History Literature / TheFootprintOfMussolini

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* WhoWouldBeStupidEnough: PlayedForDrama. [[spoiler:Horthy and Graziani both laughed at the idea that Hitler would blow his cap over Hungary's Jews being sent to Italian colonies. Hitler's racism is so deep, he proceeds to ''invade'' Hungary, and start a war with Italy.]]

** [[spoiler:Balbo drops a thermobaric nuke on Addis Ababa to put down a prolonged Ethiopian insurgency. It doesn't work: instead, it sharply turns global opinion against him.]]

* HistoricalDowngrade: UsefulNotes/JosipBrozTito, the heroic partisan leader of our world who lead Yugoslavia to be a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement and played off both sides of the Cold War, becomes another one of Stalin's puppets. Although Tito's only other choices was facing off against the Fascists alone and does at least get sympathy from the democratic world, partially because Pavelić is such a repugnant excuse of human being [[spoiler:and manages to avoid being put on trial at Trier after the Fall of Communism, albeit going on trial seperatly from them]].

** Among the Roman Alliance as a whole, Ante Pavelić is this. Despite not being a part of the Axis ITTL, he's still a repugnant antisemite that wants to exterminate Serbians and tries to do so during the Croat-Serbian war in 1946, when Tito's communist revolution in Serbia gives Pavelić an excuse. [[spoiler:Pavelić's considered such a murderous, out of control maniac that the rest of the Alliance orchestrates a coup to see the war end and purge the Ustaše of his influence.]]

* CynicismCatalyst: Anwar Sadat [[spoiler:loses all faith in Pan-Arabism when Nasser smiles at the thought of being the sole major figure of the UAR after the nukes dropped on the country due to Operation Samson]].

** Fidel and Raul Castro turn their backs on communism once and for all after the nuking of Warsaw and the revelation of the Second Holocaust (although its left ambigous as to whether it was genuine disgust over Soviet actions or because being tied to communism would impede their revolution more than help it). This combined with American support means that when they overthrow Batista, Fidel is democratically elected president of Cuba rather than becoming a dictator himself, and the Castro brothers are remembered worldwide as great liberators.

* TokenEvilTeammate: While Italy's fascists have varying degrees of sympathy and moral ambiguity, Graziani is the most vicious of Mussolini's army.

-- "[Issac] Carpi would be praised as a model Italian citizen and Fascist for the rest of the Fascist era, even getting a biography made of him in 1958. But that wasn’t the main influence Carpi left behind. Not since Gavrilo Princip, perhaps, has one simple man changed the fate of so many millions."

--> "[Issac] Carpi would be praised as a model Italian citizen and Fascist for the rest of the Fascist era, even getting a biography made of him in 1958. But that wasn’t the main influence Carpi left behind. [[SmallRoleBigImpact Not since Gavrilo Princip, perhaps, has one simple man changed the fate of so many millions]]."

** Yes, there ''were'' Jews who joined the fascist movement, and many Italian fascists who opposed antisemitism. [[note]][[TruthInTelevision Initially, Mussolini's fascism movement was one that rejected the racial policies of the Nazis]], as most Italians saw Jews as part of the Italian nation. OTL, Mussolini was mostly ambivalent toward Jews, and only embraced anti-semitism in order to increase his ties with Nazism.[[/note]]

* TheGreatPoliticsMessUp: [[spoiler:After the Soviet Union peacefully dissolves in the early 1970s, the narrative begins to hint that the Roman Alliance undergoes [[VelvetRevolution a similar shakeup]] by the end of the decade due to the ongoing costly insurgency in Ethiopia. Sure enough, things start going downhill for them by 1974, with democracy returning to Italy in 1979 after over 60 years of Fascist domination.]]

** On a state scale [[UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra Apartheid-era]] UsefulNotes/SouthAfrica even more hated than OTL with its reputation being widely despised (to the point where mentioning being from there can kick you out of a bar anywhere). As said by the narration, [[spoiler: the government has created a white ethnostate at the cost of their economy, moral decency and grandchildren’s reputation]].

** On a state scale UsefulNotes/SouthAfrica apartheid even more than OTL it’s reputation is widely despised (to the point where mentioning being from there can kick you out of a bar anywhere). As said by the narration, [[spoiler: the government has created a white ethnostate at the cost of their economy, moral decency and grandchildren’s reputation]].

** On a state scale UsefulNotes/SouthAfrica even more than OTL it’s reputation is widely despised (to the point where mentioning being from there can kick you out of a bar anywhere). As said by the narration, [[spoiler: the government has created a white ethnostate at the cost of their economy, moral decency and grandchildren’s reputation]].

* DirtyCommunists: Communism becomes even more reviled in this world due to a combination of Stalin starting a second Holocaust in the 1950s and [[spoiler:nuking Warsaw to put down a Polish revolt]], the Americans convinced that President Wallace was a Soviet spy, and being humiliated by the reveal of the UAR (the USSR's only ally outside of the Stalingrad Pact) [[spoiler:harboring Nazi war criminals right under their nose]]. The straw that breaks the camel's back is [[spoiler:Suslov ordering for a fake moon landing in the 1970s, and by then, the money sink the space program has become results in the USSR dissolving in 1973 by popular uprising that was less bloody than expected]].

** In the case of Wallace, his hatred of Fascism is fully justified as by the time he ascends to the Presidency, the Italians have put a number of nations such as Greece and Serbia in chains along with Slovenia being erased from history. But his alienation of democratic and Fascist Europe and trying to ally America to Stalin's USSR out of his hatred for Fascism only got people killed, most notably [[spoiler: Warsaw being nuked by the Soviets, who were only able to do so because the Wallace administration handed over nuclear secrets to Moscow]]. [[VillainHasAPoint Wallace's hatred of Fascism is never once portrayed as wrong]], [[WellIntentionedExtremist but his sympathy and willingness to ally with the Soviets]] is what ruined him in this world.

** Just like Wallace, Lumumba is more than justified for calling out Belgium's colonial rule of the Congo and calling out the foreign powers intervening in TTL's Congo Crisis that they couldn't care less about the inhabitants. In the words of the author "He had the moral right to do what he did, but moral rights don't matter in a world where Fascists prowl Africa", hence Lumumba's vilification in this world, complete with the author himself calling Patrice "...a tragically misunderstood figure [=ITTL=]".

** [[spoiler:Stalin glasses Warsaw to put down a Polish revolt.]]

* {{Deconstruction}}: [[spoiler:[[ConspiracyTheory The idea that one could engineer a false moon landing.]] Suslov, desperately trying to restore the prestige of Soviet Russia, attempts to fake a moon landing. [[DisasterDominoes Several things would go wrong.]]]]
** [[spoiler:Yuri Andropov thought it was a "test of loyalty" from Suslov when first informed of the plan.]]
** [[spoiler:Numerous intelligence agencies would expose the act.]]
** [[spoiler:Many subordinates, like Yuri Gagarin, would be deeply disgusted by this act. Pavel Klushantev, a Soviet film editor, [[StylisticSuck deliberately engineers the footage to be as bad as possible]].]]
** [[spoiler:Many trained engineers and scientists could use science to debunk the claims of the Soviet Union.]]

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: [[spoiler: Wallace's pro-Soviet policies turn him into a complete pariah. After he shares nuclear information with Stalin, who proceeds to nuke a Polish rebellion, he eventually ends up impeached in an effort lead by the Republicans. His actions end up destroying the Democratic Party as a whole]].
** [[spoiler: Mao Zedong]] failure of the Great Leap Forward, attacks during a festival, destructive charges of the Red Guard and Peoples Liberation Army, massive ego and sleeping with underage teenage girls ensured his hatred by everyone. The army commanders for his senseless waste of manpower during the Battle of Shanghai. The Chinese Communist party along with the Politburo want to kill him for dismissing their advice and refusal to ask for help. The people despise him for the failed GLF, loss of people from the war, and his indiscretions. Even his own wife decided him staying in power would destroy his legacy.

* AlcoholInducedIdiocy: Played for drama. The sloppily planned Soviet plot to [[spoiler: fake the moon landing was born from Premier Suslov watching the film ''Film/{{Aelita}}'' while incredibly drunk. It didn't help that he was saddened over the US, Britain, and Italy were all certainly going to beat the USSR to the moon and completely humilitate the Soviets in the process]].

* TokenGoodTeammate: Downplayed in regards to Communist Poland's leader Edward Ochab. [[spoiler:During the Trier Trial, it's revealed that while he was a genuine believer in communism, he was disgusted with Stalin starting the Second Holocaust. As a result, Edward risked his own life to try and convince Stalin to spare Poland's Jewish community, and when that failed, he helped at least 3,000 Jews escape Poland through Sweden. Saving their lives helped in him only getting a 10-year sentence though he's still a hated figure in post-Communist Poland. This is TruthInTelevision as he historically resigned from his offices in the Communist Party and essentially retired from politics in response to Gomulka's use of anti-Semitic rhetoric.]]

* TokenGoodTeammate: Downplayed in regards to Communist Poland's leader Edward Ochab. [[spoiler:During the Trier Trial, it's revealed that while he was a genuine believer in communism, he was disgusted with Stalin starting the Second Holocaust. As a result, Edward risked his own life to try and convince Stalin to spare Poland's Jewish community, and when that failed, he helped at least 3,000 Jews escape Poland through Sweden. Saving their lives helped in him only getting a 10-year sentence though he's still a hated figure in post-Communist Poland.]]

* NotSoDifferent: Goebbels tries to play this card [[spoiler:at the Nuremburg Trials against the victorious Allies, saying they have no right to condemn him and his fellow Nazis when they're guilty of similar misdeeds]].

** On a state scale UsefulNotes/SouthAfrica even more than OTL it’s reputation is widely despised (to the point where mentioning being from there can kick you out of a bar anywhere). As said by the narration the government has created a white ethnostate at the cost of their economy, moral decency and grandchildren’s reputation.

** On a state scale [[UsefulNotes/SouthAfrica]] even more than OTL it’s reputation is widely despised (to the point where mentioning being from there can kick you out of a bar anywhere). As said by the narration the government has created a white ethnostate at the cost of their economy, moral decency and grandchildren’s reputation.

** On a state scale [[UsefulNotes:SouthAfrica]] even more than OTL it’s reputation is widely despised (to the point where mentioning being from there can kick you out of a bar anywhere). As said by the narration the government has created a white ethnostate at the cost of their economy, moral decency and grandchildren’s reputation.

** On a state scale [[SouthAfrica]] even more than OTL it’s reputation is widely despised (to the point where mentioning being from there can kick you out of a bar anywhere). As said by the narration the government has created a white ethnostate at the cost of their economy, moral decency and grandchildren’s reputation.

** On a state scale [[South Africa]] even more than OTL it’s reputation is widely despised (to the point where mentioning being from there can kick you out of a bar anywhere). As said by the narration the government has created a white ethnostate at the cost of their economy, moral decency and grandchildren’s reputation.

** On a state scale [[SouthAfrica]] even more than OTL it’s reputation is widely despised (to the point where mentioning being from there can kick you out of a bar anywhere). As said by the narration the government has created a white ethnostate at the cost of their economy, moral decency and grandchildren’s reputation.

** On a state scale [[South_Africa]] even more than OTL it’s reputation is widely despised (to the point where mentioning being from there can kick you out of a bar anywhere). As said by the narration the government has created a white ethnostate at the cost of their economy, moral decency and grandchildren’s reputation.