World War III-1956
From Alternative History
World War-III: 1956
1916--Lester Pearson of Canada dies in a bus accident while in the Royal Flying Corps. He therefore never becomes Minister of External Affairs in the government of Liberal Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent in 1948.
1956-- He therefore never arranges for the eventual settlement of the "Suez Crisis". Eisenhower fails to push a cease-fire and the crises escalates into nuclear war between the US, Europe, and the Soviet Union.
October 29, 1956-- Israeli forces moved into the Sinai Peninsula, precipitated by the seizure of the Canal Zone by Egypt.
October 31, 1956-- A joint force from Britain and France entered the Canal Zone. However, President Dwight Eisenhower and the American government urged the three nations to withdraw their forces.
November 5, 1956-- The Soviet Union issued an ultimatum demanding the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Egypt. Eisenhower consults with advisors but no consensus on action is reached.
November 6, 1956-- The British fail to respond. French President De Gaulle says "France will not bend to Russian threats".
November 8, 1956-- Russian bombers out of Odessa, hit British, French and Israeli forces in the Canal Zone. They use conventional explosives, not nuclear weapons, at first.
November 9, 1956-- President Eisenhower puts US forces in Europe on high alert. British bombers out of Malta hit the Odessa airfields; they too use only conventional explosives.
November 10, 1956-- Soviet forces now fully amassed hit the West German border, move into the Fulda Gap. NATO forces declare war as West Berlin falls to the Russian Army. World War-III is fully engaged as Soviet nuclear bombers hit Paris, Munich, and Manchester, England. Bombers going to London are stopped by the RAF but the city is destroyed by fire, caused by Soviet conventional warhead rockets which rain down upon it.
November 11, 1956-- President Eisenhower orders America's nuclear forces into action utilizing preliminary plans laid out in the National Security Council's NSC 162/2 directive.
US B-47 and B-52 bombers are launched into their targets in the Soviet Union. Russian bombers launched simultaneously swarm over the Canadian frontier. 200 weapons are detonated in Russia; 23 reach their targets in the United States, specifically Washington DC, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Spokane, and eighteen military bases (most in the North, but including the Norfolk Shipyards in Virginia).
In Russia, over two dozen Soviet cities are blasted, and nearly as many major military sites (including the Baikonur ICBM/space satellite site). Top leaders like Georgi Malenkov and Nikolai Bulganin are killed at destroyed military sites in Western Russia; Nikita Khruschev survived.
(Ultimately some 70% of America's and 90% of Soviet strategic bombing force is destroyed in the initial days of the war. By 1960 and fuel and parts shortages, it was estimated that the Soviets had less than a dozen bombers, of the Tu-14, Tu-16, and Tu-20 varieties, that were flight-worthy and no intermediate or intercontinental missiles. At the same time, some forty American B-52s were still operational and were supplemented by 200 more by 1965.)
(After the later attacks on China, the US nuclear arsenal is limited to fourteen 'Mark-10' and 'Mark-11' strategic air-dropped weapons, a few nuclear artillery rounds, and around 10 'Mark-7' tactical weapons. The Soviet arsenal was nearly depleted with their later war with the Chinese in 1962. CIA estimates in the late 1990s claim that the Soviets had returned to their pre-War nuclear weapons levels by 1997, while America possessed over a thousand weapons by 1990.)
Meanwhile, Soviet troops are blasted by nuclear artillery and American air power in Europe and as they approach Bonn and Amsterdam, they find their supply routes cut and their tanks grind to a halt. Radiation clouds cover Western Europe and the death toll (civilian and military) tops 53 million by November 13th.
November-December 1956-- American, NATO, and Soviet forces continue to battle in Europe. Supplies and fuel dry up for both sides as their factories and supply centers are ravaged by radiation and refugees.
In Asia, the Chinese seeing their opportunity, launch invasions of South Korea (with North Korean help) and Japan. They are met with American bombers, and nuclear weapons are used against Peiking, Tsingtao, Dalien and Shanghai; and the invasion of Japan is stopped. North Vietnam, secures an alliance with China, and invades South Vietnam taking Saigon in January 1957.
1957-- Radiation deaths reach 200 million world-wide, after an initial death toll from nuclear explosions as well as conventional attacks of 39 million. American attacks on the Soviet Union lead to its collapse as most large urban centers (including Moscow) fall to the remaining American nuclear arsenal and high altitude bombers.
Only later recognized as such, the winter of 1957 is a "nuclear winter", with average temperatures 5 to 15 degrees F. lower than normal. American agriculture succeeds in maintaining an adequate supply to the US, Canada, and some parts of Europe, but starvation worldwide leaps as aid and food shipments stop. Starvation is eventually credited with another 150 million dead, mostly in the former Soviet Union, India, and China.
1958-- Eisenhower speaks to the nation for the last time on February 2nd, suffering a second, massive heart attack on February 6th and dies the same day. Richard Nixon is sworn in as the President and he nominates Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. as Vice-President.
The new American capitol has been re-established in Denver, Colorado with Congress seizing the Denver State House and Nixon's White House established at the Peterson AFB in Colorado Springs. Contact with Soviet Generals in Achinsk, Siberia lead to an armistice in March. The Soviets, fearing Chinese invasion, agree to it quickly.
1960-- As America and the world continue to try to recover, Nixon runs for President with new electoral college guidelines created by Congress in April 1959. His opponent California Governor Pat Brown runs on a "Marshall Plan for the United States", a massive reconstruction program including re-building Washington, DC to "its former glory". (Sen. John Kennedy was killed in the New York City Soviet bombing).
Nixon wins the disputed election (disputed due to poor communications and massive fraud).
1961-- President Nixon begins his "New America" Program, a less-ambitious attempt at re-building America, but without Brown's move to return to the urban areas laid waste by the war. Meanwhile, in the South, with much of the governmental power returned to the States (and little national media coverage, as CONELRAD still controls TV and radio), Southern governors clamp down on civil rights activists and Martin Luther King Jr. is thrown into the state prison in Alabama for "Communist fifth columnism" for 20 years.
1962-- China and the remaining Soviet Authority go to war in Manchuria and Siberia. Troop strengths are severely depleted and almost no air power exists, but the war rages for nearly a year with casualties mounting for both sides. By use of sheer numbers, the Chinese seize Vladivostok and Soviet forces retreat to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and a non-official cease-fire ensues.
In Europe, recovery continues, but slowly. Starvation lessens in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, with a trickle of American and Canadian aid. Eastern Europe is devastated, both by radiation and by lack of Soviet support and thousands of refugees attempt to flee into West Germany and Austria. Riots ensue and several hundred are killed by NATO forces.
1963-- An alliance of remaining Egyptian, Syrian, Jordanian and Lebanese forces invade Israel and take Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in a matter of weeks. Israeli leaders are executed and mass detention camps are set up in Gaza and the Golan Heights. Few reports leak out, but apparently thousands of civilians are killed. A puppet Palestinian government is set up, under the thumb of Syria.
1964-- Studies show America is at an approximately "1925" level of economy. Meanwhile, Nixon runs for re-election against Sen. Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota. Humphrey runs on a revised version of Pat Brown's "American Recovery Plan", plus charges of election fraud against the Republicans, who now control Congress. He soundly defeats Humphrey and charges of election fraud fade.
Overseas, Russia and Ukrainian forces clash and Andrei Gromyko, the newest Soviet Premier, signs a treaty with Ukrainian leaders and "The Ukraine" becomes independent. Quickly, Soviet Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan break away as well. In Europe, border guards in Germany, Austria, and Italy fire upon Eastern European refugees. Aid attempts in Poland and Hungary are helping but their governments teeter on collapse.
1965-1968-- Asia flu, coded "Hong Kong-4", breaks out in October 1966. Similar to the 1918-1919 "Spanish flu", with severely depleted health care, it sweeps the world and causes millions of deaths. By Spring 1967, death tolls push 40 million, mostly in Asia and Europe. By the end of 1967, the population of Europe has reached a level unseen since the 1600s. America weathers the flu, but still loses 850,000 people, mostly in the remaining urban areas.
Nixon meets with Gromyko and then later with Chou En Lai in late 1968. They sign non-aggression treaties, and Nixon secures Japan, but cedes Chinese-controlled Korea to the Chinese. The Soviets reeling from radiation sickness, starvation and "Hong Kong-4" are desperate for American aid and agree to formally disband the Warsaw Pact.
1968-- By this year, the world's population has plummeted to 1.1 billion. Europe has less than 35% electricity and 45% sewer and fresh water support. Vast areas of Marseilles burn in July 1968 when fires break out and no fire control is available. Birmingham, England, British capitol since "The War", has fewer people than Des Moines, Iowa.
Recovery continues for years. Democratic candidate George Wallace of Alabama wins the Presidency in 1968 over NY Governor Nelson Rockefeller. Wallace attempting to "soften his image" on civil rights, issues a pardon for Martin Luther King Jr. in the months leading upto the election.
1972-- Wallace loses to Ronald Reagan.
1976-- Reagan defeats US Senator Albert Gore, Sr. and wins re-election.
1980-- Reagan's Vice-President Howard Baker defeats Democratic challenger US Senator Robert Kennedy to win the Presidency.
1984-- Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter defeats President Baker.
1988-- President Carter wins a second term over Republican challenger former Connecticut Governor George Bush.
1992-- Vice President Mo Udall loses to Republican Governor Pete Wilson of Illinois.
1996-- President Wilson defeats Rep. Dick Gephardt.
2000-- Vice-President George Allen loses the Republican nomination to Senator Bob Dole. Dole then loses the election to Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts.
2004-- President Kerry narrowly wins re-election over Republican challenger Governor John McCain of Arizona.
2006-- Present Day
