The Third World War (Hackett novels)

The Third World War and The Third World War: The Untold Story
First edition cover
AuthorSir John Hackett
LanguageEnglish
GenreWar novel
PublisherSidgwick & Jackson
Publication date
1978 and 1982
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages446 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN0-283-98863-0 (first edition, hardback)
355.4/8 19

The Third World War and The Third World War: The Untold Story are war novels by General Sir John Hackett, published in 1978 and 1982, by Macmillan in New York and Sidgwick & Jackson in London, respectively. The novels detail a hypothetical World War III waged between NATO and the Warsaw Pact in 1985, written in the style of a non-fiction historical retrospective interspersed with accounts of the conflict from the perspectives of various people.

The Third World War and The Untold Story describe largely similar events, but the latter incorporates geopolitical and technological developments made since, such as the rise of Solidarity in Poland, the Sino-Vietnamese conflicts, and the proposed militarization of space.