Scenarios ranged from conventional warfare to limited or total nuclear warfare. During the Cold War years, the possibility of a third world war was anticipated and planned for by military and civil authorities in many countries. With the advent of the Cold War in 1945 and with the spread of nuclear weapons technology to the Soviet Union, the possibility of a third global conflict became more plausible. The outbreak of World War II disproved the hope that humanity might have "outgrown" the need for widespread global wars. During the interwar period, World War I was typically referred to simply as "The Great War". It was popularly believed that never again could there possibly be a global conflict of such magnitude. Large-scale apocalyptic events like these, caused by advanced technology used for destruction, could render Earth's surface uninhabitable.īefore the beginning of World War II in 1939, World War I (1914–1918) was believed to have been " the war to end wars". It could happen intentionally or inadvertently, by an accidental release of a biological agent, the unexpected mutation of an agent, or its adaptation to other species after use. Another primary concern is that biological warfare could cause many casualties. ĭue to the development of nuclear weapons in the Manhattan Project, which were used in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki near the end of World War II, and their subsequent acquisition and deployment by many countries afterwards, the potential risk of a nuclear apocalypse causing widespread destruction of Earth's civilization and life is a common theme in speculations about a third world war.
In contrast, others assume that such a conflict would surpass prior world wars in both scope and destructive impact.
Some apply it loosely to limited or more minor conflicts such as the Cold War or the war on terror. The term has been in use since at least as early as 1941. World War III or the Third World War, often abbreviated as WWIII or WW3, are names given to a hypothetical third worldwide large-scale military conflict subsequent to World War I and World War II. Such a conflict has been hypothesized to result in human extinction. Nuclear warfare is a common theme of World War III scenarios.
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