Artistic License History / Hearts of Iron

• In II, the pre-Winter War Soviet territorial demands against Finland are much harsher than in real life; instead of the historical demands◊, the USSR demands the entirety of the area in Karelia◊ that historically was ceded to them by Finland in the post-Winter War treaty. However, the entirety of the Karelian isthmus is represented by only one province in-game, so it would not be possible to accurately represent the pre-war "border correction" proposals.^note It is also possible that Paradox did not want the player be "rewarded" for their successful defense of Finland by them losing even more territory than what was initially asked for. Darkest Hour fixes this slightly by having an extra province on the isthmus between Viipuri and Leningrad that somewhat corresponds to the historical pre-war Soviet-demanded area.
• In IV, Mongolia and Tannu Tuva are both completely independent countries. A more accurate depiction of them would result in them being puppets of the USSR.^note They start both campaigns as members of the Comintern faction. Also, the name Tannu Tuva is anachronistic, as it was used from 1921 to 1926; the correct name at the time was the Tuvan People's Republic.
• In IV, Sheng Shicai's Sinkiang is a fully independent country, while it historically was a puppet of USSR.^note There's probably technical reasons for this inaccuracy. First, being a puppet would lock its foreign policies, thus forcing it to remain part of Comintern instead of being able to join the Chinese United Front against Japan. Also, an attack against a puppet automatically results in a war declaration by the puppet's owner against the aggressor, so a Japanese aggression against Sinkiang would have forced USSR AI to turn against Japan, while OTL events had both powers being neutral to each other for most of World War Two The Sinkiang's in-game flag is a red six-branch star on the top-left corner of a plain yellow background, which was only used in 1933-1934. A historically accurate flag for the time the game is set would consist in a yellow six-branch star in the center of a plain red background.
• In 3, Canada for some bizarre reason does not start out allied with the United Kingdom.^note The only reason the Canadian government bothered voting on whether or not Canada would declare war on Germany (and later Italy) was basically to remind themselves that, because of the 1931 Statute of Westminster, Canada was considered independent from the UK. That was the only reason for the vote in Parliament, as the Canadian government does not need permission from Parliament to declare war, they just have to "ask" the reigning monarch of Canada to declare war for them. The declarations of war on Germany and Italy were the only ones to be voted on, as the Cabinet didn't bother to bring parliament back when they declared war on Japan (Parliament had been adjourned when the war with Germany broke out, and was recalled early for the vote. It was also adjourned when Japan attacked the UK and the US). It should be noted that Canada actually declared war on Japan one day before the United Kingdom and the United States.
• In IV, Mengkukuo^note a Japanese puppet located between Manchukuo and Mongolia already exists at the 1936 (1st January) start and is ruled by Demchugdongrub. Historically, a Japanese puppet state was installed in the area on May 12 of 1936, but its name, ruler, and flag are anachronistic at this date (they would be correct for the 1939 start, though).
• In IV, the starting leader of France in the 1936 start is the President of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister equivalent at the time) Edouard Daladier, who didn't occupied the post until 1938; in 1st January 1936, the historical leader should be Pierre Laval. Before La Résistance, Daladier was also the leader of France for the August 1939 start, which is historically accurate.^note French political life at the time was very complex and unstable, during the terms of French President Albert Lebrun (elected in 1932, replaced by Pétain in 1940 after the French defeat), the President of the Council of Ministers changed 17 times. The presence of Laval as the starting French leader (in real life, his tenure stopped three weeks after the starting date) poses another issue: he's now solely remembered because he got back this role later, twice during the reign of Pétain, and is now viewed as one of the main responsible of Pétain's collaboration's policy. With La Résistance, the starting leader of France for the 1939 start is now Léon Blum, who was no longer in charge at the time, since his Prime Minister terms during the Thirties were 4 June 1936 – 22 June 1937, then 13 March 1938 – 10 April 1938. Strangely, the game has no problem updating other countries with the correct leaders from the 1939 start date, even though in quite a few cases, it's not possible to get them if you start in 1936.
• In IV, Ireland is an independent country at the 1936 start, while it historically was a Dominion until its complete independance from United Kindgom in December 29th 1937. Ireland should start as a British puppet with the same status as Canada, Australia, etc.^note This is justified because the Republic of Ireland was not interested in being a Dominion, and did not join the war historically for this reason. It just took until after the war was over for the UK to be willing to accept this.
• In IV, Bhutan starts as a completely independent country while historically it should be a very autonomous puppet of the Raj of India (the Raj monitored Bhutan's foreign policy).^note Technical limitations probably play a role in this one. The Raj is itself a puppet (of United Kingdom), so being the puppet of a puppet probably wouldn't work in the game. Note there are mods which partially fix this historical inaccuracy by making Bhutan starting as a British puppet.
• Japan's flag is represented by the "Rising Sun Flag", which historically wasn't the Japanese national flag but served as the war flag of the Imperial Japanese Army. The historically accurate Japanese national flag looked roughly like the current one: the circle had a different shade of red and was slightly off-center.
• IV confuses the fascist faction of China's Kuomintang, the Blue Shirt Society, with Wang Jingwei's collaborationist KMT. BSS serves as the in-game Chinese fascist party, but has Wang as its leader; Wang never associated himself with the BSS in real life, and the BSS was an anti-Japanese fascist party.
• IV doesn't simulate the Phoney War, as full scale fights on French territory starts between Allies and Axis right at the moment the Allies declare war to Germany.
• Instead of only sending token support to Poland as they did in reality, the Allies in this game will actively try to defend it. German players only have a limited window of time to overrun Poland before Allied forces reinforce it.
• The UK and the Soviet Union invaded Iran in 1941 and deposed Reza Shah Pahlavi, which is reflected in the reworked Soviet Focus Tree, but in-game, this ends with Iran becoming a Soviet puppet instead of installing Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as leader but leaving the country independent or splitting the country between the UK and Soviets.
• The United Kingdom actually did invade and occupy Iceland like in the game, but Iceland^note  At the time, part of Denmark, which had just been invaded and overrun joining the Axis (as it tends to pan out in-game) is incredibly unrealistic.^note In real life, the invasion of Iceland was a pre-emptive move to keep it away from Germany, and was done after Iceland refused to join the Allies out of a commitment to neutrality. Strangely, the way this played out in real life would actually be more accurate if it was done in the same way that Ultimatums the Soviets can send out to the Baltics, Finland, and Romania are, but it's not implemented as such.
• If the Allies get large enough and call in enough members^note usually done by France or the UK releasing colonies as puppets, the Axis can invite South American countries to the faction, which can result in Venezuela, Peru, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic joining the Axis. The only South American country you could say supported the Axis after the war broke out was Argentina, who oddly enough, won't join the Axis this way due to being non-aligned instead of fascist; in real life, the various nations of South America joined the war on the Allied side gradually from 1941 to 1945 (with Argentina being the last) after Pearl Harbor was attacked^note presumably, this isn't represented because the game would slow to a crawl from the nations being called in, not to mention that in the current version, Japan declares on the United States by attacking the Philippines.
• It is understandable for Sukarno, being a leader of many facets (a nationalist Marxist who collaborated with the Japanese, then presided over a liberal democratic Indonesia before launching a left corporatist dictatorship) to be lumped in with a Democratic party, but this prevents him from being the leader of Indonesia as a Japanese puppet. Instead, it is, rather surreally, Suharto at the helm of his fascist "New Order" (the name of his government OTL and not his party) - despite being only fifteen years old at game start!
• In II, Yemen is a British puppet state, and typically will remain so for the entire game, taking part in World War II if it breaks out. In reality, Yemen was an independent country, though quite insular and weak, and remained neutral during the war.
• Also in II, Egypt is under direct control of the United Kingdom, instead of being a British puppet as it historically was from 1922 onwards. Darkest Hour fixes this, but still gives the UK an option for direct provisional control in the event of war. Similarly, in IV, Egypt is the only country the player can release as the UK without having to go down the decolonization branch of their focus tree^note in fact, if the player releases Egypt as a puppet and plays as them, they can earn an achievement for using the puppet system to gain independence, although it doesn't specifically require the UK as overlord.
• Functionally, the Raj of India consists in-game in a single, homogenous British puppet, which is an oversimplification of a system which would be too complex to be viable in-game. Historically, the Raj consisted in two distinct parts, the British India (directly ruled from London), and the Princely States (many tiny autonomous principalities allied with United Kingdom and ruling locally). An accurate representation of this system in-game would theoretically result in half of India being part of the major United Kingdom nation, and the rest being a mosaic made of about 500 puppet states.
• British Malaya is depicted as being equivalent in territory to modern Malaysia. In real life, what we call British Malaya only controlled the southern Malaya peninsula, with Britain's holdings North Borneo being protectorates in the form of Sarawak, Brunei, and North Borneo.^note Sarawak and North Borneo were both converted to colonies in 1946, however that's after both jumping off points. British Malaya as depicted in-game is also oversimplified in the same way as India, being divided between Federated States, Unfederated States, and the Straits Settlements.
• Prior to Battle for the Bosporus, the Republic of Hatay (a country born in 1938 from the independence of a French Mandate of Syria's region, then annexed by Turkey less than a year later) isn't represented, which means (French) Syria and Turkey will retain their starting borders even after 1938.
• Ecuador and Peru's 1936 borders in IV reflect their borders after the War of '41 and the Rio Protocols. Bizarrely, the War of '41 was originally implemented in the game, but was removed with later updates.
• Danzig is treated as part of Poland proper; prior to the Invasion of Poland, it was under Polish protection, but administered as a League of Nations mandate.
• A few examples that, while in the realm of alt-history, still qualify:
  • A Greece that restore the Byzantine Empire would never officially call itself such. The term "Byzantine Empire" was given to them by a German scholar long after their fall, especially since the word "Byzantine" itself is an adjective formed from an obsolete name for their capital city (Byzantion was renamed "Constantinople" centuries before the actual "Byzantine" era). The Empire proper called itself the Roman Empire to its dying day.
  • Prior to the update that came with No Step Back, West Virginia did not exist as a state on the map in IV, instead being lumped in with regular Virginia. While this was likely done for a similar reason as to why all the states that make up New England^note Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont are grouped together, this created a problem if the US goes down its Communist path and has a second civil war, as you would have West Virginia^note a state that, although it did not exist at the start of the Civil War, was composed of people who wished to remain in the Union, and had it not been for the Constitution preventing a new state from being formed out of an existing state unless the existing state - in this case, Virginia - gave its approval, likely would have not seceded from the Union when Virginia did as a part of the Confederate States of America.
  • While Hitler allying with a fascist France that isn't a German puppet state is questionable enough, at the bare minimum, such an alliance would not be possible without France giving up Alsace-Lorraine voluntarily, as said territory was one that Germany still claimed after losing it during World War 1.
  • If the Nationalist Spain AI goes down the path that lets them form the Spanish Directory, then Franco will not develop nationalist sympathies and remain with the Republicans, and the player can continue using him as long as they do not go anarchist or independent communist. While Franco staying with the democratic government is a reasonable assumption, he'll remain playable if the player chooses to voluntarily go Stalinist - which, given that Franco was a noted anti-communist in real life, is questionable at best.
  • Going through the fascist British path not only results in bad relations between the British Empire and Germany but outright leads to war when finishing the focus tree. Which is very questionable at best, regarding that Britain's new leader, Oswald Mosley, was on really good terms with Those Wacky Nazis to the point that his Blackshirts were inspired by the German SS and he married his second wife secretly in Joseph Goebbels' private house with Adolf Hitler as his guest of honor. Needless to say, Mosley suddenly hating his ideological allies, let alone declaring war on them and vice-versa, seems unrealistic^note It's likely supposed to represent that Mosely was not anywhere as much of a rabid Hitlerite as, say, Norway's Vidkun Quisling and that his economic models and ideals were more modeled off of Mussolini's Italy which the focus tree allows you to befriend, but in Real Life Mosely obviously knew that a Fascist was a Fascist and wouldn't have allied himself with Italy and estranged Germany purely because their interests weren't perfectly aligned.