held Canadian ones, as well as the smaller Mormon Utah. And at the same time, the Nuclear Age has been launched with the destruction of three cities in North America and six in Europe. The first city that Germany uses a superbomb on is Petrograd, which results in most of the city getting destroyed and Russia suing for peace. After the bombing, the Russian capital relocates to Moscow. The second city Germany uses a superbomb on is Paris, which results in most of the city getting destroyed and King Charles XI getting killed in the blast. Louis XIX takes the throne and sues for peace. The United Kingdom uses its first superbomb to destroy Hamburg. In response, Germany destroys London, Brighton, and Norwich with three superbombs. Luckily, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Oswald Mosley, and King Edward VIII are able to evacuate London before the bombing, knowing the Germans would strike back. After the three British cities are bombed, Britain builds a second superbomb. However, before the nuclear bomb could strike a major German city, it is shot down in German-occupied Belgium, where it explodes harmlessly somewhere between Bruges and Ghent. This results in Winston Churchill being ousted as Prime Minister in a no-confidence vote. Churchill's succeeded by Horace Wilson, who seeks a cease-fire with Germany. Oswald Mosley is also ousted as Chancellor of the Exchequer in a non-confidence vote. The United States and Germany are determined in trying to prevent Russia and Japan from going nuclear, but these efforts are apparently doomed to failure; moreover, these erstwhile allies themselves seem likely to drift into a Cold War, glaring at each other across the Atlantic. Moreover, aside from the nuclear issue, Japan is presenting an unresolved problem to the US - having won the Battle of Midway, consolidated its hold on the Western Pacific and Eastern Asia and established a concrete threat to Australia. Having to deal with the Confederacy - either as a belligerent neighbor or as a rebellious occupied block of nations - the US can spare only limited resources for confronting Japan, and the idea of "an island-hopping campaign" across the Pacific is rejected out of hand by one character. Meanwhile, Democratic candidate Thomas E. Dewey and his running mate Harry S. Truman defeat Socialist President Charles W. La Follette and his running mate Jim Curley in the United States presidential election of 1944. Harold Stassen comes in