And last but not leastLmao he got to be PM for ten years and introduced some of the most radical reforms in British history, plus he's still Home Secretary. Not bad given his OTL career
Groups and Beliefs
The People's Liberation Front
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania, while neither dictatorships nor autocracies, have been governed by oligarchic elites since independence. While theoretically democratic states, their governments are distinctly authoritarian. There is extensive press censorship, identity documents are mandatory and many opposition parties are banned.
This has always been justified by the threat posed by Russia and the Entente. However it has also provided fertile ground for far left movements. Seeking to capitalise on this the Entente organised a loose alliance of communist parties within the Warsaw Pact as the People's Liberation Front to conduct guerilla warfare with the Pact's home territories.
The Front is actually five separate guerilla movements who coordinate to some degree. It is known as the IVE in Estonia, the TAP in Latvia, the LIF in Lithuania, the FWL in Poland and FEO in Romania. These groups have yet to achieve the success of the Warsaw Pact sponsored groups, but their effectiveness is rapidly increasing.
In Romania however, a brutal conflict has developed between the FEO and AER. Both have the vision for a fully united Romania. However the FEO follows a communist path and the AER, an anarchist one. Both already routinely operate both in Romania and Wallachia seeking to destroy the other. As neither has taken the step of attacking their patrons, these operations are encouraged and supported. However both groups are also taking the opportunity to build up local support for what they see as the inevitable revolution.
Anarchism and Communism
When the Great War ended, the defeated Central Powers fell into chaos. Communist revolutions erupted in all of them. The most successful was in Germany. The communist Spartacus League gained control of half of Germany. It took three years to crush the revolution. But all the revolutions where crushed.
The defeat of the post war revolutions led to a division in the far left. Communism was perceived to have failed. Many looked for an alternative. They found it in anarcho-syndicalism. Soon the anarchists rivalled the communists. Relations between the two groups are at best strained. In Spain they cooperate out of necessity, neither could have gained control without the other. But it is a marriage of convenience and likely to collapse once the revolution is secure.
During the boom years of the 20s these movements gained only limited support. But when the Great Depression hit, their message found a ready audience. The established order outside of the democracies responded with crackdowns and repression. By 1932, revolutionary groups had sprung up throughout Europe. It wasn't long before the Great Powers were funding and arming these groups. They destabilised and distracted their opponents. Nobody worried much about arming and supporting revolutionaries. They'd failed in the post war chaos, what chance did they have now. So nobody thought anything of it.
But the revolutionaries are different this time. To increase their effectiveness against their enemies, the Great Powers have encouraged and facilitated these groups to work together. They've been funded and trained for years. No longer is it isolated disjointed spontaneous revolution, now it's organised and coordinated revolution. In seeking simply to weaken the other side, the Great Powers have created a united and disciplined revolutionary movement.
Fascism
Contrasting anarchism and communism on the far left is fascism on the far right. Unlike the far left ideologies, fascism is taken very seriously. Five states, Croatia, France, Greece, Serbia and Slovenia are directly controlled by fascist regimes and it is a powerful voice in the other Entente powers.
The ideology first emerged in Italy after the Great War. Many of Italy's war aims had been unrealised. This led to a surge in irredentism. One of the groups which attempted to capitalise on this was Benito Mussolini's Partito Nazionale Fascista or National Fascist Party. This party gives the ideology its name. Mussolini's Fascist party was a powerful force in Italian politics during the 20s, until an attempted coup in 1927 saw it banned and driven underground.
The movement spread to German as Adolf Hitler's Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP) or National Socialist German Workers Party attempted a coup in 1923. The coup failed and many of its leaders were executed. Hitler however escaped to Austria.
The movements first success came in 1924 when Theodoros Pangalos' Ellinikó Kómma Enótitas or Hellenic Unity Party overthrew King George II and created the Greek State. Pangalos' success established him and Greece as the leader of the Fascist movement. It's next success came in 1927 When Dimitrije Ljotić's Srpski Narodni Pokret or Serbian National Movement deposed King Alexander II and imposed a fascist government. And in Bulgaria Aleksandar Tsankov's Natsionalno Sotsialno Dvizhenie (National Social Movement) would wield strong influence after the 1928 coup.
It was however the Great Depression which brought the movements greatest success. In 1933 French President Philippe Petáin dissolved the National Assembly and appointed Édouard de Castelnau to the post of Prime Minister. De Castelnau formed the Fascist Front de Salut National or National Salvation Front from several far right parties. De Castelnau's FSN rapidly displaced Pangalos as the leader of the Fascist movement. It is also de Castelnau who introduced the strong thread of racism toward Jews which now characterises the movement.
Fascism spread to Croatia and Slovenia in the wake of 1934 revolutions. The revolutions were crushed by Serbian troops with Croatia and Slovenia being reduced to Serbian client states, governed by Ante Pavelić's Ustaše in Croatia and Leon Rupnik's Rešilna Liga in Slovenia.
Elsewhere the movement, supported by de Castelnau's NSF, is growing in strength. Corneliu Codreanu's Garda de Fier in Romania, Bolesław Piasecki's Oboz Narodowo Radykalny-Falanga in Poland are considered a real threat. The IRA in the Commonwealth fell under fascist domination in the wake of the crackdown after the assassination if King Edward VIII. In Italy and Germany the PNF and NSDAP have returned as terrorist groups. Terrorism and political violence are the hallmarks of the fascist movement.
Irish Republicanism
Irish nationalism lies at the very core of the Commonwealth, it would not exist without it. Joseph Chamberlain, the father of the Commonwealth, conceived the Imperial Federation simply as an alternative to Irish home rule. Without the support of Charles Parnell's Irish Parliamentary Party, the Liberals would never have remained in power long enough to realise their goal. There would be no Commonwealth without Irish nationalism.
For the most part Irish nationalism is a thing of the past now. Ireland is now an equal member of the Commonwealth and has grown rich because of it. There really is only one issue remaining, Ulster. There are many in Ireland who wish to see reunification and even more in Ulster determined to prevent it happening. Because in Ulster, Catholics are very much second class citizens and the protestant elite very much want to keep it that way.
But outside of Ulster, there are only a handful who want to change Ireland's status. These are the Republicans who seek full independence. Once a major force in Irish politics, the boom of the Great War along with their ill timed and poorly planned rising in 1916 wiped away their support base, confining them to fringes.
However, while the Republicans have sat on the fringes since the Great War, they do occasionally undergo surges of support. These are never enough to move them to the mainstream, but they are enough to spark a new round of militancy and a revival of the Irish Republican Army, often drawing their recruits from Ulster's mistreated Catholic minority.
The latest round was sparked by the Great Depression and gladly supported by both the Entente and Pacific Alliance. The IRA scored their greatest success and worst disaster at the same time, the assassination of King Edward VIII in 1936. This single act turned the entire Commonwealth against the IRA. A concerted campaign to eliminate them was launched throughout the Commonwealth. The assassination also brought about the formation of the Commonwealth Police Service to deal with terrorism and criminal activity affecting more than one Dominion.
The campaign in the wake of Edward's assassination dealt a body blow to the IRA, virtually wiping it out as the entire Commonwealth turned against them. But a new source of recruits emerged as the cold war with the Pacific Alliance intensified, Irish Americans. These, generously supported by the Entente and US, now provide the backbone of IRA terrorism.
Other things
Operation Matchstick
The Panama Canal will be vital in any war between the Commonwealth and Pacific Alliance. Any such war would be primarily a naval naval war in the Pacific. However the vast bulk of the US ship building industry' is located on the Atlantic coast. To fight a sustained war, they need to be able to move ships between the Atlantic and Pacific. As Chile is so firmly in the Commonwealth camp, the Panama Canal is not just their best option, It is their only option. Both sides are acutely aware of this. However the US is largely unconcern by Panama's security. The Commonwealth has not built up any significant military presence in their Caribbean possessions or apparently even made the slightest preparations to attack the canal. The US are certain in the knowledge any assault would require a lengthy build up, supplies, troops and ships would need to be deployed months in advance. Giving plenty of time to improve Panama's defences. Unfortunately they have overlooked one thing, Operation Matchstick.
If there is one thing the Commonwealth military excel at above all others, it is moving large forces over vast distances quickly. The Commonwealth have been doing it for nearly one hundred years and their abilities in this are unparalleled. Operation Matchstick is a top secret Commonwealth plan to launch an assault on the canal directly from the Home Islands. Pacific Alliance intelligence services have actually uncovered some information regarding this plan, the Japanese have even urged the US to increase their defences of the Canal because of it. The US have rejected the very idea. As far as their concerned, Operation Matchstick is pure fantasy, it is impossible to do such a thing and the canal is under no threat.
What thy have ignored is the Commonwealth have been planning and preparing for Operation Matchstick since 1932. Specialist ships and equipment have been designed, tested, put into production and even used in actual combat. Likewise the Royal Marine amphibious assault divisions have been intensively trained for this. Special forces units have been practising eliminating coastal defences for over five years. They have created an entirely new type of unit, lightly equipped airborne troops to seize vital locations by landing from above. Colombia has secretly agreed to allow Commonwealth forces to be deployed on their territory in the event of a war.
Continual practice means these new airborne units can be moved from the Home Island to Colombia and be ready for deployment within two weeks, The Us has written off these test deployments as just moving lightly equipped defensive reinforcements.. And beyond this the Commonwealth has a frightening new weapon the US are completely unaware of, nerve gas, a deadly new chemical which kills within minutes and US chemical defences do not protect against. While Operation Matchstick is an extremely ambitious plan, there is a good chance the Commonwealth can pull it off.
The Sten Gun
The iconic weapon of guerillas, partisans and terrorists across the globe, the Sten Gun, or to give it it's correct name, Simplified Tendulkar Machine Carbine Mk I-VI, is probably one of the most instantly recognisable weapons in the world. Its origins lay in the German MP18/I submachine gun introduced in the final days of the Great War. The British first encountered this weapon in the trench of Belgium during the final great German offensive in spring of 1918.
The compact firepower of this weapon had a massive effect on the local British commanders and the promising designer Prasan Tendulkar at London Small Arms Company was given the job of producing a simple clone. While the clone, as the Tendulkar Machine Carbine Mk I, did enter production in September 1918, only some 5,000 were ever produced and it only saw very limited service in the last two months of the war. However Tendulkar was not satisfied with the simple clone and continued development to correct what he saw as the MP18/I's faults.
He replaced the awkward 32 round snail drum magazine chambered for 9mm Parabellum with a 30 round double stack dual feed stick magazine on the left side chambered for the standard issue British 0.455" Webley Automatic round. The weapon was also modified for selective semi or full automatic fire. Finally he replaced the original German stock with one patterned on the standard British SMLE Mk IV service rifle. This weapon would not be ready until March 1919, well after the end of the war.
The British army were uninterested in the new weapon, seeing no role for it, handing their existing Mk I guns to colonial police. It initially appeared the improved gun would remain only a prototype. However the Royal Navy expressed considerable interest for use aboard ships and in amphibious assaults. They adopted it as the Tendulkar Mk II, ordering 80,000. It would remain their standard issue submachine gun until eventually replaced by a finely produced Barreta design in 1936 as the Lanchester Machine Carbine Mk I.
The Sten would come about due to the unrest and revolutions which exploded throughout Europe in the wake of the Great War. The embattled governments of the defeated Central Powers had been stripped of small arms in the 1918 Armistice and lacked the weapons to defeat these revolutions. Seeking to restore order to Europe, the foreign office issued a requirement for a simple, cheap and easy to produce light automatic weapon to supply to government paramilitary forces.
Tendulkar would take his Mk II design and essentially strip it of every feature not necessary for gun's function, mating it with a 32 round double stack dual feed magazine firing the original MP18/I 9mm Parabellum cartridge and simplifying the weapon for ease of production. The resulting Simplified Tendulkar or Sten Mk I was basically a drawn steel tube containing a bolt, with a barrel at the one end and a skeletal steel stock at the other, it's only furniture being a simple wooden foregrip. Capable of being rapidly turned out in small non specialist workshops with a minimum of skilled labour. This last feature is undoubtedly one the reasons for the Sten gun's huge success, with licensed and unlicensed copies being produced throughout the world.
The Sten entered production in February 1920 and was immediately supplied to Austrian, German and Hungarian paramilitary units. Its close range firepower proved vital in the urban combat which characterised the European Communist Revolutions. However it was not long before it found its way into the hands of revolutionary groups, first seeing service in Wallachia in mid 1920. From there gun rapidly spread, soon becoming the weapon of choice for many guerilla and revolutionary groups, spreading around the world. There is probably not a corner of the globe where the Sten has not seen service.
The even more basic Mk II was introduced in 1922 alongside Mk I production, dropping the wooden foregrip and reducing the stock to a length of steel tube welded to a simple flat butt plate. The Mk III would replace the Mk I in production alongside the Mk II in 1923. Intended for colonial police, it used the Tendulkar Mk II's 30 round magazine chambered for 0.455" Webley Automatic and the Mk I's wooden foregrip. Further simplification in 1929 resulted in the Mk IV replacing the Mk II in production. This version replaced the drawn steel tube with a welded rolled steel tube and was fully automatic only.
The current Commonwealth versions are the Mks V and VI. The Mk V was introduced to replace the Mk III in colonial service in 1931. Still in 0.455" Webley Automatic, it has an improved foregrip, a wooden pistol grip and partial wooden stock. The 9mm Parabellum Mk VI resulted when dissatisfaction with the Mk V led to the reintroduction of the selective fire feature in 1933. The Mk V was also the first version official adopted by the Commonwealth army, issued to drivers, dispatch riders and armoured vehicle crews.
However beyond these official versions, the Sten has been produced in vast variety of other calibres and configurations outside of the Commonwealth. Perhaps the best known is the Pistolet Mitrailleur Modéle 1926 dit Petter in 7.65mm Longue, the standard service weapon in both France and Russia. Mechanically a direct copy of the Sten, it moved the magazine to the underside of the gun and features a full wooden stock. It was introduced alongside the Pistole Automatique Modéle 1925 dit Petter, a direct copy of the US Colt M1911 pistol chambered for eight rounds of the same 7.65mm Longue cartridge. Similar is the Japanese 9mm Parabellum Tyne 92 introduced in 1932. Like the Petter Mle 1926, it relocated the magazine beneath the gun and uses a full wood stock, though it also includes a pistol grip.
Special Forces Units
SAS: Special Air Service Regiment. A Commonwealth army special forces unit.
RM Commandos: Royal Marine Commandos. Commonwealth naval special forces units.
RAFSAS: RAF Regiment Special Assault Squadrons. Commonwealth air force special forces units specializing in seizing forward enemy airfields.
Rangers: US army special forces units.
USMC Raiders: United States Marine Corps Raider Battalions. US special forces units.
KSG: Kaigun Shūgeki-Gun, Naval Raiding Forces. Japanese naval special forces units.
TSG: Tokushu Sakusen-Gun, Special Operations Group. Japanese army special forces units.
Yager Kommandos: Russian special forces units
RCFS: Régiment de Chasseurs des Forces Spéciales, Special Forces Chasseur Regiment. A French army Special Forces unit.
RFSM: Régiment des Forces Spéciales Marines, Marine Special Forces Regiment. A French naval special forces unit.
Arditi: Italian army special forces units.
X MAS: Decima Flottiglia Motoscafi Armati Siluranti, Tenth Torpedo Armed Motorboat Flotilla. An Italian navy special forces unit.
GDKW: Grupa Destrukcyjna Konrada Wawelberga, Konrad Wawelberg Destruction Group. A Polish special forces unit.
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