Pax Atomica: An American Dystopia
is an Alternate History work created by Murica1776.
The main divergence (to begin with at least) is the Red Scare is ramped up, which allows the US to prevent the Soviets from gaining nuclear weapons. And in the end, the USSR never manages to obtain nuclear weapons, which allows for The Korean War to be an easy American victory.
Of course, that isn't the only consequence. Race relations end up taking a dive off a cliff, as race riots grip the US during The '50s and, under John F. Kennedy, the country ends up in a full-on race war. His successor Richard Nixon manages to restore order to the nation-by making it an oligarchy run by "the New Founding Fathers of America," cracking down on minorities and dissenters and engaging in imperialistic expansion efforts, alongside its "Family" of equally oppressive nations. The timeline covers the world situation from 1945 to 2077 as the US becomes increasingly depraved and oppressive up until the final war against the USSR, which devastates the world, but might pave the way for some sanity to return.
Tropes:
- The Alliance: A dark variant with the American Family. Consisting of the US, Korea, Israel, South Africa, Britain, Liberia and Australia, the nations involved cooperate with each other to carry out imperialist visions (albeit with a lot of beneath-the-surface tension) and oppress individuals deemed inferior.
- Bittersweet Ending: The timeline ends with a catastrophic war that kills half the world's population. However, it does bring about the end of the two totalitarian power blocs and paves the way for the rise of more benevolent nations in the aftermath.
- Bread and Circuses: The US government keeps its citizens pacified with vapid entertainment like reality shows and jingoistic music.
- Commie Nazis: East Germany goes in this direction, combining Stalinist rhetoric with vicious hatred of anything non-German.
- Crapsack World: American society in this world gradually morphs into a depraved, oppressive, imperialist, xenophobic nightmare secretly controlled by the NFFA, several commentors in the thread lampshading that fixing things could only start with a solid nuking.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The US of this timeline responds to 9/11 (which targeted the Sears Tower, increasing the death toll by 1,000) by burning down almost every mosque in the country, banning Islam, nuking multiple Middle Eastern cities including Mecca and working with Israel to ethnically cleanse the region.
- Butt-Monkey: Quite a few countries, but special mention must go to France. In our timeline, France was a major nuclear power and US ally. Here, France is brutalized by the US on at least three occasions as they make attempts to defy the country's whims, ultimately culminating in about a fifth of the population being killed by 2077.
- Eagleland: The United States under the NFFA is a full Type 2, being imperialistic, xenophobic, and encouraging jingoism and conformity in its citizens.
- Enemy Mine: Despite being vicious enemies, the American Family and the Soviet Union team up to suppress an Islamic revolt in the Middle East in the early 2030s.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- South Africa is regarded as dangerous and crazy even by the rest of the Family.
- Presidents Trump and Ferris Fremont are considered dangerous demagogues by the rest of the NFFA, as is "Bad" Bob Booth. They end up removing the former two from office and the latter ends up causing the US to collapse in a catastrophic war brought about by insane demands.
- Evil Versus Evil: The US and its Family are horribly oppressive, racist states that engage in genocide and become increasingly depraved over time. The Soviets meanwhile are downright Orwellian and, to bolster support from East Germany, assist in their persecution of Poles.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: During the years leading up to the Fall, the Soviets, despite being Orwellian, are arguably this due to how blood sports warp the morality of the peoples of America and its "Family" and the Mexican Genocide.
- Family-Values Villain: Most of the figures focused on in the "Daily Life" updates qualify as this. On one hand, they (generally) love their wives, work a productive job and try to be good parents to their children. On the other hand, they all (with few exceptions) buy in completely to their government's official stances on the supremacy of their race and often engage in the oppression of the group they deem "lesser" or praise it when their children do so.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: Pretty much every postwar US president gets this, with the only exceptions being Truman (who, Un-American Activities Agency notwithstanding, isn't far removed from his OTL self), Eisenhower (who stayed out of politics and, by the time of his death, believed his role in World War II was All for Nothing as the US was abandoning its core values) and Obama (who doesn't exist in this world, thanks to continuing segregationist sentiment dominating American society). As for the rest, Kennedy's incompetence caused a race war and every other president after Nixon was involved in the NFFA.
- Immoral Reality Show: In the 2060s, the NFFA introduces shows that involve real violence-like two people attempting to cut off the other man's finger, or one heavily-armed white man moving down an army of blacks-in an effort to desensitize the American people to violence and make them more willing to embark on wars of conquest.
- In Spite of a Nail: Despite the early changes (a US nuclear monopoly, Dewey defeating Truman, Douglas MacArthur becoming president and John F. Kennedy not getting assassinated), the bulk of postwar presidents still hold the job. The only exceptions are Ford, Carter (Nixon never resigned and served a third term), Bush 41 (Clinton started early instead) and Obama (whose term is taken up by Biden, as the author pointed out that even if Obama existed and ran in this timeline he would "get murdered in the primaries. Literally.").
- Oppressive States of America: Under the rule of the NFFA, the USA becomes a pretty shitty place for anyone who isn't white and Christian.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Virtually every major power. In the American Family, most of the powers are white supremacist, with the exceptions still holding their own "master race" ideologies-Liberians oppress native Africans in favor of those descended from African-Americans, Israel is Jewish-supremacist and persecutes the Arabs and the Koreans have basically become Imperial Japan on steroids. The Soviets aren't much better, as along with the East Germans they engage in soft genocide of the population of Poland.
- Right-Wing Militia Fanatic: The Paramilitary groups that rose during the Race War of the 1960's. The US government sometimes cracks down on them, but more often cuts deals with them.
- Shout-Out: Quite a few.
- To begin with, Fallout is outright cited as an influence on the timeline, with the NFFA being inspired by the Enclave and the date of the final war being a direct reference to the date the bombs fell in Fallout. Some pieces of technology are also modeled on Fallout tech.
- And of course, the name of the NFFA is lifted directly from The Purge.
- Several presidents of the United States after Trump are from other works. Most notably, before the end, the US has had Presidents Frank Underwood, Ferris F. Fremont, and Bob Booth. The latter is also the last president of the US, just like in the source material. Even some presidents not taken from other works are represented by them. For instance, President Bob Dole is depicted by Garrett Walker, and Mitchell West is depicted by Thomas Kirkman.
- The Soviets also have leaders taken from other works. Their last three leaders are Viktor Petrov, Grigori Stoyanovich, and Vladimir Makarov.
- The South African genetic engineering project proposal is modeled after the Final Society.
- The Five Minutes Patriotic Release in the Soviet Daily Life update is directly inspired by Two Minutes Hate.
- Token Good Teammate: West Germany for the western bloc. Unlike the Family, they are generally sane, democratic and anti-racist. There are a few other nations that reject both the Soviet's totalitarian communism and the Family's racial supremacy,but the West Germans are the only ones that last until the war of 2077 that brings down both blocs and they end up becoming one of the dominant factions in the postwar order.
- Your Cheating Heart: The protagonist of the "Daily Life in the Freedom Towns" is having an affair with Hispanic woman, notable in that the relationship actually causes him to question the arrogant racism that defines his way of life, making him rather unique compared to a great many people in the series and timeline.
