Essentially what it says on the tin. How does art, culture, and politics develop in the wake of the Third World War breaking out in 1985?
Since I know that any such discussion depends heavily on the particulars of the war, here is a brief scenario ripped off from those of much better authors:
POD is 1982, with either Grishin or Romanov replacing a dying Brezhnev instead of Andropov. Tensions are much worse than OTL, as the US - USSR thaw that occurred under Gorbachev never takes place. Finally, during the spring of 1985 a major crisis develops between the US and USSR when the Soviets and East Germans impose a second blockade of West Berlin, causing the US, Britain, and France to prepare for an invasion of East Germany in the hopes of liberating West Berlin. With an invasion of East Germany imminent, the Warsaw Pact launches a full-scale attack against NATO forces (including an invasion of neutral Finland, Sweden, and Austria) on June 1, 1985, with the aim of stopping at the river Rhine by Day 7 before reaching Lyon by Day 9 and to press on to a final position at the Pyreness. Hostilities break out across Europe, from Northern Europe (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland) to Central Europe (the two Germanies, Poland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary) to Southern Europe (northern Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey) as US and Soviet allies duke it out. In Soviet-occupied areas, NATO launches
Operation Gladio, resulting in very harsh and brutal Soviet and Warsaw Pact reprisals.
The war lasts roughly two months. Due to being overwhelmed by the sheer number of WarPac troops, NATO prepares to launch 35 tactical nuclear strikes in the first salvo against Warsaw Pact forces (half of these strikes being targeted on German soil). While preparing to launch a
tactical nuclear counter-assault, NATO authorizes a last-ditch conventional air campaign, Operation Bloody Nose, launched 24 hours before the nuclear strikes were to begin. It is an overwhelming success: the initial strikes cripple Warsaw Pact command and control posts, throwing their armies in the field into chaos, and in the ensuing air battle, NATO inflicts devastating losses on the Soviet Air Force, gaining air supremacy over Eastern European airspace. Combined with the activities of
Operation Gladio, NATO's technological superiority allows them to launch an invasion (or liberation) of Scandinavia and Warsaw Pact countries in central and southern Europe, but only to be pushed back following a Soviet chemical strike (like the German push in the Bulge in 1944), and a stalemate develops in Europe. NATO is able to liberate Austria, northern Italy, Eastern Germany (reunited with the FRG just 24hrs after it's surrender with all GDR forces and POW's now switching sides and serving for a reunited Germany), the Danish Isles, and most of Finland, Sweden and Norway, but only to be pushed back (after a Soviet chemical strike) from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and the northern parts of Finland, Sweden, and Norway, resulting in a bloody stalemate in Europe. NATO also launches a successful 7 day bombing campaign (led by the USAF and reunited German Luftwaffe) against military infrastructures located in Eastern Europe and European USSR in a plan called Operation Castration.
Unable to hold the line against NATO, the Soviets order a symbolic nuclear first strike and the Tsar Bomba is airbursted over above the
North Sea as a sign of warning against NATO to end the war, producing an electromagnetic impulse which damages communications and most electrical systems throughout the UK and northwestern Europe. The Soviet nuclear blackmail pays off and the west agree to end the war. With the exception of the loss of East Germany (which reunited with West Germany during the war), both sides agree to a status quo.
End result: Stalemate. Status quo ante bellum peace. Despite a status quo ante bellum peace, Eastern European communism collapses in mid-1989, the strain of war proving too much to bear.
With that scenario in mind, try to brainstorm what 90s-present culture and politics looks like in the wake of one of the most devastating conflicts in recent history but less bloodier and devastating than the Napoleonic Wars (due to the war lasting only 2 months, and the war being limited only to certain regions and border areas of
Northern, Central, Southeastern, and Southern Europe). It can be as broad as general trends across society or as narrow as what a certain artist might do during and after WW3.
Some of my predictions for culture:
- WW3 films become all the rage throughout the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. WW2 films and WW1 films less prevalent - films like
Saving Private Ryan might be butterflied away or reworked to fit into a WW3 context.
-Soviet and Warsaw Pact atrocities are common fodder in the Western media.
- Technothriller authors scramble to try and find a way to recoup from real life eclipsing their work. Tom Clancy takes a break from writing fiction and instead collaborates with historians and veterans to create a massive non-fiction novel detailing the Third World War through the eyes of soldiers, politicians, and civilians on both sides. Entitled something like
Red Storm Realized or
The Eagle and the Bear, the work is hailed as Clancy's magnum opus upon it's release in 1993. Meanwhile, Harold Coyle writes a book detailing his personal experiences in the war, comparing his fictional scenario in
Team Yankee with the real thing.