World War IV (NW)

World War IV, or the Fourth World War (also sometimes referred to as Khamenei's War), was a global military conflict lasting from 2037 to 2064, meaning it lasted 27 years. It has the highest death toll of any conflict or event in human history, with estmiates ranging from 1 billion to 2 billion -- either way, a sizable amount of the world's population was killed in the conflict. Nations threw their entire economic and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, as well as sending enormous amounts of troops to their deaths in charges and attacks. It was the first truly nuclear war, in which both sides repeatedly used deadly nuclear weapons against enemy countries, leading to unnatural weather patterns and volcanic eruptions.

It was fought between the Russian, Chinese, and Arabian hordes of Ali Khamenei's Great Iranian Caliphate, and the rest of the world, meaning that this is the first time the term "world war" was applied literally. Ali Khamenei, who murdered his father for control of Iran just after the end of World War III, oversaw the largest contingous empire in world history, and put its forces to work against the Holy French Empire, the northern European nations, and North America. He had previously used his "golden tongue" as people now refer to it as, to persuade the Russian government to join his camp, effectively annexing the entire Russian empire without even allowing it to take notice. He then had done the same thing with China and the other communist southeast Asian countries after staging a coup and ousting the communist goverment and implanting democracy, giving the illusion of choice. He had invaded and conquered the majority of the northern half of Africa as well. In further addition to this, he had annexed the entirety of the Arab world when the Great Caliphate merged with his empire, followed by Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. Finally, he had also persuaded the Indians into his camp as well. All of this culminated in 2036 when he did in reality annex Asia in its entirety.