World War III (also called WW-III or the Third World War) is a successor to World War II (1939–1945). In the wake of World War I, World War II, the commencement of the Cold War and the development, and testing and use of nuclear weapons, there was early widespread speculation as to the next global war. This war was anticipated and planned for by military and civil authorities, and explored in fiction in many countries. Scenarios ranged from conventional warfare, over the limited or full-blown use of nuclear weapons to the destruction of the planet.