The War in 2020

The War in 2020 is a 1991 war-adventure novel written by Ralph Peters. Taking place in a future dystopia, the novel's plot is spread over 15 years and mostly features the United States' efforts to defend the Soviet Union against an alliance of Japan, South Africa, and the Arab Islamic Union, a confederation of militant Islamic states. The novel follows the career of U.S. Army air cavalry officer George Taylor as he leads his troopers in wars abroad and civil conflict at home. Background During the 1990s, intense trade competition gradually makes Japan a major trading power against the United States and the European Union. The Japanese also use their position to strengthen their military technology and influence around the world. The U.S. military draws down its forces for most of the 1990s, after Operation Desert Shield and a series of intervention against drug cartels in Latin America. Its military intelligence community moves to automate intelligence-gathering. The situation comes to a head in 2005 when South Africa, armed and supported by Japan, invades and occupies Zaire's mineral-rich Shaba. The United States sends the XVIII Airborne Corps along with associated air and naval assets to repel the aggression.