Soviet-American War

The Soviet-American War was a large conflict that took place from 1973 to 1979, considered to be the Last Enlightenment War. The war took place largely in North America and Asia, though some fighting spread into the North Atlantic and the Southern Pacific. The conflict saw the end of both the Soviet Union and the United States, and because of its significant political and economic impact, it is sometimes called World War III.

The Soviet-American War began in 1973, after the Williamson Affair in Moscow led to the Soviet Union's declaration of war against the United States. While large amounts of nuclear warheads were armed and aimed on both sides, neither side fired their arsenals. Instead, the Soviet Union led a "preemptive" invasion of the Western United States and Alaska in early 1974. The invasion led to massive destruction across the West Coast, and as a result, the enraged mainstream American society blamed the war not on the Soviets but on their government's interference in Soviet society. Due to popular support for peace in Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was quickly disbanded as many members left the organization, and the Soviet's lack of military presence in Eastern Europe led to the toppling of many Soviet-backed communist regimes. Germany was reunited in 1975, and the economies of Western Europe quickly began to fill the void left by the United States. By the middle of 1975, the American military was able to route the Soviet invasion, at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives and billions of dollars worth of damage. A counter-invasion was launched by the United States in early 1976, targeting not only the Soviet Union, but China, Korea, and Vietnam at the same time. The massive invasion led to the devastation of the Chinese eastern coast, much of Korea, and a large portion of northern Vietnam.

In 1976, both the Soviet Union and the United States were overstretched in attempting to meet military goals across the world. The massive mobilization of the Soviet Union left it in a civil state of chaos as rioting against the war and rioting against the Soviet government took place across its territories. Similarly, rioting in the United States, especially in the West, left its government ineffective as a large portion of the population had been conscripted into the armed forces. By 1977, the economies of both nations began to stagger as states in Europe and Asia began to pull away from the two with the goal to remain entirely neutral. In June of 1977, a rebel movement known as the California Insurrection called for that region's independence, and its success in achieving political distance from the federal government in Washington sparked several more rebel movements across the United States. By the end of 1978, most of the United States had fallen into political chaos, and the forces in Asia began to desert and return to the United States on their own accord. Despite their significant upper hand, the Soviet Union also fell into political chaos in 1979, as riots consumed entire cities and rendered the government ineffective. No official peace was ever signed between the two nations, as their governments essentially disintegrated with the conflict. The Treaty of Vancouver is typically viewed as the war's "official" end, though the Soviet Union was not represented at the signing of the Treaty and it only dealt with the geopolitical division of several of the United States' former outlying territories.

The war is significant in that it led to the rise of socialist beliefs across the world in several different forms and it also facilitated the growth of several smaller political spheres of unity. The United Nations gained significant political prominence in international affairs, and its acquisition of a permanent peacekeeping force gave it more leverage in resolving international conflicts. Overall, the war ultimately changed the political status of Earth, and is seen to have brought an era of extended peace.