thomson, grew more and more influential as American public opinion began to swing against China's expansionism.
America had, by this point, for all intents and purposes, annexed Saudi Arabia and Australia. China invaded Iran on the grounds that it was plotting against the Imperium [for once, this was true] and shortly afterward took over Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. The Philippines fell to Chinese naval forces shortly afterward, followed by Indonesia.
Now, in 2024, Thomson was elected president at the head of the Radical Party. He immediately began to build up a force for the invasion of China. This fatal decision would ultimately lead to the destruction and humiliation of the United States.
The Sino-American War began in 2026, when American troops massed in northern Australia and Congress declared war on China on the grounds of Chinese subversion of the 51st state of Australia. China's response was vicious. Killsats rained destructive kinetic rounds down on Australian bases, annihilating half the US Army in one stroke. The other half had been loaded onto submarine transports and launched towards China's coastlines. The Chinese Navy soon swept down on them and began to destroy them easily. Meanwhile, this invasion force was suddenly thrown into confusion when Chinese space shuttles carrying antisatellite missiles blasted the entire American communications network to bits. Further, kinetic rounds flattened such cities as Chicago, New York, Washington, Seattle, San Francisco, Houston, Miami, and any other city that presented a large enough target. With the invasion force destroyed, China swept into Saudi Arabia and Australia, taking them for its own.
But it wasn't over yet. Lee was determined to show the West what the utter power of his Imperium was capable of. As a result, it wasn't long before Imperial troops stormed into the continental US itself. Within days, they had reached Washington. President Thomson was forced to sue for peace. At the negotiations, he balked when Lee stated that he would take Hawaii and give Alaska to Canada, intent on breaking the back of America forever. When Thomson refused, Lee acidly threatened to gift Mexico with the entire American Southwest, forcing the President to submit. The United States now was a ruined, smoldering country, relying on aid from Britain and Sweden to keep going. Seeing this, the two major European powers realized the need for action on their part.
Lee's next target was India. As his victorious armies returned, barely dented by clashing with America, he began formulating plans for the fall of the Subcontinent, codenamed Operation Trident. Forces would invade from Myanmar, Iran, and naval transports, to wipe out India once and for all.
British and Swedish officials realized that if China was ever to be stopped, this would be the place. The Battle of India decided the fate of the world. After staging an incident on the border, Trident went ahead full power. Lee was, however, caught off-guard by Swedish and British forces, sweeping in through Russia and capturing huge swathes of territory. Within weeks, they had encountered the Chinese Army and were already being driven back. The Indians held out courageously, fighting to the death against a foe vastly more powerful than they. Considering this, they did extremely well.
However, China was powerful enough to keep replacing men and units as soon as they were destroyed. Realizing this, the British Prime Minister, Cassius Roderick, pleaded with the broken American people to stop buying Chinese goods. Roderick's request was ignored by the stubborn Thomson and, reluctantly, Royal Navy forces annihilated American ports and shelled beaches with chemical and small nuclear rounds, rendering them incapable of receiving any ships.
China soon found itself cut off from its chief source of income. As Europe had stopped buying Chinese goods at the outbreak of war, China now had no way of obtaining money to run its war machine. The collapse was remarkably quick, India pushing China out of its territory entirely while Swedish and British air forces annihilated Chinese cities. America had halfheartedly declared war on Britain after the incident, but their ailing air force could not change the balance. In 2031, Beijing fell to the Three Powers, as they had become known. The Dragon War, as Roderick called it, was finally over. But it left behind an entire world smoldering and in ruins. Indian control of Pakistan was lost again. The Three Powers were unable to shoulder the burden of recovery, with America in shambles, setting the stage in a similar manner to how WWI led to WWII. What will happen next? Find out in episode 2 of Tomorrow!
