Timeline (The Era of Relative Peace)

The following is the timeline of events that lead to World War III and it's following aftermath.

Point of Divergence (POD): 1988

 * August: Mikhail Gorbachev is arrested in coup d'état by hardliners of the communist regime. The hardliners stated that he is too soft on the state of affairs of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact Countries. The new hardline leader abolishes Gorbachev's polices of glasnost and perestroika and retains the authoritarian polices of the USSR. Gorbachev is imprisoned in the Lubyanka.
 * September: Following the riots among communist Eastern European countries in regards to the seizure of Gorbachev, the USSR deploys several troops en masse along the Iron Curtain to quell the riots. NATO and the west condemn this action and places numerous economic sanctions of the Soviet Union.
 * October: Just two months after the seizure of Gorbachev, the Soviet economy horribly drops. The Soviets demand that NATO and the West remove the sanction and give economic aid to the Iron Curtain. The West refuses; as one of the biggest tensions of the Cold War begins.The Soviet Union threatens invasion but the West still did not give in to their threats. The United Nations calls for a series of peace conferences in order to cool down the situation.
 * November-December: After the a series of peace conferences, it finally breaks down after the West refuses to give economic aid to the Soviet Union as the USSR would not withdraw much of their troops from the Iron Curtain. The Soviets are furious at decision and secretly plan to attack Western Europe six months from this date.

January to May 1989 (Pre-World War III)

 * January-April: NATO recon planes report massive Soviet troop movements along Eastern Europe. NATO steadily prepares for an invasion, but little do they know that the Soviets are better prepared than them.
 * April 15: Chinese students gather around Tiananmen Sqaure, Beijing after the death of Hu Yaobang, a liberal reformer who was deposed after losing a power struggle with hardliners over the direction of political and economic reforms.
 * April 22: Hu Yaobang's funeral is held.
 * April 27: Student demonstrations increase after two weeks.
 * May 20: Premier Li Peng declared Martial Law around Beijing.
 * June 3: In East Berlin, East Germany, Soviet soldiers are mobilized for the upcoming invasion of Western Europe. NATO and U.S. troops in Berlin are placed on high alert.
 * June 4: The People's Liberation Army brutally suppresses the Tiananmen Square protests. This shocks the world; massive condemnations and economic embargoes are enacted upon China.

June 4th, 1989 - World War III begins

 * Just as the world condemned the Chinese government's action on the Tiananmen Square protests, the Soviets invade West Germany. NATO and U.S. troops defend and put what they can of the city, but the Soviets were numerically superior. Slowly by slowly, West Berlin started falling to the Russians.

June 1989-August 1989

 * June 5: West Berlin falls to the Soviets and the East Germans. The Soviets begin their march into West Germany and Western Europe.
 * June 6: On the 45th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, majority of West Germany has fallen to the Soviets.

1991

 * World War III ends.

1999

 * December 31st: The sovereignty of the Panama Canal is returned to Panama.

2000: The arrival of the New Millennium
The new millennium begins with much celebration and festivities as humanity looks forward to a better future - a future without war and conflicts. Several mistakes have been learned from the Third World War, which only broke out 11 years prior.
 * January 1st: The last U.S. troops leave Panama.

2001

 * September 11: The Red Army Faction conducts terrorist attacks in numerous cities in the United States and Western Europe.
 * October 7: The War on Terror begins.