Line #10 Fridge/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope


1	'''All spoilers are unmarked in Fridge pages. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!'''
2	!! Fridge Brilliance
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4	* Because his goal is to end the world, and Germany has an apocalyptic nuclear arsenal, why doesn't Himmler directly invade Germany in their Civil War to help Heydrich, instead of invading France? However, there were several reasons this was the smartest move. First, it's pointed out by Burgundy's economy minister that their economy is in shambles, and is on the verge of collapse. Simply put, an invasion would be do or die for Burgundy; even if it wasn't overrun by one of the other factions, it would just implode due to a lack of funds. Second, Heydrich's position is almost doomed; he has no chance under the AI, and is ridiculously hard for the player. It's even acknowledged in-universe how screwed Heydrich is, with Himmler's focus for him losing the Civil War being called ''A Predictable Failure''. Third, the other factions in the Civil War have nukes of their own, and though they usually only use them if the war devolves into Anarchy, they'd probably be more willing to use them if a foreign country is invading, which most of Germany considers Burgundy to be at this point. It's not told how many nukes the other factions have, but it's safe to say that Burgundy's one or few nuke arsenal would not dissuade the other factions from launching, and that they'd have enough nukes to pave Burgundy.
5	* Trying to pull off the same pace of reforms seen by a successful Gang of Four in Germany doesn't quite work the same way in Japan, despite what some elements of the Taisei Yokusankai or its opposition would want. Given that in TNO, Japan has been under decades of militarist influence, followed by the codifying of that status quo under a nominally civilian government, it'd make sense that any genuine push for democracy or liberal reform would have to be both much more gradual and consistent with Japanese nationalism in order for it to sink in among a repressed society. In that respect, a successful drive [[AllohistoricalAllusion would not be too unlike Postwar Japan in OTL]].
6	** Japan gradually embracing greater women's rights as part of patriotic pride (whether for [[PragmaticVillainy pragmatic considerations]] or in the name of genuine equality) in the more reformist paths, despite decades of [[StayInTheKitchen enforced social policies]] makes sense given the precedent of "Taisho Democracy" and parts of Japanese culture (including Amaterasu's position as a leading deity).
7	** [[InSpiteOfANail The existence]] of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' and the Gundam franchise at large might seem rather strange, given the divergence. Until you realize that, given that the TNO version focuses on Char Aznable and the Principality of Zeon, this would make for convenient propaganda, especially in the less overtly reform-minded paths. That Char would ultimately betray the Zabis for their perversion of his father’s ideals and in pursuit of his own agenda, however, would also mean that it'd be subtly subversive as well against the regime.
8	** Even in a reformist Japan under Kōno Ichirō and his successors, elements of the old system such as the Co-Prosperity Sphere and Pan-Asianism would still persist by virtue of there being no destructive defeat to discredit them. On the other hand, a reform-minded direction can ''also'' give the Japanese a chance [[BecomingTheMask to live up to the rhetoric]] and prove their naysayers wrong.
9	* Whether Valery Sablin keeps his idealism or succumbs to brutally enforcing Bukharinist measures, he consistently sees himself [[ExactWords as keeping true to Vladimir Lenin's vision]]. The key difference being that the idealist path reflects Marxism-Leninism [[ChummyCommies as it ought to have been]] while the authoritarian one is Lenin’s cause [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized as it actually was in practice]].
10	* Why does Taboritsky keep referencing God and machines? It's because he'll believe Alexei will return and pull a DeusExMachina to solve all of Russia's troubles altogether!
11	* Konstantin Rodzaevsky undergoes a peculiar case of CharacterDevelopment from a raving, paranoid, and alcoholic madman in the middle of nowhere to a [[StraightEdgeEvil chillingly competent]] and ''sane'' Vozhd by the time he reunifies Russia. As much as it is a perverse reversal of Sergey Taboritsky's SanitySlippage, it also makes sense in how the very circumstances that brought Amur to its initially pitiful state gradually lead him to self-reflection, forcing him to change his self-destructive habits if he's to actually ''rule'' properly.
12	* The final regional focus of the Aryan Brotherhood, "A Clash of Gods", has a DoubleMeaningTitle. Besides deciding who will win the power struggle between Vagner and Velimir, it also refers to what they prefer to worship; Vagner idolizes Nazi Germany while Velimir believes in Perun and Slavic neo-paganism.
13	* Martin Bormann's policies, superficially, could be almost as successful as Albert Speer's Fascist route, thanks to a combination of gradual, albeit piecemeal reforms and pragmatic considerations. Unlike Speer, however, he ''doesn't'' purge National Socialism of its worse excesses, and eventually doubles down on upholding some form of ideological orthodoxy, meaning that he would need much more time to stabilize the Reich as he envisions it. Given his cancer diagnosis by 1972, and the rise of Ulrike Meinhof's Red Army Faction, he would never have that chance. While it's still possible for the Reich to limp on after his death, it nonetheless underscores the point that Nazism, in its "historical" and orthodox form, is practically doomed from the start.
14	** Bormann's change of tune during the Opulence, in which piecemeal reforms and pragmatic concessions meant to prop up the regime give way to ridiculously ambitious excess (from polygamy to crazy megaprojects), might seem wildly inconsistent. But why ''would'' he do otherwise, when by the logic of orthodox National Socialism, they're simply the next step towards a Thousand Year Reich? It's unsurprising, then, that this sort of hubris and short-sightedness are ''precisely'' why they're purged from Speer's Reformed Nazism, realizing that these would be difficult if not nigh-impossible to sustain in the long run. Bormann simply finds out the hard way.
15	* It's not just Speer's bio as a puppet of the Gang of Four, with a single, blood-red WhamLine at the end, that hints at a potential comeback and his loss of power being only temporary or insincere. While his portrait as a puppet of Oberlander has him in civilian garb and despondent, his portrait as the Gang of Four's stooge is the same as his autocratic one, albeit also in a civilian suit in tie instead of the Party brown - far from a miserable man who has lost all control over the Reich, he's alert and aware of what's going on, ready to seize the chance to exert his presumably still prodigious influence and twist events in his favor, if only for one last time.
16	* America's strength in relation to its Fascist and Nazi rivals isn't just in terms of economic might or nukes. This extends to how fundamentally stable the United States is, even with its myriad deep-seated social tensions and military interventions. It would take ''significantly'' more domestic turmoil and a breakdown of trust in its democratic institutions to elicit something remotely similar to what happens in Italy or Japan. Thus, it speaks much of the power of liberty that regardless of who's in charge, the American people will either rebound from setbacks or build on successes more effectively. Conversely, for someone like Yockey, Hall or Schlafly to seize power is indicative of just how bad things in the US have become that its very foundations may soon be beyond repair.
17	* Suslov is clearly the Russian unifier who moves the restored Soviet Union closest to what it was in the 70s in our timeline, with a more bureaucratic style of collective leadership while shying well away from outright liberalization. The move away from Bukharin and Stalin-era personalism is reflected in the fact that he's the only Soviet restorationist to put a plain hammer and sickle on his flag and have it be the post-Stalin version rather than the version with a rounder and more prominent sickle used in both TNO and OTL during the war years, which is what Stalinists and Bukharinists favor in TNO.
18	* The way Albert Speer is written in TNO as a whole is a brilliant take on Albert Speer as a person in the OTL. For decades he managed to maintain the veneer of 'the good Nazi' and 'the Nazi who said sorry', outright lying about his awareness of and role in the Nazi's warcrimes, chief among them the Holocaust. The 'Speer Myth' slowly crumbled in recent decades, finally falling in 2007 with the discovery and publication of a letter confirming that Speer had lied about leaving the 1943 rally where Himmler outright confirmed the existence of the 'Final Solution' and the extermination of the Jews early. So for TNO to cast him as an alleged reformer who, beneath the mask, is very much a Nazi in all the worst ways is an excellent reference to how he lived in the real world- a masterful liar who deceived the people about the monster he truly was.
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20	!! Fridge Horror
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22	* Albert Speer’s successful Fascist path for Germany [[CrapsaccharineWorld might not seem overtly horrifying compared to certain other contenders]], ushering an era of prosperity and prestige that would allow the Reich to remain a global power well into the 21st Century. Then it sinks in that while the worst excesses are purged, Speer has fundamentally ''changed nothing else'', instead allowing the Nazi ideology (and its abuses) to endure in a much more subtle and insidious manner through his reforms. Even worse is that the way he achieves this ''[[AllohistoricalAllusion has already happened]]'' in the People’s Republic of China following Deng Xiaoping’s reforms. One could almost call Speer's reformed take on Nazism "Fascism with German Characteristics."
23	** In a grimly ironic twist, a scenario where Speer's reforms ensures Nazi Germany's survival and the normalization of fascism across the globe would fulfill a prediction the real Albert Speer once gave in a post-war interview:
24	---> "If the Nazis had won, of course, things on the surface would eventually have settled down to an appearance of normality. The milkman would deliver his milk in the morning, the policeman would enforce the law, the doctor would cure the sick, people would still worry about their jobs, fight with their wives, save for a new car. But they would be living in a nightmare, buried in a graveyard of human hope and dignity, trapped in a hell they would never recognize, much less question. The long dark night would have begun, and finally man would not even remember the light."
25	** In addition to the MundaneHorror of a Speer victory over both the Gang of Four and the Idiosyncratic Nazis, the potential implications of Germany coming out on top by process of elimination as well amplify this:
26	*** While Taboritsky's regime is already horrifying enough, the international repercussions of its collapse is probably going to be horrible in unexpected ways as the collapse, with how it utterly and completely destroys the idea of a united Russia, means that Germany, with a united Russia permanently destroyed, has its eastern flank secured forever - free for it to reign over its own portion of the former Soviet Union unchallenged, or even make forays back up to the Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line if it dares. Reunification under Mikhail Oktan also achieves this in a "saner" manner, as Oktan is slavishly pro-German throughout the game (unlike Konstantin Rodzaevsky, who grows disillusioned with German Nazism after receiving no acknowledgement from Germania) but doesn't invite the risk of rebellion against his rule as much as the Aryan Brotherhood does.
27	*** Japan and the Sphere are constantly teetering on the brink of chaos, always at risk of a change in leadership - often violent. If the [=IJA=] specifically ends the [=YSK=], it pulls troops out of their international deployments worldwide to secure its coup at home, giving Germany much needed breathing room. In the United States, while a Yockey presidency will likely not last too long, Phyllis Schlafly coming to power will also cripple America's ability to counter Speer on the world stage, as her administration struggles to understand why the United States should concern itself with foreign affairs as much as it used to and thus would probably be amenable to detente with Speer's Reich.
28	*** One could argue that in a world where Dengist Speer takes over Germany and defeats his opponents, a Chinese victory in the Great Asian War could ultimately end up a NiceJobBreakingItHero moment, especially if the newly independent China aligns itself with Germany in the aftermath of its victory, with how Chinese victory in the GAW means Japan's days as a major superpower are numbered
29	* As part of enforcing the Burgundian System, especially as practiced in Burgundy itself, throngs of educated Frenchmen and Belgians are forced into slavery to toil (and die) on behalf of their SS overlords. All the while, generations of cultural heritage, from placenames that aren't German or Aryan enough to language and social customs, are purged under Himmler's watch. When the Ordenstaat falls apart, it's clear that [[InferredHolocaust the economic, cultural and human costs]] would be comparable to not just North Korea but also the Khmer Rouge. And unlike Cambodia, there might not even be ''enough locals left alive'' to rebuild.
30	* Burgundy, when it collapses, is going to have a lot of nuclear weapons lying around that won't go away when Himmler dies. There are two possibilities for what happens to them next, and both are equally terrifying. The first is that it falls into the hands of some post-Himmler warlord. They'll know about MAD, and will keep their nukes as a deterrence a la North Korea. So post-collapse Burgundy might not return to a sane form of government, but merely ruled by set of warlords who could never be invaded lest they nuke their invaders, whose government was [[FullCircleRevolution just as insane as the one they left]]. The other is that it gets lost. Lost nukes are already a scary thought, but in the [=TNOverse=], there might be even more of them, they'd all be in one place, and they could very feasibly get into the hands of fanatical Burgundian System adherents that are desperate and crazy enough to use them. In short, there's a very real possibility that ''nuclear terrorism'' could happen in the [=TNOverse=].
31	** Even if Heydrich succeeds in defeating Himmler should the former wind up triumphant, Germany collapses into a nigh post-apocalyptic, anarchic void not long after his death. And unlike Burgundy, this chaotic zone encompasses ''much of Central Europe''. With the former Reich's nuclear arsenal either in the hands of various warlords or conveniently missing, it not only turns the aforementioned prospect of nuclear terrorism up to eleven, but this could potentially ''destroy the entire Continent'', truly making such a scenario the [[TitleDrop last days of Europe]].
32	* Russia after Taboritsky's unification and collapse has the identity of Tsarevich Alexei II assumed by a Polish former NKVD agent, who uses it to forward his Communist ideals under a banner that gives the people hope. While he is genuinely benevolent and wants what is best for his "subjects", his success as a warlord and potential to become a unifier can (and probably will) send the wrong message: that Taboritsky's [[FinalSolution insanity and cruelty]] were ''[[MadOracle right all along]]''. As his image is close to divine thanks to the propaganda of the HRE and will allow him to overrule and dissuade a revival of any characteristics from the former Imperial Cult, one can't help but imagine there being adherents to the HRE that will use Goleniewski's rule and successes as a justification for future worse atrocities. The implications of the worn-down sanity of the people, as seen from how the citizenry ''and'' the military are able to be convinced of his legitimacy, only help to fuel this fear. This is at least mitigated from a quick mention of how Taboritsky has come to be called a heretical regent during "Alexei's" introduction.
33	* The [[TheRemnant Redeemed Black League]] has survived Taboritsky's regime by hiding out in their bunkers as part of Plan HYDRA, reemerging after the Holy Russian Empire's collapse and ready to [[GenocideFromTheInside wage a Great Trial against the Russian people]]. However, the most terrifying part of the Redeemed Black League is arguably not its ideology but the fact that they survived Taboritsky's regime in the first place. If the Black League can survive the functionally permanent second collapse of Russia at the hands of an esoteric Nazi nightmare state, its spectre could still hang over both Russia and the world if a [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure relatively moderate/sane government comes to power]], with the remnants of the Black League remaining a dangerous threat to the world [[RenegadeRussian as a terrorist organization]].
34	** This is slightly dampened if you realise the Redeemed Black League only harboured beliefs so extreme due to them facing the sheer horrors of the Holy Russian Empire. It is possible they might mellow down should Russia be prosperous and powerful following reunification under a different path, and if such a government manages to defeat Moskowien and Germany in war, they may dissolve entirely with no continued raison d'etre, and possibly assimilate back into Russian society.
35	* If Bormann dies of lung cancer in-game after the end of his path (which happens if you wait up to a decade or so after the path ends), he gets replaced by Collapsed Authority. This [[CivilWar won't bode well]] [[HereWeGoAgain for Germany]]. It might even be the end of the Reich itself given how a Germany under Collapsed Authority can be sufficiently vulnerable for a unified Russia or rebellions.
36	* The African Devastation can be compared to the Russian Midnight Collapse, except its far worse. While Russia mostly shares a united culture, Hüttig's Reichsstaat is a [[SpaceFillingEmpire Frankenstein monster of a state]], with literal thousands of ethnicities, none of which really dominate the state. Now consider the fact that all of these ethnicities in question have been driven to hate each other due to the sheer oppression they faced under the Reichsstaat, and we get a landscape that is going to be engulfed with innumerable wars, conflicts and atrocities that not even Post-Midnight Russia could measure up to. The worst part is, this leaves the numerous states occupying the area to fall to neocolonial advances from world powers, like the [[MeetTheNewBoss US, Japan]] or even [[ShaggyDogStory Germany itself]]. It is an unmigitated disaster that won't get the attention it deserves due to Africa tending to be more out of the focus compared to Russia, even in their anarchic state, and this will ensure Hüttig's [[VillainousLegacy scars will not leave Africa for centuries to come]], putting him among historical figures like Hitler, Genghis Khan or Tamerlame due to the horrors they committed.
37	** Worse still, the game makes many references to not only deliberate deforestation but increasingly ferocious defoliation agents and deployments of said agents - [[DeadlyGas among other chemical weapons]] - to the point that there is literally no flora for miles around many German patrols. In fact, the usage of chemicals could be easily compared to ''Sergey Taboritsky'' himself, writ large over a far more diverse ecosystem. Given that this includes regions such as the INCREDIBLY-important-for-the-world's-oxygen-supply Congolese jungles, it's entirely within the realm of possibility that when global warming becomes an issue in the public consciousness like our own timeline it'll [[YouAreTooLate already be too late to do anything]] since so much of the so-called Earth's Lungs are dead by this point. In short, Huttig's utterly maniacal quest for racial purity in Afrika will doom the entire planet to a slow inescapable death march to a [[GaiasLament barren toxic wasteland that nothing can inhabit]]. At least Earth ''recovers'' from nuclear war...
38	* At the direction of Japan, Manchuria will cede almost all formerly Soviet territory it owns north of Primorsky Krai to Konstantin Rodzaevsky's fascist, Nazi, and of course rabidly antisemitic government. This concession is requested mainly so that Rodzaevsky can reclaim his hometown of Blagoveshchensk...but then there's also the fact that ''the entirety of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast'' is included in the deal as well.
39	** Given how Rodzaevsky consistently maintains his old Kwantung Army ties in Manchuria, this can also have grave ramifications for his plans of not only defeating the Reich, but also eliminating what's left of the domestic opposition. This is in no small part due to how those ties include direct links to the infamous Unit 731, potentially opening up Russia to its notorious experiments.
40	* Schlafly's response to the Oil Crisis would be detrimental in the long term. As a developer explained, her OTL counterpart claimed that the way to solve the 1973 Oil Embargo was to sell all federal parkland in Alaska, subsidize oil drilling, and remove "onerous and costly" environmental regulations. Now becoming the most powerful individual in the United States in this timeline, who knows how much damage she will do to the landscape, especially with her general stubbornness and lack of moderation.
41	* Tokyo does nothing about Nagano’s brutal repression on Guangdong Riots and IJA’s takeover of Guangdong, even under a moderate or liberal government. It is a fridge horror in the sense that it shows that even if Japan democratizes, the Empire of Japan would fundamentally be a continuation of the same regime which committed war crimes like Nanjing Massacre and Unit 731 during World War 2. Alternatively it also reflects how influential the IJA remains outside the Home Islands that any democratic reform would hardly be felt outside Japan itself.
42	** It gets worse with how the IJA's repression is directed not just against local ethnic Chinese but against other Japanese in the elimination of the top corporate executives and business leaders in Guangdong, with apparently little in the way of outrage at how even ''wealthy Japanese'' are not safe from the IJA's wrath. This also implies that Komai's ideas about the Japanese in Guangdong being "soft" and "uncultured brutes" are more popular than one assumes with this being arguably an example of how those in the colonial metropole have often looked down on those who stay too long in the colonies as having in some way or another lost track of their roots, which would probably be especially the case if Morita's reformist government is the one the IJA overthrew.
43	* The 22nd Amendment was never ratified in the US in [=TNO=] limiting terms to two, imagine what a truly vile president like Yockey or Schafly (who is rather young at the start of her presidency) or a president that is well-intentioned, but can cause significant damage with their authoritarianism like Hall could do without such limits......

Context Fridge / TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope