Chapter 1: Earth War 2200-2250

Outlining what lead up to the Fall of Earth by the hands of Humans. This explains the surmised causes of World War 3 and the results.

Little is known about the exact causes of the war that shattered human society, except for the fact that it involved a multitude of nations and resulted in a winter caused by an old world weapon known as a nuke �" until now. Thanks to Trooper and Aegis excavations, we can now surmise the causes and even the details of the conflict which we have dubbed ‘Earth War’.

In the year 2200, human civilization had grown to the degree which we experience about now. Society was generally dominated by computers, advanced AI was in development, and human society had generally become quite tech-driven. One vital invention hadn’t been discovered at this time, however: Space travel. And it is that vital technology that would only be discovered 600 years later. Even through hundreds of years of development, humans had still tried in vain to traverse the cosmos, but had always failed to find a cheap and affective means as we have today.

Records found in the ‘New Earth’ nations aided historians greatly in determining the causes and details of the Earth War, but to put it into perspective, we will have to touch on some facts before 2200, where the war was officially declared.

In 2050, a team of scientists had made a breakthrough in medical technology. Before now, most diseases had been conquered. Even the infamous plagues of the ‘AIDS’ virus and ‘Cancer’ had been defeated. Humans were on a roll, and had come far in their quest for ultimate health. Even with the curing of these diseases, humans still had one foe: their life span. No matter how healthy, powerful or rich the person, everyone was limited by age. This had no longer become an issue, however, as in 2050, a rich 30 year old dictator had commissioned the creation of an ‘age-span’ pill.

The details of this pill have long been lost, but it was believed to have allowed those who regularly took it to live for up to 2 centauries, maybe even more if they lived a healthy life. Merely 10 years later, the ingenious group of scientists completed the project and the dictator ordered the creation of enough pills to last him 600 years. The world laughed at his delusions, but by his hundredth birthday, the world had begun to feel differently about the old dictator.  

This advancement is very relevant to the causes of the Earth War as it is this indefinite life span which allowed the dictator to expand his empire for many years, other nations not being able to do anything about it due to trade ties and fear of the inevitable nuclear conflict. Little is known about the nations of the time, but New Earth nations seem to be descendants of them. What is known is that the dictator who ‘lived till the end of time’ was the leader of what was called the People’s Republic of China.

From the year 2050, up till the start of the Earth War in 2200, political strife had begun to resurrect from past insurrections from the early 21^st century. These political groups were in fact descendants of the original ‘oppressors’ and were protesting against the leadership of the protesters who had won all those years ago. They sought swift and radical reform, and were much more violent about it than their forefathers. What followed was an era of ‘neo-terrorism’ where political organizations from the same nation would resort to open violence to get their points across.

These protests worldwide were known as the ‘Unravelling’ and resulted in the nation of Russia reverting to a historical system known as Socialism, and the annexation of most of Asia by the now reformed ‘United Soviet States of Russia’. Not only the East was affected, and both the already weakened nation of America and the current super power of Brazil had become weakened by internal strife.

China at this time had grown immensely, occupying North and South Korea. The previously economically dominated nation had become more, and had grown into a true military super power. This was not only aided by its vast population but also by financial growth and the downfall of the previous super power, America.

America had not gone out for good, and on the eve of 2200, where China prepared to invade both the US protectorate of Japan and the British protectorate of India, the ‘Western Powers’ declared war, announcing it with the bombing of both Moscow, Soviet Russia and Beijing, China. Leaders at the time had dubbed this ‘World War 3’. We cannot do this, however, as we do not have records of the wars preceding it. They also referred to another historical war called the ‘Cold War’ and stated that this was merely the lighting of a cold fire. Regardless, war had been declared and the conflict would last 50 years before the Earth fell.

The invasion of India had been successful, but so had the bombing of Beijing. The once proud capital of the nation lay in ruins at the swift firebombing from the Western forces. This offensive had left India defenceless, on the other hand, allowing Chinese forces to occupy the major city centres. Reports state that revenge upon the Western forces was taken on the people of India.

Japan was a different story. American forces had already been stationed on the island nation and the superior air forces had managed to halt the Chinese assault before it even reached the coastline. Western forces had also failed again on a different front, as the attack on Moscow was also shot down. The world was officially at war and even the smallest states were preparing to choose a side.

Nations allied on many factors, and it is commonly believed that no one was truly neutral in this conflict. Historical allies had once again joined hands and new trade alliances also determined newer alliances. Geographic location also played a large factor with most of the Middle East and Asia being taken by the new Eastern Bloc, as well as much of North Africa. Alignments like that of America and Japan were understandable due to military alliances, and the influence of Britain managed to keep Western Europe from being taken by the ever expanding Soviet states.

It is important to note that, at this time, the ‘Life-Span’ pill had been given to most leaders and supporters of the Eastern Bloc and rumours had it that some failed bribes had also resulted in smaller state leaders gaining the pill. This meant an entire generation of war leaders who could remain for years, prolonging a war of greedy territory expansion.

After the invasion of India and the bombing of Beijing, the world went into an uncomfortable silence as all sides prepared for the war that had been feared for centuries. In fact, it was only in 2201 that the war really started. In this year of peace, all the nations of the world prepared for war. Tanks were built, soldiers were recruited and the megalomania suffering leaders of the world plotted.

In January of 2202, the war continued, starting with a Soviet Arab invasion of Israel, resulting in the occupation of half the nation in merely months. The small state persevered in the end, and managed to maintain control over half its territory, while South African and European forces were sent in to aid them. Israel was reclaimed, but at a cost. The Soviet occupiers had been ruthless, executing all of Israeli descent.

In retaliation to this, the Western Powers mounted an assault on the Soviet territories of Western Russia and the Middle East. Smaller conflicts also erupted within Africa and between Japan and China. This needless tug of war lasted for 20 years, territories being exchanged between factions within matters of weeks at a time. 2222 was the year when all this changed. Eastern Europe, the Pacific Islands, Africa and the Middle East had become a contested hot zone in these last decades, but as the leader of China authorized another attack on Japan, he was assassinated.

The assassination had been undertaken by a mixed group of Americans, British, Brazilians, South Africans and Israelis. It had been accomplished flawlessly, the assassins managing to enter Beijing undetected and executing their target without delay. If there had been one problem, it was that it didn’t have the desired result. Merely two days later, the leader’s son was declared the new leader of the People’s Republic of China. This political change did nothing in the bigger sense of the war, as soldiers were still being shipped and cities were still being taken and destroyed.

In 2230, the Eastern Bloc had begun to make headway, managing to take Kyushu, Japan and securing the rest of mainland Asia. The war in Africa had also turned worse for the Western Powers as all of Northern Africa was now under Soviet control. Israel had been almost abandoned as the Western powers fought on, relocating troops to focus on soviet excursions in Europe. The small state never surrendered, however, and by 2235, had been destroyed. Its culture wiped out and only historical records maintained by the New Earth states acting as testimonials to what must have been one of the smaller, but stronger warrior states.

The war had turned in such a way that the Western Powers couldn’t even find the time to mourn the loss of its allies. Japan had been all but taken, Australia was on the brink of invasion and South Africa was close to being overrun by the poorer but militarily superior Zimbabwe. It was in 2236, when the new Chinese leader (dubbed ‘Emperor’) declared a trans-pacific invasion of America.

This shocked the world, but in retrospect, it was in fact China’s undoing. There was no doubt that China possessed a force to rival the world, but it seemed that it didn’t possess the means to transport them. For his invasion to be successful, the Chinese Emperor ceded India and Vietnam over to Russia, freeing his soldiers there so they may be sent to the super power directly to the east of them. Russia could sustain the loss of free troops, and accepted the deal, allowing China to instigate its attack.

In 2237, the Chinese forces had been decimated. Millions had been sent, but only thousands survived to push through the American state of California. The weakened super power may have lost almost everything economically, but it still possessed a military capability unlike the world had ever seen. China had not stood a chance, and this foolish move had no doubt left the Eastern Bloc weakened almost beyond repair.

Without fear of an invasion from the west, America was freed to send troops to retake Japan and support Australia. The exclusion of Chinese troops from the front also meant that the Western European forces were better able to push back the soviet troops, and by 2240, the war had turned in favour of the Western Powers.

Zimbabwe, without financial support, had fallen and allowed South Africa to occupy it and free Namibia, Mozambique and Botswana. Nations such as Italy, Greece, Poland and many others had also been freed from the soviet grasp as the Western forces moved in. The Eastern Bloc was on the verge of falling and by 2245 that was almost a possibility.

The societies of the world were ready to heave a heavy sigh of relief by 2249 as the war showed signs of stopping altogether. The Middle Eastern forces of both sides had been neutralized, many African states had pulled out of the war or had been occupied by the Western Powers, and all major invasions had been halted.

In 2250, only the original states of Russia, China and their colonies remained, and the world was preparing for the end as the dictators of both nations were on the verge of collapsing. But they had underestimated the insanity of these leaders, however, and on the 20^th of November, 2250, Chinese and Russian nuclear weapons were released on America, Britain, South Africa, Western Europe and many other nations, including their own.

It was too late to stop them. By the time that Western forces executed the dictators, all that the people of the world could do was wait for the impending death of their race as the event which had been surmised for history finally came to fruition. World War 3 had finally come to an end.

Author's Note

An unedited draft. What do you think about the causes of World War 3 and the details of the war itself?