1983: Doomsday

Welcome to the Portal Page for the 1983: Doomsday ATL.

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This timeline explores world history after Doomsday - September 26th, 1983.

A worldwide nuclear exchange caused by a minor incident obliterates much of human civilization, leaving only a few survivors. This ATL covers everything from the direct aftermath up to the present worldwide situation.

This is a "live" timeline, which means that its story continues to unfold NOW, in real-time. See the Live Content section for the latest news and updates.

This is also a collaborative timeline, produced by a team of contributors. If you want to join us in developing this world, we warmly welcome your additions.

Before making major edits or additions to this ATL, please read the Editorial Guidelines and discuss your ideas on the 1983: Doomsday talk page.

Introduction

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The Point of Divergence of 1983: Doomsday is September 19th, 1983, on which a seemingly unimportant decision to send an ambitious Soviet colonel to a training seminar, taking the place of an indisposed colleague, has global implications.

This decision leads to a different outcome of a well-known, though often underestimated, event that took place in the darkness of the early morning of September 26, 1983.

In our timeline, Colonel Stanislav Petrov was the watch officer on duty that day at the Serpukhov-15 bunker near Moscow, monitoring for a US missile attack on the Soviet Union.

Suddenly, the computer-based warning systems reported several US nuclear missiles approaching Soviet territory. In our timeline, Colonel Petrov believed the information to be false and did not alert the Kremlin to the data he was receiving. Given Cold War tensions at the time, such information would likely have convinced the Soviets that the US had launched a first strike in an attempt to "cut off the head," and they would have been forced to launch their nuclear weapons in the false belief that it was a counterstrike.

In our timeline, since the events of that night have become widely known, the moment has often been considered the closest that the USSR and USA ever came to a nuclear war. Colonel Petrov has been honored as one of the few true "world saviors," and several investigations have proven the great seriousness of this highly dangerous event that may have lead to apocalyptic consequences.

This timeline explores the results after Colonel Petrov was sent to another installation before September 26, 1983. The officer now on duty on September 26th considered the alert to be accurate and immediately contacted his superiors. Within minutes, the leaders ordered a massive retaliatory strike against the West. The Americans naturally reacted by launching a strike of their own, this one all too real. By the time the first alerted missile was proven to be a false alarm, it was too late. Thousands of nuclear warheads soon detonated over targets worldwide. In a preemptive attack, the Soviet Union also launched missiles against the Plantilla:DD, which responded as best it could with a counterattack against the USSR.

The results of this total nuclear exchange came close to the predicted worldwide destruction and "nuclear holocaust." Close to a billion people were killed initially, and another billion died in the environmental disaster that followed shortly thereafter.

With the world largely devastated, and most of the Northern and parts of the Southern Hemisphere in ruins, the estimated 800 million survivors in these areas desperately tried to keep together what is left of human society. They would face challenges that were seemingly impossible.

After suffering some years of absolute horrors following Doomsday, a handful of regions, territories, and countries managed to stabilize and overcome the basic problems of food, clean water, and medical supplies. As time passed and the recovery continued, new (sometimes surprising) alliances formed. A new, fragile world order emerged from the ashes. Initial hopes of some survivors for a united mankind (or at least a permanent end to warfare and destruction) quickly proved false. Indeed, the world is still very far from fulfilling any utopian vision. Famine, disease, and lack of resources continue to spark conflicts in many parts of the world, threatening to wipe out the decades of slow recovery.

Now, 41 years after the devastating "Doomsday" event brought mankind to the edge of total extinction, a few bright moments have spread the hope for a more peaceful future for mankind, such as the foundation of the new "Plantilla:1983DD" on September 26th, 2008. The world order is dominated by a set of regional blocs - above all a unified Plantilla:1983DD and Plantilla:1983DD - which have proved able to master the challenges of the era and intervene internationally. Mankind's total extinction, at least, seems to have been avoided.

Nonetheless, new dangers to this fragile world have emerged all around the globe, threatening much of what has been achieved within the last 41 years...

WCRB NewsHour- World Headlines

For all news, please refer to our Plantilla:1983DD

June

June 5. 2024 - Results of Reading-Susquehanna Unification Referendum - READING, Plantilla:1983DD and BLOOMSBURG, Susquehanna
Final results of the March unification referendum were released today, with the pro-unification winning at a 72% in favor and 28% opposed. The General Assembly of Susquehanna will meet in July to ratify the referendum results and begin the process of accession with the Provisional Pennsylvania Government in Reading. Reading officials announced that they were excited about the results, with Governor Gary Day releasing a statement celebrating the outcome and welcoming the people of the Commonwealth of Susquehanna into the nation.

March

March 10. 2024 - Referendum for Unification - BLOOMSBURG, Susquehanna
The results from the Reading - Susquehanna Unification Referendum was held today in the Commonwealth of Susquehanna. Exit polls indicated that the pro-reunification camp was ahead, however votes will be tabulated over the next few months. While officially politically neutral, the Republican, Democratic, and Conservative parties all supported unification. The Libertarian and Progressive parties both opposed it, as did factions of the Democratic Party.

November

November 27, 2023 - Nintendo expands to Victoria Rikcha:DD1983 Victoria Civil.svg - VICTORIA CITY, Plantilla:1983DD
Japanese gaming company Nintendo has opened new offices In Victoria City this afternoon. A leader in the industry, Nintendo of Victoria is the company's first branch to be located outside of the Asia-Pacific region. Nintendo hopes to expand its market to the growing video game industry in the Americas and is also considering a branch in Argentina.

September

September 25–26, 2023 - The world observes the 40th anniversary of the Doomsday Event -
Forty years on from the outbreak of the Third World War, people around the planet paused to reflect on what it means and how the world has changed. The anniversary was commemorated in countless different ways in different nations and communities. The page on the Doomsday 40th Anniversary gathers reports and dispatches from around the world to give a rich picture of this momentous event.

September 9, 2023 - Death of Mangosuthu Buthelezi, leader of KwaZulu 35 years - - ULUNDI, Plantilla:DD - The Kraal confirmed the death at the age of 95 of Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the longtime political leader of the KwaZulu kingdom. Buthelezi led the Zulu nation for decades both before and after the fall of apartheid. He is considered the architect of the kingdom's independence and one of the people most responsible for bringing about the modern South Africa. For much of Buthelezi's career, he ruled as a dictator; on the other hand, he was praised around southern Africa for permitting KwaZulu to transition to a democratic government. Ten years ago he stepped down from power entirely, holding on only to his ceremonial posts as chief of a tribe and advisor to the king. Rebel and pawn, dictator and democrat - Buthelezi nonetheless is revered in KwaZulu. On news of his death, radio stations throughout the kingdom played "Mangosuthu," a quiet 1983 tribute song by the most famous Zulu singing group, Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The same group is expected to perform at the former prime minister's state funeral next week. The king has declared the intervening time to be a period of national mourning.

September 9th, 2023 - 6.9 Earthquake rocks Morocco, thousands dead or missing - MARRAKECH, Plantilla:1983DD - Rescuers dug through rubble for survivors in collapsed houses in remote mountain villages of Morocco on Saturday, in the wake of the country's deadliest earthquake for more than six decades, which killed more than 1,000 people and ruined several towns including Amizmiz. The quake that struck in Morocco's High Atlas mountains late on Friday night damaged historic buildings in Marrakech - the nearest city to the epicentre - while most of the fatalities were reported in mountainous areas to the south. Given the divided country had already ravaged by wars in recent years has led to the dispatch of aid workers from the surrounding areas to minimize loss of life and insecurity.

September 8th, 2023 - Plantilla:1983DD applies to East American Alliance - LINCOLN, REPUBLIC OF LINCOLN - League of Nations correspondents in the city of Lincoln have reported of recent news that Lincoln's President Whistler has sent and received delegations regarding joining the East American Alliance. This comes as a staunch surprise to politicos watching the strides the long-neutral nation has undertaken in the years following its split from the other surviving state governments of the central United States. It is unclear what the timeline or outcome of these talks shall be, although some speculate its timing coincides with widespread reactions to the Republic of Superior's annexation of Plantilla:1983DD and the Torrington-based United States' annexation of the previously occupied Plantilla:1983DD.

September 8th, 2023 - South American Confederation weighs lifting ban on North American agricultural imports Rikcha:DD1983 SAC Flag.svg - MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY:The Confederate Constitutional Assembly of the South American Confederation convened on Friday to weigh the possibility of lifting the "Lima Agreement", which froze the import of all agricultural products from North America and West Panama due to the fear of nuclear contamination of these products. The Venezuelan, Chilean, Brazilian and Argentinians all voted in favor of lifting the ban, with the Venezuelan representative bringing in radiographic studies on the near-zero risks posed, while Brazilian delegates remarked on the Mexican lack of agricultural ban for this region. Representative Camilo Eehevarria of Ecuador voted to oppose in conjunction with the Parguayan, Peruvian and Bolivian delegation, remarking [in Spanish] "while many of the other representatives here stand to gain financially from flooding our nations' ports with tainted meat, the risks posed to our children are incalculable." Ultimately, the session ended in a dead lock, with the Assembly voting to re-convene on the matter the following month, as it invites the presenting assemblymen and women to speak again on the matter.

September 8th, 2023 - The Greek parliamentary elections of 2023 - Rikcha:DD1983 Greece Civil.svg CHALCIS, Hellenic Federation: The Greek parliamentary elections of 2023 occurred in September 8th, and were the 2nd national elections held following the end of the nationalist-led era in the country. Since 2017, a socialist-led coalition has been in charge of the country, in a coalition with Christian Democrats, Pacifists and the ecologist party. The socialist party faced a downfall, and in the 2023 elections, it was replaced by the conservative and right-wing New Democracy, which led a right-wing coalition goverment with the Christian Democrats and 5 Nationalist MP's (members of the parliament) who split from the Nationalist party (Hellenism Movement). The new coalition still supports Greece's participation in the Atlantic Defence Front but maintains a more conservative and patriotic stance on social and national issues.

Recent additions

These are our newest confirmed and proposed additions to the timeline. Take part in the discussion on the talk page!

Recently Confirmed Additions (Canon)

Work in Progress (Proposal)

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Adoptions

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Reviews

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Contributors

This ATL is maintained and coordinated by the different branches of the WCRB - World Census and Reclamation Bureau Rikcha:DD1983 WCRB Flag.svg

Because of the excellent regional articles, and to honour the large amount of work done for those articles, each registered user taking care of a special region will be awarded a WCRB identity/command post/character if they want one.

Current list of active contributors

Current active editors are:

Would-Be Contributors

We ask new contributors to do the following:

First read the Plantilla:1983DD. They explain the rules for adding to the timeline.
If you have questions, ask an active contributor; see the above list. If you're on Alternate History Wiki's Discord, you can find us on #1983-Doomsday.
Introduce yourself on the 1983: Doomsday Talk Page and explain any new proposals you have.
Understand the Conventions of this Wiki before creating a new page.
Play nice and have fun!
Put edits below here hehe

Principal Content

Plantilla:1983: Doomsday
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