|
Historical close calls Before the collapse of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War, an apocalyptic war between the United States and USSR was considered likely. The Cuban missile crisis in 1962 is generally thought to be the historical point at which the risk of World War III was closest. Other potential starts have included the following (see External links below for further examples): In addition to the above there are two other points during the Cold War that could have resulted in world war. These, however, are not generally listed as they do not relate to the United States-Soviet Union rivalry, but rather the events following the Sino-Soviet Split of 1960. The ideological split between Maoist communists (represented primarily by China) and Stalinist communists (represented primarily by the Soviet Union) divided the entire communist movement worldwide — which controlled governments or significant rebel factions on most continents. Thus a war between China and the Soviet Union may well have resulted in world war, while not necessarily involving the U.S. and the capitalist west. The two points the communist powers almost entered into all-out war over were: Finally, since the end of the Cold War, there have been at least two points in the decades-long conflict between India and Pakistan over Kashmir which almost escalated into nuclear conflict. Preparations for war OPLAN (Operations Plan) 1000 was the standard U.S. military plan for the first hours or days of a national emergency such as World War III. Unclassified annexes included grounding all civil aircraft in the United States and controlling all navigation beacons. In the 1950s and 1960s, this included CONELRAD (Control of Electromagnetic Radiation), in which all radio stations broadcasting in the U.S. would operate on low power on two frequencies — to prevent Russian bombers from using them for navigation. Certain features of OPLAN 1000 were instituted during the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. The actual U.S. nuclear response was detailed in numerous Single Integrated Operational Plans from 1960 to the present day. Certain sources also state that the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System was specifically designed to contain several sections which were flat and straight, to be used as emergency runways for nuclear bombers. However, the United States Department of Transportation strongly denies that such a purpose exists in the Interstate highway system. Nonetheless, several other nations and/or regions, such as Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and Taiwan have done so. The original freeways (autobahn), as produced by Germany, were built this way for planned World War II military use. Use of the term
Cold War The term World War III had been used by Project for the New American Century (PNAC) to describe the Cold War of the twentieth century, while the War on Terrorism is referred to as World War IV. PNAC has numerous members who are senior officials in the George W. Bush administration in the USA as well as in other high positions of influence in the United States. James Woolsey, a founding member of PNAC, stated during his opening statements while speaking on April 2, 2003 on a panel discussion at UCLA entitled "America, Iraq and the War on Terrorism, UCLA": "A few words about this war we're in, which I don’t really call a war against terrorism. I have adopted a formulation of my friend Elliot Cohen who teaches at Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies calls it World War IV. World War III having been the Cold War. And I think that more accurately characterizes the degree of commitment that we are going to have to be engaged in, and the scope of what we are going to be engaged in now for some years. This Fourth World War I think will last considerably longer than either World Wars I or II did for us, hopefully not the full four-plus decades of the Cold War." Even earlier, historian Eric Hobsbawm wrote that the "Second World War had barely ended when humanity plunged into what can reasonably be regarded as a Third World War, though a very peculiar one." (The Age of Extremes: A History of the World) Korean War During the Korean War, Gallup polls in the United States showed that a majority of Americans believed that World War III had already begun. The Korean War shared an important feature of previous World Wars, namely the conflict between two coalitions of opposed nations. However, hostilities were restricted to a relatively small geographical area, and loss of life, while high, did not compare to the earlier World Wars. In retrospect, no significant group of historians currently considers the Korean War to have been a "World War" by itself. Operation Condor During Operation Condor, Assistant Secretary Harry Shlaudeman wrote a report to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger about South American militaries that was entitled "The 'Third World War' and South America." He was describing the nature of Operation Condor, which was apparently designed to destroy enemies of South American regimes, often labeled terrorists, which could be found all over the world. Gulf War During a press conference soon after the start of the 1991 Gulf War, King Hussein of Jordan directly referred to the conflict between the United States and its coalition of allies against Iraq as "the Third World War" but there was no indication of any other world leaders accepting the definition. Comedian Sam Kinison refers to the Gulf War as World War III on his album Live from Hell . Nagorno-Karabakh War During the Nagorno-Karabakh War between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Çiller announced that any Armenian advance on the main territory of Azerbaijan's Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic would result in a declaration of war against Armenia. Russian military leaders declared that a third party intervention by Turkey into the dispute "could trigger a Third World War." The Kashmir Conflict The May-July 1999 Kargil War between India and Pakistan came very close to going nuclear, as did the the crisis following 2001 Indian Parliament attack, in which military operations actually began and several hundred soldiers killed before a United States sponsored cease fire took place. War on Terrorism On July 16, 2006 Newt Gingrich announced on Meet the Press that "This is the 58th year of the effort by those who want to destroy Israel." * He then went on to characterize the War on Terrorism as the third of the world wars due to its global impact and the number of countries involved. See also | ||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||
 |
|
| |