Turtledove
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World War III or the Third World War typically refers to a hypothetical worldwide conflict taking place at some point after the end of World War II. In fiction, the most common version of such a war is a nuclear conflict between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during the Cold War period.

Within the works of Harry Turtledove, there are several examples of such a war. The Hot War is predicated around the outbreak of such a war in January 1951. The actual war may be found at World War III (The Hot War).

In addition, The Valley-Westside War has an apocalyptic Russian-American War with nuclear weapons in 1967 as the relevant Point of Divergence. Moreover, several short works are implicitly set after a nuclear war between the USA and the USSR. In one alternate referenced in Gunpowder Empire (but not visited by the Crosstime Traffic Series POV characters), nuclear weapons were never invented, and the USA and USSR are fighting World War VI in the 2090s.

Atypically, the back-story of In the Presence of Mine Enemies involves a global nuclear war which pitted the United States not against the USSR, but against longer-lived versions of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. This war may be found at Third World War (In the Presence of Mine Enemies).

Even more atypical than Presence, Curious Notions had Imperial Germany winning broad analogs of World War I in the 1910s and a second European war in the 1930s. This was followed by complete victory over the United States in a war in 1956, which might be considered a WWIII analog. Due to the unusual (for Turtledove) format of the Crosstime Traffic Series, where most POV characters are conscious of existing in an alternate history, we never learn the in-universe names of these wars.

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