This is written as a standard textbook entry from the late 1990s and thus, is hopefully a relatively comprehensive history of the World War
The children of Nuremberg[]
With the end of the Great War, Britain, Germany and the United States were celebrating victory over their ancient rivals, however, all of them were left wondering whether the cost really had been worth it. Millions of young men had been wiped out and the economic damage was huge. Moreover, the war, as Germany in particular had hoped, did not get rid of the problems the Central Powers faced before the war. The most important was what to do about the 'corpse empires' of Austria-Hungary and Turkey. Turkey had been of little use in the Great War and Austria-Hungary, nothing more than a hindrance. Hindenburg himself commented, "Were it not for that shack of a state that calls itself an Empire, we would have won the war in 1918, maybe even 1917. For the Democrats, the war was a disaster, already in the 1918 elections, there were signs of dissatisfaction with Theodore Roosevelt. However, the Democrats were still confident of victory over the Socialists in the 1920 elections. They got a nasty surprise, when the Socialists were swept to power, with a large majority in the Senate and Congress. The Socialists won the next two elections in 1924 and 1928, effectively withdrawing from the world, leaving Germany and Britain as the global 'police'.
The Russian Civil War[]
Russia suffered terribly during the Great War, losing millions of men and troops and suffering a Red Revolution during 1917, which killed the tsar. However, his son, Aleksei, managed to regain control of the situation and with the aid of a number of moderate generals and managed to retake control in the summer of 1922.
Operation: Sickle Slash[]
Following heavy losses at Chicago and then, in the Toledo salient, Confederate troops were unable to prevent a US counter-attack, which reunited the two parts of the USA for the first time in two years. General Morrel then formed a plan to cut through Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia, eventually reaching the sea and splitting the CSA in half. This coincided with Californian attacks in the Imperial Valley and a joint Tribes-Oregon-US operation to liberate Seqouyah and Texas. These attacks, although small in scale, prevented the CSA from reinforcing the mid-west when Morrel launched his attack into Kentucky on March 1st 1944. Confederate forces were thrown back, Louisville fell on March 6th and by the end of May, the Kentucky-Tennessee border had been reached. The release of thousands of Canadian troops, fresh from putting down the Quebecois Revolt allowed Morrel to resume his offensive in July, capturing Nashville in August and reaching the border with Georgia by mid-September. However, Confederate resistance on the Georgian border prevented Atlanta being reached until late October. Confederate forces dug in hard around the city, aiming to stop a US attack there and throw them back towards Kentucky. However, the rapid advance of MacArthur's forces from Florida meant the Confederate forces in the city were soon being assaulted on both sides. Finally, in November, Patton ordered a Confederate withdrawal. However, Morrel's lighting attack to the north, forced the Confederates to retreat towards Birmingham and Alabama. The CSA was for the first time time split in two.
Nuclear exchange in Eurasia[]
For years, the governments of Germany, France and Russia had been finding ways to harness the power of the atom. However, they had little success and Germany's program was cut down by the country's defeat in 1940. Many German scientists fled to Britain, where they received the full support of Winston Churchill and the British government. There were also rumours the USA, the Confederacy and Italy were working on similar weapons. After much persuasion, in 1944, by which time Britain was the leader in atomic weapon research, the British agreed to share some of their information with the Russians and Americans. On July 14th 1945, Russia detonated it's first nuclear bomb over Shanghai. This proved a major embarrassment for the British, who believed themselves to be ahead. The situation hanged in the balance until November 5th 1945, in a strike known as Operation: Bonfire Night, the British destroyed the Belgian cities of Ghent and Antwerp, in revenge for the betrayal of the Allies by Belgium in 1940. The next city to be targeted was Rome, destroyed by a British bomber taking off British occupied Spain in the spring of 1946, the act killed Mussolini and effectively knocked Italy out of the war. In reprisal, the French destroyed Birmingham with a super-bomb of their own. Mere days later, the British dropped three super-bombs on Paris, Brest and Bordeaux. King Charles XI was killed. The new French king tried to stabilise the situation by hitting another British city and stiffen the crumbling French armies. However, a British turbo-jet shot the plane carrying the bomb down, ending any chance France had of defeating the Allies. On May 8th 1946, France and Italy surrendered. Japan, now knowing it could not defeat the Allies on it's own and without superbombs, asked for a peace treaty and proceeded to lick its relatively minor wounds, while still holding China, Indonesia and south-east Asia.