Great War

The Great War (not to be confused with World War I or World War II), started (and ended) on October 23rd, 2077. It is not known, however, who dropped the first bomb. It lasted a very brief amount of time, but was unbelievably destructive. More energy was released in the early moments of The Great War than all previous conflicts combined.

The situation leading to the war included China invading Alaska, and the United States annexing Canada. The European Commonwealth disbanded and a worldwide conflict followed when each country tried to gather what natural resources it could. This period was known as the Resource Wars.

The Great War itself began when the nukes were launched, and lasted about two hours until the world fell into darkness. Yet, the world was not completely devastated. Somehow, humanity was able to survive and eke out an existence among the ruins, establishing communities and even cities. Cities were not completely obliterated either, and some areas such as Washington DC had entirely intact buildings.

Many citizens did not heed the air raid sirens, as they believed it was just another drill. The Vaults (not including Vault 12, which was never intended to shut) sealed themselves as the Earth burned.

A few citizens that took the air raid sirens seriously, but did not have access to vaults, made their way to various locations that they felt would be safe from the bombs, like sewers and subway stations, or in the case of the Keller Family, the National Guard Depot. However, without a VERY strong outer shield to defend them from both the blast and the heat of the blast(such as lamplight caverns), very few would survive at trying this.

Those who had already earned their admission into the Vaults went into them. Those who did not, however, were left to the mercy of the bombs and their own nearby fallout shelters. A woman named Carol in Underworld on Fallout 3 claims "My family did not have much money, so we could not get into a vault." It seems only the moderately wealthy could get into a Vault at the time.

In Fallout 3, various bones that look like they could be pre-war can be found in the tunnels, along with old beds, and desks. This may imply that some citizens tried to live out their lives underground. It would explain how several above-ground communities started again, as anyone on the surface would have been annihilated by the nuclear blasts and the resulting fires and radiation.

A week after the bombs fell, rain started to pour, but, sadly, none of it was drinkable. The rain was black; coated with soot, ash, radiation, and other chemicals found in nuclear weapons (TNT must have been in it too.) The rain lasted days, and thousands of species, be it animal, plant or microbiotic, went extinct in the first few days. Those who remained after the rain were left to the harsh Wasteland.

The effects of the nuclear holocaust lasted for 200 years. Many in the fallout universe believe that any chance of the world recovering is non-existent. Very few parts of the world (mainly human settlements) were in any way successful. In fact, the only places in the Fallout universe capable of maintaining seemingly acceptable lives are Tenpenny Tower and Oasis. But these successes are dependent on the character's choices during certain quests.

After the bombs fell, the world "Fell under a blanket of nuclear fire and radiation, and was silent for many years to come".