World War 3 (This is War!)

World War III or the Third World War, often abbreviated as WWIII or WW3, was a global war that started on July 3rd, 2023 and ended on February 15th, 2025.
On February 24th, 2022, following a major crisis between the two countries, Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine, resulting in an increase of tensions between NATO and the CSTO. On June 29th, 2023, Russia left the United Nations, followed by Putin & Russia declaring war on NATO, the US, the EU & the UN, alongside the CSTO, SCO & the BRICK Alliance, which South Africa abdicated it's position and was replaced with Kazakhstan.
On February 15th, 2025, following China's capitulation on February 12th, Russia capitulated with it only controlling small parts of it's territory.
== History ==
=== Cold War ===
In the aftermath of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as geopolitical superpowers, having influence over a new world. With the Soviet Union gaining a large sphere of influence in Eastern Europe, the United States under Harry S. Truman was worried about the potential expansion of communism, so in 1947 the Truman Doctrine was adopted, fully beginning the Cold War.
The first large-scale proxy war fought between the two superpowers was in Korea - since 1945, the Korean peninsula had been divided into two occupation zones, and after failed attempts to unite the two zones into a singular nation, two countries emerged - the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea. In 1950, with Soviet support, North Korea launched an invasion of South Korea, almost unifying the peninsula before U.S. forces arrived and pushed back the invading North Korean forces, until China intervened and pushed back the American troops, before eventually agreeing to a ceasefire that lasted until 2023.
Many proxy wars were fought throughout the Cold War, including the Vietnam War, the Angolan Civil War and the Soviet-Afghan War, as the Soviet Union and the United States fought for geopolitical dominance. From the 1960s to the 1970s, a period of détente took place, as tensions were scaled down between the two powers. However, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, tensions rose again, as the United States sent aid to the Afghan mujahideen. Under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev from 1985 to 1991, the Cold War gradually came to an end, as the Eastern bloc replaced their communist governments with democratically elected ones. On December 26th, 1991, after the secession of all Soviet republics, the Soviet Union was declared dissolved, with the Russian Federation being recognized as its legal successor.
=== Post-Soviet conflicts and the Russo-Ukrainian War ===
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, many disputes that had existed since the late 1980s escalated into all-out conflict. The conflict in Transnistria escalated into war as Russia sent troops to assist Transnistria against Moldova, which resulted in Transnistria gaining de-facto independence from Moldova.
Separatist movements also broke out in Georgia, with South Ossetia and Abkhazia proclaimed independence from the nation. After brief conflicts in 1992, no major fighting took place between 1992 and 2008, when Russia broke off diplomatic relations with Georgia and invaded the nation, resulting in the full de-facto independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh has also been ongoing since the late 1980s, with the conflict escalating briefly once again in 2020.
In the early 1990s, Crimea was a large issue for Ukraine, with separatist politicians coming to power. Ukraine briefly abolished Crimea's constitution, although later granting Crimea full autonomy in 1998. In 1997, Russia and Ukraine signed the Friendship Treaty, in which Russia recognised Ukraine's borders and sovereignty over Crimea. In 2014 however, following the ousting of pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych from Ukraine, the Crimean people started protesting against the new government, asking for assistance from the Russian government. On 20 February, Russia invaded Crimea, and later declared Crimea part of Russia on 18 March. Two pro-Russian separatist states, the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics, broke away from Ukraine, triggering the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War.
Category:This is War!