Die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika waren eine Vorkriegs Republik und eine der letzten überlebenden Volkswirtschaften Mitte des 21.Jahrhunderts während der globalen Energiekrise. Obwohl sie im Great War fast vollkommen zerstört wurde, hat es im Geiste vieler überlebt, vor allem bei der Neuen Kalifornischen Republik, die vieles der USA wieder aufleben lässt und die Enklave, die Überreste der Vorkriegs-Regierung.
Die amerikanischen Commonwealths
Im Fallout Universum hatten die Vereinigten Staaten vor dem Großen Krieg im Jahre 2077, zwischen den 50 Bundesstaaten und der Bundesregierung eine mittlere Regierungsebene. Die Nation wurde irgendwann nach Ende des Zweiten Weltkrieges in 13 Commonwealths geteilt. Vor der Virgo IIMission wurde die Flagge der Vereinigten Staaten geändert um die neue politische Realität wider zu spiegeln. Dementsprechend hat die neue Fahne 14 Sterne anstatt 50 - 13 in einem Kreis für die Commonwealths und in der Mitte einen großen Stern für die Bundesregierung um die Nation als Ganzes darzustellen.
Man hoffte, dass die neue Aufteilung des Landes dazu beitragen würde, dass die Staaten von gemeinsamen regionalen Anliegen profitieren würden. In Wirklichkeit schuf es noch politische Streite in der amerikanischen Regierung. Die dreizehn amerikanischen Commonwealths waren:
| Commonwealth | Color | Former states |
|---|---|---|
| Columbia Commonwealth | Rot | Washington, DC,Maryland,Virginia |
| Mittlerer Osten Commonwealth | Dunkel Blau | Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee |
| Ost Commonwealth | Gelb | New York |
| Vier Staaten Commonwealth | Grün | Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico |
| Golf Commonwealth | Rosa | Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida |
| Mittlerer Westen Commonwealth | Grau | Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan |
| Neu England Commonwealth | Hell Blau | Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut |
| Nord Commonwealth | Orange | Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota |
| Nordwest Commonwealth | Purpur (dunkel Rot) | Northern California, Washington (Staat), Oregon, Idaho, Alaska |
| "Flachland" Commonwealth | Hell Gelb | Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma |
| Südosten Commonwealth | Hell Grau | Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina |
| Südwesr Commonwealth | Lila | Southern California, Nevada, Hawaii |
| Texas Commonwealth | Schwarz | Texas, Arkansas (Staat) |
Kanada
Es ist unbekannt wie sich dort die Commonwealths aufteilten oder ob sich überhaupt was änderte nach der Annektion im Jahr 2076. Es ist möglich, dass Kanada unter militärischer Gewalt war, bis zur Annektion (2076). Da Kanada eine niedrige Bevölkerung hatte, ist es möglich, dass Kanada ein eigenes, großes Commonwealth war.
Mexiko
Die United States Armed Forces eroberte Mexiko im Jahre 2051 um es zu annektieren , da sie an den Ölfirmen interessiert waren. Aber es kam nie zu einem Triumph.
Die Bundesregierung
Die Vorkriegs Regierung der Vereinigten Staaten war nicht allzu verschieden mit der echten, wenn auch mit kleinen Unterschieden. Agenturen der Regierung welche in den Spielen erwähnt werden: das War Department und das Department of Defense , verantwortlich waren, für die Überwachung der Entwicklung verschiedener militärischen Forschungsprojekten, von HERMES bis West Teks T-51b Powerrüstung.
Andere Bundesbehörden die in den Spiele erwähnt werden: das Department of Energy (Wasser und Strom), das Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Unamerican activate Force, Secret Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Drugs , Tabac, Weapons and Laser und der United States Space Administration.
Members of the Enclave both embraced the idea of a nuclear war and knew that the common man could not survive it. They believed that as long as the "important people" of the United States survived, they could regroup quickly and wipe out Communism once and for all. Though not technically part of the Enclave, many powerful corporations benefited from the Enclave’s actions, and their research facilities were protected during the nuclear firestorm of 2077.
In 2073, as the global race to exploit the handful of remaining fossil-fuel resources reached its fevered peak, the United States managed to stake a claim on the world's last known supply of crude oil, buried thousands of feet beneath the Pacific Ocean. Poseidon Energy, a major American energy company, was contracted to build an oilrig and extract the oil. Before long, the oil ran dry and the oilrig was abandoned by Poseidon.
In 2077, with total nuclear war imminent, the President of the United States and a number of other American government officials left their posts in Washington, D.C. to take refuge in a number of secret locations around the world. Among them was the Poseidon Oil Rig off the coast of California. Here, the President himself set up a secret base from which the United States could continue to exist and wage war on China, with the eventual goal of retaking the continental United States from its post-atomic state. From 2077 on, the remnant of the American government surviving on this oilrig started to openly call itself the Enclave. In dialogue with Arcade Gannon, in Fallout New Vegas, it is revealed that after the Fall of the Oil Rig, the NCR eventually overran Navarro. This caused all Enclave forces in the West to scatter to the east. Furthermore, with the destruction of Raven Rock and Adams Air Force base, unless there are other bases (Chicago is mentioned in the audio logs during ED-E My Love), for the time being, the Enclave is effectively crippled.
The Enclave mostly continued the pre-War American government, making alterations to fit their smaller size and increase the fluidity of operations. Some new departments that were established after the Great War included the Atomic Energy Commission and the Chemical Corps.
History
Pre-Great War
Regular - $7450.99
Premium - $8500.99
Ever since the end of World War II in 1945, the United States in the Fallout universe had sought to become the sole remaining superpower in the world, aiming to control the globe's major energy resources and influence the direction of life in other nations. In the twenty-first century, this trend became even more apparent, because, as the Resource Wars raged between the European Commonwealth and the oil-rich states of the Middle East, and as the United Nations disbanded in acrimony, the United States found itself with no real rival on the global scene, except the People's Republic of China, which had become the second largest economy in the world.
However, the energy crisis of the mid-twenty-first century hit the United States harder than expected, coupled with the outbreak of the New Plague in 2053. In 2054, a nuclear exchange in the Middle East prompted the American government to establish Project Safehouse, which was intended to create 122 underground shelters that would save a select portion of American society from the ravages of nuclear war or an unstoppable global pandemic. Five years later, in 2059, in order to protect its Alaskan oil interests, the United States established the Anchorage Front Line, to defend its stockpiles of oil from potential invaders.
In 2060, as stockpiles of oil ran dry and the last underground reservoirs of petroleum emptied, the American economy ground to a halt. People stopped traveling by car and the political pressure to research alternative sources of energy increased enormously. To maintain its status as a superpower in spite of the crisis, the United States expanded the size of its military and commissioned a government defense contractor, West Tek to create powered infantry armor, which was intended to replace tanks on the battlefield. This project eventually proved to be the salvation of American industry, and, in the summer of 2066, the first crude nuclear fusion cell was developed as part of this research effort and was then adopted to civilian needs.
This fact, coupled with American unwillingness to share the world's last untapped oil field in the Pacific Ocean with other energy-starved nations, prompted China to declare open war against the United States and invade Alaska in 2066, initiating the Sino-American War. The initial Chinese campaign was successful, but soon, Chinese and American soldiers found themselves bogged down in a war of attrition, with both sides unable to gain any sort of meaningful advantage over the other. Even the mighty American T-45d Power Armor units did not tip the scales, as China's Crimson Dragoon units rampaged behind American lines, disrupting the U.S. Army's logistics and transport.
The United States' northern neighbor, Canada, proved unwilling to accept the increasingly aggressive behavior of the United States as it fought to repel the Chinese invasion. Faced with almost open hostility and the threat of military action, Ottawa relented, allowing American troops and aircraft to pass freely through its territory. This led directly to the annexation of Canada by the United States in 2076.
War and the energy crisis took a toll on American citizens. Together with the development of the Forced Evolutionary Virus (FEV) being leaked to the mainstream news, 400 million citizens became increasingly restless as the global and national situation deteriorated, throwing the country into turmoil. The U.S. Army was deployed into major American urban centers to contain riots in the year just before the Great War, leading to the American Army firing on its own citizens in certain circumstances.
All these events became meaningless in 2077, as the atomic holocaust wiped the slate clean, engulfing the world in flames and destroying human civilization as we know it.
Post-War America
However, as fate would have it, humanity survived the atomic catastrophe. Even the American federal government managed to survive and became the Enclave, the only known remnant of the pre-War government.
Surviving American citizens, particularly in what had once been the state of California, soon started rebuilding and eventually established the New California Republic.
The USA will be habitable by 2377, as stated in the Vault 101 PA System.
The Flag
The United States of the Fallout timeline, at least since the formation of the thirteen American commonwealths in the mid-twentieth century, uses a flag with either 12 or 13 stars in a circle, with one large central star.
Although Fallout 3's final version of 12 stars surrounding a 13th most closely resembles an obscure flag known as the Cowpens Flag, the flag with a circle of stars referenced by Fallout's opening cinematic is the considerably better known 'Betsy Ross' Flag. A flag with 13 stars and stripes, one for each of the original U.S. states, was mandated by the Second Continental Congress' Flag Resolution of 1777. As states were added to the Union, more stars were successively added to the flag until the flag of 50 stars was created in 1960.
The Cowpens was an American Revolutionary War-era flag used in the Battle of Cowpens, South Carolina in 1781 that resulted in one of the major victories of the young nation over its British mother country. The only difference between the Cowpens and Fallout flags is a much enlarged middle star used on the American flag in the Fallout universe, probably to represent the nation as a whole.
Appearances
The United States appears in all the Fallout games.
Behind the scenes
The initial idea of dividing the country into thirteen zones came from Leonard Boyarsky during the development of Fallout. In Fallout Bible 8 Tim Cain reported that Leon said he used that flag because it looked cool and he didn't want to use a standard U.S. flag with 50 stars. Eventually he planned to make up something about 13 super-states or something, but he never did. It was further elaborated upon by J.E. Sawyer, who broke up the U.S. into Commonwealths.
There is much misunderstanding about the number of stars on the flag and the corresponding zones, because not all of them are actually visible in the only available picture depicting it. Chris Avellone stated that there are 13 of them in Fallout Bible 8. He was "corrected" by Red, who sent him the picture with the location of 11 stars marked. In 2005, J. E. Sawyer tried to clarify the issue by saying that according to Tramell Ray Isaac, who rendered the intro cinematic for Fallout said that they just took the old colonial flag with 13 stars in a circle and added a new star in the middle.
Sawyer's explanation was widely accepted until 2008, when Bethesda Softworks released Fallout 3, which features a flag with 12 stars in a circle and one in the middle, which is currently the only version of the flag fully seen in a released game.