World War III, also known as the Third World War, was an international conflict that lasted from 2048 to 2055. Although classified as a "world war", it only resulted in the deaths of a combined 70,000+ military personnel, as well as the deaths of 1,000-12,000 civilian personnel. It was the deadliest war since World War II.
Although the start of the war is heavily debated in scholarly circles, as some consider the start of the Second Sino-Indian War in 2047 as the start, the Lamaruyu Incident in 2048, resulting in the deaths of Chinese troops in the then UN Administered Jammu and Kashmir Crisis, is generally regarded as the start of the war, when the Chinese government formally declared war on India.
Background[]
After the near collapse of the Chinese financial system, the government was no longer able to financially support itself and stay as a superpower. Therefore, many groups attempted to take advantage of the nation, including European and Japanese investors who pulled the economically rich coastal regions even further away from the rest of the nation.
Many nations cut China's access to ports and bases that were bought during China's heyday and the One Belt, One Road Initiative. India took advantage of China by breaking the Simla Agreement of 1972. Pakistan distanced itself from China, however, after the Pakistani Civil War of 2036 and the subsequent Indian invasion, Pakistan broke up into many regional states.
Turkey and India, in the Malatya Agreement of 2033, had a mutual defense pact following the exit of Turkey from NATO. This pact effectively gave Turkey and India control of all of the Arabian Sea, and control over former Saudi Arabia. Despite multiple UN resolutions and unrest in both Turkey and India, puppet governments loyal to Turkey were installed in multiple Arabian states. Following India's rapid development and a growth of unprecedented prosperity in the 2020s, WIP