World War III (also called WWIII or the Third World War) is a hypothetical conflict that denotes a successor to World War II (1939–1945). The conflict would be on a global scale, with common speculation that it would probably be a nuclear war and devastating in nature.
In the wake of World War I, World War II, the commencement of the Cold War and the development, testing and use of nuclear weapons, there was early widespread speculation as to the next global war. This war was anticipated and planned for by military and civil authorities, and explored in fiction in many countries. Concepts ranged from the limited use of atomic weapons, to the destruction of the planet.
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