2017 - The campaign in Mexico continues with casualties mounting quickly on both sides as the US becomes bogged down in the sprawling outskirts of Mexico City. - US spy satellites record Russian troop buildups at Chinese bases in Eastern Europe. - When the United Nations condemns the US attack on Mexico and accuses US forces of war crimes the United States withdraws from the United Nations. The president gives the international political body 24 hours to vacate the building in New York City before Army engineers demolish it. - North Korea launches a nuclear attack on South Korea. Of the six medium range missiles launched none make it to their target. Two are destroyed in the upper atmosphere by ballistic missile interceptors and four are deflected into the ocean by a previously unknown type of nanite used to infiltrate their guidance computers months earlier. The United States responds by launching a single nuclear missile at Pyongyang that destroys the city completely. South Korean troops assisted by US Army forces smash through the decapitated North Korean military and reunite the nation. - At a NATO conference in June, US representatives apologetically convey the president’s ultimatum that NATO members either contribute troops to operations in Mexico and the Mid-East or consider themselves enemies of the United States of America. - China holds a “Reunification Celebration” in Tiananmen Square in which the surviving political leaders of Taiwan are executed by firing squads. Following the execution the Chinese Premiere gives a vitriolic speech recalling Japanese war crimes during the Second World War. - France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands declare neutrality and secede from NATO. The United Kingdom, Norway, and Turkey send modest troop allotments to Mexico to assist the United States while other NATO member states promise military or material assistance that they never produce.

2018 - Chinese warships steam towards Japan and are met en route by elements of the US’s 6th Fleet. A tense standoff begins roughly midway between China and Japan as the two fleets maneuver and watch one another. - Mexico negotiates surrender with the United States. The Mexican President is declared to be a “brutal dictator” and disappears into one of several secret US military prisons. Plans develop to divide Mexico into 7 additional US states even as rebuilding and repair efforts stagnate because of frequent terrorist attacks. - American troops begin a slow withdrawal from Middle Eastern colonial holdings. In most cases revolution begins immediately, but the puppet dictator of Yemen manages to maintain order for nearly a decade and remains a strong ally of the United States the entire time. - The first self-contained nanofactory debuts at a scientific conference in Paris and within weeks revolutionizes the raw material needs of nations with the technological capability to produce them.

2019 - A deadlock in the Pacific Rim. Chinese buildup continues near Japan with a massive acceleration in Chinese naval construction. The United States, nominally at peace in the world, continues to escalate its naval deployment as well and even threatens China with nuclear retaliation for an attack on the Japanese mainland. A tense air war of sorts develops as Japanese and US aircraft harass near constant flyovers of Japan by Chinese surveillance aircraft. - Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Denmark begin the formation of a pan-European defense force called the Global Legion. Other EU member nations contribute troops and equipment with the exception of the United Kingdom. - In response to the formation of the Global Legion, the Russian Autocrat doubles the size of the Russian military. The nation is wracked with economic crisis but the military continues to expand with the population suffering from abject poverty and even starvation. At the same time Russia reintroduces political commissars to line forces to ensure loyalty. - The liberal reform-minded Israeli Prime Minister is assassinated by terrorists while touring refugee camps in Israeli Jordan. Her death results in the election of a hard line militarist who institutes roving military patrols of occupied Jordan.

2020 - The Third World War or “The Third” begins on January 22nd in the Sea of Japan. Fast and stealthy Chinese gunboats slip through a US blockade of the Sea of Japan and unload commandos to attack the Japanese mainland. US ships locate the gunboats as they attempt to escape the blockade back into the Pacific and a running battle begins. Two US destroyers are sunk, and a US missile cruiser is disabled, losses among the Chinese amount to only a handful of the new gunboat class vessels. Diplomacy fails to prevent the crisis from escalating. - On the evening of the following day Chinese commando raids begin throughout Japan. Government buildings, police stations, and air-defense systems are stormed. The sheer number of US and JDF troops stationed in Japan during the buildup ensure that none of the locations can be held for long, but they don’t have to. - At 2:20 AM wave after wave of Chinese level bombers begin to pass over the Island. These bombers suffer terrible casualties from fighter aircraft and ship-based air defense, but the damage inflicted on Japanese cities is staggering. Paratrooper waves follow soon afterward. - While ground forces in Japan contend with scattered Chinese airborne infantry drops the US navy engages the Chinese navy in the largest naval battle since the Second World War. The Chinese are able to begin landing troops on Japan and its islands, but by day two of the amphibious invasion US naval superiority has inflicted a critical blow on Chinese surface vessels. Ground based Chinese aircraft continue to duel with US carrier and ground based aircraft over the Sea of Japan with devastating losses to both sides. - The United States issues a final warning to Beijing to cease the attack on Japan or face the consequences. China responds unexpectedly by unleashing the Scourge of Iron. - Six weeks before the opening of hostilities the Chinese began to send airborne nanofactories no larger than a grain of rice to the United States by the tens of thousands. Carried on the wind the tiny nanofactories were pre-programmed to burrow into the soil and begin consuming mineral deposits to construct billions of special purpose nanites. The Scourge of Iron erupts from the dirt as an invisible cloud that enters the respiratory system, attaches to the walls of the lungs, and begins reproducing by cannibalizing human tissue. At first the US government believes it to be a new illness, but after investigation by the Center for Disease Control it is revealed to be artificial. Over the course of three months over 29 million people living in the United States, the Mexican Territory, and Canada die from the Scourge of Iron. It is treated individually by expensive EMP chambers and eventually cured near the end of 2020 by releasing nanites that actually feed off the parasitic Scourge of Iron nanites. - During the beginning phases of the Scourge of Iron the United States unleashes its nuclear arsenal on China. 178 missiles are launched, 23 strike targets, the remainder are engaged by atmospheric interceptors or nanotech interference. Even thought it is the target of no less than eight missiles, Beijing miraculously escapes the attack. Despite the effectiveness of Chinese countermeasures, almost 60 million Chinese men, women, and children are killed. China retaliates with its entire nuclear stockpile, striking targets throughout the United States even though less than five percent of Chinese missiles slip through US defenses. The West Coast is particularly hard hit, with both California and Washington suffering millions of deaths. The total death toll approaches 15 million.

2021 - The United States, Japan, and China are reeling from conventional, nuclear, and unconventional blows. The year begins with the Chinese invasion of Japan stalling thanks to US naval dominance, but at the same time the proximity to large numbers of Chinese land based aircraft has been brutalizing US surface vessels and aircraft. The conflict is about to broaden. - The Reformed and hyper-militarized Russian government begins a land based invasion of Eastern Europe. A secret alliance with the Chinese allows Russian troops to air land at bases in Yugoslavia and Hungary and seize both nations. The UK commits to the defense of Europe, the Global Legion is slower to react and Russian forces storm across Poland in a matter of two weeks and threaten the German border. - Commonwealth forces land in Germany and coordinate with German and Danish Global Legion troops to defend against Russian attacks. The Russians hold at the border, massing troops as other offensives fully capture former Soviet States that broke with Russia in the 20th century. France refuses to commit its troops to Germany, fearing that a sneak attack might threaten France itself. The German Chancellor secretly petitions the US President for aid if Russia violates the German border. The US, fully engaged with China, eventually pledges to reserve a first strike nuclear option on Russia. - India begins to discuss options for a pacification campaign along the India and Pakistani border.

2022 - Russian commandos using sneak suits infiltrate French, British, and German air defense and nuclear systems. The raids are executed expertly and cripple the nuclear response capability of Western Europe. The Global Legion retaliates with an armored push into Poland that achieves initial success but it crushed ten days in by a massed armor and air counter attack from Southern Poland. The Russians roll the Global Legion and Commonwealth forces back to the German border and then continue on into Germany. - News of Russian atrocities percolates to the EU governments and prompts a joint task force to lobby the United States to initiate nuclear attacks on Russia. The President declines on the grounds that nuclear stockpiles are necessary to underline the coming spring offensive against China and protect against Russian nuclear attacks. As a concession the United States steams two carrier groups to protect European ports. - Korea declares its neutrality to forestall the US using its bases for logistical purposes and to prevent China from invading. - US marines and airborne rangers begin landing in China from the Sea of Japan. A feint towards Taiwan successfully confuses Chinese military planners, forcing them to commit large troop formations to Taiwan. In the early weeks of the US offensive Chinese resistance is disorganized and often nonexistent. The US suffers moderate losses and a sense of shock when the Chinese government detonates nuclear bombs over two of its own population centers to create a wasteland buffer between Chinese forces and the US advance. - Successful Russian advances approach Berlin and lay siege to the city, where almost 100,000 Commonwealth and battered Global Legion forces attempt to hold the German capitol. - Pakistani intelligence ministers feel certain that Indian troop buildups on their shared border indicate preparations for a full scale invasion. In the most catastrophic nuclear exchange to date both Pakistan and India launch their relatively modest arsenals at one another. None of the missiles are deflected or sabotaged and almost 250 million Indians and Pakistanis die. Civilization all but ceases to exist in both nations. - France launches two nuclear cruise missiles at Russian muster points in the rear of their lines but within the German border. While the attacks are crippling to the Russians the German population also suffers bitterly from the attacks themselves, radiation poisoning, and reprisals from enraged Russian troops.

2023 - Russia mounts an early spring offensive against Berlin and the Global Legion line in Germany and employs tactical nuclear strikes to damage and disrupt troop formations. Russian forces smash through the line and begin weeks of house to house fighting in Berlin as armored columns push closer to France’s border. Now directly threatened from the north and east, Italy attempts to negotiate peace with Russia and is rebuffed. - Things quiet to a rumble in China where the devastated US military engages in skirmishes with a similarly decimated Chinese military. Secret negotiations begin with the Chinese, and although propaganda would never admit it, the Chinese seriously consider US offers of withdrawal to coastal cities. - The Nanotech Singularity Gateway is developed and fast tracked by the surviving nations of the EU for use in a war-ending attack on Russia. Russian spies capture the plans for the device but it will take two or more years for them to engineer their own prototype. - Germany surrenders to Russian forces. Russia televises a series of show trials at which the German Chancellor, Global Legion military officers, and Commonwealth military officers are declared guilty of war crimes and executed. - British MI5 identifies key officials within the Russian government and military as targets for Operation Cumberland. - Russia invades Italy and consolidates its gains on the French border.

2024 - Russia declares that remaining EU states have one week to consider an unconditional surrender or Russia will “wipe their pathetic capitols off the map”. - China signs a peace agreement with the United States that allows US forces to retain control of key ports facing the Sea of Japan and the Pacific. The US immediately withdraws to these ports and construction of a DMZ surrounding each begins. They become known as the “Free Ports of China” and as animosity between China and the US remains high they become hotbeds of intrigue and subterfuge. - US nuclear submarines begin an in-force operation along Eastern Russian ports in preparation for a possible nuclear retaliation in the event that Moscow follows through on its threats. - Operation Cumberland begins. Nanotech Singularity Gateways are constructed at secret locations deep behind the Russian lines and commando teams flood through. Over the course of two days most of the leadership of the Russian government and most high-ranking military commanders are either killed or captured. Before his death at the hands of SAS agents the Russian autocrat launches a total nuclear strike. - The final act of The Third is apocalyptic. As Russian missiles stream through the atmosphere by the hundreds the United States deploys most of its remaining nuclear stockpile. Submarine launched US nukes actually hit first, slamming into Moscow, Vladivostok, Kiev, and Saint Petersburg among other cities. Russian missile defense is ineffective, stopping less than 20% of incoming nuclear strikes. Europe is similarly caught with its pants down, stopping on average 30% of attacks, with the UK at the top end (46%) and Spain at the low (19%). The United States fares the best, but has already been brutalized by total war with China. Even though it stops almost 80% of the Russian missiles it is still nearly destroyed. No nation with a population larger than 10 million escapes the nuclear nightmare entirely. - Governments in most nations cease to exist; power is maintained only by heroic efforts of citizens and surviving military units.

2025 - Riots, bloodshed, looting, and wholesale slaughter follow in the wake of the nuclear dawn. For months all of mankind shows its darkest side. As famine and disease sweep the globe some groups turn to cannibalism while more organized groups turn to draconian purges of the sick and wounded. - From the chaos comes an uneasy and very temporary peace. Military warlords consolidate territory usually without incident, often claiming to be the true government of a given nation. Cities spared the devastation become the seats of power. Communication is slowly restored. - For most of the remainder of the year these ersatz governments clash in bitter civil wars. Old hostilities for rival nations remain deep-rooted, but for the time being the priority is a power struggle to see who comes out on top.

2026 - Beijing, which survived the nuclear dawn, becomes the seat of power of the new military-controlled People’s Empire. China is the first nation to emerge from the darkness by ruthlessly starving portions of the population. The Free Ports of China, which also survived the nuclear attacks of 2024, have by now become US military fortresses and high on the priority list for Chinese attack. - Borders blur in Western Europe. Global Legion and Commonwealth military units squabble over territory before uniting under a charismatic British General. When contact is established with a military government in the United States in the fall of 2026 the two shaken groups form the Consortium of Free States. While it purports to be democratic it is actually a military dictatorship with joint leadership by US and European military officials who control the population through force of arms. - The US Capitol is officially moved to Providence, Rhode Island, where the surviving US Naval vessels give an Admiral uncontested control over the formative government. - Russia, the most heavily battered nation during the nuclear dawn, limps from devastation under the authoritarian grip of a marine colonel who declares himself supreme dictator. The Russians grant satellite territory to the aggressive Chinese regime in exchange for military aid and a formal unification alliance to create one political entity.

2027 - Consortium diplomats ratify an uneasy peace accord with the Empire. As if to point out the worthlessness of the accord Imperial troops using Nanotech Singularity Gates infiltrate Consortium held territory searching for technological secrets. - The modern age begins. Raids by both sides are constant and carefully planned to avoid escalating the conflict. The Empire seems to have the upper hand and is willing to sacrifice huge numbers of troops on suicide raids. For the time being the Consortium maintains a narrow technological and equipment edge, but it is reliant largely on pre-Third stockpiles.