World War III (The Era of Relative Peace)

World War III, also called the Third World War, WWIII, or WW3, was a global conflict that lasted from 1989-1991. The war was fought between the capitalistic and democratic West like the United States of America, the United Kingdom, NATO, and their allies against the Communist states of the East such as the Soviet Union, People's Republic of China, North Korea, Cuba, and the Warsaw Pact member states after the Cold War finally turned hot. Despite lasting only two years, the war was the deadliest conflict in human history, with over a 110-120 million dead, both soldiers and civilians alike.

Background
Following the end of World War II with the defeat of the Axis powers, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the world's superpowers. The world's major political powers began to consolidate their own powers in an effort to ensure that such a conflict of such a destructive scale would never repeat itself. Unfortunately, they also sought to increase their own influence in the world abroad, creating major political, military, and social tensions that sowed the first seeds of a Third World War. Due to the large presence of Soviet troops in Eastern Europe, the U.S. and the Western Allies created NATO; in turn the USSR created the Warsaw Pact. Germany was divided into East and West, as the Berlin Wall was later built between the Allied-controlled West Berlin and the Soviet-controlled East Berlin, further increasing major tensions between the two powers.

Mikhail Gorbachev was elected the President of the Soviet Union in 1985. Under his leadership, he instated policies of glasnost and perestroika. Because of this, many things unknown to Soviet citizens such as the freedom of speech and economic reforms came. Gorbachev also sought out rapprochement with the West. However, not all viewed this positively, especially the hardliners at the communist party. Gorbachev was the President of CPSU for three years before being disposed and arrested in coup staged by Soviet hardliners. These hardliners then ordered massive deployments of the Soviet Army into the Iron Curtain, quelling riots and uprising that occurred because of the coup. The West saw this as a threat, and conducted military exercises as well as putting NATO on high alert. Despite their preparations, NATO was not fully prepared of the Soviet's real intentions.

Invasion of West Germany
On June 4, 1989, while the world condemned the Chinese government's crackdown on student protesters in Tiananmen Square, Soviet forces in East Berlin, aided by East German forces, came crashing down from the Berlin Wall. Although the U.S. and NATO forces were already prepared for the feared communist invasion, they were not shocked at the amount of Soviet forces that thrusted into West Berlin. Resistance was tough, as the NATO forces did what they can to halt the Soviet advance. Tanks from both sides faced each other with each having an equal kill rate. When it became clear that the Soviets had a large amount of armored vehicles, the U.S. then deployed their AH-64 Apache helicopters to deal with it. The Soviets in turn lost a lot of tanks and soldiers with the American attack helicopters and it seemed that the Soviets would be pushed back. However, the Soviets then deployed anti-aircraft vehicles that quickly cleared the skies of American or NATO helicopters. This caused a setback to the NATO forces, which retreated further into West Berlin. After a while, a desperate counterattack was conducted by the NATO forces, however, this ultimately failed as the Soviets were able to crush it. Berlin was now effectively under Soviet control but resistance continued on despite the NATO defeat. The rest of the NATO troops retreated out of Berlin and set-up defense into the West German capital of Bonn. Meanwhile, the Soviet Invasion of Western Europe has began.

Fall of West Germany
Remaining U.S. and NATO forces did what they can to stall the Soviet advance. Despite their best efforts, the Soviets at the time being were superior in numbers, often coming in heavy armor. This posed a problem to the NATO forces, which despite the better quality of their weaponry, were poorly prepared to fight an enemy of greater numbers. A day and a half after the Fall of Berlin, the Soviets captured Hannover and were on their way to Frankfurt. NATO forces were dug in to Frankfurt. After two days of heavy fighting, the city had fallen. The Soviets were pushing further into West Germany, with U.S. and allied air strikes only delaying the inevitable. By the 6th of June, most of West Germany had fallen to the Reds. By June 10, the Soviets captured Rammstein AB but the U.S. Air Force already retreated and scuttled the equipment that could not be salvaged. The Soviets then set their sights to the West German capita of Bonn. The allied forces were dugged in, setting up sandbags, tank emplacements, anti-tank defenses, anti-aircraft weapons, mines, and whatever defense to halt the Soviets. The Soviets entered the city on June 12, as heavy urban fighting occurred on both sides. Tanks exploded, many crippled, as aircraft of either Blue or Red fought above the skies. In the streets, fierce house-to-house fighting happened as the West Germans citizens who chose to stay, aided by policemen and NATO forces, fought the Soviets. The city was also rigged with Booby Traps such as IEDs, Shotgun-door traps, and trip mines. These would take their toll on the Soviets, as many of their soldiers would fall to these traps. Additionally, some of their vehicles were either crippled or destroyed by IEDs. While the Soviets suffered heavy casualties, the Allies were slowly loosing the city to the superior enemy. After two weeks of heavy fighting, the city finally fell to the Soviets as they planted the Hammer and Sickle on the city hall. Remaining NATO forces continued sporadic fighting on the occupied city.

Over 1,000,000 West German citizens evacuated right before the Soviet Army entered the city, these would be relocated to nearby nations such as France, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The West German government had relocated to Munich in Bavaria, which the terrain had proved difficult for the Soviets to enter. With the capture of Bonn, the Soviet Union then prepared for the invasion of Western Europe.

Further into Western Europe
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Central European Front
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First Battle of the Mediterranean
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American Intervention
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War expands into the Atlantic
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Raid on the Soviet Union
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Invasion of America
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China Enters the War
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