Compare and contrast with The New Order: Last Days of Europe, another Nazi victory mod for HOI4, which is more narratively-driven, and features more ambitious scenarios and mechanics.
The mod can be downloaded here
. Its community can be found on Reddit and on Discord.
open/close all folders
Thousand-Week Reich (the Game Mod) provides examples of:
#-H
- The '50s: The original story starts in 1952, just before the death of Adolf Hitler and the ascension of Hermann Göring as Führer, which kicks off the long chain of events that will cause the German Civil War to break out six years later. The mod does not deviate from this time frame whatsoever, though the outcomes are drastically different.
- Absolute Xenophobe: The Nazis as a whole, as usual. Goebbels specifically embodies this, as he goes so far as to abolish the Honorary Aryan, killing off those even Hitler himself spared.
- Acceptable Breaks from Reality: As with any Axis victory scenario, certain liberties have to be taken to make it even remotely feasible. That being said, this is likely the most realistic and accurate portrayal of a Nazi victory that one can find, and it never dips too far into wank territory.
- Adaptation Deviation: Some details in lore differ between the mod and the map timeline:
- The NATO analogue is named Toronto Accords instead of Atlantic Union.
- Four atomic bombs were dropped on Japan as part of Operation Downfall, instead of eleven.
- Instead of a Council of Nations being formed after the German Civil War, the United Nations is formed by the Toronto Accord and many non-European countries soon after WWII.
- Practically no part of the civil war depicted in the original Thousand Week Reich remains intact, right down to the actual number of factions competing in it.
- The lore of the Soviet Union was completely reworked post-release to make it more realistic and more detailed than the original "random warlords" lore from the maps.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: Both the Emergency Wehrstaat and the rightful government of Germany are significantly better than the Schutzstaffel Ordensstaat. Lampshaded, as to communicate this, their colors on the map are literally lighter shades of black than the SS.
- The Alliance: The Toronto Accords are the undisputed good guys, an alliance specifically made to contain and eventually defeat Nazism.
- Allohistorical Allusion:
- Hitler dies in early March, 1953 - the same date range when Joseph Stalin died in OTL.
- Heydrich can publish a "Little Black Book" containing the quotes of the Führer, mirroring the real Little Red Book of Mao Zedong. Subhas Chandra Bose can do something similar, creating the "Little Blue Book of Boseisms."
- If Bormann seizes power, he can become convinced, like Stalin in our timeline, that the doctors of Germania are all secretly Jews and plotting to overthrow him. This paranoia over the 'Doctor's Plot' leads to a deadly purge of their ranks.
- Oster, upon taking control of Germany, honors many Germans who opposed the Nazis as 'Righteous Among the Nation.'
- Frauenschicksale (The Destinies of Women), in real life a 1952 East German propaganda film contrasting the virtuous lives of women in East Berlin with the vain, materialistic lives of women in West Berlin, here becomes a Nazi propaganda film directed by Leni Riefenstahl about two sisters in the 1930s, one of whom unknowingly marries a Jewish man who proceeds to beat her and sell her into prostitution and the other of whom joins the Hitler Youth and goes on to save her sister during Kristallnacht.
- Alternate History: While Thousand-Week Reich itself is an alternate history, AP246's established timeline deviates greatly from the mod itself, effectively creating an alternate history within an alternate history.
- Alternate-History Nazi Victory: But of course. Notably, however, it is specifically a Nazi victory scenario, rather than an Axis victory scenario: Japan loses even harder than it did in our timeline.
- America Takes Over the World: The Toronto Accords successfully intervening in the German Civil War and establishing a friendly government would be the equivalent of NATO successfully liberating the USSR in the fifties, before the cold war even picked up hydrogen bombs: It would leave America as the undisputed global power, with nearly the entire rest of the world firmly on their side, and only China by itself left to oppose their influence.
- Amoral Afrikaner: Those in Free France who would create the nation of Lazarie are essentially this, to the point where even South Africa and Rhodesia are put to shame.
- Anticlimax Boss:
- Nazi Germany essentially serves as the final boss to any country in the Toronto Accords, and can easily be steamrolled by the US most of the time.
- On a smaller scale, there is a fair chance that the French State (Vichy France) can come to an end following a brief uprising that isn't even portrayed as an actual civil war when Weyngard and his entire cabinet are killed by a single bomb, resulting in the French Resistence taking over and merging with Free France
- Athens and Sparta: The Cold War, even more so than in the OTL: For as dictatorial as the Soviet Union was, the sheer brutality of the Nazi regime in contrast to the democratic liberalization of the United States is astounding.
- Back from the Brink:
- The first and most obvious example of this trope is with Russia. It's so torn apart, it has to reunify before it even tries to take on Germany. But once it does, it is more than capable of claiming its well earned revenge, and even enforcing the same brutality onto the Germans that they once inflicted on them. Doubly so if one of the warlords, rather than the Republic or the Soviet Union manages to pull this off.
- Germany itself can also be viewed like this: Essentially everything that can go wrong has gone wrong, and it takes a player of unmatched skill to keep things afloat, or even to win the civil war, much less avoid it entirely. And yet, even with all of its problems, the Endsieg can still be achieved, and the swastika flown over Washington.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Though it is a potential challenge, the Nazi loyalist side can emerge victorious in the German Civil War and achieve Endsieg by destroying the Toronto Accords and conquering the United States.
- Balkanize Me:
- After the Soviets lost the German-Soviet War, and Beria had a disastrous run as the General Secretary, the territories of the former Soviet Union are divided between the rump Soviet Union, two autonomous Soviet Military Districts in Kazan and Kazakhstan, an American-backed Russian Republic in the Far East, an autonomous Russian Republican Military District in Buryatia, two Soviet opposition governments in Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk, a democratic socialist government formed from the power vacuum in Norilsk, an independent Turkestan in Central Asianote , and German RKs in Ukraine, the Baltic States, Caucasus, and Moscow.
- The aformentioned Islamic State of Turkestan has collapsed at the start of the game, collapsing into the Independent State of Turkmenistan, Commissariat of Uzbekistan, a Turkestan rump state, and the Tajikistani National State.
- The collapse of RK Kaukasus results in a battle royale between 14 different factions, consisting of Nazi remnants, Soviet remnants, and regional powers. The other RKs don't get off much better.
- By 1952, the former British Raj had become completely divided up between eight countries, consisting of a Bose-led Republic of India in the North, the competing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in the South, a seceded Pakistan bordering Bose's India along the Indus River, and the independent states of Hyderabad, Mysore, Bengal, Kashmir, and Sikkim.
- If French Authority (the former Free France and French West Africa united into one government, puppeted by the British) goes fascist and declares the creation of Republic of Lazarie (a Rhodesia-styled "rightful white nation in Africa"), they will renounce all of their claims on the colonies and move into Dakar. This creates a power vacuum, leading to many newly created African nations securing their independence.
- Perhaps expectedly, Germany can divide the United Kingdom up into England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland if they are conquered. Alternatively, they can grant Northern Ireland to Ireland itself in exchange for an alliance, or just keep the kingdom United under their own puppet monarch.
- Bittersweet Ending: Even if literally everything goes right in the world as in the original source material, with the Germans kicked out, the Soviet Union democratizing, and China going down a path that isn't too dictatorial, the evils the Nazis brought into the world are on a scale beyond even what they did in our own timeline, and the infamous 12 million number has expanded to God knows how much by the time it's finally over.
- Black-and-Grey Morality: The US does questionable things during the German-American Cold War such as supporting right wing dictators and invading Iceland if it falls under a Socialist government wanting nothing to do with either side. Their opponents are the Nazis.
- Book Burning: After Himmler bans all books in the Reich, the Schutzstaffel Youth goes full Fahrenheit 451 and storms everyone's houses to search for illegal books to burn.
- Child Soldiers: The Hitler Youth were turned into soldiers even in our own timeline, much less this one. Many of the more desperate revolts against them, notably Poland, can also utilize these.
- Cincinnatus: Generals Ridgway and Lemnitzer of America can both become this by dissolving the junta and restoring democracy should they take power. Dai Li of China and Erwin Rommel of the Wehrstaat can also step down in favor of a civilian-led government. ...Or at least, as 'civilian' as a brutal dictatorship can be.
- Civil War:
- As in the official timeline, Germany can collapse into a German Civil War. The primary contending factions in the normal civil war are the Rightful Government (gathering most of the government), the SS and the Emergency Wehrstaat (a military junta of Wehrmacht officials), with resistance movements in occupied nations taking the opportunity to launch uprisings. If the civil war drags on the German Resistance can gain enough support to launch an uprising, establishing their own contender dubbed People's Germany — and potentially quickly snowballing against the exhausted other factions.
- The French State is likely to fall into civil war roughly around the time Germany is likely to, between collaborators and a Resistance uprising.
- RK Moskowien, RK Ukraine and RK Kaukasus collapse after Hitler's death, with remnants of the Reichskommissariat fighting against native uprisings, and some conflicts between various groups of rebels (with Caucasus the worst off in that regard. In Ukraine's case it is also possible for a collaborator faction to appear in some circumstances, fighting their fellow Ukrainians on the side of the Nazis because they believe it to be the best shot at a better deal for Ukraine). RK Ostland is somewhat more stable, only collapsing into civil war if the German Civil War begins.
- Commie Nazis:
- Otto Strasser is a potential leader for People's Germany and was essentially the face of all Commie-Nazi ideologies alongside his brother, Gregor, until National-Bolshevism arguably surpassed Strasserism. If he comes to power, the result is an almost perfect synthesis of the two ideologies.
- Downplayed by Juho Kusti Paasikivi, who manages to improve relations with Germany nearly to the point of joining their faction, while at the same time lifting the ban on Communist parties in Finland, all while not being particularly hard right or hard left at the same time.
- Joseph Goebbels was actually quite amicable to the Strasser brothers' economic policy in our time, but jumped shipped to the Hitlerist faction in the Nazi party over time. Even from there, however, he argued that 'National Socialism' should be far more socialist, as advertised. If he becomes Führer, he is free to enact such policies without restraint.
- Corrupt Politician:
- Syngman Rhee is the US-backed autocratic president of the Republic of Korea, who runs a sham democracy and suppresses protesters against his unpopular and corrupt rule.
- Nobusuke Kishi, the America-backed former economic manager of Manchukuo and war crime suspect, can come to power in Japan through the formation of the Liberal Democratic Party. Kishi, with American support, state controlled corruption, and collusion with the Yakuza, will eventually ban the communists and the social democrat opposition, and purge his opponents to establish a one-party "democracy" dominated by the LDP.
- Hermann Göring tries to slip in a scheme to make himself even wealthier if Hitler accepts his economic plan.
- Bormann's entire economic tree focuses on corruption, cutting education funds and receiving rewards from the oligarchs just to keep the nation afloat. They even start to say that he's running the Reich more like a company than a country.
- Exaggerated by Fritz Sauckel, who, along with keeping Bormann's economic tree, also begins to flat out sell high ranking government positions to the highest bidder, among other offenses.
- Joachim von Ribbentrop has 'The benefits of corruption,' 'Tool of the oligarchs,' and 'Satisfying the military-industrial complex' as major parts of his main focus tree.
- The Coup:
- Multiple coups can be performed in China, with one to remove Chiang Kai-Shek from power, another to reinstate him or seize power for themselves, and another to kick THOSE guys out too.
- Heydrich can internally coup Himmler from within the SS, putting himself in his place. Himmler can also be couped later on by Josias of Waldeck and Pyrmont if he forms the Aryan Empire, with Josias removing him to restore something resembling sanity to the Reich.
- Cult of Personality: Gotenland (Nazi-ruled Crimea) is headed by the ruthless Reinhard Heydrich, who has created a major cult of personality surrounding himself and Hitler. Along with the Blonde Beast, essentially every dictator of any nation, from Germany, the Soviet Union, Italy, and other states around the world can also create their own cults, though some are more extreme than others.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- The native uprising in the Belgian Congo is easily crushed, and the RKs will more often than not die off before they can complete even a single focus what with just how many rebel groups rise up against them.
- The final confrontation between America and Germany will more often than not end like this, especially if Germany is fighting off both the Soviet Union and itself at the same time.
- Dark Horse Victory:
- The player can allow Oswald Mosley and his controversial Union Movement to be elected to power in Britain (which will never happen with AI players), beating out both Labour and the Conservatives.
- It is possible for People's Germany (a coalition of democrats, socialists and disillusioned ex-Nazis), a faction which doesn't even exist unless the war drags on and spawns controlling a single state, to win the German Civil War.
- The primary contenders to re-unite Russia is the rump Soviet Union and the Russian Republic in the Far East, but all of the smaller Soviet and Russian Republic splinters can also reunite Russia.
- The council for the Greater German Reich is so dark horse, that they don't even have a path to avoid the civil war. For context, even the fanatical SS can avoid it if they're lucky enough. The council has to secure power by beating the SS and the Wehrmacht in a two front war, all while being led by what amounts to someone on the B-team of German politics, with none of the inner circle in charge. Still, their victory is plausible, and under Seyss-Inquart and Karl Doenitz, can actually lead to a moderate amount of reform and stability.
- Dark Is Evil: The SS-Ordensstaaten, by far the most vile and despicable nations in the game, are all given a pitch black color on the map to signify their evil.
- Dark Is Not Evil: By contrast, Oster's Germany, while being arguably the second best route for the nation in the entire gamenote , and by far the best route that can come from anyone still working for Nazi Germany when the game starts, retains the dark grey shade of the Wehrstaat, despite being nothing like it.
- Deadly Euphemism: 'Liquidation' and 'evacuation,' as always, are terms favored by Nazis.
- Death or Glory Attack: Although not perceived as such in-universe, this is effectively what the German Civil War is for Nazi Germany on a strategic level. A quick, decisive conflict can clear out a lot of the tensions and competing factions, allowing a more efficient Nazi Germany that has a better chance of competing with the Toronto Accord (especially since avoiding the civil war means making compromises that exacerbates some of the issues)... but if the Toronto Accord takes the opportunity to intervene, or they don't but the civil war drags on, Nazi Germany runs a significant risk of collapsing from it, while if they avoid the civil war they can usually limp on.
- Determinator: Due to the Nazis claiming victory in the war, many have turned to extreme methods to defeat them, and those on their side have done the same to maintain their dominance. As a result, the world of TWR is absolutely filled to the brim with Determinators on all sides of the conflict: Konev, Zhukov, MacArthur, Goebbels, Himmler, Manstein, Heydrich, all of Vietnam itself, take your pick. Special mention, however, goes to Poland, which continues to fight on even after over half of their prewar population has been killed.
- Different World, Different Movies: As the result of the Nazis sticking around in Germany, many more films directly supporting the regime are created, two of which are pointed out in flavor events: Leni Riefenstahl's "Frauenshicksale," which is regarded 'A German masterpiece,' and Arthur Maria Rabenalt's "Alarune," which...Isn't.
- Dirty Communists:
- General Ivan Konev leads a faction of "Ultravisionaries" in Kazan, who are totalitarian and militaristic socialists aiming to ruthlessly militarize the country to take revenge on Germany.
- Alongside Konev, Stalin's son Vasily leads a faction of "Ultravanguardists", who take Stalinism's "Socialism in One Country" up to eleven and aims to establish an ultra-totalitarian isolationist Soviet Union with total economic autarky.
- People's Germany, while perfectly capable of going down more sensible leftist routes, can alternatively become just as bad as the USSR under Willi Stoph or Erich Mielke. It is rather telling that the only way to go down the socialist routes is to choose 'guidance' instead of 'democracy.'
- Downer Ending: This can be the case for any successful Nazi loyalist playthrough from eliminating the opposition to conquering much of the world and killing off the Toronto Accords.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Under the right circumstances, the Toronto Accords will successfully liberate much of Europe from fascism, Germany will cast off Nazi rule, the Soviet Union will become a democracy and China goes down a non-dictatorial path.
- Enemy Mine:
- Every single rebellion in the Reichskommissariats will set aside their numerous differences for the sole sake of destroying the Germans. The general exception is the Soviet backed factions, as most of the other rebellions have little interest in exchanging German rule for Soviet rule.
- Funnily enough, the Germans can employ the same logic themselves, forming the German United Front between the SS, Wehrmacht, and rightful government to combat the Toronto Accords when it intervenes.
- Evil Colonialist: Italy can certainly become this, especially in Ethiopia, under the brutally harsh policies of Italianization. This is in addition to the Labenstraum policies Germany has been enacting for several years now, among the other atrocities the existing colonial powers of Britain, Belgium, France and the Netherlands have been perpetuating for years.
- Evil Versus Evil: What the German Civil War amounts to, in the end: No matter how hardliner or reformist each faction is, in the end, they're all Nazis. The exception is People's Germany, but they only appear, if at all, a year into the civil war (and their appearance does not end the fighting between the Nazi contenders).
- Evil Wears Black: High-ranking SS officials wear their infamous black uniforms, in a sort of twisted self-acknowledgment of their own evil. Black uniforms are also the official ceremonial wear of the SS, though their actual combat attire is normal colored.
- Faction-Specific Endings:
- Spain can go down almost every ideology in the game, be it sticking with Franco's autocracy, transition into a liberal democratic republic, replace Franco with a Falangist hardliner, replace Franco with the monarchy (which in turn can go down pro-German National Socialist, autocratic neutral, authoritarian neutral, democratic, or even social democratic paths), or even straight up have a revolution and turn into a Stalinist state.
- People's Germany is very similar, being able to go down every single ideology in the game, including National Socialism under Strasser.
- The Famine: Central Russia is having a famine due to the warlords' chaotic and despotic rule, as is the entire Indian subcontinent. China doesn't fare much better a few years into the game.
- Fascist, but Inefficient: Essentially every single nation in the world on game start that follows the 'National Socialism' or 'Fascism' ideologies are in one way or another completely screwed, and the big names of Germany and Italy are no better: In fact, they're even worse.
- Fictional Country: While many of them can appear over the course of the game, Lazarie and the SS-Ordensstaats are the most infamous of such examples.
- Fictional Political Party: The Liberal Party of the UK, instead of merging with the Social Democratic Party to form the Liberal Democrats, can merge with the Conservatives to form the New Democrats instead. In addition, if Strom Thurmond wins the American election in 1952, and his vice-president wins in 1956 after he resigns, the liberal wing of the Democrats can become so disgusted with their segregationist allies that they split off and form the Progressive Democrats to oppose them.
- Fictional United Nations: A counterpart to the UN exists in the form of... the United Nations, sharing the iconography, name and rough organization of the OTL UN, but with very few members in Europe, it has a somewhat different Security Council makeup (The US, UK, and China remain the same, Canada is the fourth and last member, and the USSR and either France's aren't members due to their situations) and having emerged in a somewhat different war, it's more akin to NATO.note .
- Final Solution: The final solution is still being perpetuated in Germany, and what's worse, in various flavors: Each RK has the independent decision to treat the native Slavs as "workers" or "vermin," and then decide to keep them around as slave laborers, to work them to death to slowly get rid of them long term, or attempt to fully genocide them as fast as humanly possible. And that's not even considering the gas chambers...
- Foreign Ruling Class:
- The Reichkommisiants are ruled by German Nazi officials while it's majority population is Slavic. This won't last long though under Generalplan Ost which is intended to replace the Slavs with ethnic German settlers.
- Similarly, the SS-Ordenstaats are controlled by Germans as opposed to their native populations.
- From Bad to Worse: If the German Civil War goes on long enough, the Toronto Accord has the option to intervene in Germany to put a stop to the fighting. This will very likely spell the doom of whatever's left of the Nazi forces, but the TA winning isn't guaranteed. It's possible for the Nazis to beat the expedition force but the odds are stacked against them. It's contingent on how well they've been dealing with their various native uprisings, possible Italian attempts to meddle in Austria, and the People's Germany rebellion should it fire. In the event that both PG and the TA enter the ring, they aren't hostile to one another and will completely focus on fighting the Nazis.
- Full-Circle Revolution:
- It's possible for People's Germany to either become a dictatorship driven by perpetual emergency law under Erich Mielke, a communist stratocracy under Marshal Willi Stoph's War Communism, or even revert back to a form of Nazism should Otto Strasser take over.
- Bormann, if his corruption and scheming is revealed, can be dramatically overthrown, and replaced with a number of candidates. One of which is Gerhard Klopfer, who rules exactly like Bormann did, and is rumored to simply be Bormann's puppet, and a means by which for him to continue ruling from the shadows.
Why did we depose Bormann again...?
- General Failure: Some of the potential successors for Hitler, like Göring and Himmler, can go down focuses which allow them to become generals. They're all ranked dead last in skill, with a '1' in every stat.
- General Ripper: Zhukov and Konev are both set on taking down Germany and nothing else. MacArthur, though far less extreme, also applies, shutting down any attempts to create peace with Germany. Not that you can really blame him.
- Government in Exile: The Dutch, Belgian, French, Norwegian, Danish, Polish, Czech, and Swiss governments that have been exiled from their homeland are now based in Indonesia, the Congo, French Africa, and the United Kingdom, respectively.
- Great Offscreen War: What was collectively known as WWII in our timeline is separated into three separate conflicts in TWR: One between Germany against Poland, France, and the UK, among other minor powers, one between Germany and their allies against the Soviet Union, and one between America, the British Commonwealth, and Japan. The latter is particularily notable, as the scale and nature of that specific war is incredibly different from what the OTL had, what with the allies going so far as to actually invade the Japanese homelands themselves.
- Honor Before Reason: The liberal wing of the Democrats splitting off from the segregationists to form the Progressive Democrats is essentially political suicide, especially after those segregationists managed to win not just one, but two elections. Not just for themselves, but for the Democrat party they left behind, essentially splitting the vote forever to ensure a Republican victory every time until segregation is finally resolved. It is certainly the morally correct thing to do, however.
I-Q
- Internal Reformist: Of the five potential Führers, Hermann Göring is the closest thing to a reformer. He strips the SS of their influence, implements proper welfare systems, reforms the bureaucracy and economy, seeks detente with the west, allows the Wehrmacht greater freedoms and less political interference, and even scales down the Holocaust. Still, all of this is done out of a personal desire to maintain power rather than enrich the nation. There is, however, an actual reformist faction in the Heer, made up of moderates like Hans Speidel and even secretly anti-Nazi German resistance members like Hans Oster. Speidel will deescalate the Reich into a fascist Italy-inspired oligarchy with repealed Nuremberg Laws, whereas Oster will restore the Weimar Constitution, release political prisoners, begin the transition towards democracy, and declassify many documents that detail the horrors committed by the Hitler regime.
- Kicked Upstairs: Germany can do this with the SS, creating SS-Ordensstaat Burgund and leaving the region to it's fate under SS control. The logic of 'Himmler wants a nation, let's give him one' is very useful to preventing the civil war.
- King on His Deathbed: Hitler is less than a year away from death due to health complications at game start. This is also the case with George VI, as he is quite literally a king on his deathbed in 1952.
- Land of One City: Four different Nazi city-states (Baku, St. Petersburg, Astrakhan, and Arkhangelsk) become independent after being left to fend for themselves as Germany loses control of its territory in uprisings after Hitler's death. This is in addition to the actual city-states of the OTL, most of which barring Liechtenstein remain unscathed.
- Les Collaborateurs: Every nation occupied by fascists has at least a few. Notable is the Russian Autonomous Republic, which is formed by Germany if they conquer Siberia, which is a tiny "Republic" specifically for Russian collaborators.
- Loyal to the Position: Most generals who side with the rightful government during the German civil war. In addition, any German puppet, such as the General Government, RK Netherlands, Denmark and Norway, who chooses to remain neutral in the civil war is basically saying that they'll obey whoever wins.
- Military Coup:
- The Wehrmacht can very rarely successfully coup the German government without causing a civil war. Their primary opposition in this is the SS rather than the actual politicians.
- Portuguese reformist general Humberto Delgado can launch a coup against Salazar to create a democratic pro-TA government.
- Elements of the US Army can launch a coup, if Knowland (Taft's successor after he dies) actively decides to focus on Asia instead of Europe. This can either lead to the Speaker of the House (who is second in the line of presidential succession, after the Vice President) temporarily assuming the presidency before a return to normal democratic process, or a temporary military administration, with four potential military presidents (one which always restores proper democracy, one which sets up a pseudo-democracy with the military holding influence in the background and a coalition government that dominates regardless of elections, one which has a choice between those two options, and one which sets up an outright permanent military dictatorship).
- The Japanese National Police Reserve (a predecessor to the JSDF) can be invited to launch a coup during the Japanese elections when the Social Democrats are rumored to be committing election fraud and forming a coalition with the Marxists, letting the police create a right-wing government. The coup is based on a real planned coup against PM Shigeru Yoshida.
- The Red Army will attempt a coup in Perm during the meeting of the Politburo. If the NKVD provide security, they won't succeed, but if the warning signs are ignored, Beria will be killed and replaced. If following this coup there is no leader strong enough to take control of the country, then the Red Army will perform another coup and rule the country themselves.
- The Moral Substitute: In-universe, the nations of the Toronto Accord see the International Olympic Committee as having become little more than a pawn of Germany ever since the invasion of Switzerland. Since 1940, they have boycotted the Olympics and staged their own alternative sporting events.
- Nuke 'em: Just like in base HOI4, nukes can be used on any province it's user has air superiority over, and usually aren't that effective. The exception to this is America and the rest of the TA, who can only use nukes under certain circumstances, and when they do, utterly destroy German cities, leaving crippling debuffs.
- Operation: [Blank]: Bormann's "Operation Uberfall," also known as his attempt to secure absolute power by killing everyone opposed to him. The USSR also has various operations for the reunification of the nation.
- Oppressive States of America: In not one, but two flavors: Strom Thurmond as president can completely destroy the Civil Rights movement, and effectively start a low scale race war in America by arresting MLK and other prominent advocates. On the other hand, the military coup path, especially under Thomas Power, makes things even more oppressive for blacks and whites alike.
- Our Presidents Are Different: In our timeline, Dwight Eisenhower wins the 1952 election. In TWR, he isn't even running: The possible candidates are instead the moderate republicans Thomas Dewey and Earl Warren, the moderate democrats Adlai Stevenson, Estes Kefauver and incumbent Harry Truman, the extremely interventionist Douglas MacArthur, the extremely isolationist Robert Taft, and the infamous dixiecrat Strom Thurmond. The much the same manner, Eisenhower can finally run 1956, but only in specific cirumstances, and as a Democrat instead of a Republican. The other Republican candidates can range from anyone from the incumbant Republican winners in 1952, Robert Taft's VPs that ascended to presidency after his death, George Patton, George N. Craig, Charles Potter, Margaret Chase Smith, and Charles A. Halleck. The Democrats also have the incumbatant winners of 1952, along with William Averall Harrimen, Joseph Kennedy Jr., John W. McCormack, Hubert Humphrey, Thomas overston Brooks, and the aforementioned Eisenhower. This is excluding the four illegitimate 'Military presidents' under the military coup path, or the much more legitimate Joseph Martin Jr., if they decide to place the Speaker of the House in power instead of establishing a junta.
- Peace Conference: On a more internal level, negotiations between the chosen successor and Heinrich Himmler essentially boil down to this: If they succeed, the SS gets Burgundy. If they fail, civil war is inevitable.
- People's Republic of Tyranny: The People's Germany can certainly slide into this, if a more dictatorial faction takes power. The 'Republics' of China, Korea, and Japan if it goes down the right path also qualify.
- Player-Exclusive Mechanic: The AI will never go down Oswald Mosley's path for Great Britain, and doesn't even have an option to do so under the country paths selection system.
- Please Select New City Name: Several Russian city names have been changed to fit German rule, and Berlin itself has been renamed to Germania, just as planned. Both of these changes can be reversed by Russians once again taking control, and the Nazi regime falling.
- Point of Divergence: Instead of the Dunkirk evacuations being a massive and morale boosting success like in our timeline, it is instead a miserable failure that completely destroys Winston Churchill's legitimacy. He's replaced by Halifax, who signs a white peace with Germany, allowing them to fully focus their efforts on destroying the Soviet Union. The UK's early surrender also means that the war never dragged on long enough for Germany to ally with Japan, meaning that Hitler leaves Japan to it's inevitable doom against America instead of intervening on their side.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: The villains are Nazis, for god's sake.
- President Evil: Strom Thurmond, the 'elected' military junta presidents, and especially the Soviet collaborator Bayard Rustin and the Nazi collaborator Johnston Murray all certainly apply.
- Press X to Die: There is absolutely no gameplay advantage to be gained by creating the Aryan Empire instead of Ordensstaat Germania as Himmler, nor in electing Thurmond in America. In fact, both make things significantly worse.
- Pretext for War: China isn't too happy with there being a Communist government in Vietnam, especially considering that they're harboring Chinese Communists that are legally considered to be traitors — so it provides support for the VNQDD (a KMT-inspired party that after falling out with the Vietnamese communists had many of its members flee across the border to China) to launch an uprising in northern Vietnam officially setting up a Vietnamese Republic, then steps in to aid their 'fellow republic'.
- The Promised Land: The German established Russian Autonomous Republic, while fully under Nazi control, is also the safest place for a Slav that every other RK would rather shoot for being undermensch than waste time feeding and keeping alive.
- Proxy War: While never reaching the level of proxy conflict our cold war saw, the Nazis would obviously be very pleased with the destruction of the British-backed Israel, and supports the already Axis-aligned Syria in their efforts to do so.
- Puppet State: Take your pick. Germany is so incredibly reliant on them, that their entire faction does not have even one genuine ally in it, just the many puppet states under their control.
- The Purge: There's only ever two ways of a dictator coming into power in TWR: A 'peaceful' purge, or a violent civil war with the same effect.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Whoever wins the German civil war will almost certainly find themselves in this situation, unless they pull it off fast enough: The RKs are almost inevitably destroyed, the entire country is devastated and bled dry, and both the Russians and the TA are poised to kick them while they're down.
R-Z
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: What many of the homegrown resistance movements against Germany are, with members of the ordinary population taking up arms just to kick out the Nazis.
- Realpolitik: Hermann Goering, an opportunist with a weaker belief in the Nazi ideology, will seek a détente with the west while keeping the status quo of the German internal politics if he becomes the new Führer.
- Resurgent Empire: It is very possible for the Soviet Union to bring itself back from the brink, and become a global superpower like it was in our own timeline. Germany too, despite struggling, can completely recover from it's civil war, reconquer the RKs, and destroy Russia.
- The Remnant: The USSR still exists past the AA line, granted in an extremely neutered state, where barely thirty percent of the population is even literate. The exiled national governments of France, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, and the Netherlands also count, as do any remnants of Nazi colonial authority after the civil war, likely Gotenland.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: Many war crimes will be committed in the name of defeating the Germans.
- La Résistance: The ones in the original timeline still exist, and if the course of history diverges from the timeline, other resistance movements can gain prominence. Such as, if the German Civil War drags on long enough, the German Resistance, in the form of the People's Germany.
- Riddle for the Ages: The circumstances of the disappearance (and likely death) of Stalin are unknown. The Russian unifier may form a commission to investigate the matter but its findings will be dictated by the unifier's ideology.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: What many of the RK rebellions, the uprising of the Polish Home Army, and certain Soviet paths amount to, as they slaughter every German in sight.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Though they are few and far between, there are still a handful of absolute monarchies dotted across the map, where a hereditary king or emperor has absolute authority, and are even generals for their own country.
- Russian Guy Suffers Most: Russia has it worse off than perhaps any other nation in the world, other than maybe Poland. Even if they do manage to kick out the Germans, reunify, and start rebuilding from all the destruction and horror they have gone through, nine times out of ten, it will be done under a brutal and fanatical dictatorship instead of a liberal democracy.
- Shocking Defeat Legacy: From Russia to France, the Nazi victory has completely reshaped the nations it has defeated, leading to intense radicalization in efforts to at last topple them.
- Shout-Out:
- Goebbels' son Helmut Christian Goebbels is represented with a portrait of Obergruppenführer John Smith, portrayed by Rufus Sewell, from The Man in the High Castle. This is because Helmut died in the Führerbunker and never grew up, and Sewell kinda looked like an old Helmut.
- In one of the events where top German scientists caution against launching their attempt at putting a man in space due to safety concerns, they are dismissed with the line of "Superior German engineering is the finest in the world! It will work!"
- Despite many being annoyed by the comparisons between TWR and TNO, the TWR team hasn't exactly been subtle with the similarities, to the point where some have joked that TWR is just a prequel to TNO, despite significant lore differences.
- In the focus in which Krebs forms his junta, the description makes note that he is now the biggest fish in the pond.
- Before Hitler's funeral, Eva Braun expresses her desire to make a speech. The inner circle's reaction is very similar to how a certain movie portrays the presidium.
"Technically, yes, but practically..."
- Sliding Scale of Alternate History Plausibility: As with the original timeline, the mod is a firm Type I and tries to stick as close to the historical records as possible.
- Space Cold War: The mod primarily focuses on a cold war between the Toronto Accord and Nazi Germany (whose faction is named Neuordnung, or "New Order" in English). While the cold war lasted only 10 years in the official timeline, it can go on for much longer in the mod as player and AI decisions can avert Germany's downfall in its civil war. The later years in the mod, especially if Nazi Germany as in the canon has collapsed by then, is likely to feature the beginnings of a cold war between China and the USA.
- Space-Filling Empire: Though it's effectively suicide, a Germany led by an 'ambitious' (see: insane) enough ruler like Himmler or Goebbels can directly annex many of the nations it conquers, rather than establishing puppet states or colonies.
Canada? More like Germania!
- Spiritual Antithesis: To The New Order: Last Days of Europe, another mod for Hearts of Iron IV simulating a Cold War between the US and Nazi Germany in which the death of Adolf Hitler is a major turning point in the plot. Whereas The New Order was pulpier, more narrative-driven, and Darker and Edgier, with many of the most visibly dystopian elements presented directly to the player, Thousand-Week Reich sticks to the more realistic end of the Sliding Scale of Alternate History Plausibility, with many of the "cursed" or "crazy" paths requiring a lot of effort to see. Also, while The New Order is set in The '60s and has the threat of Mutually Assured Destruction in the event of World War III constantly hanging over the player, meaning that most major conflicts are proxy wars, Thousand-Week Reich is set in The '50s when the US was the only country with more than a few nuclear weapons, allowing for more traditional "grand strategy" gameplay of world conquest.
- Succession Crisis: The struggle to succeed Hitler is intense enough that there's a special mechanic for it, with Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Göring, Albert Speer, Martin Bormann and Heinrich Himmler all jockeying for when Hitler dies. To make it even more complicated, even when someone comes out on top in the initial struggle, it isn't necessarily over — if the German Civil War starts, the various leader figures in the "Rightful Government" still struggle for influence while trying to defeat the other military factions, the SS is in most circumstances led by Heinrich Himmler but has three possible replacement figures (Reinhard Heydrich, Hereditary Prince Josias, and Hans Lammers) should he die, and even the Wehrstaat is split between the Military-Nazis under Erich von Mannstein and the Moderates behind Hans Speidel. In the end, there are a total of 23 potential successors to Hitler.
- Uncertain Doom: Joseph Stalin simply vanished after Moscow, Leningrad, and Stalingrad all fell. His whereabouts or continued survival are both unknown.
- Unexpected Successor: Anyone on the council would be a legitimate contender for the title of Führer, if they didn't have to compete with absolute titans of the inner circle like Goebbels, Speer, and Himmler. Despite the influence of the big five, however, much more relatively unknown figures can still seize absolute power as the next Führer. Even more so is Bormann's B-team, all of which are even less likely to end up in charge, and only manage it because everyone else who's actually competent is already dead. Taken up to eleven by Herman Esser, who can only come into power if everyone else who's actually competent is dead and the Wehrmacht steps down from their control.
- Villain Protagonist: If the 'protagonists' can be considered the five great powers at game start, then certainly. Italy is a fascist dictatorship which can kill thousands in their efforts to 'Italianize' their conquests, the United Kingdom can subvert the will of the people and allow the Queen to form a military government under rare circumstancesnote , America can either get couped by the military or actively enforce segregation under Thurmond, every leader in China has to kill numerous people to seize power, and Germany is literally run by the Nazis.
- War Is Hell: To an absurd degree, especially if the major powers start to go down the chemical and biological warfare technology trees. Nuclear weapons are bad enough, but intentionally creating and spreading super diseases to kill the enemy is nearly as bad, if not worse.
- Won the War, Lost the Peace: The entire point of the mod: Germany is essentially destined to fall, because National Socialism as both an ideology and a form of government is just too genocidal and unstable to exist for long.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Both the Soviet Union and Poland is filled with these types, those who would happily subject every German man, woman, and child to the same horror and atrocities they have suffered themselves.
- A World Half Full: While literally millions suffer under Nazi execution, imprisonment, and slavery on a daily basis, the regime is falling apart, and the Western democracies are just waiting for the chance to pick up the pieces.
