World War III

World War III was a 21st century global conflict on Earth, waged in part with nuclear weapons, in which an estimated 600 million perished. 


 * The novel Dark Mirror comments that 40 million lives were lost in the Third World War, which contradicts "Encounter at Farpoint."

The possibility of a third global war following the first and second was feared for decades, particularly during the Cold War, when geopolitical tensions between Earth's nuclear-armed nation-states were at their height. Part of the mission of Aegis agent Gary Seven was to prevent these tensions from erupting into full-scale warfare. 

The war
The war began in 2026.

One side was composed of the New United Nations, including the United States and the European Union; the other side was an alliance known as the Eastern Coalition. The war's origins went back decades, but in particular was triggered by confrontations between the New United Nations and the ECON over oil fields located in Antarctica and Taklamakan, a few months before the first major nuclear salvos were launched. Rioting breaks out in several major American cities during the days immediately leading up to the war, with fires and looting occurring prior to the nuclear strikes as people attempted to flee the impending target zones with their lives.

At precisely 0230.26 hours Eastern Standard Time, on 1 May 2053, the Eastern Coalition launched a first strike comprised of intercontinental ballistic missiles, bomber attacks, and portable nuclear weapons, against major North American and European cities, combined with a simultaneous Interface viral assault against the New United Nations computer infrastructure. Much to surprise of the ECON political leadership, the New United Nations immediately retaliated with nuclear launches of their own, as well as bomber and satellite-based attacks against targets in the Middle East and Asia.

The detonation of nuclear weapons over cities (in the multiple-megaton range) such as London, Moscow, Berlin, New York City, Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Toronto, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Mecca, Riyadh, Samarkand, Karachi, Singapore, and New Delhi killed nearly half a billion people instantly. Smaller detonations occurred over Hong Kong, Beijing, and Ho Chi Minh City. Undetonated or failed nuclear devices were discovered in or around targets such as Washington D.C., Paris, Madrid, Rome, and Istanbul. Of the hundreds of ICBMs and bombers launched by the United States and allied forces, only one in five makes it into the air, due to EMP weapons and viral attacks against the military computer networks &mdash; of these, only a fraction detonate properly.

Conventional military forces on both sides were quickly moved into offensive position against their respective foes &mdash; on 3 May 2053, the First, Eighth, and Sixteenth Fleets under New United Nations command carry front-line troops into the Bay of Bengal, and the ECON launches a massive invasion of the North American continent, sending troops and military aircraft southward through Canada. Targets in New England (including Massachusetts), Minnesota, the Rocky Mountains, and the Midwest are hit hard by ECON forces, the U.S. military's defenses along the Canadian border failing utterly. The United States Air Force and United States Army both fight back against the invaders, but lose many fighters and ground soldiers to the enemy. Certain military units are abandoned in enemy territory during the war, including a New U.N. brigade under the command of Colonel Green in Kashmiristan in late May.

The post-atomic horror that followed severely destabilized global civilization; terrorist organizations and rogue states often detonated small-scale "suitcase nukes," while toxins and biogenic weapons were released. Drug-addled soldiers were often sacrificed in conventional battles on the ground after much of the planetary computer systems failed; numerous small-scale conflicts created chaos throughout the globe as warlords fought over the scraps of civilization.

Sovereign nations, including the United States, essentially cease to exist following the war, the country falling into barbarism, carved up into fiefdoms controlled by competing warlords (including Colonel Green's despotic reign over the Pacific Northwest). Without federal resources to fall back upon, most local governments are unable to feed their own people; chaos and anarchy would reign for at least a generation afterward. The last President of the United States, President Mendoza, survives the initial days of the war, but finds herself in command of very little afterwards, due to the mass destruction (SS ST "🇸🇸"; SS ST (The Immortality Blues)).

The Siege of Las Vegas was a significant battle in the war, with American forces battling ECON troops for control of the city. The forces of the Eastern Coalition would eventually prove victorious, defeating the U.S. troops there. (SS DS9 (Second Star to the Right...))

In the initial nuclear exchange of World War III, Washington D.C. was completely destroyed, along with three surrounding U.S. states. Some major cities, such as Montreal, were actually spared from nuclear hits during the first rounds of ICBM exchanges. 

During fighting in Paris during the war, the Eiffel Tower was destroyed. Additional combat took place in San Francisco, resulting in the destruction of the Coit Tower, among many other structures. 

In 2054, one year following the outbreak of hostilities, Colonel Green surprises the surviving United States government by turning up in Alaska at the head of a massive army comprised of both New U.N. and ECON soldiers. President Mendoza orders Green to stand down, but is refused; Green slaughters his way across the continent, culling the "weak" and "impure" from humanity's gene pool, until finally meeting his demise in Montana from an orbital strike launched by Flint the Immortal (SS ST (The Immortality Blues)).

Humanity eventually turned over a new leaf when a few courageous people began to realize that they could make a difference. Early in the war, weather-control satellites developed by Flint the Immortal begin modifying the planet Earth's ozone layer in an attempt to regenerate it, along with raising the planetary temperature enough to stave off nuclear winter. This will prove successful, ultimately reducing the number of potential casualties from the war (SS ST (The Immortality Blues))

The war culminated circa 2053, when several of Earth's governments met in San Francisco to declare a cease-fire, effectively ending the war. 

In the end, most of the world's major governments collapsed, and over 600 million people had died just from the immediate combat. 

Aftermath
Despite the end of actual hostilities, the after-effects of the war—refered to as "the post-atomic horror"—lingered for decades to follow. Rule of law broke down in many places, and legal systems were abolished, with the suggestion to "kill all the lawyers" from Henry VI being taken literally in some places. Asia was particularly devastated. 

The year 2073 was considered part of this conflicted era and saw a number of Humans abandon the planet whereupon they settled on the world of Okeanos. 

Much of the United States economy was ruined, with the population reduced to standards of living less than that of the victims of the Great Depression a hundred and twenty years earlier. So great were the horrors that human genius Zefram Cochrane had himself implanted with a pain-inhibiting chip in order to cope with the world around him. Nonetheless, his Project Phoenix was able to secure backing, and led to first contact only ten years later. 

In later years, a monument honoring the hundreds of millions dead during the war was erected in San Francisco, on the former site of the Coit Tower. The monument continues to stand into the late 24th Century.