World War III (Left Behind)
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| World War III | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Clockwise from top left hand: Egyptian Rebellion Fighter-Bombers on a raid on New Babylon British Fighter-Bomber about to engage GC Fighters The Militia's Launch of a Nike Missile from their base, on its way to Washington D.C. and the fate of London. |
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| Combatants | |||||||
| American Militia Forces, Egypt, UK | The Global Community | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| President Fitzhugh | Nicolae Carpathia | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| Total dead: Almost all of the Rebels Civilian dead: One Third of the Earth's Population. |
Military dead: unknown assumed none or very little. Civilian dead: The same as the Rebels |
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World War III is the 2nd rider of the apocalypse and the cause of all the other riders (Death, Famine) in the Left Behind series.
When the U.N. became the Global Community in Tribulation Force, most of the Earth's citizens were happy to finally be on the road toward world peace. However, not everyone was satisfied with GC Potentate Nicolae Carpathia's military reforms, which called for all nations to destroy 90% of their arsenal and donate the rest to the GC. Some saw this as conspiracy and bands of dissatisfied American citizens (many of them assumed to be survivalists and disgruntled U.S. soldiers) horded as much weaponry as possible, and have them ready to strike Carpathia before it was too late.
This new militia was at first a problem to the US Government. However, President Gerald Fitzhugh soon realized Carpathia was a liar with his own agenda, particularly after global political manouevrings by the Potentate reduced his once-influential position to that of a mere advisor to the sub-potentate assigned to North and Central America (that is, on par with the Prime Minister of Canada and President of Mexico.) Fitzhugh secretly admits to journalist Buck Williams that he has aligned himself with the Militia and had already formed an alliance with the former Egypt and Great Britain.
Fitzhugh planned to have Egypt and Britain fly air strikes on New Babylon while The Militia attacked Nicolae, who was staying in Washington D.C. using an abandoned Nike Base in Chicago. This would have left the Global Community leaderless. This plan, however, would not come to frutition.
The militia began its attack on Washington, but Nicolae was not there, having already fled upon receiving advance intel. At the same time Egypt launched a ground attack and air strike along with Britain, but this was thwarted before any of them got to the GC capital, New Babylon. In retaliation (or so Carpathia said to his advisors aboard Global Community One,) the GC launched massive volleys against all major North American cities, including those in Canada as well as Mexico City, and London causing massive loss of life. The explosions also finished off Pastor Bruce Barnes, who was already hospitalized for poisoning.
Although he claimed to a global audience in later broadcasts that the strikes were merely retaliatory (and necessary) measures, the rest of the war was a massive slaughter by Carpathia's forces and the small remaining ground forces of the rebellion. The war would leave Carpathia unopposed militarily. It would also leave the Potentate with the task of replacing the sub-potentates of the three regions of the world where the rebellion was based. It is assumed that those three were assassinated.
