World War III (Der Dritte Weltkrieg) is a 1998 German alternate history television pseudo-documentary, directed by Robert Stone and distributed by ZDF.

It depicts what might have transpired if, following the overthrow of Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet troops, under orders from a new hard-line regime, had opened fire on demonstrators in Berlin in the fall of 1989 and precipitated World War III.

As demonstrations against the regime spread throughout the country, East German leader Erich Honecker hopes to crush the uprisings with military force.

Gorbachev's reforms are quickly reversed, and the Soviet Union experiences democratic backsliding as the country returns to autocratic rule.They are determined to end the uprisings in the Eastern Bloc with a swift and brutal Chinese-style military crackdown in late October.

Soon after, the East German government responds to the international condemnation of their conduct by ordering all foreign journalists out of the country, effectively imposing a media blackout.

Soon after, Secretary of State James Baker arrives in West Berlin to secretly meet with General Dmitry Leonov, the Soviet commander in East Germany, who opposes Soshkin's crackdown.

Shortly afterward, the UN Security Council holds an emergency session in New York as angry demonstrators gather outside and burn the effigy of President Bush.

The world panics after the failed session and the USA dispatches (fictional) National Security Advisor Martin Jacobs to the Soviet Union for last-ditch effort talks with Soshkin.

The next day, Warsaw Pact ground forces drive through the Fulda Gap, with orders to push to the Rhine to divide the stretched-out NATO armies.

Public order collapses amid the mass panic, and 20 million automobiles jam the roads as West German civilians try to flee.

During the accompanying aerial battles, NATO also inflicts devastating losses on the Soviet Air Force (which had already lost 20% of the aircraft supporting the initial offensives), thereby gaining supremacy over Eastern European airspace.

Open revolt erupts across the Eastern Bloc as citizens of the communist nations, as well ethnic minorities within the Soviet Union, press for the overthrow of their own leaders, emboldened by the collapse of East Germany.

A montage ensues, with heartwarming music, where the audience is reminded how the Cold War actually ended - with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the eastern bloc regimes, concluding with the different course history actually took.