World War III (Star Trek)

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In the fictional Star Trek universe, World War III is a nuclear war that devastated much of Earth which took place during the mid-21st century. The war started in 2026 (revealed on a computer readout screen in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "In a Mirror, Darkly") and ended in 2053 (mentioned by Data in Star Trek: First Contact).

Some 600 million people died during this war. In the post-atomic horror afterwards, much of Earth reverted to a barbaric state, and legal systems were adopted that ended many individual rights including the right to legal counsel. An attempt was made to execute all lawyers during the post-atomic horror, which was at the very least largely successful. The New United Nations was disbanded in the year 2079 after failing to bring about global peace (mentioned by Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Encounter at Farpoint).

The Eugenics Wars, described in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Space Seed" as taking place in the 1990s, was referred to as the "last so called world war". However Star Trek: The Next Generation established that World War III was a separate, 21st century conflict. It was also strongly suggested in Star Trek: Voyager that the Eugenics Wars were not a global conflict since an episode of that series featured a visit to Los Angeles in 1996, seemingly untouched by the war.

One philosopher of the time was Liam Dieghan, founder of the Neo-Transcendentalist movement. Dieghan advocated a return to a simpler life, one more in harmony with nature. ("Up the Long Ladder" Star Trek: The Next Generation)

One of the key players in the Third World War was Colonel Green who led a violent faction of ecoterrorists during the war. Their actions resulted in the deaths of over 37 million people (a figure quoted by Mr. Spock in the original series). Also, after the war's end, Green personally ordered the deaths of thousands of victims of radiation poisoning in an attempt to keep the human genome 'pure' and free of mutation. ("Demons", "Terra Prime")

Another major faction in the conflict was the Eastern Coalition (ECON). The ECON's true nature has never been revealed, although they are apparently one of the main factions in the conflict (when the Borg attack Earth of 2063, Lily Sloane assumes that it is the ECON).

Following the war, with almost no major governments remaining (the United States of America was one of the few remaining nations), Earth was left to slowly recover from the nuclear carnage of World War III. Scientific advancement continued, however; in 2063 the development of the first warp engine was followed by first contact with Vulcans, ending the chapter of the post-World War III dystopia and beginning one of prosperity and hope. The United Earth Space Probe Agency was formed^{[citation needed]}, launching first the unmanned probe Friendship One and, following that, the manned spacecraft S.S. Valiant.

The exact ending of the post-atomic horror is uncertain. Star Trek: First Contact, which takes place in 2063, implies that it was already over (2053). However in the TNG premiere episode, Encounter at Farpoint Q mentioned that the trial he was holding for the Enterprise command crew was based on a court of the year 2079. This would indicate that the post-atomic horror did not end until at least 2079. But Deanna Troi mentioned to Cochrane that fifty years after first contact in 2063, war, poverty, and disease had been eliminated from the Earth. Within 100 years of Zefram Cochrane making his first warp flight, humanity had solved most of the problems that had plagued them for centuries, and worked to become a full member of the interstellar community.

Spock in the TOS episode Bread and Circuses said that 37 million people had died in World War III, but Star Trek: First Contact gives the death toll at 600 million, although the Federation's records of this period have been described as "fragmentary." (Star Trek Encyclopedia CDROM) We now know that the 37 million of which Spock spoke were directly attributed to Colonel Green himself, rather than the war as a whole.

The ending of the war has never been laid out in detail, however Lily Sloane mentions that a cease-fire had been declared (Star Trek: First Contact).