Hello everyone, my first post here but it's something I came up with a few days ago and would like some feedback. Interested to see what happens. Thank you and I hope you enjoy.

The deviation here happens in 1951 in Korea, but since the events take place so closely to the original timeline, I tried to stay true to historical numbers for the period and what was available. If this is well received, I might continue the timeline onwards.

----

The Korean War began in June 1950 and was headed by General Douglas MacArthur, a veteran of the Pacific theater of operations in World War II. As American forces shored up South Korean troops, MacArthur pushed President Truman to push north and drive communism out of Korea once and for all. Truman agreed, but by November the Chinese government felt pressure from the encroaching American troops and sent thousands of troops south to engage. The sheer weight of men was enough to push American forces back. MacArthur pushed for more American troops, as well as troops from Taiwan to help push back the Chinese and the use of tactical nuclear weapons to create a barrier that the Chinese could not cross. Truman refused, and a public feud began between the two.

In April 1951, President Truman flew out to Korea to meet with MacArthur. MacArthur arrived first in an attempt to upstage the President, which infuriated Truman. Truman attempted to fire MacArthur, but MacArthur used his troops to seize Truman and declared he would be the one giving the orders. MacArthur used his position to get the nuclear devices ordered and sent to Korea, claiming to be working on behalf of President Truman. The planes dropped their ordinance and left a long, radioactive gouge in the earth known as the Nuclear Trench. About the same time, forces in the area learned of the coup by MacArthur and freed President Truman, allowing him to escape. MacArthur was branded a traitor and a rogue, but his damage had been done.

While the Chinese and Soviet governments didn't like each other, they still presented a unified front to the members of NATO and the West. China appealed to the Kremlin that America had dropped nuclear weapons on them, and that action needed to be taken. Premier Nikita Khrushchev ordered full production of nuclear weapons, which the Soviets had been working on for the past two years. He wanted enough to ensure that when the Soviet Union struck, it would strike with a mighty hammer. Even working flat out, the Soviet Union still only had around 500 nuclear warheads by 1955, while the United States had over 2,000. Still, it was hoped that it would be enough when Khrushchev gave the order.

On 2 December 1955, 500 Soviet aircraft took to the sky with the intention of attacking the United States. At the time, North American Air Defense Command had yet to be established, letting the Soviet aircraft through most of Canada before more local radar stations began to detect the incoming bombers. Air bases scrambled and fighters took to the skies, but they were also fighting fighter escorts for the Soviet bombers and so few aircraft were shot down. Out of the 500 aircraft with nuclear weapons, 9 suffered mechanical breakdowns and had to turn back, while only 7 were shot down. Most of the casualties were fighter escorts and a few conventional bombers sent for backup. That left 484 aircraft to strike their targets.

The air raid sirens began all across the country as President Eisenhower was loaded into a car, still in his pajamas, with his wife and were driven as fast as possible from Washington D.C. By 7:40, the first bombs began to detonate. Millions died, trapped in the congested roadways as nuclear weapons fell, leveling huge parts of New York, Boston, Washington, Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, and other major cities. Eisenhower, once safely relocated, issued orders for a complete retaliation of both conventional and nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile, Soviet troops were pouring out of East Germany and attacking NATO positions. British and American forces began a fighting retreat, buying time while the contingent of French forces stayed behind in Berlin. The two armies had to fight through a Soviet barricade around the city, before making a run for the West German border. Already American Air Force fighters and fighter-bombers were in the air, fighting it out with MiG 15's, 17's, and a few of the new 19's in the skies over Germany. The British had few nuclear weapons of their own, but opted to use them as Prime Minister Anthony Eden authorized them to be used on the advancing Soviets. For the first time, nuclear weapons went off in Europe, putting a brief halt to the Soviet advance.

As authorization from Eisenhower came, Air Force bombers were loaded and prepared. The CV-10 Yorktown was sent to the North Sea along with elements of the British Royal Navy to provide fighter coverage of the nuclear bombers along with the Australian HMAS Melbourne, which had just been completed in England a few months prior. The two vessels helped clear the air for the bombers to strike Leningrad, Moscow, Stalingrad, and several other key production facilities in Soviet territory.

The fighting on the ground continued for over three months, pushing almost to the edge of Germany and into France before the destruction of key cities finally caught up to the Red Army. As ammunition and food began to run out, they tried to continue on with captured weapons, but it was inevitable. On 3 June 1956, Soviet general Vitaly Isayev surrendered his forces in Western Germany. Not long after, other generals would begin to surrender their forces, though a few holdouts would remain and would be mopped up over the next few months. The Allied forces, however, were exhausted from months of fighting, and it would require fresh troops and materials from America to reinforce them for a push east.

The fall and winter of 1956 were spent with both sides licking their wounds. The Soviets had manpower but had lost the bulk of their mechanized divisions and airforce. The Allies had tanks and planes but were woefully short on manpower. By the time fighting began again in the spring of 1957, the Allies were forced to create 'rolling fortresses' as tank divisions shielded infantry divisions and used mounted machine guns to mow down Soviet Red Army troops pouring from the east. Factories in France and England were once more being used to crank out bullets by the ton, while the superior American fighters kept Soviet bombers and fighters at bay. It was a slow and bloody affair of marching across Germany, just as it had been almost a decade before. By the time Berlin was recovered, an estimated 42 million people were dead, quite a few being German civilians used as draft labor by the Soviets or simply executed for helping the Allies. By fall of 1957, American troops were finally crossing the border into Poland for the first time, to a very grateful Polish people.

The winter of 1957 bogged down troop movements again, with the Allies digging in while the Soviets continued to probe with their troops. Their ability to fight in winter was second to none, and they took advantage of it. Almost an entire company of American Patton M46 tanks were captured when the Soviets pushed on a railway depot in Western Germany, giving them additional firepower when conflict came again in the spring. However, the American war machine was once more spinning up for war, and the production of nuclear weapons had never ceased. As the Soviet army lost ground, American bombers were leveling Soviet cities with atomic hellfire. It didn't take long for those in the Soviet Union to realize the situation was unwinnable. On 20 July 1958, Soviet general Trofin Tretiakov took the members of the Kremlin, hiding out in a bunker near the Ural Mountains, hostage. Khrushchev managed to escape, but Tretiakov offered to deliver the members of the Kremlin to Allied hands if they would end the war. The Allies, weary from a long and costly war, accepted.

By the time the United States turned its attention to Korea again, General MacArthur had set up his own private empire on the Korean peninsula, safe from the Chinese because of the Nuclear Trench and believing his knowledge of American tactics to keep him safe by fortifying key areas to make landings almost impossible. The war weary United States decided to leave him for the time being, to simply rest and recover from the war. MacArthur would later die in 1964, and power would return to the Koreans. The Soviet Union was dissolved, with the former Soviet Republics allowed to leave and become independent nations, while Russia was placed under an Allied controlled government similar to Germany, which was reunited as there was no longer a Soviet Union. The war would cost over 125 million lives, mostly civilians in nuclear bombed areas, and the blame has been squarely placed upon Douglas MacArthur's shoulders. History can only guess what might have happened had he simply gone home after being dismissed.