INQ - World War 3

The War that never ended
An excerpt from Generations Lost
by Gabriel Waters

The third World War began during the early 21st century as the result of several factors; rising tensions in Asia, terrorism, economic downturn, and the Inquisition outbreak.

Although highly debated, most believe the conflict began with the early morning invasion of Indian forces into Pakistani territory. The Indians accused the Pakistani of spreading the Inquisition virus through it's population via agents, leading to an infection rate of 10%, and growing. The invasion caught the eye of neighboring China, who just 2 years prior had severed diplomatic relations with India over a major incident between both nation's armed forces at their borders. On the pretext of assisting Pakistan, Chinese forces invaded Indian territories, and fierce fighting in the mountains saw major losses on both sides.

Calls for peace went unheeded, and slowly, neighboring countries were drawn into the conflict, forced to choose a side. Britain heeded the call of her old colony, India. Russia went to the aid of her economic ally, China. Other EU nations stood down at first, refusing to enter the war, but Russian involvement soon changed all that. The United States faced a dilemna, with both sides requesting her aid, but ultimatelly decided on neutrality. Recent economic downturn had almost caused them another Great Depression, and entering a war would bankrupt the nation.

Seemingly endless Chinese forces, with Russian backup, made tremendous progress into India, and within a month of conflict, had captured the capital, New Dehli, and Mumbai. A new front opened up in Europe, as unstable East European nations bowed over to the might of the renewed Russian juggernaut. EU forces found their hands full, desperately holding onto their defense of crumbling India, and the Eastern front threat spilling into their lands. The EU made a desperate plea to the United States to reconsider their position. Although he faced stiff opposition from within the government and the population, the President heeded their cries, and sent out the order to dispatch troops to the Eastern front. What was to come would catch them entirely off-guard.

As they massed their troops along the Atlantic in preparation for the war, a massive Chinese and Russian fleet launched a first strike on the United States Pacific fleet. The surprise attack was a decisive victory for the Chinese and Russian fleet, sinking almost the entire US pacific fleet. Unchallenged, Chinese invasion forces landed on US soil to light resistance, as the US rushed to get her troops across the country. US forces managed to halt the Chinese advance in the Nevada Desert, and for a week fierce combat saw little to no ground lost on both sides. An attempt by the Chinese force to flank them was halted at Arizona by the returning Atlantic forces. On the East European front, fighting had also ground to a standstill, as stiff EU resistance held back the fierce Russian assault.

It was surprising that till then, neither side had considered the use of nuclear weapons in the conflict. Some propose that it was due to the anti-missle technology available to both sides at the time, but it is more commonly accepted that it was more of a form of unspoken agreement on both sides. No one wanted to risk a major nuclear war. However, as the war went on, options shrunk, and desperation sank it, and soon it was apparent that all it would take was one major incident to trigger a nuclear exchange. That incident would ultimately arrive in the form of a terrorist attack.

An unknown terrorist group seized and took command of a nuclear weapons facility in India, and launched nuclear strikes on major cities around the world. Some were shot down, but many of them hit their targets. Both sides blamed each other for the nuclear attacks, and they began launching their own weapons against strategic targets.

The use of nuclear weapons triggered sudden changes in the climate, and nuclear winter began setting in. Temperatures dropped worldwide, many froze to death in under-developed nations, and global food crops were ruined. Nations collapsed internally as infrastructure broke down. World War 3 ground to a halt, as Armies stopped receiving supplies, communication broke down, and casualties mounted on both sides from non-fighting conditions. Amidst all this, Inquisition continued to plague the remaining population. Within a period of lesser than a year, Earth's population had shrunk to lesser than 0.5% of what it was a decade ago.

As it stands, there has been no official ending to the war.