World War III

World War III

The label ‘World War III’ has been applied to many conflicts from the mid-20th to the late 21st centuries. Disputes have arisen about which, if any, of the conflicts actually deserve the title.

## **Events considered for the name**

### **Seventh Occult War**

The Seventh Occult War is the name for the massive-scale conflict against the supernatural members of the Axis Powers. During the Second World War, this largely took the form of clashing with the Storm Wizards of Gellert Grindelwald, but after his defeat in 1945, the focus of the war shifted. The initial postwar clashes targeted the remnant Storm Wizards of Heinrich Kemmler, a powerful dark magician who continued to fight well into the 1950’s. Kemmler would resurrect Hynkel temporarily in 1952 before the risen Nazi dictator was killed by the demon Hellboy and open a gateway to a parallel world dominated by alchemists seeking to bring forth the armies of the otherworldly of Amestris to aid him. While these plans were foiled and Kemmler ultimately defeated temporarily, the Seventh Occult War did not fully end for several decades. The survival of Nazi groups like Dieter Vogel’s cabal dedicated to using alchemy to clone Hynkel or resurrecting his brain, Millennium, Karotechia, and other groups largely hinged on aid from Kemmler and took years to quash. Kemmler’s efforts also allowed many more mundane Nazis to infiltrate the US government, both under the auspices of Hydra and the so-called Fourth Reich headed by Eva Braun in the alias of the Colonel. The fact this conflict was de facto global and lasted for decades meant that some in the Global Occult Coalition formed during the conflict referred to it as World War III up until the late 1980’s. However, its secrecy and low intensity for the most part have led to many arguing that it does not deserve the name.

### **Minsk Crisis**

The Cold War saw no shortage of major crises bring the world to the brink of a nuclear Armageddon. The Tropico missile crisis, the Doomsday incident of 1958 and the Fernando Poo standoff all saw the world brought to the brink of nuclear warfare. However, the Minsk Crisis stands out as the one incident prior to 1988 where the use of nuclear weapons did occur. Like during the Doomsday incident, US bombers were mistakenly sent to strike the USSR. Unlike in that incident, the bomb hit a populated Soviet city—Minsk. In order to avoid Soviet retaliation, the US authorized a strike on Liberty City as compensation. While it halted there, a number of academics made the argument this was technically a nuclear exchange between superpowers and therefore warranted the label World War III. However, this has generally been rejected as both bombs were set off by the US.

### **Wet Firecracker War**

This is the war that, by consensus, is often labeled World War III. The Wet Firecracker War was sparked by Soviet Premier Anatoly Cherdenko overreacting to a joke by President Johnathan Cyclops and attempting to unleash Cthulhu before a pair of *kaiju*defeated the entity. When that failed, Cherdenko launched ground invasions of the US and western Europe. During this war, nuclear weapons were used but only sporadically—decapitating the government of China by destroying Beijing, nuking the city of Sheffield in a bid to stave off British involvement, a few cities in the Kansas area and various silos. Anti-nuclear defenses helped avoid further escalation on both sides. Despite this, the conflict proved to be truly global in scale and caused mass death and upheaval. The fighting was halted due to the involvement of Adrian Veidt in creating a hoax surrounding an alien invasion that warranted a null in the war, which resumed briefly in 1988 before ending when calmer heads took the role of leadership in the Soviet Union. Despite this, the Wet Firecracker War label stuck owing to being comparatively less damaging than estimates predicted. A few have chose to dispute the label of World War III, however, largely owing to personal investment in an alternative conflict being World War III.

### **Eugenics Wars**

The Eugenics Wars were undeniably a global series of wars, sparked by the Augments headed by Khan Noonien Singh seeking to bolster a variety of regimes in Japan, Asran, Draka and various other parts of Africa, southern Europe and Latin America. The Eugenics Wars’ ability to claim the mantle of a world war is only weakened by the fact that it was not truly an overarching singular conflict. Rather, it was years of proxy wars across the globe before the overthrow of Khan by a multinational force. Many have likened the Eugenics Wars to a mini-Cold War between the Great Khanate and the US. Still the Eugenics Wars remained a popular choice until the 23rd century, though it soon after lost that title.

### **Academy City War**

Following the Awakening of Magic, which Crowley was blamed for but had no involvement in and in fact, actually ran counter to his plans, the existence of many supernatural beings including wizards was revealed publicly, marking an end to the statute of secrecy. This led to a brief war between magic and science. This war was fought for a period of 10 days in 2011. The conflict pitted the city-state of Academy City led by Crowley and its allies (notably China, the United Kingdom and India) against the Vatican (specifically its occult elements including the Order of the Cruciform Sword and Iscariot), Russia, France and Italy. The conflict overall was viewed as a clash between magic and science by belligerents on both sides. The war ultimately ended in a peace treaty that solidified Academy City’s power despite being a city-state and led to the formation of the GREMLIN organization within the GOC. The Academy City War, while dubbed World War III by the combatants at the time, has not generally been accepted as a world war. The conflict did not involve every major world power (the US, notably, stayed out altogether) and moreover was fundamentally small-scale in terms of military action compared to previous contenders for the title. Overall, the label ‘Academy City War’ has become much more accepted.

### **Russo-American War**

The Russo-American War was fought in 2017 between Ushi Party-ruled Russia and the United States and its allies. After an airport massacre was pinned on an American soldier, the Ushi Party launched invasions of London, Berlin, Metropolis and a few other cities. The result of this war was major chaos. On its face, this war seemed to be a viable option for World War III. However, two reasons exist for it not qualifying as such. First, it was a war of Russia against various nations, meaning it was not truly a world war. Furthermore, the last phase of the war saw Russia’s government join with its former enemies to tackle Ushi hardliners before they rose up within the country itself. For this reason, it is generally not referred to as World War III in periods beyond the timeframe it occurred.

### **Hun Chiu Wars**

There were a large number of major conflicts in the 2020’s. Some scholars have argued the title of Third World War ought to belong to the various conflicts known as the Hun Chiu Wars. These wars, including the Lingshan Islands conflict, the Chinese Dissolution, the Second American Civil War and the Russo-Hun Chiu War that saw nuclear weapons used. Some also include the unleashing of zombies on Japan a part of these wars, though this has been disputed owing to the role of Shido loyalists in unleashing the virus. Many argue that the conflicts being linked by Hun Chiu’s role justifies them being viewed as a singular conflict and the fact these conflicts combined had a higher death toll than the Wet Firecracker War warrants calling the conflict World War III. However, owing to the relatively limited overlap between various belligerents fighting with Hun Chiu, most have elected to label them singular wars.

### **Meio War**

The Meio War was fought by the warlord Grandmaster Meio against all countries as he sought to exert total control over the world. The fact that fighting occurred across the world would seemingly justify it being labeled as a world war, even if not World War III. However, it runs into the same problem as the Russo-American War: too few belligerents on one side. Many thus perceive the war as a wave of expansion by a singular figure.

### **Great War**

The Great War is undeniably considered a world war. Its apocalyptic levels of combat and the fact Europe, Russia, China and America were all involved in the conflict is sufficient proof of this. The only debate is about which world war it ought to be. In some assessments, the Great War is referred to as World War III. However, depending on how one feels about any of the above wars, the Great War can be alternatively known by any name from World War III to World War VII. Perhaps this is why the name ‘Great War’ has generally stuck in scholarship on the conflict or the names from its direct aftermath like ‘Mushroom War’ or ‘the Event’ are used in lieu of a world war label. A few have asserted the label ‘world war’ simply does not capture the scale of the harm it brought to the world.

## **Credit**

Full Credit for this entry goes to Anarcho Occultist.