Has World War III begun already? A look 100 years into the future at what historians might think

In the video above, I look at how historians will view the world of 2025 in 2125 and wonder if they will think that World War III had begun already during the present time in which we inhabit. The start of this third world war could be judged to be February 2022, when Russia invaded the Ukraine for no particular reason. It could be another date that will seem important in the future that seems less so now.

Perhaps Trump’s tariffs, put in place this week, will seem like the start of the war. Who knows. They are a terrible idea, that much is for certain. It is very strange watching the American right go against everything they ever believed in up until five minutes ago. Free markets and free trade, out the window now. Except of course, we’ve seen this before. It happened with Brexit.

During the EU referendum in 2016, we constantly heard the refrain “Global Britain”. One of the principle arguments put forth by pro-Brexit campaigners was that leaving the EU would result in more free trade, not less. We were “shackled to Europe” at the time and once we left the EU, we’d be able to help create a new, more openly trading world. There would be a free trade deal with the US at the very least, but maybe even the entire “Anglosphere” would become a new free trade zone.

That all disappeared remarkably quickly once the country voted to Leave. Then, all we heard about was how protectionism would be good for the country. After all, less competition for goods would mean more stuff gets manufactured here in the UK, which will mean more jobs. Turned out that the Brexiters actually thought it’s good to be cut off from the rest of the world.

In the same way that the Brexiters just changed everything they believed in to suit the needs of Brexit, so we see MAGA changing everything they believed in to suit the framework of whatever Donald Trump does and says this week. When you make something or someone the centre of the universe, you then have to somehow or other make everything revolve around it, no matter how much that means shredding dearly held and longstanding principles.

Anyhow, I explore all of this and more in the video, so have a watch and listen. If you haven’t subscribed to the Substack, that would be great if you did, but please, also subscribe to the YouTube channel (it helps the algorithm immensely). Thanks!