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World War III comic

Washington, D.C. as it is devastated during the attacks in World War III

World War III is a devastating event in the Left Behind universe, believed to be the future expression of several apocalyptic Biblical passages. In the novels, it began 18 months after the start of the Tribulation with the second Seal Judgment. It was precipitated by former United States President Gerald Fitzhugh allying himself with various militia factions rebelling against the order of the Global Community head of state Nicolae Carpathia, which resulted in the destruction of major cities such as Washington, D.C. and New York City. While the initial attacks were largely ineffective, the disproportionate retaliation by the Global Community's armed forces was orchestrated by Carpathia with the aid of Rayford Steele from the airborne Condor 216. Following the initial militia efforts, much of the war was not so much an armed conflict as Nicolae's gleeful destruction of perceived enemies. Several other American cities were bombed by the GC, more likely for the GC leader's personal pleasure than for disposing of an actual threat.

After the war, all of America's citizens, as well as the citizens of the United Great Britain States, Wales, Scotland, and Egypt were taxed by the GC even more than those living in the other regions of the world. By order of Nicolae Carpathia, the GC appropriated the Alaskan oil fields. It is uncertain if all of Alaska was partitioned to the United Carpathian States or not. It is very likely the GC had seized the entire Strategic Petroleum Reserve in order to make the former United States more dependent on the New World Order.

Nuclear Warfare

A 100 megaton nuclear device was dropped on Heathrow Airport by the Global Community, after it was discovered that military aircraft were rallying on a closed military airstrip near Heathrow. It was said that the aircraft launched from this airstrip were nuclear armed and en route to New Babylon and Baghdad. The radiation from the detonation of the 100 megaton weapon threatened the populace for miles. In Left Behind: The Kids book Bounty Hunters, Co-Op pilot Jerry Kingston said he had flown a mission for the Global Community to drop a "little nuclear warhead" on London. It is unknown if that was the 100 megaton device dropped on Heathrow.

Using a 100 megaton nuclear weapon, however, is not a practical means of fighting a nuclear war, even when targeting a large area such as an airport. Such a weapon would have taken too much space and weight on any delivery vehicle. It would be more effective to use more smaller warheads with yields in the hundreds of kilotons but with accurate guidance with a circular error probable in hundreds of meters. The warheads can be loaded on the "bus" of a ballistic missile and be released independently of each other, so each warhead is now a multiple independent targetable re-entry vehicle (MIRV) that can individually be directed at a different target. They are effective enough to incapacitate hardened targets such as missile silos. Such warheads were available and deployed in nuclear arsenals during the writing of Tribulation Force (although it may be hard to access general information about them then). Dropping a few 300 kiloton warheads (such as the W87) on the runways and terminals would be enough to disable the airport.

Known Casualties

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