What would happen afterwards?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Threads
dyker_the_horse — 16 years ago(February 15, 2010 09:12 AM)
The film ends thirteen years after the war, where society has only recovered to a tiny fraction of what it was pre-war. It had basic electricity once again, but not much else.
What do you think would have happened in the decades after the film concludes, say fifty years later?
Would society have gotten gradually better, or worse? -
houndmom — 15 years ago(June 25, 2010 08:16 AM)
I think it would depend on how much long term damage was done to the planet. In the book The Road (which is set about a decade after an unnamed global disaster), it appears that most if not all life in the oceans has been destroyed, as well as most plant life. If that is so, then the environment would be too hostile for the human population to recover as a major species. The Earth has incredible ability to heal itself, and it's possible after many decades the environment would again be hospitable. The question is, would there be enough humans left to develop an advanced society again?
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kmkg — 15 years ago(July 05, 2010 10:52 AM)
If a heavily attacked country was somehow on its way to recovery, think about countries that wouldn't have been targets back in the 80s Most of Asia, South America, Oceania, Africa. Of course, the whole world would have suffered economically but some countries would have bloomed. I can even see some giving aid (both the good and the bad kinds) to the UK well before 10 years had passed.
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houndmom — 15 years ago(July 05, 2010 07:49 PM)
I can see some countries giving aid early on, but then shutting it down to save themselves soon afterward as the global economy goes back to a subsistence economy once people realize the flow of goods and services from the destroyed nations isn't coming back. "Me first" will rule for quite a while, I think.
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Zhow — 15 years ago(July 19, 2010 08:30 AM)
I guess thta the impact would depend on how the rest of the world was damaged by the war. Obviously, Europe, the US and the USSR are gobally destroyed with very limited resources, poisoned soil and air and a disastrous nuclear winter.
The book Warday by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka (1984) described in detail the impact of a nuclear attack on the US and the consequences on other countries economies, especially South America, Japan and Europe. It's a very different scenario from the one described in Threads but it gives a good vision on how a society can change after such a strike. The EMP destroyed all bank accounts, 401ks, pension funds, financial records, the stock market, the credit system and other assets stored electronically. The disappearance of an efficient central government leads to the lack of control with effects on society, education, economy, foreign policy, etc It's a very interesting and haunting book that I read recently and it remains very informative.
The higher you fly, the faster you fall.
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greg-233 — 14 years ago(January 04, 2012 02:47 PM)
Hopefully we'll never have to find out what would
really
happen in the aftermath of a nuclear attack.
I would recommend the 1985 novel
Children of the Dust
by Louise Lawrence. I suspect the author had probably seen
Threads
herself. The book is divided into three parts. Part one is the immediate aftermath of a nuclear attack on Britain. Part two takes place 20 years after the attack. Part three is set 55 years after the attack. I should say Part three does stretch credibility a bit, but it's still an interesting read. -
steve_hathorn — 14 years ago(February 21, 2012 05:53 AM)
Don't forget that not all the world would have been destroyed. Much of the world was 'non-aligned' and many countries were not targeted. While they would undoubtedly suffer some of the consequences, there would be no physical destruction and deaths in the short-to-medium term and I'd expect a massive migration to Africa and S America, among others.
Now that an increasingly-belligerent Iran is fast developing nukes, I wonder if this will be repeated or remade? -
erinoco — 13 years ago(October 01, 2012 03:20 PM)
The consequences might be extremely serious, though. Bombs on US, Europe and the USSR would wipe out most of the biggest global food exporters at the time, with particular effects for foodstuffs like grain, and would also destroy their huge stores. Production and distribution of vital agricultural products like fertiliser would be severely disrupted, to say the least. That, on its own, would lead to severe rationing and serious shortages in well-ordered Southern nations, and severe famine in other parts. And ozone depletion in the southern hemisphere would also have a big negative impact on agriculture, even without a nuclear winter.
There would also be a serious danger of major political conflict. Several nations which were restrained by the superpowers and their major allies would now be free to attack other nations conventionally, and they would have big incentives to do so where oil, untainted agricultural land and other vital resources are at stake. Coups, inter-state or Middle Eastern conflict, ethnic or religious wars - if these events took place, they would be much more difficult to stop.
It's probable that none of these conflicts would have led to nuclear war, and that, after a couple of decades, some sort of stability would have emerged. But life could still be pretty unpleasant for many, or even most, in the southern hemisphere, on a par with life in the worst of the twentieth century conflicts. But even that would probably look like paradise to those left in the UK. -
JamesConway — 9 years ago(January 06, 2017 03:23 AM)
The above book sounds very much like 'Warday' by Whitley Streiber and James Kunetka.
The synopsis of the 'docu-novel' is that the authors assume roles essentially as themselves, working as journalists, travelling around the United States five years after a global nuclear war.
New York and Washington was hit, but the war quickly ended after Britain, France and Germany declared themselves neutral.
The USA falls as a superpower, dependent on Japan and the United Kingdom for aid, and the USSR is devestated.
Like the above suggestion, petroleum falls to less than a dollar a barrel and self-sufficiency becomes the norm. With only so-called 'Gold Dollars' having any worth.
Its a great ready, with lots of stats and speculative suggestion.