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 war began on 1 May 2026; one side was composed of the United States and the European Union; the other side was an alliance known as the Eastern Coalition. The detonation of nuclear weapons over cities such as London, New York City, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Mecca, Riyadh, Karachi, and New Delhi killed nearly half a billion people instantly. The Great Collapse 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. The Siege of Las Vegas was a significant battle in the war. In the initial nuclear exchange, Washington, D.C. was almost destroyed. Fortunately, the weapon was destroyed in time. The United States of America was one of the only stable governments during the Collapse. However, the economy was in recession, following the large increase of refugees from the war.