"NATO, Nukes, and Nazis:" Inside the Most Insane World War III Game Ever Made

Reuters
August 21, 2020 Topic: History Blog Brand: The Reboot Tags: War GamesAlternate HistoryWorld War IIINATONazi Germany

"NATO, Nukes, and Nazis:" Inside the Most Insane World War III Game Ever Made

Why in God’s name would anyone want to play such a game?

It would be a leap to say that NATO, Nukes & Nazis is a plausible look at history as it might have been. Yet, the game isn’t implausible, either. Hitler believed the Capitalist-Communist coalition against him was unnatural and would inevitably collapse. The Anglo-Americans and the Soviets feared that the other would make a separate peace with Germany.

If World War II did end with a compromise peace, it is hard to imagine that there wouldn’t have been a World War III, given the nature of Nazism. If that conflict had been fought in the 1990s, maybe it would have been fought with helicopters and smart bombs (flying wings and Lebensborn breeding centers optional).

Thankfully, the world never had the misfortune to find out.

Michael Peck is a frequent contributor to the National Interest and is a regular writer for many outlets like WarIsBoring. He can be found on Twitter and Facebook. This first appeared in December 2016.