Tomorrow: Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...

Year 1962 - ATL

With virtually every nation of consequence at war with each other, much of the planet was now covered by blasted wastelands, pockmarked with craters and rendered toxic by chemical weapons. Still the belligerent nations refused to back down, continuing the war even though it would almost certainly devastate life for a century or more after the cessation of hostilities.

The civilian populations of the globe (what was left, anyway; attacks on civilian targets had become quite a common practice) were a grim lot, with no hope for relief from the conflict that threatened their every living moment.

But all that was about to get much worse...

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They had long awaited this moment.

Their time had now come to strike.

Their people would once more have a planet to call their own.

Earth.

Centuries ago, a space-faring race had been nearly wiped out by a gamma ray burst that wiped out all life on their planet. With no other choice, they took to the stars in a massive fleet of ships. Since then, parasitic diseases, attacks from hostile races, and the natural hazards of space had whittled their numbers down until they were about half the population of Earth at the time of the Armageddon War, as it was called. When this race found Earth, they immediately, as they had done countless times before, ran a sensor sweep to compare the atmosphere, water levels, etc. with their homeworld. It passed. Excited preparations were quickly made for their conquest of the world; the humans had not gone unnoticed. They were outnumbered two to one, but made up for it with the sheer power and sophistication of their technology. This and their superior intellect would destroy the scatterbrained and impulsive humans.

As their ships descended through the atmosphere over the Mediterranean, the Many prepared to seize this planet for their own.

Now even the home of the human race, its birthplace and its nurturer, was under attack.

Tomorrow: No end in sight

Year 1958 - ATL

The World War was in full swing, dwarfing the Great War [WWI to us] forty years earlier to a mere skirmish. Battles raged across Europe, Asia, and Africa. The worst of it was along the Russio-German border, where great swathes of the landscape had been rendered desolate and unusable. Australia and the Americas were as yet untouched.

But that was soon to change. The USSR was already at war with the United States and it would only be a matter of time before American troops were on their soil. So they decided to enact a preemptive strike against them. The Red Navy was rather short on anything not covered in guns, but a quick overhaul of a few of their battleships turned them into quite excellent troop carriers.

The hammer fell in January of 1959. Red Army amphibious attack units arrived near-simultaneously in California and Alaska, catching the US almost completely off-guard. Germany and the Axis had been pressuring Latin American nations, Mexico in particular, to attack the US to keep them out of the European war. With this bold move by the Soviets, the Mexican government was suddenly much more open to this and accepted a financial contribution from Germany. Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia and Peru assisted Mexico with troops and ships and on February 19th they entered the war, catching the Americans off-guard again.

In North Africa and the Middle East, Arab countries rallied to support Turkey against Bulgaria, which had attempted to seize parts of Turkish territory. Shortly thereafter, an incident along their border with the Soviets led them to declare war on the USSR. In Scandinavia, Norway switched sides to the Allies when German subs sank Norwegian merchant ships that had strayed into captured Danish waters. Finland received assistance from the Fascist bloc as they rebelled against Russian rule.

In the Americas, Australia and Canada had sided with the US against the belligerent Latin American nations. Large gains were made by the Soviets into Alaska and Canada, while the Latin troops marched up through Texas and into the Great Plains. However, the United States was soon able to put a stop to their advance and the American front gradually settled into attrition.

With the entire world aflame with war, the future looks quite bleak...

Tomorrow: Thunder and lightning

Year 1955 - ATL (alternate timeline)

As the exchange of threats between China and Japan continued, with each nation poised to invade Burma and start a war, the League of Nations rushed to resolve the conflict before it sparked into violence. The fascist nations pledged their support to Japan, mainly out of hatred for the communists, while the Soviet Union and Korea backed China. The Western powers attempted vainly to restore peace, but Japan issued an ultimatum to China to pull its forces out of Burma or it would attack. China responded scornfully and Japan was quick to declare war.

Of course, the massive array of alliances between the nations quickly brought others into the war. Soviet and Nazi armies smashed together along their border, while Japan and China traded air strikes and substantial assaults along the Burmese front. The now-impotent League of Nations threatened to use British and French forces to break up the fighting, but it was largely ignored by the warring power blocs. When Norway was dragged into the war by a Soviet offensive from former Finland, Sweden [alllied with the Western power bloc] became alarmed that its borders would be violated. These fears proved valid when the fighting spilled over onto Swedish territory. Sweden responded by attacking both sides, earning itself war against both Norway and the USSR. Britain, France, and the US were quick to come to aid Sweden.

The war quickly spread throughout Europe and South and East Asia. The African colonies were forced to develop industry to meet demands for raw materials from their parent country, and also fought wars between each other. Soon Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe were all embroiled in war. American industry helped to support the Allied forces, while the USA built up a strong military force to serve on the European and African fronts.

However, this left the Pacific coast largely undefended, most of the Pacific Fleet having been relocated to the Atlantic to prepare for overseas combat. Japan, China and the Soviets noticed this, but only the Soviets were preparing to act on it...