1962: Armageddon

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1962: Armageddon is a nuclear apocalypse alternate history, mostly inspired by the concept of the Cuban missile crisis going nuclear.

Background

The two main belligerents of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union.

In 1962, the world as we know it nearly came to an abrupt end. A dangerous confrontation between the Capitalist West and the Communist East was taking place in the Caribbean, as Soviet nuclear missiles are placed in Cuba to deter any future American invasion of the island following the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, with construction of several missile sites taking place over the summer of 1962. American intelligence would also discover that a general Soviet arms buildup was taking place on the island. As a result, President Kennedy ordered a so-called "naval quarantine" of the island. Soviet Priemer Khrushchev deemed this to be an act of aggression, and ordered Soviet ships to be sent straight to Cuba.

In spite of the chaos, neither Kennedy or Khrushchev really want war, as both men are aware that such a conflict would most likely go nuclear. Khrushchev himself reached out to Kennedy on 26 October 1962, in what the Department of State's Office of the Historian describes as "a long, emotional message that raised the specter of nuclear holocaust, and presented a proposed resolution that remarkably resembled what [ABC News correspondent John] Scali reported earlier that day. 'If there is no intention,' he said, 'to doom the world to the catastrophe of thermonuclear war, then let us not only relax the forces pulling on the ends of the rope, let us take measures to untie that knot. We are ready for this.'" Although Khrushchev would later demand the removal of Jupiter missiles from Turkey (now renamed Türkiye), which Washington interrupted as simply destroying any hope for a peaceful resolution to the crisis, it was evident that both the White House and the Kremlin were well aware that the fate of the world was on their hands.

Ultimately, cooler heads prevailed. The Jupiter missiles were removed from Turkey, and Soviet IL–28 bombers were removed from Cuba, with the naval quarantine coming to an end in the summer of 1963.

A Half-Century Later

With the apparent fall of both the Soviet Union and the United States, a power vacuum was created.

In the South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand escaped the conflict mostly unharmed. As contact with Britain was lost, and the royal family presumed to be dead, both states would unite as a single sovereign state, the Federal Republic of Australia and New Zealand. Today, Australia has taken America's place as the foremost world power, it's influence stretching from Hawaii to southern Africa. Many refugees from North America would be ferried on US Navy ships to Australia, taking refuge in the land down under.

Remarkably, most NATO member states survived the nuclear holocaust. With Westminster lost, along with most of the British government, the United Kingdom would be ruled by a provisional government called the Royal Provisional Administration, which initially only controlled Northern Ireland, Scotland (aside from the Central Belt) and the Northern England. Overtime, the RPA would regain control of Wales and the rest of England. The Duke of Gloucester, who was initially believed to be the most senior surviving member of the royal family, is proclaimed King of the United Kingdom in an effort to maintain continuity and tradition.

In the aftermath of the war, Spain and France were the most stable states in Western Europe. Spain was not a member state of NATO and was thus militarily neutral. Although a founding member-state of NATO, France under President Charles de Gaulle was determined to follow a policy of military independence, and relations with the rest of NATO began to deteriorate. Following the nuclear war, France would assist the RPA in the stabilization of the British Isles.

The Soviet regime would retreat to Siberia, setting up Krasnoyarsk as its new capital. European Russia would be lost to the Soviet Union, most of it being controlled by smaller states such as Belarus and the Novgorod Republic. The Kaliningrad Oblast would be seized by East Germany, whose government survived as Berlin was spared from any nuclear attack.

Notes from the Author

I created 1962: Armageddon as a satire to some of the responses to the ongoing war in Ukraine and the general fact that World War II is faded from public memory each and every day. There are people out there who desire a war with Russia, including one gentleman that I go to college with. Thankfully they seem to be a minority, but they are a rather vocal minority, and it frightens me that people think like this. I think that this is coinciding with the fact that the people who lived through, fought in, and witnessed the Second World War are slowly disappearing.

To give credit where credit is due, the Second World War (and quite frankly the First as well) helped open the general public's eyes to the horrors and futility of war. But then again, as did the Napoleonic Wars. After Napoleon was defeated in 1815, the powers of Europe worked to ensure that a similar conflict would not happen again. And yet, a century later all of Europe was engulfed in a great war that resulted in an entire generation of men either being wiped off the face of the Earth or scared beyond reckoning.

Interested in Contributing?

1962: Armageddon to open to anyone who wishes to contribute. As the owner of the timeline, I am open to any contributions and suggestions. However, there are rules:

1. If you wish to create an article, I prefer to be either contacted through my talk page so you may be granted permission. You could create an article without contacting me, but please add the proposal template to your article.
2. If you wish to edit an article, please go to the talk page first. This does not apply, however, to grammatical, spelling or canonical errors.
3. If you only have suggestions, just contact my talk page.