| World War III | |
|---|---|
Cover art |
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| Directed by | Robert Stone |
| Produced by | Ulrich Lenze |
| Written by | Ingo Helm Robert Stone |
| Starring | Boris Leskin, Klaus Schleif, Christopher Wynkoop |
| Music by | John Kusiak Caleb Sampson |
| Cinematography | Matthias Haedecke |
| Distributed by | ZDF |
| Release date(s) | 1998 |
| Running time | 94 min. |
| Country | Germany |
| Language | German, English, Russian, French |
World War III (Der Dritte Weltkrieg) is a 1998 German television ZDF's mockumentary, directed by Robert Stone. It depicts what might have transpired had Soviet troops opened fire on demonstrators in Berlin in the fall of 1989 and precipitated World War III. The film mixes real footage of world leaders with mock interviews of citizens, soldiers and political aides.
Contents |
The movie opens with clips of the US military scrambling to respond to a Soviet nuclear attack. Daniel Schorr, reporting in front of the White House, is vaporized when a nuclear weapon detonates.
In the summer of 1989, East Germany is in turmoil. Many citizens are dissatisfied with their nation’s communist leadership and demand pro-Western reforms. They also seek unification with West Germany. On October 7, Mikhail Gorbachev, a supporter of those reforms, visits East Berlin. During his return flight, the hard-line communist leadership stages a coup that deposes Gorbachev and installs General Vladimir Soshkin as the new Soviet leader.
Soshkin and the hard-liners fiercely resist the rise of glasnost and perestroika and are determined to end the uprisings in East Germany with a swift "Chinese-style" military crackdown in late October. The crackdown inflames popular opposition to communism. In late November, a demonstration the Brandenburg Gate ends with East German soldiers killing many East Berlin residents trying to scale the Berlin Wall. Those soldiers also fire shots over the wall into West Berlin.
In mid-December, the Western Allies airlift military reinforcements to West Berlin. When an American colonel orders that tactical nuclear weapons in West Germany be placed on high alert, Soshkin responds with new threats, a massive deployment of the Soviet submarine fleet, and incursions of Soviet Bear bombers into Alaskan airspace.
On January 25, 1990, Soshkin implements Operation Thunderbolt. The plan calls for Eastern troops to cut off transportation and supply links between West Germany and West Berlin. Soshkin hopes the plan will prevent the West from entering into the Eastern sphere of influence. NATO forces start a full-scale deployment into West Germany. As the United States sends their first military convoy across the North Atlantic, the Soviets announce their intention to blockade the US Navy transports. On February 18, the United States violates the blockade and clears the sea lanes during the first battle of World War Three.
The United States dispatches Martin Jacobs to the Soviet Union for talks with Soshkin. Figuring that Soshkin knows that the Soviets were losing power in Eastern Europe, Jacobs offers Soshkin an extended timetable for the Soviet withdraw from Eastern Europe in exchange for a de-escalation of the military buildup. Soshkin refuses him utterly.
| World War Three (fictional) | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| NATO including United States United Kingdom West Germany Poland resistance movement |
Warsaw Pact including Soviet Union East Germany |
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On March 12, Soshkin orders a full-scale amphibious landing near Kiel, Germany on the Baltic coast. The landings catch NATO off-guard, and they scramble forces northward to push back the beachhead. The next day, Warsaw Pact ground forces drive through the Fulda Gap, with orders to push to the Rhine to divide the stretched out NATO force. Meanwhile, the Soviet air force bombards Ramstein Air Base and other NATO bases in Germany. The goal is to cripple the NATO buildup with a swift strike and then press for a new round of diplomatic bargaining from a stronger strategic position. NATO forces, faced with superior numbers and surprise, are pushed back. By March 17, Eastern forces have advanced 50 miles into West Germany
As NATO prepares to launch a tactical nuclear counter-assault, a last ditch conventional air battle cripples Warsaw Pact command and control posts and takes control of East European airspace. Combined with assistance from the Polish underground that cuts off Soviet supply lines, the tide of the war turns. The East German and Soviet armies melt under NATO airfire, and Western forces enter East Germany on March 23.
NATO forces reach and liberate West Berlin on March 27. As the Soviets withdraw to Poland, Germans begin to hope that reunification is at hand. The US leadership tries to reassure Soshkin that NATO had no intention to press their advance beyond East Germany. However, unrest erupts across the Eastern Bloc as citizens of communist nations press for the overthrow of their leaders. Soshkin fears that NATO will exploit the situation to fight all the way to Moscow or to launch a nuclear first strike against him.
As a show of force, on March 31 Soshkin orders a symbolic nuclear strike above the North Sea. The United States responds by going to full nuclear alert and preparing to execute the Single Integrated Operational Plan. On April 1, a Soviet radar post suffers an equipment malfunction. Falsely believing that the USSR is under nuclear attack, Soshkin orders an all-out nuclear strike against the West. NATO responds in kind. Thousands of nuclear devices detonate across the Northern Hemisphere. There is no further historical record of what happens next.
The movie rewinds to Gorbachev’s visit to East Germany. We then see the real celebrations of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the peaceful reunification of Germany.
| Actor | Character | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Boris Sichkin | General Vladimir Soshkin | General Secretary of the Soviet Union |
| Boris Leskin | Yuri Rabanov | Soviet Foreign Minister |
| Christopher Wynkoop | Martin Jacobs | US National Security Advisor |
| Sigrid Braun-Umbach | Franziska Bruckner | West Berlin doctor |
| Gunter Walch | Gen. Karl Frohm | West German Army |
| Klaus Schleif | Col. Wolfgang Heckler | East German Army |
| Oliver Hohlfeld | Markus Lehmann | East German citizen |
| Daniel Schorr | himself | Reporter in Washington, DC |
| Person | Title |
|---|---|
| Mikhail Gorbachev | General Secretary of the Soviet Union |
| Erich Honecker | General Secretary of the German Democratic Republic |
| George H. W. Bush | President of the United States |
| James Baker | United States Secretary of State |
| Bob Dole | United States Senator from Kansas |
| Phil Gramm | United States Senator from Texas |
| Helmut Kohl | Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany |
| Francois Mitterrand | President of France |
| Margaret Thatcher | Prime Minister of the United Kingdom |