Bring The War Home is a currently unreleased Hearts of Iron IV Game Mod that is set in an alternate timeline where, Following the Democratic party refusing to adopt a platform of civil rights, the presidency of Barry Goldwater, and an expanded Vietnam War, the US descends into extreme Civil Strife.
This Game Mod provides examples of:
- Alternate History: Following a US victory in the Korean War and a string of conservative presidents in the The '50s and mass civil strife and an expanded Vietnam War in the The '60s the US disintegrates into patchwork of newly independent state governments and partisan organization.
- Butterfly of Doom: The mod's point of divergence is 13th July 1948, when Hubert Humphrey catches a cold and fails to attend the 1948 Democratic convention, which leads to a proposed civil rights plank being rejected and setting into motion a series of events that would culminate in the eruption of the Second American Civil War in 1969.
- The Coup: It is possible for the KGB, led by Alexander Shelepin, to stage a coup in the USSR as Khrushchev is about to step down from power.
- Nuke 'em: In January 1951, without consulting President Dewey, Douglas MacArthur ordered the deployment of nuclear weapons against North Korea, annihilating Pyongyang. Only Dewey's hasty intervention prevented a follow-up nuclear strike against China, but nevertheless, the backlash was immediate and severe, forcing Dewey to begin immediate peace negotiations with the Soviet Union, the DPRK and the PRC, which destroyed what was left of his domestic reputation. Liberals and moderates saw Dewey's failure to control MacArthur as a sign of a weak administration, while conservatives saw what MacArthur did as a tough choice needed to win the war and Dewey's response as the ultimate symbol of liberal fecklessness against communist aggression.
- Plot-Triggering Death: On 20th April 1969 (ten days before game start), Martin Luther King Jr., who was arrested alongside many other civil rights activists the day before, was found dead in his cell. H. Rap Brown then, in a highly televised speech, announces that MLK was murdered by the government, showcasing the fact that electoral politics have failed and declaring that the war must be brought home, provoking riots on a scale unseen in American history that leads to the federal government's evacuation to a series of military bases in Colorado, and John Lindsay (mayor of New York City) and Bronson La Follette (governor of Wisconsin) declaring opposition to the McCormack administration, with many other states likely to follow.
- Second American Civil War: The main premise of the mod is a much more polarised United States exploding into a second civil war, much more chaotic than the first, in 1969.
- Short-Lived Leadership: It's only May and 1969 has already been known as the Year of Four Presidents. On 20th January, a few minutes following the oath of office and a photo-op with outgoing President Barry Goldwater, Eugene McCarthy, the 38th President of the United States, is shot several times by an assassin and declared dead at the scene; his former running mate Philip Hart is subsequently inaugurated as the 39th President. On 23rd February, President Hart resigns in the aftermath of a scandal relating to supposed corruption as Michigan's Corporation Securities Commissioner, though Hart vehemently denies the allegations, and Speaker of the House John W. McCormack is inaugurated as the 40th President of the United States.
