History Main / WorldWarIII

* This is what the main villains, the Sinister 7 want to achieve in ''VideoGame/MissionImpossibleKonami''. They programmed a supercomputer to launch nuclear weapons, aiming for a short but quick World War III which will herald TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.

* ''VideoGame/MissionImpossibleKonami'': This is the end goal of the main villains in the game. (Released in 1990) Their plan is to force the launch of [=US=] nuclear missiles, and trigger the likely worldwide response.

* ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'': "Brain of the Future" involved a possible future where the United States ends up in a nuclear war against not Russia, not China, but against.... [[CanadaEh Canada]] in 3502. The war begins with an argument between the Canadian Prime Minister Warren Mapleleaf (who wears a space helmet with the Canadian maple leaf painted on it, apparently because this is how Canadian leaders dress in the far future) and the President of the United States: UsefulNotes/BillClinton, who is still alive thanks to being preserved as a head in a jar ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''-style and is somehow still President. He is described as the United States' first 377 term President.

* In Creator/PatFrank's ''Literature/AlasBabylon'', the Soviets Start It; according to the protagonist's brother, a Strategic Air Command officer, this was because of a perception that if they did so within a critical window, they could win, but that afterward they would lose and fall further and further behind. The SAC guy's opinion (which turned out to be justified) was that the Soviets had already missed the critical historical window within which they could have won such a war. He sent his family to his brother (who lived in Florida) because they stood a better chance of surviving than they did anywhere near SAC headquarters.
** It's fair to say that the USSR launched the first ''intentional'' strikes, but the U.S. actually started the war--''accidentally.'' A rookie airman unintentionally launched a missile at a USSR target. The Soviets assumed that this was an intentional strike, and let the missiles fly.
*** Well, it wasn't the airman's fault so much as the missile's guidance system going haywire: It was heat-seeking and flying toward a spy plane, which were fair game on both sides during the Cold War, but it wound up going haywire when the plane cut off its engines and eliminated its heat signature, which caused the missile to plummet into a Soviet ammo depot in Latakia, Syria. (Syria was a Soviet client state throughout the Cold War.)

* A short story by J. G. Ballard has World War III happen over the space of about five minutes, but the American people don't even ''notice'' because they're too busy watching President Reagan's vital signs on TV.
** Though it's a restricted kind of nuclear exchange: after a lot of saber-rattling, the U.S. bombs empty parts of Siberia and the USSR aims for somewhere in Alaska. This proves to other powers that they're not joking and shouldn't be messed with.

* While the opposing force in the backstory of ''Franchise/{{Fallout}}'' was China, not the Soviet Union, the same principles apply. By all accounts, there were technically two wars, the "Sino-American War" started in 2066 by a Chinese invasion of Alaska, which lasted for almost eleven years before nuclear weapons were exchanged in the "Great War" in 2077, which lasted for about two hours. No one knew which of the sides fired the first warhead (one log you can find, in a place that means it won't be known to anyone else, says China shot first, but WordOfGod deems it non-canon), and at the end of the day no one really cared.

* In the ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIronIV'' mod ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'', this is explicitly [[spoiler:[[BigBad Heinrich Himmler]]'s end goal]]. Set in a timeline [[AlternateHistoryNaziVictory where the Axis won World War II]] but [[WonTheWarLostThePeace lost the peace]], the USA, Japan and Germany emerge as the three definitive superpowers of the world, only by the 1960s Germany to fracture entirely upon Adolf Hitler's death as four successors war for the throne to the Führer's seat. In particular, Heinrich Himmler was part of a contingent of Nazis the ''[[EvilerThanThou Nazis themselves]] [[EvenEvilHasStandards thought were too insane]]'' leading to the [[DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans almost-cartoonishly dystopic Burgundy hellstate]] to emerge in place of North Korea in this world. Ultimately, being something of a StoryBranching-type game, the game has multiple ways, or "fail states" as the devs call them, that will almost assuredly lead to thermonuclear war, all of them invariably leading to the onset of this trope. Aside from the great enemy being Fascists than Communists, it otherwise fulfills much of the general criteria as a traditional example, especially for the era the game starts in.

* ''VideoGame/MissileCommand'' was all about stopping [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption (and eventually failing)]] nuclear missiles from hitting your cities.
** An unofficial Japanese port of the game to the Platform/SharpX68000 computer was even subtitled ''The World War III.''

* [[http://adb.arcadeitalia.net/media/mame.current/titles/ww3.png Apparently World War III was started by]] Creator/{{Irem}}[[note]]This game was released in the USA as "Red Alert"[[/note]].

* In ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'', [[spoiler:Fiamma of the Right]] engineers World War III by getting [[spoiler:Russia]] to declare war against Academy City, leading to a twelve-day conflict between the [[MagicVersusScience magic and science factions]]. Strangely enough, it's not the conflict itself that matters ([[spoiler:other than [[ThePowerOfHate powering himself up with the malice of the combatants]]]]), he's just doing it so that he can draw out the people he needs, namely [[spoiler:Touma (or more specifically, his Imagine Breaker), Index, and Sasha Croitsef.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield}} 2'' has World War III between the US, the European Union, China, and the fictional Middle Eastern Coalition. The cause of the war is never explicitly stated, but one map description hints that it was over oil. Russia was originally going to be a faction too, but they were downgraded to a spec-ops faction in the expansion pack.

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'' would probably count as World War III, in spirit if not in name; due to Einstein's [[HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct meddling]], "World War II" as we know it was replaced with "The Great War" (with the Soviet Union as the agressor against an Allied alliance in place of Germany). The next war is the Soviet Union versus everyone else, with the United States as their primary target this time instead of Europe. However, add to that Red Alert 3 (where the Soviets remove Einstein but only succeed in removing their own nuclear technology and allowing Imperial Japan to become a rival superpower along with the Soviets and Allies) and the ''entire'' Tiberium series (which, [[FlipFlopOfGod maybe chronologically takes place]] after [[TimeyWimeyBall one or more of the Red Alert games]]), and the idea of a "World War" kinda loses its impact.
** Red Alert 3's Challenge mini-campaign pits you as working for PrivateMilitaryContractors Future Tech, pitting you against commanders from all three factions all over the world.

* The [[AllThereInTheManual manual]] for the ''VideoGame/{{Earth 2150}}'' games reveals that [=WW3=] was of the "everyone against everyone" variety, with most of the nations obliterated in a matter of hours by massive nuclear strikes. Due to a better anti-missile system, a decent chunk of the U.S. remained unscathed, and the remaining twelve states reformed into the United Civilized States. On the other side of the pond, a Russian army colonel took his surviving men out of the fallout shelter, walked to Mongolia and met up with the nomadic Khan tribe. Realizing the potential, he married the chief's daughter and formed the Eurasian Dynasty that conquered all of Europe and Asia.
** From the same developers came ''World War III: Black Gold'' which has the Middle East deciding to stop oil exports to the west. Naturally, the US decides to step in with military force... but somewhere around the way, the once-again Soviet Russia decides that the Middle East is in ''their'' sphere of influence and steps in. And to drive the point even further, some of the game's cutscenes were included in ''Earth 2160'''s trailer which heavily implies that this game is actually a prequel of sorts to the Earthverse and shows how the world seen in ''Earth 2140'' came to be.

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[[folder:Film - Live Action]]

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/PebbleInTheSky'': Schwartz assumes that Earth's radioactive crust is due to a war fought with atomic bombs.
* In Asimov's ''Literature/TheStarsLikeDust'' (written after ''Pebble in the Sky'' but a very distant prequel, set thousands of years earlier) the numerous radioactive areas of Earth's crust (which literally glow in the dark) are explicitly said to be the places where nuclear weapons had been detonated "a full generation before the force-field defense against nuclear explosions had been developed so that no other could commit suicide in just that fashion again".

Line up and don't ask why!" ''[[labelnote:Click for the original Polish]]\\

Line up and don't ask why!"''[[labelnote:Click for the original Polish]]\\

[[WeaponOfMassDestruction Weapons of Mass Destruction]] are probably going to get used, [[NukeEm often recklessly]], causing massive casualties.[[note]]In fiction, anyway; in RealLife, it's possible that it might just be another very destructive conventional war, if it ever happens, due to the [[MutuallyAssuredDestruction sheer suicidal nature]] of the usage of nuclear weapons. Then again, if a conventional war is actually fought, escalation to nuclear war is quite likely.[[/note]] A commonly used GallowsHumor joke is about this war's ''length''; [[TheShortWar somewhere around an hour]]. If the destruction gets too out of hand it might result in TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, causing an AfterTheEnd situation set on a ScavengerWorld. If not, the winner might set up a OneWorldOrder, in which our heroes fight against TheGovernment in a {{dystopia}}n {{Cyberpunk}} type environment. Of course, it's entirely possible for the war to kill ''[[EverybodyDiesEnding everybody]]'', and have it center on the attendees to HumanitysWake. If the show was made before Christmas 1991, [[RedScare Communists]] are involved, [[FailedFutureForecast even if the war is supposedly set years after 1991.]] A more modern take on WWIII is that it begins somewhere in UsefulNotes/TheMiddleEast; UsefulNotes/{{Israel}}, UsefulNotes/{{Iran}}, [[UsefulNotes/TheKashmirQuestion India and Pakistan]] may be involved. Other times, it involves a [[MakeTheBearAngryAgain resurgent Russia]] and more recently, North Korea. China also gets used when the work's creator isn't so worried about the [[BannedInChina consequences for that.]] Scenarios which have China, North Korea and/or Middle Eastern powers as the antagonists may actually involve [[RussiaIsWestern Russia joining the Western side]].

[[WeaponOfMassDestruction Weapons of Mass Destruction]] are probably going to get used, [[NukeEm often recklessly]], causing massive casualties.[[note]]In fiction, anyway; in RealLife, it's possible that it might just be another very destructive conventional war, if it ever happens, due to the [[MutuallyAssuredDestruction sheer suicidal nature]] of the usage of nuclear weapons. Then again, if a conventional war is actually fought, escalation to nuclear war is quite likely.[[/note]] A commonly used GallowsHumor joke is about this war's ''length''; [[TheShortWar somewhere around an hour]]. If the destruction gets too out of hand it might result in TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, causing an AfterTheEnd situation set on a ScavengerWorld. If not, the winner might set up a OneWorldOrder, in which our heroes fight against TheGovernment in a {{dystopia}}n {{Cyberpunk}} type environment. Of course, it's entirely possible for the war to kill ''[[EverybodyDiesEnding everybody]]'', and have it center on the attendees to HumanitysWake. If the show was made before Christmas 1991, [[RedScare Communists]] are involved, [[FailedFutureForecast even if the war is supposedly set years after 1991.]] A more modern take on WWIII is that it begins somewhere in UsefulNotes/TheMiddleEast; Israel, Iran, [[UsefulNotes/TheKashmirQuestion India and Pakistan]] may be involved. Other times, it involves a [[MakeTheBearAngryAgain resurgent Russia]] and more recently, North Korea. China also gets used when the work's creator isn't so worried about the [[BannedInChina consequences for that.]] Scenarios which have China, North Korea and/or Middle Eastern powers as the antagonists may actually involve [[RussiaIsWestern Russia joining the Western side]].

[[WeaponOfMassDestruction Weapons of Mass Destruction]] are probably going to get used, [[NukeEm often recklessly]], causing massive casualties.[[note]]In fiction, anyway; in RealLife, it's possible that it might just be another very destructive conventional war, if it ever happens, due to the [[MutuallyAssuredDestruction sheer suicidal nature]] of the usage of nuclear weapons. Then again, if a conventional war is actually fought, escalation to nuclear war is quite likely.[[/note]] A commonly used GallowsHumor joke is about this war's ''length''; [[TheShortWar somewhere around an hour]]. If the destruction gets too out of hand it might result in TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, causing an AfterTheEnd situation set on a ScavengerWorld. If not, the winner might set up a OneWorldOrder, in which our heroes fight against TheGovernment in a {{dystopia}}n {{Cyberpunk}} type environment. Of course, it's entirely possible for the war to kill ''[[EverybodyDiesEnding everybody]]'', and have it center on the attendees to HumanitysWake. If the show was made before Christmas 1991, [[RedScare Communists]] are involved, [[FailedFutureForecast even if the war is supposedly set years after 1991.]] A more modern take on WWIII is that it begins somewhere in the Middle East; Israel, Iran, [[UsefulNotes/TheKashmirQuestion India and Pakistan]] may be involved. Other times, it involves a [[MakeTheBearAngryAgain resurgent Russia]] and more recently, North Korea. China also gets used when the work's creator isn't so worried about the [[BannedInChina consequences for that.]] Scenarios which have China, North Korea and/or Middle Eastern powers as the antagonists may actually involve [[RussiaIsWestern Russia joining the Western side]].

Some psychologists believe HumansAreWarriors and [[InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves naturally predisposed towards violence]]. For almost the entire [[The20thCentury 20th century]], it seemed like humanity was teetering on the brink of self-destruction: both UsefulNotes/{{World|WarI}} UsefulNotes/{{W|orldWarII}}ars, the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, and then the threat of [[TerrorismTropes terrorism]], [[UsefulNotes/TheRestOfTheNuclearClub nuclear proliferation]], and biological warfare... and all that ''after'' UsefulNotes/WorldWarI was going to be "TheWarToEndAllWars". Luckily for humanity, World War III has been in DevelopmentHell for more than half a century now -- and long may it stay there (indeed, it's not a sequel anyone is looking forward to, we hope). So it's probably only natural that the next great global conflict is a popular subject in SpeculativeFiction.

Some psychologists believe HumansAreWarriors and [[InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves naturally predisposed towards violence]]. For almost the entire [[The20thCentury 20th century]], it seemed like humanity was teetering on the brink of self-destruction: both UsefulNotes/{{World|WarI}} UsefulNotes/{{W|orldWarII}}ars, the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, and then the threat of [[TerrorismTropes terrorism]], nuclear proliferation, and biological warfare... and all that ''after'' UsefulNotes/WorldWarI was going to be "TheWarToEndAllWars". Luckily for humanity, World War III has been in DevelopmentHell for more than half a century now -- and long may it stay there (indeed, it's not a sequel anyone is looking forward to, we hope). So it's probably only natural that the next great global conflict is a popular subject in SpeculativeFiction.

Some psychologists believe HumansAreWarriors and [[InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves naturally predisposed towards violence]]. For almost the entire [[The20thCentury 20th century]], it seemed like humanity was teetering on the brink of self-destruction: both UsefulNotes/{{World|WarI}} UsefulNotes/{{W|orldWarII}}ars, the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, and then the threat of terrorism, nuclear proliferation, and biological warfare... and all that ''after'' UsefulNotes/WorldWarI was going to be "TheWarToEndAllWars". Luckily for humanity, World War III has been in DevelopmentHell for more than half a century now -- and long may it stay there (indeed, it's not a sequel anyone is looking forward to, we hope). So it's probably only natural that the next great global conflict is a popular subject in SpeculativeFiction.

** [[RuleOfFun Obviously because, while just nuking everything would be instantly gratifying, it would get old fast.]]
*** Actually, we still get [=WMD=]s. It's just that they only become available 5 minutes before the end of a match, and they aren't actually nukes: the US gets a satellite-launched kinetic kill vehicle, Europe gets to fire one of the missile shield satellites' laser and Russia gets a [[{{BFB}} thermobaric warhead]].

** An unofficial Japanese port of the game to the UsefulNotes/SharpX68000 computer was even subtitled ''The World War III.''

* The UsefulNotes/ZXSpectrum TurnBasedStrategy wargame ''Theatre Europe'' (1985) begins with the Warsaw Pact invading West Germany and, at hardest difficulty level, usually ends with the nuclear destruction of human civilisation and the game [[{{Anvilicious}} telling you]] where your cyanide capsule is.

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1985S1E1ShatterdayALittlePeaceAndQuiet A Little Peace and Quiet]]", a nuclear war breaks out between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1985.

* ''VideoGame/ColdWaters'': Command a U.S. submarine during the Second Battle of the Atlantic.

* While the opposing force in the backstory of ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' was China, not the Soviet Union, the same principles apply. By all accounts, there were technically two wars, the "Sino-American War" started in 2066 by a Chinese invasion of Alaska, which lasted for almost eleven years before nuclear weapons were exchanged in the "Great War" in 2077, which lasted for about two hours. No one knew which of the sides fired the first warhead (one log you can find, in a place that means it won't be known to anyone else, says China shot first, but WordOfGod deems it non-canon), and at the end of the day no one really cared.

** The ''Fallout'' series itself is set between [[VideoGame/{{Fallout 76}} 25]] to [[VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}} 210]] years after the nuclear exchange depending on which game you are playing. The post-war United States is a PollutedWasteland populated with [[RapePillageAndBurn roving gangs of raiders]], [[KillerRobot malfunctioning military robots]], [[NuclearMutant mutated animals]] and honest folk trying to get by scavenging for food and technology. Amazingly, if what the little insights you gain about the pre-war United States are true, the [[CrapsackWorld pre-war world]] was actually ''worse''. For example, the United States forcibly annexed Canada to access better pathways to Alaska and engaged in a bloody war with every other country to secure the last oil field in the Pacific. The world itself was embroiled in the Resource Wars, a series of conflicts over shrinking oil fields that left Europe and the Middle East in ruin as the oil fields dried up and left the U.S. and China as the remaining powers.