Making History

"International trade, religious and cultural strife, military campaigns, diplomatic negotiations... here, you control it all."

—Official page of Making History II

Making History is a series of Turn Based Grand Strategy games, set in World War II. Current installments in the series are:

Making History: The Calm and the Storm
Making History: Gold
Making History II: The War of the World
Making History: The Great War, which is currently in development, and is set around WWI.

These games allow you to take control of any of the nations of the era and rule as you see fit. While the main purpose of the game is to prepare your country and fight in WWII, the series is heavily open to Alternate History, and as such, each game can vary wildly.

While it does take place in that time frame (the earliest starting time on a scenario is early 1933, the latest is 1939), what actually happens in that time frame is largely up to you. While many nations will do what they historically did without your interference, timelines of games can range from very historical to Stupid Jetpack Hitler. Of course, there's nothing stopping you from continuing a game for as long as you want past the usual end.

What if Those Wacky Nazis had acquired nuclear weapons? What if the Soviets had started the war? What if Cuba became a major empire? All of these and many more can be explored by the player.

Tropes used in Making History include:

Airstrike Impossible: Just how does a strategic bomber hit a target in the mountains?
Alternate History
Artificial Brilliance: Every so often, the AI does something genuinely unexpected and clever.
Artificial Stupidity: Many players complain that even on high difficulties, the AI makes some dumb decisions.
Cool Boat - Supercarriers.
Death From Above: Bombers, in sufficient numbers, can be used to deadly affect.
Defeat Means Friendship: It's often a good idea to create a new government in a conquered country, making an ally out of your former enemy.
Easy Logistics: Averted in II. You have to pay close attention to supply lines or risk running out of supplies.
Enemy Civil War: Can easily happen, especially if you fund political opposition against said enemy nation.
Enemy Mine: Having a common enemy makes even nations that hate you much more likely to accept an alliance.
Fanfic: The After Action Report pages for MHII and MHI/Gold, where players tell their stories in the form of these.
Friends with Benefits: Even if another nation isn't willing to accept an alliance, if relations are high enough they may allow you to use their ports and airfields, or move through their territory.
Glass Cannon: Nuclear missiles, and nukes in general. They can cripple a nation, but are a one-shot deal.
Goddamned Bats: The enemy will sometimes send one-division suicide charges into your armies, which cause way more damage than they should, if it happens several times. Less frequent following a recent update.
Government in Exile: Even if its mainland is captured, a country will continue to exist as long as it has land.
Invaded States of America: One of the more difficult things to achieve, but it happens sometimes.
La Résistance: People who are unhappy with their nation may revolt and start a civil war.
Level Editor: One of the main features of the series is the inclusion of a scenario editor.
Mordor: A nation becomes this when it focuses only on its military, and neglects its economy.
Obvious Beta: On release, and for quite some time afterward, the sequel was this.
Redshirt Army: Militia.
Risk-Style Map
Slap-On-The-Wrist Nuke: Getting nuked multiple times doesn't really seem to bother countries all that much.
Stupid Jetpack Hitler: This happens frequently and literally, if Germany survives long enough.
Tank Goodness: Sending thousands of Heavy Tanks across an enemy border: Priceless.
The Scrappy: In the sequel, Japan has a tendency to declare war on China, lose, then declare war on other major powers like the UK, US, and USSR, get utterly steamrolled, and yet never accept any kind of peace offer.
- More or less Truth in Television.
Those Wacky Nazis: Naturally.
Turn-Based Strategy
Why Won't You Die?: So you're at war with a country. Captured their homeland? Destroyed their military? They're out of supplies and starving to death? At the time of this writing, countries in MHII almost never surrender.
You Nuke'Em: If you successfully research nuclear weapons, you can do this.