Cities (1983: Doomsday)

In a nuclear war, it is the cities that are going to be the major targets. In order to neutralize the enemy, an offensive would strike at the "control centers" - the major cities, the transportation hubs, and the communication hubs, and of course the military bases. As a result, most of the megalopolises of the northern hemisphere, as well as the three in Australia, were destroyed on September 25th and 26th of 1983. This left surviving cities on four of six inhabited continents in disarray, and those in Africa would in many cases soon follow as global order and trading networks collapsed, leaving South America as the only continent largely intact. Population centers shifted as resources were allocated by make-shift governments that by necessity often became socialistic in order to manage the crisis.

In the years leading up to the disaster of Doomsday, the United States of America was the major superpower in the world. Second behind it was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. It was these two superpowers that brought about the world as seen in these pages. With that in mind the lists of largest cities will begin with the most affected continents. The nation of Canada will be included with the USA in the list of the surviving cities of North America, while Mexico will be included in Central America.

North America
On Sunday, September 25, 1983, the list of top 50 cities in the United States lost all but one to nuclear bombardment, the city of Toledo, Ohio, had been 40th on that list with a population of about 355,000. Today, as the capital of the Toledo Confederation, it tops the list of largest cities in North America (north of Mexico).

As the list below illustrates, cities in North America saw shifts in urban and rural populations in the attempt to survive. For the most part, cities became self-sufficient for years as the hubs of developing city-states. Some among these became the capital cities of larger confederations - some even calling themselves "nations" in their rebuilding of a new world.

Europe
Whereas North America received the bulk of the missiles fired from the USSR, Europe was hit by both the USSR and the USA as both superpowers neutralized the defense groups known as NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Most of eastern Europe had been under the control of the USSR, and along with the Socialist Republics in the USSR were reduced to scattered cities west of the Aral Mountains. Western Europe was the first to get hit by the missiles launched from Soviet silos and bombers. England and Wales in the UK (with almost every city with a population over 120,000 destoyed), as well as Germany, were hit especially hard, but Spain and France were devastated almost as badly. Berlin, the divided city, was spared due to it being home to people from both sides of the conflict. It would become united under "new management" of the nation of Prussia as it rose from the ashes of Doomsday, and is the largest city in Europe today.

Largest Survivor Cities in Europe

Asia
While the vast majority of the continent of Asia did not lay within the territories of even of the superpowers, except Siberia, many areas were hit irregardless. Many strikes on military bases belonging to either side occurred, and several countries, such as Japan, were also hit for their connection to one side or the other. The USSR also launched its arsenal at China at the same time as the USA, destroying that country and killing much of its population as well. Today, the majority of the population of the Asian continent is concentrated in the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and parts of the Middle East, though sizable remainders do exist in Siberia as well as isolated parts of China and Japan. The Indian city of Mumbai, headquarters of the Union Interim Parliament (U.I.P) of India, is believed to be the largest city on the continent today, though the Pakistani city of Karachi is neck and neck with it. Most of the largest cities on the continent are also in India.

Largest Cities in Asia

Africa
Although Africa was spared the nuclear fires of Doomsday, the Israeli strike on Cairo in the late 1980s during the Egypt-Israeli war brought destruction and irradiation to northern Africa. With the destruction of that city and irradiation of much of the Nile Delta, the stability of North Africa crumbled. With great potential the continent would prove to be largely as lost as its neighbor to the north.

Though there eventually would an increase in deaths from cancer in some regions because of very light fallout carried by winds from Australia and China, what did hurt the continent was not hellfire like elsewhere. Rather, it was the abrupt halt in foreign aid, and the severe disruption of trade. The resulting social and political chaos in many areas was just as bad, or even worse, than what happened in Europe or North America because of the nuclear detonations. On the southern end of the continent the legacy of racism proved fatal to what had been an improving South Africa, bringing that European transplant to a tragic end.

With the destruction of much of Egypt and South Africa, today the largest cities in Africa are mostly in the West African Union. Currently, the largest city on the continent is the Nigerian city of Lagos. Nigeria is also the most populous country remaining by far.

Largest Cities in Africa