Timeline (Turmoil)

== 2024 ==
* May 19 
** A border skirmish in the disputed Kashmir region escalates into a full armed conflict between India and Pakistan, the implications being dire with both belligerents having access to nuclear weapons and demonstrating willingness to use them. China backs Pakistan and sends humanitarian and military aid, while NATO and Western countries support and aid India, solidifying ties with them. 
* July 26
** The 2024 Summer Olympics begin in Paris, France. The United States of America would go on to win the most medals.
* July 27
** After the highly controversial construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is finished, Egypt begins to see impacts on their supply of water from the Nile River, which was blocked upstream. As a result of this, Egypt declares an armed confrontation with Ethiopia, with Sudan backing Ethiopia in promise of a portion of the hydro-electric power.
* August 17
** With Indonesia's former capital, Jakarta, facing many issues like contributing to Java-centric views, earthquakes, and sinking, the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, makes an official decree to transfer the capital of Indonesia to the recently constructed city of Nusantara on the island of Borneo, a more stable city.
* September 1
** A massive magnitude 8.0 earthquake hits the city of Bakersfield, California, dubbed "The Big One", resulting in the deaths of almost 2,000 and $120 billion in damages. The Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant collapses soon after, sending tons of radioactive fallout into surrounding regions, posing a significant health threat. Martial law is placed into San Luis Obispo county, and a Hazardous Materials Warning is broadcasted throughout nearby counties.
* October 8
** A massive suicide bombing is orchestrated in Staten Island by Bryan Quinn Lanier, a domestic terrorist. Lanier ran his SUV into a inhabited car in a parking space, and upon the dispatch of authorities to the area, Lanier proceeded to detonate several explosive weapons strapped to his chest, taking sixteen lives with several dozens of people being injured.
* October 11
** The NASA Europa Clipper launches, sending a probe to the Jovian System to study Jupiter's 4th largest moon, Europa, and determine if it has the capabilities to support life, based on its capacity for water, chemistry, and energy.
* October 16
** Flight DL3874 from Omaha to Salt Lake City crashes, killing everyone on boarding including an addition 27 people on ground. The flight took off on October 28, at 10:37 AM after taxiing for twelve minutes. At 10:41 AM, the flight began to experience major engine failure, which was a result of a broken combustor in the left engine. The Boeing 737 aircraft ended up crashing near N 96th Street, killing 27 on the ground, and 120 on the jet, amounting to 147 casualties. Evaluations after the attacks found the broken combustor, and Boeing is sued for $21 million.
* October 17
** A massive counter-offensive into the Donbass region is orchestrated by Ukraine, to retake territory across the Dnieper river. The counteroffensive ends up seeing ambiguous success, with bloody urban warfare being fought in several cities. Vladimir Putin, now under heavy pressure, warns that he will utilize nuclear weapons in response if they continue.
** The People's Republic of China begins a naval blockade of Taiwan, which is condemned by the international community. In response, the United States deploys the U.S. Pacific Fleet to the South China Sea, engaging in a tense hostility in the turbulent waters. In light of this upheaval, the United States forms official diplomatic ties with the Republic of China and recognizes them as a country, to the ire of the PRC.
* October 19
** Only weeks before the 2024 U.S. presidential election would be held, a massive series of cyberattacks cause power grid failures and large outages across North America. Riots begin to occur across several cities, including San Francisco, Seattle, and Chicago.
* October 20
** The stock market crashes, causing an economic impact worse than the Great Depression. This is mainly due to the manipulation of infrastructure sector by cyberterrorists. An FBI investigation begins regarding the crisis. The internet is unreachable, and civil unrest begins to grow.
** Russia begins another period of nuclear warhead tests, the first one since 1990.
* October 22
** An emergency meeting is held by the United Nations General Assembly regarding the increase of geopolitical tensions over the past few days. No resolutions come to pass, and global security is hanging by a thread.
** Classified documents are released by an Iranian defector showcasing several pictures of nuclear missile silos in the cities of Mashhad, Isfahan, and Shiraz, Iran. The documents also state that Russia helped Iran gain access to nuclear warheads, evidence trailing all the way back to the early 2000s. Russia and Iran vehemently deny the validity of these documents.
* October 23
** The United States military readiness is elevated to DEFCON 3. Protests take place in cities calling for a peaceful resolution, although there is none in sight. Cyberterrorists manage to hack the Emergency Alert System, and broadcast to several cities of an impending nuclear attack, severely heightening civil unrest, with mass panic and evacuations following. The U.S. government follows this up with an administrative message clarifying the fabrication of the broadcast.
** With the Russian front still taking heavy blows to the Ukrainian counteroffensive, Russian president Vladimir Putin authorizes the use of several tactical nuclear strikes in the low-kiloton range on the cities of Kherson, Dnipro, Belgorod, and Mariupol. With Ukrainian forces crippled, NATO responds with a full incursion into the region. Now entangled in a brawl with NATO on the European front, Russia begins an invasion of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. Russo-American diplomatic ties are promptly cut.
* October 24
** China begins a full invasion of Taiwan, sending an amphibious assault at the island. The U.S. Navy begins to break through part of the blockade, several vessels on both sides being lost or severely damaged. Several coastal cities on Taiwan are evacuated as the Chinese get closer to making a beachhead on the island.
** Israel launches several nuclear strikes targeting Iranian missile silos. Several nukes are intercepted, while some manage to detonate. The United States military readiness is elevated to DEFCON 1, and with Article 5 of NATO being triggered, World War III effectively begins. Members of the CSTO enter the war.
* October 25
** North Korea launches several nuclear missiles to cities in South Korea, Japan, and the United States. The cities of Seoul, Incheon, Busan, Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and Yokohama are devastated by the nuclear strikes, while several nuclear missiles targeting American cities do not hit their target. The only American cities that are hit are Dededo in Guam, Honolulu in Hawaii, Anchorage and Juneau in Alaska, and Oakland in California. The United States, as well as the United Kingdom and France respond with a heavy nuclear exchange, effectively wiping North Korea off of the map. 
** Russia begins the use of strategic nuclear strikes on several European cities.
** Pakistan nukes several Indian cities near the Pakistani border. India responds with a prompt barrage of missiles, destroying Karachi, and Islamabad, crippling Pakistan's defense capabilities.
* October 26
** A nationwide shelter-in-place enforcement is set in the United States. The hopes of defusing the horrific upheaval of the war are fruitless. Russia, now facing the threat of a total collapse, launches several nuclear missiles towards cities in the US, UK, France, Germany, Japan, and other Western nations. The MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) doctrine is triggered, with NORAD detecting the launch of missiles before they even reach American airspace. Several Minuteman missile silos in the states of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, and Missouri launch nuclear missiles with yields ranging from 10 kilotons to a megaton, as well as several nuclear submarines launching missiles towards Russia. Within an hour, several million die, and China begins the launch of nuclear weapons as well. The USA responds with a prompt nuclear response, with the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, and others being devastated. Within the first two hours of the exchange, over two billion die. Major belligerents of the war suffer immense casualties.
* October 27
** Sixty-two years before this day, in 1962, during the peak of the Cuban Missile Crisis, a Russian submarine armed with nuclear torpedoes was hit with a charge in the Caribbean Sea near Cuba. Being too deep too communicate with other submarines or Moscow, the use of a nuclear attack was considered. For the attack to be authorized, a unanimous decision had to be made by three of the commanders on the submarine. Two of them authorized the launch, while Vasily Arkhipov, the third, VETOed it. Upon returning to Russia, it was clear that Vasily Arkhipov effectively saved the world from nuclear war by that decision. A world-changing calamity, prevented by one man who had power in the situation. In this scenario, there was no Vasily Arkhipov, there was no stopping the nuclear exchange. As billions suffered the effects of a nuclear exchange, an uneasy truce came to fruition by the participants of the war. All nations suffered similar fates. 
*October 29
**Mushroom clouds from the attacks diminish. Most central governments have collapsed, medical supplies and consumption supplies run low, as well as lack of shelter caused most to perish. Those who did not die in the nuclear blast would live to envy the dead, as the suffering would only lead to a more painful death. 
**Nuclear fallout would weaken cells in the human body, causing cancer to be widespread. 
*October 30
**Ash from the attacks would block out the Sun, and agricultural efforts would be hopeless. The death toll reaches three billion. The quality of life severely decreases.
== 2025 ==
* March
** The death toll reaches six billion. Most widespread countries have collapsed, while ones with a more small and focused system would still exist, although under severely poor conditions. The temperature has decreased by over 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit)
== 2026 ==
* May
** Ash begins to dissipate. Fallout begins to rest. The ozone layer was severely harmed by the nuclear exchange, causing the Sun to have a higher ultraviolet (UV) index, increasing the risk of cancer. The death toll reaches about 7.1 billion and remains stagnant.
== 2035 ==
* April
** Vegetation has grown over structures in cities. The Ozone Layer undergoes healing, while most newborn babies are still severely deformed. The climate has effectively returned to how it was before the war, even then, humanity would be sent back to the stone age, a new era etched in the history of how humanity ended by their own hand.
This timeline was heavily inspired by the movies Threads, and The Day After, two eerily similar movies released in the early 80s regarding a nuclear exchange.
Category:Timeline
Category:Turmoil