History Literature / TheThirdWorldWar

* DiveUnderTheExplosion: In the alarmist reconstruction of what might have happened if World War Three had broken out in the 1980s, the war inevitably becomes a limited nuclear exchange. The Soviet Union, in a spirit of socialist brotherhood and sympathy for the low aesthetic standards enjoyed by the workers of Great Britain, performs a large-scale urban redevelopment of [[UsefulNotes/TheMidlands Birmingham]], England. The author notes that people pleasure-boating twenty miles away from Ground Zero had the presence of mind to abandon ship and dive overboard, to seek to escape the blast-wave and backdraft from the fireball washing over them. Dive under the explosion taken UpToEleven there.

In 1978, General Sir John Hackett (a retired, although he never liked the word, Australian-born British general who led a brigade at [[Film/ABridgeTooFar Arnhem]]) and a bunch of other high-ranking ex-military and diplomatic people, some contributing anonymously wrote a book on a possible WorldWarThree, ''The Third World War: [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp August 1985]]''.

* ReportingNames: The "Backfire" is solely referred to under that name, as the writers clearly didn't agree on whether the Soviet claimed designation of Tu-22M was the real one)

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* ApocalypticLog (the journals of three civil defense centers in the UK at the back of the first book, one of those centers happening to be in Birmingham and ending mid-word)
* AuthorTract (admitted as such)
* CoolBoat (''Kirov'' and the "''Kirov''-class cruiser in the Pacific", the name ''Frunze'' having not been known at this point, feature in the second book as the class had come to light in 1981. They are both sunk pretty quickly)
* DespairEventHorizon - the USSR collapses after Minsk is nuked.

* Tom Clancy's ''RedStormRising'' presents a similar scenario, though non-nuclear.

Written in the style of a history book written in 1987, it had the war start over the collapse of Yugoslavia, with Moscow starting to lose control over the WarsawPact. The USSR launch their main offensive against UsefulNotes/WestGermany. There is fighting the world over, including in space.

Written in the style of a history book written in 1987, it had the war start over the collapse of Yugoslavia, with Moscow starting to lose control over the WarsawPact. The USSR launch their main offensive against WestGermany. There is fighting the world over, including in space.

* SuperiorFirepower: Two Trident missiles are fired at Minsk)

* MnogoNukes: an SS-17 is used to nuke Birmingham.

* UltimateDefenceOfTheRealm: British Polaris missiles are two of the four fired at Minsk)
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Before this period, the {{NATO}} powers realise the Soviet threat, engage in a crash re-arming programme (including bringing back the draft in the US) and prepare their peoples to survive a conventional conflict as well as a nuclear one.

* AnimatedAdaptation: ''FutureWar198X'', an obscure anime movie loosely based on it.

* FictionalCounterpart (the British Prime Minister in the first book is called Mrs. Plumber. Mrs Thatcher was Leader of the Opposition in 1978, but looked likely to become PM)
* FictionalDocument (several of them, including a book on the Southern African war called ''The Veld Aflame'', which also happens to be a punny title)
* MnogoNukes (an SS-17 is used to nuke Birmingham)
* ReportingNames (The "Backfire" is solely referred to under that name, as the writers clearly didn't agree on whether the Soviet claimed designation of Tu-22M was the real one)
* RetCon (the second book makes a large number, including modifying the space battle when it was realised that the space laser of the period could not actually cause the damage stated in the first book- space mines are used instead to cripple the shuttle, the laser merely blinding the commander)
* StrawmanPolitical (Hackett and his team have a clear dislike of militant trade unionists, although they never state they are knowingly doing Moscow's bidding, just that they're considered "useful fools"- a line commonly attributed to Lenin)
* SuperiorFirepower (Two Trident missiles are fired at Minsk)
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture
* UltimateDefenceOfTheRealm (British Polaris missiles are two of the four fired at Minsk)

Part argument for increased defense spending (it makes no attempt to hide it and says so in the OOC acknowledgements), part imagining what it would be like if the ColdWar turned hot from people who had seen real war, it is a very interesting read, even if very dated.

* ''Team Yankee'' (a book by Harold Coyle, also made into a video game and board game)

* Tom Clancy's ''Red Storm Rising'' presents a similar scenario, though non-nuclear.

Part argument for increased defence spending (it makes no attempt to hide it and says so in the OOC acknowledgements), part imagining what it would be like if the ColdWar turned hot from people who had seen real war, it is a very interesting read, even if very dated.

* ApocalypticLog (the journals of three civil defence centres in the UK at the back of the first book, one of those centres happening to be in Birmingham and ending mid-word)

* MoralEventHorizon and ShootTheDog (the Soviets, getting thrown back in WestGermany, decide to try and scare {{NATO}} to the negotiating table by nuking Birmingham, close enough to a summit in London for the attack to be seen from there, stating that further strikes will follow unless they agree to talks. The {{NATO}} leaders decide the only way they're going to avoid a complete collapse of public morale is to nuke Minsk back).
** The Soviets [[VillainBall stop people]] [[VillainBall ''leaving'']] [[VillainBall Minsk]]. The British stop rescuers from entering the centre of the city- it can be inferred, though, that since there's unlikely to be any more survivors there, there was no point in rescue workers risking their lives when others needed help.

* ReverseFunnyAneurysm- a couple actually:
** In the first book, Jimmy Carter serves two full terms. The second implies RonaldReagan stood down after one term.
** It's stated in the first book that ChannelFour is not created because of the increase in defence spending. By the second book, it was being created. [[DontExplainTheJoke Considering what's on C4 at the moment, this line gets funnier all the time]].

* Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising presents a similar scenario, though non-nuclear.

In 1978, General Sir John Hackett (a retired, although he never liked the word, Australian-born British general who led a brigade at [[ABridgeTooFar Arnhem]]) and a bunch of other high-ranking ex-military and diplomatic people, some contributing anonymously wrote a book on a possible WorldWarThree, ''The Third World War: [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp August 1985]]''.

<<|{{Literature}}|>>

* MoraleEventHorizon - the USSR collapses after Minsk is nuked.

** The Soviets stop people ''leaving'' Minsk. The British stop rescuers from entering the centre of the city- it can be inferred, though, that since there's unlikely to be any more survivors there, there was no point in rescue workers risking their lives when others needed help.