So I was thinking of Operation Downfall and it’s consequences.
I'm aiming for the release of Part 2 by the end of this month, rather more divergent from the TL on here than Part 1 as anyone who's read the Kindle version might have guessed but I feel obligated to finish this as well given that without the AH.com readers and their support there likely...
www.alternatehistory.com
Reading this TL and watching a few videos on the subject.
Let’s assume Downfall happens and the higher end American casualties results(far more than in the TL above)-500,000 to nearly a million.
The US occupies southern Japan with the British commonwealth getting its own zone, and the soviets get Hokkaido and maybe northern strips of Honshu.
The war itself continues into 1947.
What are the broader consequences for the Cold War?
A few things to start off with
-Soviet Korea and Manchuria
-The US soldiers returning are greatly traumatized with higher rates of PTSD than OTL, which causes more social problems and the like.
-I’m somewhat hesitant on the effects of this on American society. It’s not anything like Soviet Union casualties but it’s more losses in the invasion than the rest of the war combined. Does it make the US more interventionist? More isolationist?
-Soviet Korea and Manchuria probably means Communist victory in China. Such as it is, I don’t see the US intervening to prevent the nationalist’s downfall. Stalin was fine with China divided IIRC but mao will still the momentum.
-Japan becomes a front in the Cold War.