World War 3 (The Many Nations of North America)

1962: After a long campaign of undermining Russian dominance in Poland, a German sponsored group of Polish nationalists launch an attack on the Mansion of the governor of Russian Poland in Warsaw in mid July. The attack soon escalates into an all out city-wide rebellion when the Russian Army is called in but stopped in its tracks by another part of the group which fires upon them in a crowded area. The troops fire into the crowd with disastrous results. All of Warsaw soon rises up against the Russian forces in the area and the Army is forced to momentarily flee the city.

When word reaches the (Somewhat) independent western side of Poland, the call arose to aid their fellow Poles in their fight for independence. Germany, still seething at their last defeat against Russia openly declares its support for the new Polish government in Warsaw. In response, Russia declares war in Germany, citing its numerous excursions against Russian sovereignty.

For four months, the war in Eastern Europe rages as Poland yet again becomes the stage for a war between the Super powers. As both Russia and Germany had by this time acquired Nuclear weapons, neither side wanted to gain to great an advantage lest they be unleashed upon them. The resulting battles were therefore short set piece ones where one side was quick to retreat before the battle escalated too far. This changed utterly when in late November, Japan declared war on Russia.

For the last nineteen years, Japanese interests in Northern China had been threatened by covert Russian missions. With the war in Europe distracting the Russians, Japan saw its chance to cement its control over East Asia and, using a border disagreement as pretext, launch their troops into Siberia via their bases in Manchuria. By the end of December, Russia was fighting a two front war against its two staunchest opponents.

1963: As the first three months of the year came and went, the realisation that neither side was willing to use Nuclear weapons emboldened the Generals to strike harder into enemy soil. This of course was bad news for Russia as it now had Germany striking deeper into Poland as well as well as Japan quickly overrunning Russian military bases in Siberia. Only the fact the Germany was paying dearly in its victories gave the Russians any comfort.

Help was going to come from an unexpected source however. Britain had been looking onto China with a good amount of worry as the delicate balance of power within the fractured nation was starting to shift directly in Japan’s favour. British East Asian interests had for the last eighteen years relied on Russia and Japan directly playing against off each other with their various client states. But with Japan now breaking Russian control of the north, Britain’s interests in the south could soon come under threat.

So, on April 3rd 1963, Britain issued an ultimatum to Japan. With draw your forces from Siberia and Northern China within ten days or Britain will declare war. An emergency session within the Japanese government took place that lasted for eight hours straight. Finally, at 11:47 PM, a vote is held and the decision is clear, Japan rejected the ultimatum and prepared its forces to invade India and Navy for a clash in the Pacific.

To everyone’s surprise, Germany followed through with Japan’ declaration of war by also declaring war on Britain, citing its alliance with Japan as the cause. Also, Germany saw this War as the opportunity to destroy British power in Africa by seizing the Suez Canal and laying a claim on South East Asia completely. With the end of April, the Four Great Powers were at war for the third time. The impromptu Alliance with Russia caused great surprise in Britain with Winston Churchill summing up the mood of the nation by stating “I cannot tell how we got to this situation. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”

Throughout the spring and summer of 1963, the period known as ‘The Eye of the Storm’ took place. As Britain and its Dominions needed time to reinforce their troop positions and Germany and Japan needed to redirect their troops to fend off British attacks. This gave Russia the breathing space needed to gather its forces and prepare for a defence and possible counter attack.

August 27th saw the ending of the calm when Japanese troops launched an invasion of the British protectorate Tibet and in a coincided strategy, German Armies pushed into Russian to prevent the two Allies from aiding each other against Japan or Germany. The Navies of Germany and Japan also at this time put pressure on the supposedly invulnerable British Navy, hoping to inflict the first major defeat the British Navy had suffered since Chesapeake. To do this, German and Japanese carriers and submarines had been launching raids on British Naval position in order to draw them out and destroy any attacks with a combination of numbers and submarine attacks. Though the bait isn’t taken, it becomes harder to ignore the constant raids.

The two assaults by Germany and Japan make some initial headway before being stopped short on the border of Poland/Russia while the Japanese assault was stopped outside the city of Lhasa. The Dominion of India supplied most of the troops involved in the defence of Tibet. The sheer size of the British Empire came to its aid and was the reason why German and Japanese military thinking was wrong in its belief that Britain would have been overstretched. By the early 1960’s, Britain had granted Nigeria, Kenya and Ireland Dominion status, allowing a much greater man pool for recruitment rather than the old ‘White Dominions’.

The Indian Army (In conjunction with Australian troops and a minor British contingent) unleashed a major counter-attack against the Japanese Army, pushing them out of Tibet and into Southern China by the beginning of November. In Europe, the war had progressed to a stalemate with neither Russian nor German armies able to gain a clear advantage over the other due to the equal amount of forces both were able to assume, Russia was still sending large resources into Siberia to retake their territory there.

As the year drew to a close, the four combatants were paused and taking stock of the year’s actions. Britain and Russia were both planning massed assaults on German and Japanese forces. For Britain, the Central Plains of China and the German held Congo and Madagascar would be their main targets as one would strike at one of the most vulnerable area of Japanese influence and the other would prove of vital value considering the resources becoming available in the region. Capturing Madagascar would also make the Indian Ocean a British lake completely.

For Russia, it’s objectives for 1964 would be to expel Japan completely from Siberia and push into the puppet state of Manchuria while warding off any German attacks to the west. Many in the higher tiers of Russian government had decided to cut their losses in Eastern Europe and keep a hold of what they could. German strength on the continent is too strong to challenge directly, the states of China on the other hand would be far easier to gain Russian domination and extra resources.

1964: The final year in World War Three began with a large assault by British Imperial forces on the Congo. The German troops themselves were few in number compared to their British counterparts due to the fact the German Navy had failed to breakthrough the British blockade. A combination of British, Irish and Kenyan troops attacked German placements in the Congo and overcame them with great success. By the end of March, all of Central, Southern and Eastern Congo was in the hands of the British Empire. The invasion of Madagascar was also a huge success with the island being completely subdued within a month of invasion in February.

The war in Asia was also going well. Torn between Britain, Russia and various Chinese states that had a grudge to bear against Japan, the Japanese Army was torn between three fronts. With its forces torn between the Chinese states to the west, Britain to the south and Russia to the north, Japanese forces were forced to abandon the Central Plains and retreat to Manchuria and the East coast by June.

April had seen a mass assault by Germany on what remained of Russian held Poland. By June, this assault had managed to reach the Russian border but at tremendous cost to both sides. Seeing that the war wasn’t worth this amount of carnage and unwilling to launch a nuclear assault for fear of retaliation, the German government sent out peace feelers to both Russia and Britain while urging Japan to do the same. After a month of negotiations, the Treaty of Moscow was signed to the following clauses.

1) A fully independent and united Republic of Poland is to be created out of the former principality of Poland and Russian holding, finally giving Poland complete autonomy over its own territory. 2) Germany was to cede the following territories to the British Empire (i) The South, East and Central regions of the Congo. (ii) The island of Madagascar (iii) The Island of Sumatra, the Island of Java and the Lesser Sunda Islands. 3) Japan was to recognise the sovereignty of all Chinese states and only Manchuria was allowed to remain completely tied to Japan while the others drifted to their own preferred states. 4) Russia was to formally annex Mongolia in order to ‘allow greater security’ for any future threats.

The Treaty was signed and the war ended. With Africa and Europe now effectively cut into camps, only three regions in the World were now open to fight for influence. The Middle East (Though it was largely dominated by Britain by this time), the Chinese states (Where Japan still played a large role via covert means) and the largely neglected North American countries. Out of the three, it was North America which was to cause the most amount of interest in later years.