United States



The United States of America was a pre-war federal republic and one of the last surviving economies in the wake of the energy crisis. As the resources depleted, America became increasingly isolationist and aggressive towards other countries and its own citizens in their pursuit of tapping the last remaining sources of crude oil and uranium worldwide. This put them at odds with China, the second biggest economy, with their relations eventually breaking down and war out.

The commonwealths
Prior to the Great War, the United States had an intermediate level of government between the state and federal powers. The nation was divided into thirteen commonwealths. The United States flag was changed as well. Accordingly, the new flag depicted thirteen stars - twelve in a circle and one in the middle.

It was believed that the new administrative division of the country would help create legislation broad enough to affect states with common concerns, but narrow enough to leave dissimilar states alone. In reality, it created even more strife, as commonwealths typically did everything they could to promote their own interests at the expense of other commonwealths. The thirteen commonwealths were:


 * Columbia - Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia
 * East Central – Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee
 * Eastern – West Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York
 * Four States – Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico
 * Gulf – Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida
 * Midwest – Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan
 * New England – Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut
 * North – Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota
 * Northwest – Northern California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska
 * Plains – Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma
 * Southeast – Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina
 * Southwest – Southern California, Nevada, Hawaii
 * Texas – Texas, Arkansas

Canada
It is unknown whether there were any changes to that after the annexation of Canada. It is possible that Canada was under military rule until annexation was finalized (2075 or 2076). Because of the number of its population Canada was equal to U.S. Commonwealths. Borders corrections were also possible, e.g. concerning Alaska and the pipelines.

Federal government
Pre-war federal government was not too different from 20th century America, albeit with certain differences. Mentioned branches of the government include two concerned with military affairs: the War Department and Department of Defense, responsible for overseeing various research projects, from HERMES to the West Tek T-51b Power Armor.

Other mentioned are the Department of Energy (or Water and Power), together with various governmental agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Unamerican Activities Force, Secret Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Drugs, Tobacco, Firearms and Lasers and the United States Space Agency. The legislative branch was still composed of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Armed Forces
The United States Armed Forces were the overall unified military forces of the United States before the Great War, composed of the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States Air Force. The President served as the Commander-in-chief of the military, with the Secretary of War, Department of War acting as the principal organ by which military policy was carried out.

After the Great War, the Enclave Armed Forces are their direct descendant. The Brotherhood of Steel, on the other hand, was started by former U.S. soldiers that rebelled against their unethical orders.

The Enclave


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 "firestorm" of 2077.

In 2073, as the global race to exploit the handful of remaining natural 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 U.S. energy concern, was contracted to build an oil rig and extract the oil. Before long, the oil ran dry and the oil rig was abandoned by Poseidon.

Come 2077, with total nuclear war rapidly arriving at America's doorstep, the President of the United States and a number of other United States government officials leave their posts to take refuge in a number of secret locations around the world. Among them was the Poseidon Oil Rig. Here, the President himself set up a secret base from which the USA could continue to exist and wage war on China, with the eventual goal of retaking the continental United States. From now on, the remnant of the government, survived on the oil rig, started to openly call itself the Enclave.

The Enclave mostly continued the pre-war government, making alterations to fit their smaller size and increase the fluidity of operations. Some new departments include the establishment of the Atomic Energy Commission and the Chemical Corps.

Pre-War
Ever since the 1950s, America sought to become the sole remaining superpower in the world, aiming to control resources and other countries, possibly due to the Enclave formed within its highest echelons (the origin of the shadow government is unknown). In the 21st century this trend became even more apparent, as the Resource Wars raged in Europe and the United Nations broke down, the United States found itself with no real rival on the global scene...except China.

However, the energy crisis hit the mighty nation harder than expected, coupled with the outbreak of the New Plague in 2053. A year later, nuclear exchange in the Middle East prompts the establishment of Project Safehouse, to create 122 shelters to save a select portion of the American society. Five years later, in order to protect its Alaskan interests, the United States established the Anchorage Front Line, to defend its stockpiles of oil from potential invaders.

A year later, as stockpiles of oil ran dry and underground reservoirs emptied, the economy ground to a halt, people stopped traveling by car and pressure on researching alternative sources of energy (as late as it happened) increased. To maintain its status as a superpower in spite of the crisis, the USA expands its military and commissions West Tek to create powered armor, intended to replace tanks on the battlefield. This project eventually proves to be the salvation of American industry, as in summer of 2066, the first crude fusion cell is developed.

This fact, coupled with American unwillingness to share the world's last untapped oil field in the Pacific Ocean, prompt China to declare open war against USA and attack Alaska in 2066. The initial campaign is successful, but soon, Chinese and American soldiers find them bogged down in a war of attrition, with both sides unable to gain any sort of meaningful advantage over the other. Even the mighty T-45d Power Armor units don't tip the scales, as China's Crimson Dragoon units rampage behind American lines, disrupting logistics and transport.

America's nearest neighbor, Canada, was unwilling to accept the aggressive behavior of the United States, but faced with almost open hostility, it relented, allowing American troops and planes pass freely through its territory. This led directly to the annexation of Canada in 2076.

War and the energy crisis took a toll on US citizens, together with FEV research being leaked into mainstream news, throwing the country into turmoil. 400 million citizens are becoming increasingly restless and U.S. Army is deployed to contain riots...facing their own countrymen.

All these events became meaningless in 2077, as the atomic holocaust wipes the slate clean, engulfing the world in flames and destroying human civilization.

Post-war
However, as life has it, humanity survived. Even the American government managed to survive; the shadow government (the Enclave) anticipated such a turn of events and by 2077 they have already retreated to secure locations in mainland America and other locations, making them continuations of the pre-war federal government.

Surviving American citizens, California in particular, have soon started rebuilding and eventually established the New California Republic.

Fallout 3

 * In Andale, Jack Smith states they live in the "Commonwealth of Virginia" having claimed to participate in an election. However, whether it's true or not is doubtful the name had to come from history and was likely the pre-war political division. Furthermore the matter is complicated as the current state of Virginia is officially the Commonwealth of Virginia. So it is unclear whether he is referring to the modern state borders or whether the territory was expanded.


 * D.C is mentioned however, it is not explained whether it is still an independent district. Furthermore Maryland is not mentioned at all so it is likely that the two were absorbed into Virginia it (probably) would align to the "Columbia Commonwealth". (Desmond mentions in Point Lookout that the Calvert family used to own half of Maryland, back when there was a Maryland to own.)

The Flag


The United States of the Fallout timeline, at least since the formation of the Commonwealths seems to use the highly obscure Cowpens Flag, used in the battle of Cowpens, South Carolina in 1781 and one of the major victories of the young nation.

The only difference is a much enlarged middle star.

Appearances in games
All Fallout games so far take place in the territory of the former United States. In Fallout 3, the Commonwealth flag can be seen in old U.S. propaganda posters with a US soldier in power armor holding it. It also appears, hanging on the wall, in the Arlington library(among other fallout 3 locations).

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 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. Соединённые Штаты Америки