A brief timeline

[QwertyAAA]

A brief history of the things to come, expressed in a simple timeline.

 

I’m not an economist or a maker of finance prognoses so SOD OFF. I’m just writing a goddamned story for the sake of it. Also, I don’t have any f*cking idea about how nukes work exactly. Live with it! Just read the story!

 

2009: The year is exactly the same, up to the day of the publication of this document.

 

2015: The economy of the U.S. is still in a depression due to the 2008 market fall. The unemployment rate is about 8%, and inflation is not strongly felt, inside or outside of the States.

 

2016: NASA starts creating a spacecraft for an eventual piloted mission to Mars, scheduled for 2030.

 

2020: The half of Cuba from Ciego de Avila to Guantanamo is purchased by Australia from the current President of Cuba, two years after Raul Castro suffers a cardiac arrest.

 

2021: The U.S. unemployment rate is about 10%.

 

2022: A civil war starts in Bolivia, over the decision of the president to change the constitution to allow him to run for another term and the assassination of another, popular candidate. The beginning of the civil war is marked by large-scale desertions, and the twenty Canadair T-33s of the Air Force are destroyed in small-scale riots directed at the nine air bases of the country.

 

2035: The world’s supply of oil starts running dangerously low – nearly all of the reserves in Saudi Arabia are depleted. The price of petroleum reaches 160$ per barrel as the nations of Iraq and Syria wage a war over the remaining oil, and Kuwait is in turmoil and is annexed by Iraq.

 

2039: Mr. Terry Pratchett peacefully passes away at the age of 91. Mass depression ensues.

 

2040: The conflict between Iraq and Syria becomes even more heated as the United States starts supporting Syria by giving the military of the country tactical nuclear weapons in the attempt to balance the prices.

 

2041: The Bolivian Civil War continues, with the death toll in the hundreds of thousands, without any resolution.

 

2042: An experimental nuclear weapon is being developed by Russia: A 120-megaton bomb created just to show the country’s military capabilities in case of a war.

 

2044: While the Russian bomb is being transported to the place of detonation, an unknown 100-strong group of hired soldiers attacks the convoy with tactical nuclear weapons and firebombs. Everybody in the convoy is killed, except for one survivor who reports to his commanding officers that the soldiers (Carrying M16s and no identification) loaded the bomb into a Chinook helicopter and escaped the scene.

 

2045: The United States is blamed for the theft of the bomb. A few days of confusing fighting ensue, with Los Angeles, New York, Washington D.C., and various military bases in Texas attacked by Russia; and with Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Tatischevo bombed by the United States. Relative peace returns in about a month. Approximate casualties on both sides: 200000.

 

2047: The United States depression is steadily getting worse, with the inflation rendering nearly all of the currency in coins useless. Likewise, the rest of the world economy is declining.

 

2048: The Iraqi-Syrian war stops as the oil wells in the two territories run completely dry. The countries go bankrupt due to the war debts and become worthless.

 

2049: Terrorist acts in Bolivia.

 

2050: Scotland secedes from the United Kingdom. After two months of fighting, the secession becomes official.

 

2052: Nothing happens. The U.S. unemployment rate is 12%.

 

2054: In the worst environmental and the most deadly disaster since Chernobyl and Hiroshima respectively, a madman in Bolivia carries out a terrorist act. At about 5 PM of the day, the suicidal terrorist drives a semi truck with the stolen Russian bomb and some tonnes of TNT inside it up to the Government Palace in La Paz and detonates it. The resulting fireball devastates the city and kills roughly 500000 of its residents, with just 100000 of them dying due to radiation sickness in the consequent years. The fallout is felt all over the world. The whole country of Brazil suffers from the radioactivity. Russia is blamed for the lenience in guarding the most powerful explosive known to humankind.

 

2055: Nothing much happens. However, a marine biologist discovers 160 new species of saltwater fish and mollusks right outside of San Francisco Bay. Most violently explode when subjected to fresh water or air. Also, mass panics are common for a few days.

 

2060: First contact with extraterrestrial life. The life in question looks like black slugs the size of a human arm and is found on Mars. Sigh. Disappointing, isn’t it?

 

2061: The United States goes out of the recession for a period of time and starts stockpiling weapons and researching methods to devise new, deadlier ones.

 

2062-2078: Nothing much happens. The U.S. bombs Russia. Russia bombs the U.S. The U.S. bombs China. India bombs the U.S. However, not much actual tactical warfare goes on. Electric cars become commonplace.

 

2079: Inspired by the events a generation ago, the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Alaska, Oregon, and Nevada secede as the Commonwealth of California. A civil war starts. The economy of the country, just recently stable, is in ruins again.

 

2080: The president of Germany is assassinated while visiting East Cuba. To retaliate, Germany starts a war against Australia. Australia starts drafting soldiers.

 

2081: Australia bombs Berlin with its entire fighter fleet, numbering 200 planes and helicopters. A large part of the population dies in a napalm raid, with at least a half of the city set ablaze.

 

2082: One of the last large oil reserve of the planet is found off the British shores. Britain and France are the first two nations to tap the reserve. A trade agreement that allows the two countries to place their navy’s ships near the reserve to protect the countries’ oil interests is signed.

 

2083: Due to the ever-increasing price of oil, Canada becomes even richer. However, on a holiday, during a presentation of flight maneuvers supposed to show off the versatility of the Canadian Air Force, an unknown terrorist drops an EMP. Due to the maneuvers being held near a city, five hundred people die.

 

2084: Canberra is napalm-bombed. A half of the population dies.

 

2085: The U.S. civil war ends with the death toll of five million and the states seceded and recognized by other nations. The war debt wrecks the economy, again.

 

2088: The German-Australian war ends with Australia nuking Germany, especially Berlin, with twenty ten-megaton nuclear bombs, which had been created in the past fifty years. Most of the inhabitants die of radiation sickness or just exposure to the explosions. Refugees flee to other countries, and the German Territories, now practically uninhabited, are claimed by France and Sweden.

 

2090: Russia annexes Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, and Lithuania. Spain annexes Portugal.

 

2091: A reserve, possibly the largest one ever, is found some miles off the shore of China. The reserve was previously thought unattainable due to it being located under thousands of feet of water and seafloor. As the Chinese oil industry grows, the country starts to literally control the world’s economy.

 

2092: Crime grows in China, the U.S., Australia, and Russia.

 

2093: The Third Great Stock Market Crash occurs, which is basically a re-enactment of the First Stock Market Crash, however, one of the causes is the speculation by the citizens of the Commonwealth of California. The public debt of the United States reaches 15 trillion dollars. Mexico, Canada, and the Commonwealth close down their borders to stop the desperate refugees from fleeing across them.

 

2094: The long-neglected NASA receives money from a private donation, enabling it to design a piloted spacecraft that could reach Mercury safely.

 

2096: Contact is made with seemingly non-sentient alien species resembling worms that burrow gigantic holes in the surface of planets, in this case, Mercury. However, the spacecraft is destroyed before more can be found out.

 

2100: The U.S. dollar is now worth practically nothing, the unemployment rate in the States is 30%, and China starts a war against it. Russia, on the other hand, starts a war against both China and the States.

 

2105: Limited nuclear exchange between China, the U.S., and Russia.

 

2106: China is bombed into oblivion by Japan and Russia. The U.S. is still in a depression.

 

2107: The Chinese oil assets are claimed by Japan and Russia.

 

2108: Scott Adams dies at the age of 151 when his pet beetle Skippy eats him.

 

2109: The United States starts selling parts of its land to corporations and individuals.

 

[Ronmar The Only]

Hmmm, is this for some story?

[Oxidizer]

I feel like a jackass for not having any quality feedback for you, but I think this timeline thing was done before and it didn't go down too well.

 

I think what was said about it is that right now what you have is just a summary of events, it's not really telling a story, so unless you're going to turn either of those dates into actual written pieces... I'm not sure if this'll work.

[TonyZimmzy]

That was an interesting read. Sounds like the U.K. did okay after all of that. Guess I'm pretty safe.

[mark-2007]

Very little of this stuff makes sense.

 

Bolivia: Why so much focus on it? There's civil war in Colombia and has been for years, and there's unrest in plenty of other countries.

 

Also, a lot of the UK's oil reserves are in what would be Scottish territory if it were to separate.

 

I'm not sure why half of Cuba would be sold to the Aussies, and thus I don't quite get the Australia-Germany thing either. Australia's a fairly small world-player, and has a population far less than Germany's so I don't see how they'd win, let alone wage a long-lasting war, given the distance between the countries.

 

I wouldn't mind if this was a fairly well-researched, thought-out timeline. I wouldn't mind if it was a humourous one either. Try putting in a few bits of reasoning behind things. Plan the build-up to events, the climax of events, and the aftermath. Events such as the Russian bomb one in 2042-2045: you give a brief build-up, a fairly detailed climax, but little aftermath. The bomb attacks in 2062-78 has a tiny amount of detail on the climax, but absolute zero information on the build-up or aftermath.

[QwertyAAA]

Actually, the '62-'78 attacks aren't a part of any war, and are mostly carried out by individuals or something. Or something.

Why Bolivia? Because Colombia is tiring, and I doubt that anybody would try to just nuke the place.

Why would Australia win? Elementary, Watson. Nukes and lots of them.

 

TonyZimmy, uh... OK, the guys who were in the spaceship going to Mercury were English. Are you happy? They got killed by a Dhole.

 

 

[mark-2007]

Australia doesn't have any nuclear weapons at the mo'. It has the capabilities, I'm guessing, but why would it begin to develop weapons (and lots of them) in time for the war with Germany, since that was an out-of-the-blue occurence. Also, why would Germany retaliate by waging war against Australia just because their President was assassinated there? Even more so, if Australia was a nuclear-armed country?

 

As for Colombia; the same applies for Bolivia - no-one would want to nuke the place. Even with the civil war, surely; since both sides want the country to themselves and they wouldn't want a radiation-polluted country. Terrorist groups would most likely aim for a more-important country if they were looking to make a statement.

Edited January 3, 2009 by mark-2007

[Lochie_old]

I swear to God UV did something similar to this a few months back. I'll just wait for him to rear his head around here,

[mark-2007]

Yeah, I was gonna say that, although it was quite a while ago now.

[QwertyAAA]

Australia doesn't have any nuclear weapons at the mo'. It has the capabilities, I'm guessing, but why would it begin to develop weapons (and lots of them) in time for the war with Germany, since that was an out-of-the-blue occurence. Also, why would Germany retaliate by waging war against Australia just because their President was assassinated there? Even more so, if Australia was a nuclear-armed country?

 

As for Colombia; the same applies for Bolivia - no-one would want to nuke the place. Even with the civil war, surely; since both sides want the country to themselves and they wouldn't want a radiation-polluted country. Terrorist groups would most likely aim for a more-important country if they were looking to make a statement.

1. If it has the capabilities, then in this story's universe it has them.

2. I think... That's how WWI got started? Well, not just because of the assassination, but there were underlying causes. Just like here. I mean, of course there were other causes. Catalyst. Yeah.

3. They didn't know it.

 

4. An insane guy would, with an aim to remove one of the sides without any other one.

 

I really wouldn't know if someone did something like this, sorry.

[Carbine23]

I don't get why Australia and Germany would start a war with each other. And i remember the Unvirginiser doing something similar to this, using a timeline to tell of the future of the world.

 

But i always like how people interpret the future of the world, and this was interesting in its own way, so good job.

[TonyZimmzy]

TonyZimmy, uh... OK, the guys who were in the spaceship going to Mercury were English. Are you happy? They got killed by a Dhole.

Murderer. You killed me, and my family. This isn't over.

[Jordy.]

A history for things to come.

 

Did you mean to say that?

[The Unvirginiser]

This reminds me that I started writing Version two a while back, need to finish that. An interesting read, I'm not fussed because my ideas are barely ever original and I stole this idea from my brother. Just take the relevant feedback on board and make sure you improve next time.

[QwertyAAA]

A history for things to come.

 

Did you mean to say that?

Hm, actually, as evidenced by a google search, 'of things to come' is more common.

 

Thank you for the feedback.

[mark-2007]

1. If it has the capabilities, then in this story's universe it has them.

2. I think... That's how WWI got started? Well, not just because of the assassination, but there were underlying causes. Just like here. I mean, of course there were other causes. Catalyst. Yeah.

That's what I meant by you not doing any research: you didn't seem to be aware of nuclear capabilities in Australia. It only takes a quick search to find out. And why does it have them? What was the threat to them which lead to them developing nuclear weapons? That's something you don't explain.

 

What underlying causes? Again, something you fail to explain.

[Brad]

This sounds like a game of Superpower 2.

[iamanevilbastard]

Why would the Aussies (led by the GTA playing, lasagna eating, super-annoying genius that is me ) buy half of Vuba which is countless miles away and get into a war with Germany, who is even further away? And what about the Kiwis? They'd take us out while we're weakened from fighting Germany for the third time.

[Lochie_old]

Why would the Aussies (led by the GTA playing, lasagna eating, super-annoying genius that is me ) buy half of Vuba which is countless miles away and get into a war with Germany, who is even further away? And what about the Kiwis? They'd take us out while we're weakened from fighting Germany for the third time.

I don't think the Kiwi's would touch us, ANZAC is Australian and New Zealand combined. Indonesia on the other hand, they'd charge right through New Guinea and tear NT a new one.