Soviet Domination - A Red Dawn story

Regarding Sweden, in case of war of the three option that Palme have, fighting alongside Western Europe (at this stage) his the less politically and ideologically problematic (not say easy, it will be a very hard decision for him and his goverment) just the less painfull to swallow; even because they know that if they fight alone the only real option is to die with honor.

For a new NATO, well maybe it will be more politically feasible at the moment something like the reactivation of the Western European Organization (happened in OTL 1984) and attach that to NATO as a quasi-separate organization (at least in theory), as a mean to solve the political impasse; and yes the rest will have problem with that but both London and New York will be forced to admit that's a great method to put pressure on Moscow and divert resources from their front to another place.
Frankly both the Netherland and Belgium goverment know that if Scandinavia fall and the UK is forced to surrender they are next in line...so it's very probably that a lot of their protest will be for show (not the one of Netherland regarding their violation of neutrality, that will be serious...but i think they will be done more in private) but in the end agree to add some more 'clause'

Mitterand will be under an enourmous pressure to reveal at the nation what's happening after the DSGE had not recovered the girl, everybody in the goverment will understand that having the President under potential blackmail in this circumstance can cause, in the best case scenario, a political crisis in a crucial moment...and the more cynical will suggest (with a lot of tact and subletly) that this can bring the nation around the president and even sway the opinion of many in other part of Europe, citizen and politicians alike.

We will have to see. Should the Soviets go for a drive to the Rhine, when their forces in Eastern Europe get stuck, as they eventually would, there is not much behind them.
Moscow is busy on the flanks for the time being... but a war in Europe is still not off the table as the situation keeps getting worse.

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December 1984: The Aegean

The Greek-Turkish War in the Aegean was brought to a close before the end of the year. Outside intervention forced Athens and Ankara to agree to a ceasefire. That outside intervention came from the Soviet Union. Soviet diplomats acting overtly and covert KGB activities achieved what had been desired from the beginning. The expected results were regarded as a major geo-political victory of strategic implications in Moscow’s eyes. Whether it would help win the wider war of which the Aegean conflict hadn’t been directly part of was up for debate.

In the two capitals, the Greek and Turkish governments, both of which were looking at a way of getting out of this war despite public positions of fighting it to the finish, were met with extreme Soviet pressure to get them to cease fighting. Pushback came from each. The Greeks were losing yet their pride demanded that they keep fighting the hated Turks. The Turks were on the ascendancy though there was the concern that this war might never have an end any other way so they were more open to discussing a close to this but only when they were done teaching the Greeks a lesson. The Soviets played both sides off against each other, suggesting that they would intervene on behalf of the other. The threats brought strong reactions from each but also fear. Of the two, Turkey was in a better position to fend off a Soviet attack upon itself though the long-held fears of the Soviets having surrounding them, which led to its exit from its NATO treaty commitments, remained. The Greeks could only imagine what the Soviets would do to them should they act in concert with the Turks. Following these threats of joining one against the other, the Soviets then made a proposal to each of them which instead no longer spoke of war but peace. Neither government was seeing the whole picture, how each was being played like they were. Now, if they had stood together, faced down the Soviets together, then… but that wasn’t to be.

Turkey would withdraw from Rhodes and the Greeks would pull their major combat forces out of Crete. Cyprus would remain a frozen issue and an effective fait accompli with the Turkish victory there being de facto recognised as they wouldn’t intervene the establishment of civilian Greek-Cypriot rule in occupied southern parts of the island as long as that didn’t have an armed element. Turkey could thus gain effective control of Cyprus without any Greek military presence to threaten the northern half. Greece would see the occupied island of Rhodes returned. No longer would air and naval conflict rage across the Aegean Sea with attacks on shipping ceasing and laid minefields identified & cleared. The brutal stalemate in the fighting on the mainland border between the two nations, along the Thrace frontline, would end as each side withdrew all but an agreed minimum number of troops there; no longer would gunfire and shelling take place there. Partial demilitarization would occur on Crete and Lesvos from forward-positioned Greek forces as well as with the massed Turkish forces stationed west of Izmir pulling back from their invasion posture towards Khios. Prisoners of war would be returned unconditionally by either side with none held despite allegations against some of them for purported war crimes.

From Athens and Ankara, there were all sorts of objections to certain points of the Soviet-pushed ceasefire agreement when it came to individual matters. Neither government objected outright to the idea of the ceasefire itself though once they had convinced themselves – helped by Moscow – of the need to end their war. The back-and-forth picking at certain elements went on for some time and changes were made on specific points. The key points were Cyprus’ demilitarization with the Greeks wanting Turkish-Cypriot forces disarmed and also Turkish concerns over the Greek military presence in Thrace their side of the border there. The differences were either ironed out or kicked into the long grass for later.

Bulgaria, which had studiously kept out of the Greek-Turkish War at Soviet insistence, despite opportunities staring the country in the face, was chosen as neutral ground for Athens and Ankara to send diplomats to sign a ceasefire. The Soviets hosted the event in Sofia, getting the two sides together. The governments back in Greece and Turkey had now resigned themselves to the upcoming ceasefire though had yet to make their populations aware of this: Greece worried more over the domestic reaction to an end to the fighting more than the Turks did. It was once they were in Sofia and about to sign a ceasefire document and have instructions sent for an end to the fighting that the Soviets sprung a surprise on them both. At that point, any sensible government in Athens would have recalled its diplomats and carried on the fighting. The Turks probably should have done the same, should the long-term implications have been better considered. The Soviet surprise delayed matters by a few days though already there had been a serious lull in the fighting down in the Aegean ahead of this with no major operations going on. Peace was at hand, just a few strokes of the pen away. The ceasefire was signed and it came with the Soviets helping to aid that – to ensure the peace – as they introduced military forces into the region.


Once the Sofia Ceasefire was in effect, the Turkish Straits were open without provisions for Soviet military vessels to pass through while it was at war with other countries… oh and also monitoring the ceasefire in the Aegean too because that was really what this access was all about, wasn’t it? Since the beginning of the wider conflict, Turkey had been restricting access through the Turkish Straits for Soviet warships and submarines. Many had passed, just at a slow rate: now all restrictions were off though the Soviet Union would pay fees for each passage. In the Aegean, for the Soviets to help enforce the ceasefire, and of course to operate further afield too, Soviet air and naval access was allowed to Souda Bay which included the military airbase as well as the port facility there. Once a hub of American and NATO activity before Greece had left NATO several years ago, Soviet ships had been making stops at Souda Bay and paying fees while the Greeks considered each instance on a case-by-case basis since World War Three started. That restriction was no longer to be and a lump sum payment for Greece was made for that access, money desperately needed in Athens. No Soviet forces were legally allowed to be based there but they could come and go as pleased.

Whatever the legal niceties might say or not say, the Soviet Union had a military port to operate from in the Mediterranean now and free access to there plus its excellent a-joining airbase too. They got all this by stopping a war which they had started then playing divide-and-rule with Greece and Turkey. It was a far-reaching diplomatic coup indeed.


As 1984 came to a close, Soviet naval forces moved down from the Black Sea to join those already in the Mediterranean. Aircraft transited through Souda Bay and so did a great number of warships previously held back. These were all supposed to be in the Aegean to stop the Greeks and Turks from fighting each other. They preformed no such mission but instead carried onwards past Crete into the Med. In the new year, using Souda Bay as a backstop with Libya midway and Malta as a forward post, they’d be heading for the Gibraltar Straits with an ultimate destination being the Atlantic to link up with the Azores forward outpost.

In Athens, there were celebrations at the end of the war from some crowds while others demonstrated against an end to that war without defeating the Turks. Street battles took place and chaos reigned in Greece despite Soviet financial aid, money which would come not free either. The Turkish public were sold a victory. If they wanted to complain or protest, they’d meet the security forces who wouldn’t accept anything resembling Athens in Ankara or Istanbul. The siege of Nicosia was lifted on Cyprus but the Greek-Cypriot population wasn’t really freed. At any time now, Turkey would do as it wished with the southern part of the island. The refugees inside the British garrisons on the island started to return home, releasing the strain on them, yet where before the position for the UK of its forces on the island had been near-untenable, now they faced a worse situation with the Soviets available to move on them at their leisure and the Turks sure to look the other way. French and Italian naval forces in both the Ionian and Tyrrhenian Seas, looked on as Soviet ships flooded the Mediterranean. Paris and Rome had been worried over the threat to the Baltic in the north yet now there was this menace on Western Europe’s southern flank making itself really known here as well. 1985 wasn’t going to be pleasant, especially following events also in December ’84 down in Libya with shored up the Soviet position even greater.

Another good update James.

So the Greek-Turkish War has ended and the only winner is the Soviet Union i guess.