DEFINITIVE GUIDE: How to make Western Europe communist, destroy EEC and NATO, and reunify Germany under the DDR (communist).

[PaiosFranen]

I have seen a lot of people ask this question "how do i make NATO/EEC fall? how do i make West Europe communist?". I myself googled this question lately, since i found it very hard to do it (it is very hard indeed), i had to do many tries to succeed. The info here mostly comes from my own trial and error, except for how to make UK communist, that i got from this excellent in depth guide of the game. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1blIIKouo2LRkVKMWzP6el2HhUUHyNHLv3a_SXU4PZEs/edit?pli=1#gid=1092807008

However, i think its not very easy to read, so i think this guide will be easier to read for most people. I will go country by country, from easier to most difficult.

GREECE:
This is the easiest one, not part of the new DLC, but i think its necessary for it to succeed for NATO/EEC to collapse.

-In 1977 there are elections in Greece, you must support PASOK. Then Greece will become socialist and leave NATO and EEC.

PORTUGAL:
This is by far the easiest one of the new DLC. You must do the following to make Portugal communist and leave NATO:

-In the 1976 event "Destabilize Portugal", you can either choose to destabilize it or not, it doesnt really matter. If you destabilize it, Portugal will be 40% stable, if you dont, it will be 45% stable.
-You must destabilize Portugal every year using the "Undermine democracy" button. You MUST make sure stability never reaches 50%, otherwise a liberal regime will be irreversibly established.
-If you succeed in keeping the stability below 50% until 1982, then the event "Second Carnation Revolution" will appear. There you must support the Left wing forces, and Portugal will become communist and leave NATO.

TURKEY:
This one is pretty easy too.

-In 1977 there are elections in Turkey. There you must support the communists (left wing forces).
-In 1980 there is a far right CIA backed coup in Turkey. This triggers an event about it. There you must support the left wingers to form an underground resistance.
-This triggers the Turkish Civil War. The leftist underground must win the war. This will make Turkey socialist and leave NATO.

SPAIN:
Easy but a bit more complicated.

-Before November 1978 you must establish connections with basque and catalan separatists, using the button on Spain.
-In November 1978 there is the event "Operation Galaxia". There you must select the option to assassinate the spanish king.
-This triggers the Second Spanish Civil War and, if the war lasts a while, also the Catalan and Basque Independence Wars. The outcome of the latter is irrelevant, only the difference is you will have or wont have a left nationalist Catalan and Basque independent state. For the former, the spanish government must win the Civil War against the falangist opposition.
-In 1983, there will be an election. There you must support the socialists, then Spain will become communist. DO NOT support the communists, or Spain will become monarcho titoist (no joke).

ITALY:
Pretty easy too.

-In the Early 1978 event "Years of Lead" you must support both terrorist groups (both far left and far right) and NOT turn them into the police.
-In the Late 1978 event "End of Historic Compromise" (Aldo Moro's kidnapping) you must NOT free Moro, you have to let him die.
-In 1982, the event "Crisis in Italy" happens. There you must support the leftists (communists). Then they will win the elections and Berlinguer will lead Italy, which will still be liberal and NATO and EEC member.
-In 1983, the event "Split in the left" happens. There you must support the neostalinist faction (the one of Armando Cosutta) of the communists. Then Cosutta will become the leader of Italy. Italy will become communist and leave NATO and EEC, and become prosoviet.

FRANCE:
A bit more complicated.

-For France to become communist, the communist leader Georges Marchais must win the 1981 presidential election. To do this, you must increase his influence and lower the one of his opponents. These are various things you can do to do this:
-Libya wins the Chad Libya War
-The Iranian Revolution is won by the communists
-Hafizullah Amin is NOT the leader of Afghanistan. This can be achieved by either backing the Parcham when the 1978 Saur Revolution happens, or by letting the USSR remove him in late 1979.
-The Afghanistan War is not going on (either it didnt happen or it happened but it ended before the elections).
-The influence of the USSR is bigger than the influence of the USA.
-The Second Spanish Civil War happened and the government won.
-You funded Marchais' campaign in the early 1981 event.
-I generally dont find it hard to get this to happen in a standard communist run. If Marchais wins the elections, then France becomes eurocommunist but doesnt leave NATO and EEC. Very important, in the final event of the elections, do NOT select the option "throw dirt on Marchais", or Mitterrand will win and France will stay social democratic.
-In the 1983 event "Red turn in France", you must select the option of "giving money to Marchais in exchange for returning the thesis of the dictatorship of the proletariat and leaving NATO and EEC". Then France will become truly communist (leninist) and leave NATO and EEC.

UNITED KINGDOM:
This is by far the most difficult and complicated one. Very hard to get, you have to be very precise about it, everything must be like this or it doesnt work.

-First of all, you must every year support the trotskysts in the Labor Party, using the button "entryism". It must reach at least 50% strenght by 1981. To do this you must end the Cultural Revolution, or you cant do it.
-Once the 1981 event "Split in the Labor Party" happens, you must select the option "stage a coup in the Labor Party by the Militant trotskysts". Then the trotskysts will take over the Labor Party.
-Now the hard part. You must increase the influence of the trotskyst Labor Party so they win the 1983 elections (all of this must happen before 1983). To do this, you must EXACTLY do all of this:
-Mijal must be in power in Poland. To do this, you must retain the friendship with Albania until the 1980 event "Polish Crisis" and then select the option "support a coup by the maoist-nationalist coalition led by Mijal". This means you cannot join COMECON, do reform and opening up, or make friendship with Yugoslavia until that 1980 event, since that breaks the friendship with Albania and thus you cant back Mijal.
-The Afghanistan War doesnt happen. To do this you must support the Parcham in the 1978 Saur Revolution event.
-The UK must lose the Falklands War.
-You invaded Hong Kong and Macao.
-All of the previous countries become socialist/communist.
-And the hardest part, Jimmy Carter MUST win the 1980 US election. To do this you must do all of the following:
-You must NOT create the United Arab Republic.
-The Turkish Civil War must end before the 1980 US election.
-Either the liberals or monarchists win the Iranian Revolution, or (if communists or islamists win the Iranian Revolution) China must join the Non Aligned Movement before the 1980 US election (you can leave it as soon as the election happens) and China's influence must be less than the US influence.
-If you successfully do all of this (its a lot i know), then the trotskyst Labor Party will win the 1983 UK election. The UK will become communist and will leave NATO and EEC.


DESTROYING NATO AND EEC, REUNIFYING GERMANY UNDER THE COMMUNIST DDR:

-If you successfully do all of the above, then right after the 1983 UK election event, you will get 2 events, where NATO and EEC will be dissolved. After that, if you restored the friendship with the USSR, you will be able to reunify Germany under the communist DDR by using the button on West/East Germany "GDR reunify". Hope this guide was useful to you! Enjoy the game!

[Typical_Name]

Interesting - the other guide I had read said to NOT support the spanish separatists. Here's the text from the other guide (on the second tab of the guide you link, actually), if you want to try it:

"Restore relations with the USSR and join CMEA;
Support PASOK in 03-11-1977;
Contact the Italian far right and let Moro die;
Avoid Spanish Civil War and Eliminate Carrillo in 03-02-1979;
Establish contacts with the turkish left, create an uprising in 12-09-1980 and support the underground to victory;
Do not provoke trotskyist coup in 01-01-1981;
Undermine the stability of Portugal and make sure the left wins in 01-04-1982;
Support Marchais in France and encourage him to establish CMEA contacts in 01-05-1983;
Turn Cyprus into a federation;
Make the UK lose the Falklands war and capture HK/Macau;
Foot should win the elections in 21-05-1983;
The western European democracies will jointly withdraw from the EEC and NATO and form a Socialist Union, NATO and the EEC will dissolve;"

[firestarter]

The guide OP posted worked for me, i think if the labour party doest get couped then UK turns democratic socialist and not communist, meaning no exit from NATO

[Typical_Name]

Hrrm, interesting - I was under the impression that any countries that joined the Socialist Union would also lose NATO (since the ones that join it initially do), but haven't gotten far enough to check.

Guess this means that I'll have to end the cultural revolution after all. Darn, I like maintaining that modifier. ... Also I would need the left radicals to not be in power in order to support Parcham in Afghanistan. :(


Do you actually need to lower stability in Portugal EVERY YEAR, or do you merely need to make sure it always stays below 50%?


For Italy, does the absurd "Nazi-Maoist" coalition also leave NATO and the EEC if you get them into power? I didn't see anything in the guide noting that they do, but it would make sense.

[firestarter]

Originally posted by Typical_Name:

Hrrm, interesting - I was under the impression that any countries that joined the Socialist Union would also lose NATO (since the ones that join it initially do), but haven't gotten far enough to check.

Guess this means that I'll have to end the cultural revolution after all. Darn, I like maintaining that modifier. ... Also I would need the left radicals to not be in power in order to support Parcham in Afghanistan. :(


Do you actually need to lower stability in Portugal EVERY YEAR, or do you merely need to make sure it always stays below 50%?


For Italy, does the absurd "Nazi-Maoist" coalition also leave NATO and the EEC if you get them into power? I didn't see anything in the guide noting that they do, but it would make sense.

Just make sure it doesnt reach 50%

Also the Nazi-Maoists leave both NATO and EEC

[Typical_Name]

I've been trying to follow this guide and having a lot of trouble. Without the Cultural Revolution modifier, maintaining popular support is difficult, and I don't have enough agents and money to do everything, especially regarding propping up the monarchists or liberals in Iran in order to eventually help Carter get elected. Any suggestions?


Also, do I care what happens in the USSR for this playthrough? (ie, do I need to spend agents weakening the soviet reformists)



EDIT: Grr. I was doing alright, but then got hammered trying to support both Turkey (25 budget) and Poland (30 budget) in quick succession. I MIGHT have been able to pull it off, had my economic union allies not kept trying to leave me throughout the year. Maybe I should have founded a military alliance as well, so that I could align their systems to mine - I think that helps with stability.

Part of my problem was that I forgot to click the button to establish USSR friendship when I was able to do so, so I had to expend a large amount of budget and agents to restore communications another two times in order to do it. (You can do it with only 20 communication thingies on March 1978 or before, but you need 25 after)

Maybe I need to support the left radicals a bit earlier, so that I can swap to Full Militarization (more army) and also pass their constitution (more agents). I didn't have a shortfall of agents by 1980, but the conservative constitution made the moderates way too powerful, which I did not want. ... On the other hand, in this run the party was more stable than ever, so maybe the moderates are what I have to go with. :/

It might be worth it for me to support Indira Gandhi, since doing the Indian Gambit on top of saving Europe is probably unrealistic. (I could save agents and party loyalty by just ignoring the Indian Election event, but helping Indira gives USSR communication restoration points)

I can also save some money and agents by not supporting Somalia, which I had been doing in order to help US influence relative to USSR (it helps Carter when if US influence > USSR influence) - it seems like getting US influence to be above USSR influence by late 1980 is a lost cause if you're trying to play anything resembling a successful communist playthrough. Hypothetically, if the US influence was raised high enough, you could still have Carter win and still, say, found the UAR, but that doesn't seem realistic (especially since I'm pretty sure founding the UAR weakens US influence, and also takes up agents and money you need for other things).

Side note, supporting Iranian liberals is MUCH easier than supporting Iranian monarchists. However, it means I have to pretty much give up on ever bringing them into my alliances.

Another side note, you want to take an option for Hungary that keeps them in USSR influence (I chose to shelter Bisku but not put him in power, because that's a HUGE hit to relations). Hungary being USSR-influenced helps the election in France.

Also, I might have to give up on winning the war in Thailand. :( (I traditionally use it as a way of building up intervention points for another war [Afghanistan, in older versions of the game], but now there's a bunch of new wars so this isn't necessary. I CAN win the war, but it consumes a lot of army that I could otherwise use to found the military alliance and/or knock out the war in Turkey in time for Carter's election.)

[Typical_Name]

More strategy notes:

Having more trade deals has the side effect of decreasing agents and increasing liberalization of minds.

SOMETHING I did in my last run (I think supporting Bisku in Hungary) decreased communications networks in the USSR. Will have to do avoid that. Also, I want to avoid supporting Bisku because doing so makes Hungary no longer USSR-influenced (sheltering him is fine).

Note to self: I do not need to support the Gang of Four! I'm so used to always transferring power to them that it never occurred to me until now that there's basically no reason to do this when you aren't planning on keeping the cultural revolution. Aside from the obvious benefit of not taking the big hit to party unity and popularity in the early game, arresting them clears out a bunch of high-ranking people who don't have traits that you want to use very often.

[Typical_Name]

Hooray, I have done it! Something to note - if you can thread the needle with your influence, the US influence, and the USSR influence, you can still get Carter elected even if you bring socialists to power in Iran and also form the UAR. You need to do the following:

US influence > PRC influence
US influence > USSR influence
PRC influence > USSR influence
End the Turkey war prior to the US election (Turkey being authoritarian, which they will be until the democratic underground wins the war, hurts Carter)
Either avoid the war in Afghanistan, or end it before the election

If you can't meet one of these conditions, you can also help Carter by joining the Non-Aligned Movement, but most likely you'll want to be in your own military alliance. (You could join the NAM, and then leave it later.)


Remember that you can support the Far Left in eastern Europe in order to reduce USSR influence by 5, once per year. You cannot do it in 1976, and also, you cannot do it on the same year you put MIjal into power in Poland (unless you do it before the Poland event).


Note that you'll want USSR influence to be greater than both your's and the US in time for the French elections, in order to help Marchais.

[elipanb]

How do I get the communists to start the civil war in turkey? I always have the Kemalists winning (I cannot choose the second option at all) :(

[firestarter]

Originally posted by elipanb:

How do I get the communists to start the civil war in turkey? I always have the Kemalists winning (I cannot choose the second option at all) :(

The second options establish a cooperation agreement between the the turkish junta and the National party

[Typical_Name]

Originally posted by elipanb:

How do I get the communists to start the civil war in turkey? I always have the Kemalists winning (I cannot choose the second option at all) :(

You need to support the left organizations (either through the event or with the button on the map - the event is better because you get some party unity from it), and then when the coup happens (September 1980), you need to have: At least 20 influence (easy by this point in the game), 25 money, 15 agents, and 20 army. This will start a war, between the junta and the democratic underground, which starts off at 80-20 in favor of the junta. If you're going for the achievement in this thread, you want to end this war at least before the US election (it's better to win it immediately, if you can, as with all wars), because Turkey being authoritarian hurts Carter.

[PaiosFranen]

Originally posted by Typical_Name:

Interesting - the other guide I had read said to NOT support the spanish separatists. Here's the text from the other guide (on the second tab of the guide you link, actually), if you want to try it:

"Restore relations with the USSR and join CMEA;
Support PASOK in 03-11-1977;
Contact the Italian far right and let Moro die;
Avoid Spanish Civil War and Eliminate Carrillo in 03-02-1979;
Establish contacts with the turkish left, create an uprising in 12-09-1980 and support the underground to victory;
Do not provoke trotskyist coup in 01-01-1981;
Undermine the stability of Portugal and make sure the left wins in 01-04-1982;
Support Marchais in France and encourage him to establish CMEA contacts in 01-05-1983;
Turn Cyprus into a federation;
Make the UK lose the Falklands war and capture HK/Macau;
Foot should win the elections in 21-05-1983;
The western European democracies will jointly withdraw from the EEC and NATO and form a Socialist Union, NATO and the EEC will dissolve;"

Thats to make Spain and those other countries democratic socialist, this is to make them state socialist/communism.

[PaiosFranen]

Originally posted by Typical_Name:

More strategy notes:

Having more trade deals has the side effect of decreasing agents and increasing liberalization of minds.

SOMETHING I did in my last run (I think supporting Bisku in Hungary) decreased communications networks in the USSR. Will have to do avoid that. Also, I want to avoid supporting Bisku because doing so makes Hungary no longer USSR-influenced (sheltering him is fine).

Note to self: I do not need to support the Gang of Four! I'm so used to always transferring power to them that it never occurred to me until now that there's basically no reason to do this when you aren't planning on keeping the cultural revolution. Aside from the obvious benefit of not taking the big hit to party unity and popularity in the early game, arresting them clears out a bunch of high-ranking people who don't have traits that you want to use very often.

I have achieved what i recommend in this guide by doing a mostly prosoviet playthrough:

-Arrest the Gang of Four
-End the Cultural Revolution
-Promote conservatives and damage reformists to keep Hua Guofeng in power
-I dont create economic or military alliances to keep my influence down so Jimmy Carter wins
-I found that the recent oil update helps keep the influence of the USSR down, so you can create the UAR and make Iran socialist and still have Carter win
-Once the event in Poland is done (Mijal is in power), i just join COMECON and the Warsaw Pact and add all my allies into it, since it doesnt cost much money and your allies dont try to leave it. I sometimes have to give peaceful speeches (an event on the list of events like the Indian Gambit) to keep my influence below 30 (you cant join COMECON if you are maoist and have more than 30 influence). Then i just coup Enver Hoxha so Albania joins COMECON and Warsaw Pact too.
-Doing it that way, i can add Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Greece and Turkey in the COMECON. Communist Italy can also join the Warsaw Pact.

Keep in mind though that im doing this in SANDBOX difficulty. I tried normal difficulty but i suck at this game lol.

Also a few extra tips.
The easiest way i found to restore friendship with the USSR is:
-Overthrow Pol Pot using the button IMMEDIATELY as soon as Mao dies to avoid the Kampuchea War
-Restore the destroyed structures up to 17
-When the event "Vietnam joins COMECON" happens BLOCK Vietnam from joining COMECON
-When the event "Teach Vietnam a Lesson?" happens choose to negotiate with Vietnam (this option is unavailable if Vietnam joins COMECON, thats why you must make sure it doesnt join it). This will boost your restored structures from 17 to 21. At that point IMMEDIATELY click the button to restore friendship with the USSR, otherwise if you wait you will have to raise it to 25.

[PaiosFranen]

Originally posted by elipanb:

How do I get the communists to start the civil war in turkey? I always have the Kemalists winning (I cannot choose the second option at all) :(

I dont think you can make Turkey communist. From what i know you can only make it democratic socialist, which is a coalition government of Kemalists and Communists (Workers Party of Turkey) that will leave NATO. To do that you must follow the instructions i gave in the guide.

[蕾普莉亚]

May I ask how did you guys get the socialist union?It remains a puzzle to me

[Typical_Name]

Originally posted by 蕾普莉亚·撕佐你老母:

May I ask how did you guys get the socialist union?It remains a puzzle to me

I did not - this guide doesn't do that. There's an alternate route to getting the achievement that involves setting up the socialist union (if socialist union exists, Foot Labour UK will join it and leave NATO/EEC). If you want to do that, you can follow the paragraph I listed earlier in the thread.

Originally posted by PaiosFranen:

Originally posted by Typical_Name:

Interesting - the other guide I had read said to NOT support the spanish separatists. Here's the text from the other guide (on the second tab of the guide you link, actually), if you want to try it:

"Restore relations with the USSR and join CMEA;
Support PASOK in 03-11-1977;
Contact the Italian far right and let Moro die;
Avoid Spanish Civil War and Eliminate Carrillo in 03-02-1979;
Establish contacts with the turkish left, create an uprising in 12-09-1980 and support the underground to victory;
Do not provoke trotskyist coup in 01-01-1981;
Undermine the stability of Portugal and make sure the left wins in 01-04-1982;
Support Marchais in France and encourage him to establish CMEA contacts in 01-05-1983;
Turn Cyprus into a federation;
Make the UK lose the Falklands war and capture HK/Macau;
Foot should win the elections in 21-05-1983;
The western European democracies will jointly withdraw from the EEC and NATO and form a Socialist Union, NATO and the EEC will dissolve;"

Thats to make Spain and those other countries democratic socialist, this is to make them state socialist/communism.

Oh, I misunderstood then, I thought the purpose of the guide was to get the achievement for destroying NATO and EEC. The steps I mentioned are an easier way to do that, but will not turn Europe that nice shade of red on the map.