r/GustavosAltUniverses

Haile Fida's imposition of a planned economy had a negative effect on Ethiopia, as it was a mountainous, landlocked country with poor infrastructure. Economic growth throughout the 1980s was slow and a huge chunk of the government budget was spent on the military and police.

Finally, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 deprived Ethiopia of the massive Soviet aid it received, triggering a large-scale famine that killed 600,000 Ethiopians by 1995. The famine led Fida to announce a "Second Revolution", consisting of Chinese-style reforms, at the MEISON's 1995 Party Congress.

During the next five years, Ethiopia replaced its command economy with a socialist market economy, turning Addis Ababa into a special economic zone and allowing small-scale private agriculture. Furthermore, Ethiopia established strong diplomatic relations with the United States, which saw Ethiopia as a bulwark against hostile Somalia to the east.

By the mid-2000s, Ethiopia's economy was growing again as a result of the reforms. It even grew faster than the economy of Somalia. Despite these economic reforms, Fida did not democratize Ethiopia, and the country remained a one-party state where all opposition was suppressed by intelligence chief Mengistu Haile Mariam.

The 2010s saw a slight move away from the western sphere as Ethiopia expanded diplomatic and economic relations with Russia and China, but Ethiopia did not deemphasize its links with the West. Also, Ethiopia intervened in support of Ethiopia's government by participating in the African Union's military intervention in the country.

Fida's old age led to a struggle for succession between the members of his entourage. On 14 August 2017, Fida formally chose Haile Menkerios as his successor, a choice that proved to be popular with the Ethiopian people due to Menkerios's diplomatic experience.

In January 2020, Fida was hospitalized with cancer. Doctors spent months trying to save him, but to no avail, as he died on 18 March 2020, at the age of 81. He was the second-longest ruling Ethiopian leader, behind Haile Selassie.

Fida received a state funeral that had been planned for months. It was attended by 13 million Ethiopians from all walks of life, but people diagnosed with COVID-19 were barred from the event.

During his four-decade rule, Fida was surrounded by a cult of personality that drew upon both Marxism-Leninism and traditional Ethiopian cultural elements such as Oriental Orthodox iconography. As such, Ethiopians refer to him with the title of Father of the Nation, and criticizing him is illegal in Ethiopia even after his death.

You don't think Oklahoma's red dirt and sweeping Republican voting patterns is red enough to satisfy your whims? Well then this should do it for you. If it doesn't, well tough luck.

The Sequoyah Commune is one of several states that emerged following the collapse of the United States in the 2120s. During this period, several warlords emerged, attempting to pick up the pieces left by the once-mighty and powerful US. Oklahoma was a huge battleground, with various successor-states clashing in Oklahoma attempting to conquer key sites to establish some semblance of legitimacy. Inspired by neo-Marxist movements in Cascadia and New York, the Five Tribes of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole organized in 2126 into the Five Tribes Confederation based in Muskogee, establishing legitimacy as a liberating force amongst disenfranchised Oklahomans who were tired of war.

On November 16, 2129, 222 years to the date of Oklahoman statehood, the Sequoyah Commune was established, and the capital was moved to Oklahoma City, renamed to Sequoyah City. This new state would prioritize rebuilding, as well as implement "decolonization" initiatives to revive indigenous traditions and establish Sequoyah as a haven for Native Americans across the former US and Canada. This culminated in the suppression of Christian institutions in favor of neopagan indigenous practices, and a 20-year long internal conflict between the state and the "descendants of the Sooners". Various cities across Sequoyah were renamed. Edmond was renamed to Debsburg, in honor of American socialist figure Eugene V. Debs. Norman was renamed to Thunderbird, after Lake Thunderbird. Lawton was renamed to Comanche, after the Comanche tribe. Schools in Sequoyah also began teaching the Cherokee alphabet, which was developed by the man the state is named after.

Despite implementing some controversial policies, the standard of living in Sequoyah has significantly improved. Labor unions gained significant political power, and corruption was rubber-stamped. The state invested in clean energy and infrastructure, especially in the east, which helped to increase quality of life in eastern Oklahoma, especially in rural areas. The state also invested heavily into schools and hospitals. Sequoyah City and Tulsa in particular overwent major transformations in terms of urban development, which included the implementation of public transit, and a railway line connecting SQC to Tulsa with a travel time of just under 30 minutes between the two cities.

Sequoyah's future is uncertain. On one hand, it has delivered a prosperous economy unparalleled in all of Oklahoma's history. On the other hand, its one-party system has been under fire for suppressing political opposition and engaging in increasingly authoritarian activities. Its southern neighbor Texas is all but eager to "de-Marxify" Oklahoma. Sequoyah's landlocked status and geopolitical isolation has made it a de-facto autarkic state. In a world dominant by corporations, Sequoyah is seen as something of a pariah state.

Sequoyah's political geography largely mirrors that of other standard Marxist-Leninist states, in which the Sequoyan Communist Party (SCP) exercises complete control over state institutions, the military, and Sequoyan society. The president is largely seen as a figurehead, who is the final authority in approving legislation, as well as the head of the military. The president is forbidden under the Sequoyan constitution from serving as party chair while in office. If a party chair is elected president, they must resign from their post. Elections for president are held every five years, in which prospective candidates have to be approved by the Party Council. All adults are eligible to vote for the president, regardless of whether or not they are a member of the SCP. The National Assembly consists of the Senate (elected by trade union members), and the House of Representatives (elected by party members). The National Assembly has the power to write legislation and appoint members of the Supreme Court. The Party Council, in addition to vetting presidential candidates, is also responsible for implementing a party agenda every year.

The ARs, or Autonomous Republics, have their own distinct courts, legislatures, and premiers, however they do not have the ability to overrule national laws. In addition to the original Five Tribes Confederation member states maintaining autonomy are the Osage A.R., formed out of the old Osage Reservation, and the Cimarron S.A.R. (the S stands for Special), which was created to give the majority Hispanic population in the Panhandle greater political representation.

(This is my first time posting a map like this to reddit. Too scared to post this on IM, and feedback as encouraged, as long you are nice about it.)

Another map in my series of Hesperic America, now with a language map and as classically an infobox.

Its part of a series of fan made original content inspired from the Greece in Spain timeline of WTF CD Foxy.

Inspired by the video of WTF CD Foxy, showing an alternate history of Greece in Spain (https://youtu.be/VmY5zbRXsK4?is=U1zaQt8njMYQ0Q5C). Coming with a language map produced by me, and infobox inspired from the style of the redditor OfficialScorpio.

More lore in comments.

Lore in comments. Inspired from Greece in Spain video of the YouTuber WTF CD Foxy, with an infobox Inspired from the style of the redditor OfficialScorpio.

So thats why Alexandria (and its neighbors) speak Hesperic Greek. Hesperic Greek is close to Aegean Greek but have more Latin and Iberian loanwords.

During the Ogaden War, Djibouti supported Somalia with military intelligence, but relations between the two countries deteriorated after the war because southern Djibouti was inhabited by Somalis and therefore a part of greater Somalia. Djiboutian President Hassan Gouled Aptidon refused to hand southern Djibouti over to Somalia because it was Djibouti's most populous region where its capital was located.

Therefore, on 9 January 1978, Siad Barre sent Aptidon an ultimatum asking Djibouti to give up its south in 48 hours or else. When that deadline was reached, 40,000 Somali troops backed by 100 T-34 and T-55 tanks, 60 D-30 artillery pieces, and 22 MiG-19 and MiG-21 aircraft invaded Djibouti.

Djibouti's military had just 12,000 personnel and no heavy equipment, allowing Djibouti City to fall on 12 January. The Djiboutian leadership fled to Obock, the country's second largest city, where a ceasefire was signed.

Somalia annexed southern Djibouti, making northeastern Kenya the only Somali-inhabited region not under Somalia's control.

New Dawn (Hebrew: שחר חדש) is a left-wing Israeli paramilitary organization and political party that arose in the late 1940s. Originally starting out as a division of the Israel Defense Forces, the unit went rogue and began to enter into the business of weapons trafficking. It is now a group of nationalistic and influential politicians, soldiers and weapon dealers.

By the 1950s, they gained support from numerous anti-Zionist organizations.

Using wealth they obtained from their illegal arms sales, New Dawn grew in strength and numbers to the point of having their own elite army.

New Dawn's biggest claim to fame was 1974 Israeli Coup against the Israeli government.

Upon seizing control of the Knesset, the organization removed Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir from power and charged her with crimes against humanity, before executing her by firing squad. New Dawn then took full control of the Israeli government, with Golda Meir's remaining loyalists either arrested or executed.

Once under the control of New Dawn, the new Israeli provisional government ordered the immediate expulsion of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip, with failure to comply punishable by death. New Dawn defended this move by saying that it sought to "undo the tragedy of 1948 that left a stain on our nation's history".

Under New Dawn, Israel's relations with Palestine would enjoy a period of relative peace until Hamas was voted into power in 2006. In response to what they saw as a "hostile takeover" of its neighbor, New Dawn launched a military invasion of Gaza to remove Hamas from power, marking the beginning of the "Great Jewish Patriotic War."

When Saddam Hussein, who had just successfully invaded and annexed Syria, invaded Kuwait in 1986, Mubarak's Egypt joined the coalition of the Gulf War, deploying Egyptian troops to liberate Kuwait. After Saddam was overthrown by the Coalition, Mubarak went on to have very friendly relations with the new government of Wafiq al-Samarrai.

Egypt remained a key US ally in the Middle East, with the United States refusing to condemn Mubarak's human rights record and continuing to provide Egypt with billions in military and economic aid. Saudi Arabia and Pahlavi Iran were also allies of Egypt, keeping the country safe from regional threats.

Mubarak was reelected in single-candidate referendums in 1987, 1993, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014. The Arab Spring never happened in this universe because the Iraq War didn't happen either, but the United States invaded Libya in 2011. Egypt initially opposed the invasion, but Mubarak supported it after Gaddafi used chemical weapons against the coalition.

By 2013, Mubarak had chosen his youngest son Gamal as his successor. A year later, Gamal Mubarak was brought into the government of Egypt as its vice president, making him the country's president in waiting. The majority of Egyptians disapproved of this decision.

Mubarak's rule itself was becoming increasingly unpopular due to its corruption and police brutality, allowing the Muslim Brotherhood to grow in popularity. But the Egyptian security services continued to suppress any opposition to the country's ruling family.

Mubarak turned 90 on 4 May 2018, making him the oldest president in the world. He announced he would retire the following year to make way for Gamal, who was unpopular but was almost assured of victory because Egypt was a dictatorship.

On 25 March 2019, Gamal Mubarak was elected President of Egypt with 97% of the vote. He took office on 11 April, whereupon Hosni retired to his home in Cairo. Hosni Mubarak served as a top advisor to his son until dying on 25 February 2020.

Hosni received a state funeral attended by Gamal and all heads of state in government in the Muslim world, as nd was buried in a family plot outside Cairo.

The youngest leader of a Soviet Republic, and the latest to take office, is Diana Caraman, who took power in the Moldovan SSR on 6 June 2026, succeeding Vladimir Voronin. Caraman has ordered a crackdown on Maia Sandu's separatist movement, and promoted the Moldovan language and ethnicity as opposed to Romanian.

Sergei Syrankov has led the Belarusian SSR since 26 May 2024. As the ruler of Belarus, Syrankov has overseen public works, socially conservative policies, and a campaign against laziness that won him accolades from the central Soviet leadership. He is not free from controversy though.

In 2015, Igor Alekseyev became the leader of the Ukrainian SSR after Petro Symonenko retired from regional politics to join the leadership of the USSR. Alekseyev's tenure has been marred by corruption allegations, police brutality, and growing separatism (even though the chances of Ukraine seceding are null).

Russian SFSR leader Vladimir Kashin does not do much because the SFSR has less autonomy than the other Soviet republics, but he is still Russia's de jure head of state. The Kyrgyz SSR is one of the two Soviet republics (the other being Moldova) to be led by a woman, that being Klara Ajybekova, who is a staunch advocate for Soviet values.

The Kazakh, Uzbek, Tajik and Turkmen SSRs are led by the same people as in real life, but Turkmenistan is not the capitalist North Korea it is in real life. Soviet Central Asia is the poorest and most hardline region of the Soviet Union, and is heavily dependent on funding from Moscow.

On 5 August 2016, communist Uruguayan dictator Eleuterio Fernández Huidobro died and was succeeded by Pepe Mujica, who began an Uruguayan transition to democracy consisting of the:

- Legalization of opposition parties;

- Release of political prisoners;

- Lifting of press censorship;

- A policy of national independence from Brazil.

All of these points were opposed by Henry Engler's hardline wing of the Tupamaros, which argued equality was more important than liberty and Uruguay was too small not to depend on Brazil to defend itself from the Argentine military dictatorship. But the staunchly nationalist government of Aldo Rebelo could not accept Uruguay drifting away, and urged Mujica to reconsider this.

He refused to compromise with the Brazilians, prompting Rebelo and Defence Minister Robinson Farinazzo to begin planning an invasion of Uruguay. The invasion (ironically codenamed Operação/Operación Artigas) was launched on 14 October 2015, when 140,000 Brazilian, 35,000 Peruvian, 20,000 Colombian and 8,000 Bolivian troops invaded Uruguay.

Brasília Pact members Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador refused to participate in the invasion, as they had been friendly to Mujica because he was still a leftist after all. But Montevideo fell within a day of the invasion, whereupon Mujica was replaced as the president of Uruguay with Engler.

According to a Gallup poll, 63% of Brazilians approved of the invasion of Uruguay, and 42% wished that Brazil had prevented Mujica from taking power in the first place. This has been attributed to the effectiveness of Gustavoist propaganda.

Argentina, the European Union, and the United States strongly condemned the invasion, calling it "unjustifiable aggression". Argentina even raised its DEFCON level to 3, heightening the risk of a nuclear war between Argentina and Brazil (ironically, both are led by presidents named Aldo R).

But Aldo Rico had no intention of starting a nuclear war over a country that was in the Brazilian sphere of influence to begin with, and soon brought DEFCON back to 5. Two lasting consequences of the invasion were that:

- Non-regime affiliated Uruguayans strongly resent the Uruguayan and Brazilian regimes;

- Brazil's relations with Europe, except for the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, are poor.

Viorica Dăncilă, Romania's first female president, ran for reelection in 2024 on a centre-left platform emphasizing the achievements of her first term, such as agricultural reforms and efforts to curb domestic violence. Dăncilă was a controversial figure, having a poor knowledge of Romanian and using discriminatory language against autistic people.

PNL nominee Nicolae Ciucă ran a moderate, pro-business campaign attempting to capitalize on Dăncilă's gaffes to portray himself as a safe, experienced choice for the presidency. Ciucă strongly appealed to college educated, urban Romanians, but he had to face competition from AD candidate Elena Lasconi, as well as accusations of plagiarism.

Far-right ultranationalist Diana Șoșoacă had successfully registered the SOS Romania party in order to run for President in 2024. Șoșoacă campaigned on a stridently nationalist platform opposed to the neighbouring Soviet Union and to the Roma, leading to controversy but appealing to many Romanians dissatisfied with the political system.

Early polls showed a close race, but as the campaign progressed, Dăncilă slowly pulled ahead, allowing her to win the first round with 37% of the vote versus 25% for Ciuca, 15% for Lasconi, and 9% for Șoșoacă. Despite her controversial personality, Dăncilă was helped by the PSD's strong support from rural blue-collars without higher education, as well as the PSD's institutional advantage.

During the second round, Ciucă changed his strategy and began accusing Dăncilă of corruption, but the majority of voters did not believe these accusations, allowing her to win reelection with 54.8% of the vote versus 45.2% for Ciucă, who conceded when 90% of ballots were counted.

The European Commission congratulated Dăncilă on her reelection and hoped to continue working with the Romanian government in the future. The President of the United States also sent her a congratulatory letter, as did the patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church.

On 12 June 2026, a poll showed 48% of Romanians approved of Dăncilă's administration, while 44% disapproved of it and 8% had no opinion. As I said before, she is popular with rural voters but generally unpopular with urban and educated ones.

Hugo Chávez's successful coup in Venezuela brought all of South America other than Argentina and French Guyana under socialist Brazil's sphere of influence. This greatly concerned the Revolucion Argentina regime, contributing to Argentina's decision to hold a nuclear test the following year.

Around the same time, Namibia became independent as a socialist dictatorship led by SWAPO. Despite not formally joining the Brasília Pact, Namibia developed close relations with its members Brazil, Cuba and Angola, and sent military and technical personnel to be trained in Brazil.

By 1995, Chile, Grenada and Guyana had left the Brasília pact because they abandoned socialism after the Revolutions of 1994, and Chile and Guyana had territorial disputes with Brazil's other allies Bolívia, Peru and Venezuela. They remained on good terms with Brazil though.

Specifically, Grenadan dictator Hudson Austin was overthrown and executed in a democratic revolution. Cuba and Venezuela condemned the revolution, but they (and Brazil for that matter) did not move to save Austin's regime.

Brazil let these countries go because Chile didn't border Brazil and Guyana was small and had little strategic value. Twenty years later, Brazil intervened in Uruguay to suppress a democratic revolution, because Uruguay shared a border with Brazil and the existence of the Tupamaro regime allowed Brazil to control the Platine basin.