Deo Vindice: A CSA in WWII Mod

I. What This Is

If you enjoy alternate-history scenarios in Hearts of Iron IV, this mod offers a long-standing one: a surviving, post-emancipation Confederate States of America in the 1936 start. Originally created for HoI2 in 2006, the mod has been updated across multiple generations of the series and is currently compatible with HoI4: Thunder at Our Gates (v1.19.3.0).

The goal is modest and focused: to spare players the grunt work of imagining a plausible, internally consistent Confederate state that won the American Civil War and then had to live with the consequences. If you want to explore that world — economically strained, politically insular, and historically compromised — then, as fellow Southerner Hunter S. Thompson put it: Buy the ticket. Take the ride.

II. What This Pre-Supposes

In September 1862, the Confederate victory at Sharpsburg (Antietam) triggers British and French intervention in the American Civil War. With no decisive Union victory, the Emancipation Proclamation never leaves Lincoln’s desk, making European recognition politically possible. Peace follows.

Borders are negotiated largely along major rivers. Missouri remains in the Union; Kentucky, then host to Braxton Bragg’s army, joins the Confederacy. Virginia refuses partition with William Loring's army occupying Charleston, retaining all its antebellum territory and preserving the Ohio River as the boundary between the two nations. West Virginia is never created.

The Union recognizes Confederate Arizona at its August 1861 boundaries in exchange for the Confederacy renouncing all other western claims. Arizona becomes a Confederate state in 1912, with its capital at Phoenix. The Indian Territories — home to the Five Civilized Tribes — retain broad internal autonomy while coordinating foreign policy with Richmond and electing representatives to the Confederate Congress.

Defeat leaves the United States resentful but pragmatic. It turns westward, settles the frontier, and resumes its rise as a great power.

The year 1882 marks a turning point for the Confederacy. The collapse of the cotton economy and sustained international pressure force the abolition of slavery. Equality remains distant, but legal bondage ends. Industrialization accelerates, anchoring the Confederacy as a secondary world power.

In 1898, yellow journalism and the destruction of the CSS Arkansas in Havana Harbor draw the Confederacy into war with Spain. Victory brings Puerto Rico and a Confederate-aligned Cuban government, while the United States secures Guam and the Philippines.

At Britain’s request, the Confederacy joins the Allies in the Great War. Most Confederate forces remain in North America until the United States enters the conflict in 1917. In 1918, a border clash at Nogales escalates into the Confederate occupation of Sonora following evidence of German military involvement. Under the Treaty of Versailles, Sonora is granted as a “temporary stabilization mandate,” giving the Confederacy Pacific access.

By 1936, the United States and Confederacy are not friends, but they coexist. The Confederacy dominates the Caribbean and northern Mexico; the United States looks westward across the Pacific.

The Confederate States of America enter 1936 wealthy, unequal, and uneasy — a land of irony and arrogance. Victory in the Great War and close ties to Britain secured independence and influence, but prosperity rests on fragile foundations: trade, oil, and an entrenched ruling elite. The Depression sharpened internal tensions, and memories of European slaughter fuel isolationism. Yet their leaders understand their nation’s power — and survival — depend on events beyond their borders. As the world drifts toward war, the Confederacy must decide whether to cling to a precarious peace or intervene to preserve an order that has served it so well.

(Yes, there are many reasons this history might not have happened. This mod doesn’t argue otherwise. It simply explores one plausible path — for players who want something different from a permanently vengeful Union and an endlessly triumphant Confederacy.)

Download the detailed alternate history of the DV world: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/deo-vindice-the-csa-in-wwii-mod-for-hoi4.943662/page-7#post-22247551

III. Compatibility

DV works with any or all official Paradox DLC. It is NOT designed to work with ANY other mods, so combine at your own risk!

Special Thanks to everyone whose suggestions helped improve my mods!!

ABSOLUTELY NO PERMISSION IS GRANTED TO REUSE OR REDISTRIBUTE THIS MOD IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE CREATOR.