The Dark Ages

Much of the 21st century seems to have been spent in conflict between superstition and rationality. After the 20th century, the future seemed to be bright. Fear and disinterest in science however caused progress to slow, with the banning of some types of basic research in America and Europe.

In 2030, a new virus started killing people in India, and soon spread to China, the Middle East, Africa and Europe. America was mostly unaffected, though their isolationist stance which resulted in the complete closure of their borders had other social side effects. It was estimated that over a billion people were killed during this Little Death by 2050, resulting in the almost complete collapse of society.

Financial instability, religious infighting and fear eventually lead to the collapse of the US government by 2070, and the start of a civil war between states, religious groups and corporations.

The Rise of Europe

For 40 years, Europe had been suffering from the lack of any effective governments. The streets were run by fear and violence, and law and order stretched no further than military presence. With the collapse of financial markets and an almost total halt on travel due to lack of oil, even the military soon broke down into separate factions.

At the same time that the US was collapsing into civil war though, Europe was ready to be reborn, and the European Hegemony was formed out of French and German military units. Enforcing the rule of law by force of arms, much of continental Europe was brought under control.

The biggest concern of the Hegemony was lack of oil, and despite powering Paris from the world's first (it was claimed) fusion reactor, vehicles were still a problem. In 2088, war was declared on the Arabian Empire which had formed in the Middle East, and which had control over massive oil reserves.

By 2091, the war was over and the Hegemony was forced to sign a peace deal with the much better armed and organised AE. Weakened, and suffering loss of face, the Hegemony began to crack from the inside. Before the end of the century, the military leadership had been replaced by businessmen more interested in turning a profit than enforcing moral ideals.

The East

China suffered greatly during the Little Death, but its government survived more or less intact. Given the collapse of world trade, China closed its borders and began to clamp down on freedom of speech once again.

Tension on its borders soon led to war, including a limited nuclear exchange on the Russian-Chinese border (mostly on the Russian side) in 2051. It's unclear who fired first, or even who fired at whom, since China insists Russian independents fired on some Russian cities, and no one else survived to say otherwise.

Russia was mostly small independent states at this point, and when China marched her armies across the border, there was little in the war of unified resistance until it was too late. However, it still took 30 years for China to conquer its way as far west as the Volga, as well as into India and much of Indonesia. The exact date that China took to calling itself the Chinese Soviet Union is unknown, but by the 2080s the CSU was probably the most powerful nation on Earth.