I became Stalin chapter 232

232

The news spread as if nothing had happened.

“Comrade General Secretary, Dr. Koryolov said that some progress has been made in his research.”

“What? Why are you saying that now?”

At the New Year’s party in 1947, NKVD director Kruglov seemed to be a bit perplexed when he saw me jumped out of the seat after throwing it as a passing story.

“That… Well, I developed a new rocket, requested additional budget allocation and put it in the report… .”

“Reporting matters related to Dr. Koryolov with the highest priority… I didn’t tell you to do it. uh… .”

“Song, I’m sorry, Comrade General!”

Beria, who had already been purged, did a really good job in this area.

He was good at retrieving German scientists, he was good at developing nuclear power by replacing people, he was good at maintaining confidentiality… Of course, I was wary of that so it is more dangerous.

“Anyway, it’s good. Let’s go take a look and see. That… Where was the Gulag… .”

“Yes! It is on the Kazakhstan side.”

“Ah! It did. then… Let’s prepare for the inspection.”

Kruglov floundered, as if bewildered by my improvised command. If Beria had been so immature, she wouldn’t have been purged.

* * *

A special gulag, the so-called ‘Shaarashka’, a special concentration camp for scientists in which Koryolov was stationed was located in southern Kazakhstan.

The Koryolov Design Bureau exercised almost absolute power over the secret city, space base, and concentration camp in the region. He was able to mobilize as much labor and equipment as needed for the design bureau, as well as the space needed for confidentiality, as much as he wanted in this area.

“book… Comrade Secretary General!”

“Oh, Doctor. How are you? I heard that there is progress in the research… .”

Is Koryorov the Beria’s Beast? He seemed to have recovered quite a bit of energy after getting out of it. Not only that, but the burden on me would have been a little less since I had brought German scientists who would be split instead.

My face has gotten a lot more fleshy, and my dark circles have decreased, making it look pretty. Koryorov smiled broadly when I first talked about rocket research.

“Yes! It seems that rockets with a range of approximately 1,000 kilometers can now be deployed in combat. It is a method of separating the thruster from the main body after the fuel is used up… .”

“Oh oh… .”

In the original situation, by now, we should have been wrestling with the German V-2 rocket for a while and thinking about how to copy it, but Koryolov was already far ahead.

He was released in 41 and has been studying for almost six years, so is it worth it? After all, one of the greatest geniuses of the Soviet Union, his brain looked truly great.

With a range of 1,000 kilometers, it is only a short-range missile for a ballistic missile, but at this speed, it seemed that an ‘intercontinental ballistic missile’ could be developed.

“Anyway, improvements to the range will be made soon, Comrade General.”

“Good job! Very well done.”

However, Koryorov, who received my congratulations, smiled and looked sad.

“I’m sorry. They keep doing research on military weapons.”

“Ah! No, Comrade Secretary General. How could I have thought of that?”

Perhaps what Koryolov wanted to do was to develop “peaceful” space. In fact, any space scientist entered space science with the idea of ​​making a missile that could hit an enemy country with a nuclear bomb?

It must have started in the dream of a person going to space, walking on the moon, and one day traveling to that deep space.

But the reality was a little harsher. I thought that peaceful space engineering research would be possible after the war was over, but is it really because of my heart to develop ballistic missiles and communist error control devices again?

“but… Know that the things you wish for may be more dangerous.”

“… Yes?”

“Follow me. Ice Americano, do you like it?”

When I first walked and talked, Koryolov followed me, even though he was very bewildered.

His office was more luxurious than expected. Even the velvet sofa with the stamp that it was made in France, the table made of solid mahogany, and even the bookcases that look like a craftsman’s hand.

“Hmm… that… That… .”

“You don’t need to make excuses. You could be treated like this.”

When the shy Koryolov waved his hand and asked the bodyguard to bring him coffee, he immediately ordered a cold Americano as the colonel.

“You know best, but… Space engineering has incredible potential.”

“Yes? Yes! Well, I think so too.”

“Hahaha… Perhaps in an era when space can be used peacefully, great things will become possible.”

I have already lived in that era.

Satellite Internet, GPS, and weather satellites have changed our lives amazingly. In how many countries have the innovations sparked by the satellite Internet changed politics and society? Safe air travel made possible thanks to GPS, new information obtained from weather observation satellites and astronomical observation satellites!

All of those innovations, however, were subordinated to military logic in this Cold War.

“But not now. Unfortunately. I wish to give you all possible honor, power, and possibility… For example, let’s say you launch the satellite, which is your dream. So what will happen?”

Koryolov looked at me with a look of incomprehension.

His naive gaze, asking what it would be like to launch a satellite, made my heart hurt a little more.

“How will America react? They’ll probably get nervous and impatient because they don’t know what’s going to fall on their heads. Our aerospace science is studied to make people’s lives prosperous and for the honor of the Soviet Union… From their point of view, it would be seen as a means to destroy the world.”

“That… then… .”

“satellite? I know it with some knowledge, but can’t it be an intercontinental ballistic missile with just a little modification of the rocket that will put the satellite in orbit? As long as it goes up, it’s a satellite, and if it’s pointed towards the Earth again… .”

That’s a ballistic missile. America will be suspicious.

The Soviet Union handed over nuclear weapons to the United States and shared nuclear development data, not simply to receive aid.

More fundamentally, it was meant to send the message, ‘We don’t want to fight.’

Sadly, however, the popularity of the Wallace administration, which took the message seriously, was declining, and the MacArthur-McCarcy duo was running wild.

But what if the possibility of an “intercontinental nuclear missile” is added to it?

“Can you understand? Yes, you could study satellites. But the launch will remain classified for quite some time. if not… Research and share technology with the United States.”

Balance of Power has been the greatest driving force in suppressing war in the world. Through the arms race, the balance of power achieved by mobilizing only the enormous resources that could go into the development of mankind for war paradoxically made war impossible.

But now the era of balance of power has passed, and a new balance has arrived in the world.

That’s the Balance of Terror. This fear that the enemy could destroy me just as I could destroy the enemy stopped the war in a world where nuclear weapons became a reality and the Cold War arrived.

So far, neither the Soviet Union nor the United States seriously thought that their opponents would try to destroy them.

“if… What if this technology is developed and leaked and America is afraid of it?”

“… They will also develop the technology in a hurry.”

“okay. right. We’ll fear each other forever, and we’ll create more powerful weapons, more terrifying weapons. They aim their guns at each other’s heads and live together insecure.”

That uneasy cohabitation almost always led to mutually assured destruction. How many times have the Earth been nearly destroyed in the paranoid horrors of each other in real history?

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it has been revealed at least 150 times. Perhaps most of us perished in the flames of nuclear war.

“No one knows whether the peaceful space development you think is peaceful or fearful. Both you and me.”

“… .”

“I don’t know if joint development with the United States would be better… .”

Koryorov swallowed his saliva.

Of course, if that were the case, research and investment could be slower than independent research.

After all, if we all have to work hard to get the same benefit, who will do the research? While checking and monitoring whether each other is stealing research results and doing other things behind the scenes, it will end up in a trivial dispute or a memory of a time.

Also, if he insisted on active cooperation with the United States here, he could be overturned on spying charges like in the 20s or 30s.

After experiencing such a purge once, Koryolov seemed hesitant.

“… Comrade General Secretary, is there really no way to cooperate with the United States?”

“It may be possible, but… .”

Of course, there was no way.

If bilateral cooperation was not possible, a research organization in which several countries jointly participated could be established, such as CERN (European Research Institute for Particle Physics).

However, since the satellite launch technology, that is, the basic technology of the intercontinental ballistic missile, is a very politically sensitive object, it is only questionable whether it is possible to research this by several people.

“If it doesn’t have a nuclear warhead, it’s actually pretty useless. If nuclear bomb manufacturing technology is known to them someday and ballistic missiles are obtained… .”

“gulp… .”

Then the real world will fall in the fear of nuclear war.

Nuclear fuel enrichment technology, which is the basis for the manufacture of nuclear bombs, was also necessary for the operation of nuclear power plants. In actual history, high concentrations above fuel, which were not permitted through the Non-Proliferation Agency, were strictly monitored.

Perhaps it will be the same in this world.

“I should talk to President Wallace. Anyway… Dr. Koryolov, for your hard work for the Soviet Union, although not all of our people are aware of it, I am deeply grateful. In particular, the RPG Rocket Cannon has saved a lot of people with a huge criminal record.”

“Thank you, Comrade Secretary General.”

Beckoning to the bodyguard, he took a box from his heavy briefcase and set it down on the table.

“Come here.”

“… Ah!”

Inside was the medal of the People’s Heroes, which flashed in gold.

“feeling… I buy… .”

When the medal of the People’s Hero was placed directly on his chest, Koryorov lowered his head as if the weight was real.

“Military weapons and peaceful rockets… is a very complex matter.”

Koryolov stared at me, seemingly understanding a little. The peaceful technology of launching satellites became mankind’s worst means of nuclear delivery, and the RPG rocket cannon made to destroy tanks became a symbol of guerrillas against imperialism.

What would you do when you learn that the portable rocket developed by Koryolov in India has become the ‘magic wand of Shiva’ and has become the best weapon of the guerrillas?

“Please… I hope the time will come when you can develop space the way you want.”

Of course, space development became more active at a time when the Cold War was intensifying. If it is not a card that can threaten your opponent militarily, why would you develop space? A money-eating pig industry that costs hundreds of millions of rubles for each experiment.

Although it was for the development of future science, there was always a lot of money to spend and the budget was insufficient. Nevertheless, it was only during the Cold War, when the world was infested with cold madmen, full of rational irrationality that investment was possible in such an industry.

Koryorov’s mysterious eyes were somehow sad. Can we see that era?

I became Stalin chapter 232

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