Its difficult to pinpoint when WWIII began. Scholars at the Lenin-Zedong Historical Institute have put forth various arguements for diffferent dates. Many tend to consider the Russian Federation's recognition of the Donbas Republics and the ensuing proxy war with the US Imperialist Order. Some counter that this conflict began with the Euromaiden coup in 2014 and perfer to use this date.
A different faction, while acknowledging the importance of the Ukrainian Proxy War (of 2022 or of 2014 as mentioned is its own seperate debate) Many Historians prefer the 2023 Gazan uprising and the subsequent horriffic reprisal carried out by the US client state of Israel, who had been carrying out a policy of apartheid against the native Palestinian population so extreme that Gaza earned the epitaph of the "Largest Open Air Prison in the World."
While scholars may disagree about the date. They, like we all, honor the sacrifice of these various peoples' against the US Imperialist Order which led to its downfall, and the eventual creation of the better world first envisioned by Marx and Engels we all enjoy today.
High Priestess Nerra Chelsea of Church of Hillatology (a post collapse cult in the ruins of the US Imperium's political capital of Washington D.C.) says all of humanity was doomed by Hillary Clinton's loss in the 2008 Democratic Primary to an obscure late Imperium figurehead named Barack Obama. None of the surviving primary sources, or subsequent histories of the era available provide any context that might shed light on this deeply held belief of the cult.
While there have been attempts to rehabilitate and assimilate Hillatologists and members of other post-collapse cults, they largely seem to prefer the confines of the exclusion zone, violently fending off attempts to provide hunanitarian aid. They seem particularly violent and aggressive toward attempts by volunteer Cuban physicians to provide free healthcare. Their screams of "How are you going to pay for that?" confound volunteers, and perplex researches.
"We may never understand the meaning behind their obscure beliefs and seemingly nonsensical chants." An authority on post-collapse cults told us. "Something has been lost."