Great War

The Great War, and simply referred to as The War, was a global thermonuclear war that took place on Saturday, October 23, 2077, caused by the Sino-American War. It resulted in the destruction of all participating nations and abroad, global disruption of the climate and billions of casualties as a result of nuclear blasts, exposure to radiation and the subsequent collapse of social and government structures, all within the span of just two hours.Fallout introFallout history marketing picture The United States of America and the rest of the world were transformed into a wasteland. Even 200 years later, the consequences of the Great War can still be felt in the form of lingering radiation, sickness and disease, mutated monsters, environmental degradation, and scarce resources resulting in violent lawlessness.
==Prelude==
The nuclear holocaust was a direct result of the decade-long conflict that left both the United States and China exhausted. By 2077, a combination of attrition, loss of supply routes, and offensives conducted by the United States across the front left Chinese units in Alaska stranded and cut off from reinforcements. The liberation of Anchorage spearheaded by winterized T-51 power armor units under the command of General Constantine Chase marked the end of the Battle of Anchorage, after a decade of war.Capitol Post terminal entries; Capital Post Top Stories -- January 11, 2077, Commies Crushed - Alaska Liberated!Capitol Post newspaper Monday, January 11, 2077.Fallout 3 Official Game Guide Game of the Year Edition p.43: "Chinese Army (Simulated)U.S. Army (Simulated)With conditions deteriorating between the United States and China, a military presence in Alaska was established to prevent a possible invasion across the Bering Strait. With increasingly scarce oil reserves, a last deep-sea deposit below the Pacific Ocean was claimed by China before allegedly being sabotaged by American special operatives. Strained relationships spiraled downwards into escalated conflict, as China marched on Alaska, and the Sino-American War of 2066—2077 erupted. Under the command of General Jingwei, the Chinese Army usurped control of Alaska's oil pipeline and reserves. In response, the Americans had begun what came to be called "The Alaskan Reclamation Operation" (2067—2077).Under the leadership of General Constantine Chase, the U.S. Army battled fiercely to the front lines of the conflict before General Chase deployed specialized power armor units that began pushing the Chinese back. Future power armor suits were further refined as the conflict dragged on, and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline was reclaimed. With resources flowing through Canada, strained diplomatic tensions between Canada and the United States becoming problematic, and as the Canadian forces attacked the pipeline, the country was annexed.A combination of inclement weather, constant American bombardment and trench warfare, and U.S. powered armor unit attacks sweeping through mainline China, the Chinese supply lines weakened and finally broke down completely. By the beginning of 2077, the city of Anchorage was finally liberated, the Chinese invaders eradicated, and the operation had been deemed a success. A commemorative memorial was erected in Washington, D.C., in honor of the soldiers who fought and perished for the greater American good. Violence between America and pockets of Canadian freedom fighters continued throughout 2077, until the Great War obliterated almost all infrastructure, commerce, and human life."(Fallout 3 Official Game Guide faction profiles) 
The campaign in mainland China, which began in 2074Fallout Bible 0: "2074 Contrary to their claims of seeking only to retake Alaska from the Reds, American Power Armor units, infantry, and mechanized divisions are deployed to China, but they become bogged down on the mainland, putting a further drain on American resources and supply lines." and included deployments in Shantou,Boston Bugle building terminal entries; Boston Bugle article terminal, Article 2: China Showdown - the Atomic Ultimatum was reinvigorated by gaining ground in Alaska and the deployment of T-51 units. However, as American soldiers pushed deeper into the mainland, Chinese resistance increased. By October, the situation transitioned from a rout into a stalemate.Newscaster: "And now, our exclusive coverage of the continuing volatile situation with Communist China. Chinese forces may have finally been driven from Anchorage, but the conflict has transitioned into a frighteningly tense stalemate. With diplomacy all but suspended, and conventional warfare taking a historic toll on both sides, many have wondered if the good old U-S-of-A hasn't finally entered into a fight it just can't win."(Newscaster's dialogue) Despite a decade of war, there was no end in sight. Billions of dollars and thousands of casualties were spent in vain, despite taxes and various wartime revenues ensuring the federal government was able to fund a standing army the likes of which the United States had never seen before.Boston Bugle building terminals; Boston Bugle article terminal, article 2 In a desperate attempt to bolster the offensive and break the stalemate, bases across the United States were sealed and troops were redeployed.Sierra mission statement
The situation was made worse by the fact that the oligarchs ruling the United States retreated to remote locations around the globe, expecting a last-ditch nuclear strike from China at any moment. The oil rig off the Californian coast was claimed by the president and key members of the junta, a group which would later become the foundation of the Enclave.Fallout Bible 0: "2077 March Prepared for a nuclear or biological attack from China, the president and the Enclave retreats to remote sections around the globe and make contingency plans for continuing the war." The United States was leaderless, continuing on simply due to inertia. In 2065, Robert House arrived at the conclusion that a nuclear war was inevitable by 2080 or sooner.The Courier: "You say that you saved Las Vegas. How?"Robert House: "By 2065 I deemed it a mathematical certainty that an atomic war would devastate the Earth within 15 years. Every projection I ran confirmed it. I knew I couldn't "save the world," nor did I care to. But I could save Vegas, and in the process, perhaps, save mankind. I set to work immediately. I thought I had plenty of time to prepare. As it turned out, I was 20 hours short."(Robert House's dialogue) 
By 2077, Vault-Tec had begun stating the likelihood of nuclear war occurring by the year 2080 had been calculated to be the staggering odds of 17,443,762 to 1.Poster The corporation had been scheming with other entities such as RobCo and Big MT to finance their Vaults and firmly establish a monopoly. To this end, they offered to initiate a nuclear blast to kick off the Great War so as to ensure their investment would pay off, and eventually their experiments and individuals within the vaults would be able to take control of the surface, though it is not known if they ever had the chance to follow through on such a provocation.Fallout TV series, episode 8: "The Beginning"
==Events==
The war both began and ended on Saturday, October 23, 2077. Unknown submersible objects were sighted at 00:03 EST off the coast of California by the United States Pacific Fleet. At 03:37 EST, a squadron of high-altitude bombers were sighted off the Bering Strait and believed to be Chinese. At least one Chinese stealth submarine, the Yangtze, moved close to the American East Coast, launching all warheads, save for one, due to a malfunction.The Yangtze in Boston.Captain Zao: " "(Captain Zao's dialogue)
Six hours later, at 09:13 EST, the Integrated Operational Nuclear Detection System detected the first four missile launches and the United States went to DEFCON 2. Four minutes later, NORAD confirmation sealed the fate of the world. At 09:26 EST, the president ordered a retaliatory strike according to scenario MX-CN91.The Switchboard terminal entries; central terminal, DEFCON status - 2077 Nuclear bombs hit Pennsylvania and New York at 09:42 EST, followed by the west coast immediately after.The Lone Wanderer: "Do you remember the day the war started?"Carol: "I do... I was in a shelter with my father when the bombs hit. In DC, we had the luxury of getting a warning after the west coast was... gone... I was just a little girl then. We couldn't afford a space in one of the Vaults. I remember filing down into that shelter, my father rushing me in. He stopped to help this one family, and I looked up and called his name... there was a flash of light, brighter than anything you can imagine. I woke up a few hours later. The first thing I did was run up to where my father had been. He... he was gone. But the strangest thing... There was his shadow, burned into the wall, so crisp and clear like he was standing next to me. The heat had burned it into the concrete..."(Carol's dialogue) The bombs continued to drop and five minutes later, at 09:47 EST, Washington D.C. was hit and most American facilities went offline.Black Mountain terminal entries; terminal, log 672Black Mountain terminal entries; terminal, log 674Black Mountain terminal entries; terminal, log 675 The nuclear exchange continued for two hours. Both China and the United States suffered catastrophic losses.The Chosen One: "You can tell me just what's going on here."Dick Richardson: "You really don't know, do you? Let me tell you about mankind's salvation. A little history first..."The Chosen One: "Go on, Mr. President…."Dick Richardson: "There was a great war long before we were born. Our gallant soldiers fought from the Yukon to the Yangtze."The Chosen One: "Yeah, I knew about that part. Go on."Dick Richardson: "We were winning, too. And then those damn Reds launched everything they had. We barely got our birds up."The Chosen One: "Doesn't seem as though it helped us much."Dick Richardson: "Well, no it didn't. But at least it knocked the damn Red menace back into the stone age."The Chosen One: "And us with it."Dick Richardson: "Well, no. No... not quite. You see, we had planned ahead. We were ready."(Dick Richardson's dialogue)
The standard nuclear warhead used in the Great War was that of a strategic nuclear warhead ranging from 200-750 kilotons in explosive yield with high-yield variants found on Chinese submarines.Zao: "Ah... Now that is the right question to ask. 200 years ago, I launched all of Yangtze's high-yield nuclear missiles. As ordered."(Zao's dialogue) This was actually far worse for the Earth, as the lower yield warheads deposited more soil and debris into the lower atmosphere, resulting in a much more concentrated fallout that eventually enveloped the planet.Vault Dweller's Survival Guide p.11: The megaton class weapons have been largely retired, being replaced with much smaller yield warheads. The yield of a modern strategic warhead is, with few exceptions, now typically in the range of 200-750 kT. Recent work with sophisticated climate models has shown that this reduction in yield results in a much larger proportion of the fallout being deposited in the lower atmosphere, and a much faster and more intense deposition of fallout than had been assumed in studies made during the sixties and seventies. The reduction in aggregate strategic arsenal yield that occurred when high yield weapons were retired in favor of more numerous lower yield weapons has actually increased the fallout risk. The entire world was blanketed with multiple nuclear strikes, and the world and its entire ecosystem were irrevocably changed for centuries to come.
===Environment===
The results of the Great War were devastating, as they combined with biological and chemical weapons that saw widespread use during the Sino-American War.The Vault Dweller: "{What's causing all the mutations?"Vree: "Between the nuclear and biogenetic weapons used in the War, it's surprising we don't have more mutations. However, if we can hold out, everything will be ok."(Vree's dialogue) The changes in climate led to widespread alterations of the ecosystem. The new climate meant that many plants could no longer grow or be cultivated, ranging from common vegetables to specialized crops, such as coca plants or opium poppies.Myron: "Problem is, in the new climate, we can't grow most of the veggies needed for the best drugs.""Couldn't grow coca plants, opium poppies -- and man did we try -- so we figured our best bet was shrooms."(Myron's dialogue) Due to necessity, crop variants mutated by radiation were adopted by survivors, including mutated cabbage and maize. These cultivars thrived in the warm weather of the Southwest, with similar mutations proliferating across the colder climates of the northern reaches of the continent.Examine: "Plant""It looks like a mutated cabbage to you. It seems to be thriving in the warm weather."(Fallout scenery description)Examine: "Plant""A mutated cornstalk. It seems to be thriving under these conditions."(Fallout scenery description)
Animals were also adversely affected. The combination of radioactive fallout and various local mutagens, particularly the Forced Evolutionary Virus in New California, led to widespread genetic mutation. By 2080, new species were created almost overnight, replacing animals that had gone extinct or been out-competed. One mutated species to emerge from this melting pot of genotypes is the brahmin, a mutated cattle variant.Fallout Bible 9: "Brahmin are mutated brahmin cattle with two heads. If you just said, "hell, I thought brahmin were something from India," well, you'd be right. A bunch of brahmin made their way to the states long ago for crossbreeding purposes. When the bombs fell, brahmin grew two heads. They are quite hardy. They are also a delicious toasty brown, as you'll notice in the picture to the left. They attack by head-butting or trying to gore someone with their horns, so brahmin-tippers beware. For some reason, only the left-most brahmin head has horns, which raises some curious gender identity issues." Once the mutation stabilized, the brahmin turned out to be well suited for the harsh conditions of the wasteland, requiring little water and relatively small grazing areas, while providing plenty in return, including milk, meat, leather, bone, transportation, et cetera. As such, it rapidly became the most widespread livestock animal in New California, and the backbone of many a wasteland economy.The Vault Dweller: "What's a brahmin?"Billy: "What's a brahmin? You must be joking. Why they're one of the major food sources and forms of transportation around here. They haul the caravans. Dan says this is a really important job, but it's the Bone."(Billy's dialogue)Fallout Bible 9: "Brahmin serve a vital environmental niche in Fallout - they form the foundation of survival for many species in Fallout, most notably, humans. They also form the backbone of the NCR economy. They also form the backbone of the New Reno 'NCR brahmin rustling' economy."
===Humans===
The impact on humanity and civilization was painfully severe and traumatic. In the immediate chaos that ensued after the bombings, people began fighting each other for resources and what little shelter remained intact. Many survivors would then divide themselves into ragtag communities, or gangs of unscrupulous raiders. Diseases and illness became widespread, largely caused by the radiation. Suicide was common after the Great War, even decades later.Meg Groberg: "I knew a lot of people chose to end it all after the war. My own mother was in that boat. World's a depressing place now, but we gotta survive."(Meg Groberg's dialogue) Although emergency response units and elements of the National Guard were mobilized on the evening of October 22,Germantown police HQ terminal entries; terminal, Log 2 their ability to provide aid to victims and refugees was severely hampered by the lack of any centralized command and control, resulting from electromagnetic pulses which disabled most communications equipment.Cambridge Polymer Labs terminal entries; director's terminal, it was a warning Despite efforts by the military to bolster relief efforts,Germantown police HQ terminal entries; terminal, Log 3 the shock of the nuclear attack resulted in their morale crumbling and many deserting their posts.Germantown police HQ terminal entries; terminal, Log 4 By the time radiation sickness began to set in among victims of the attack, the situation had already become hopelessGermantown police HQ terminal entries; terminal, Log 5 as they were no longer receiving any supplies with which to aid the victims.Germantown police HQ terminal entries; terminal, Log 6 Whiskey and painkillers were the only care available to most patients.Germantown police HQ terminal entries; terminal, Log 7
Those who lived outside of major cities or managed to escape them in the narrow window of time granted by the sirens faced a much better chance of survival. However, one exception of Las Vegas was spared a direct nuclear strike, thanks to Robert House, who disabled or destroyed 68 out of the 77 warheads heading for the city.The Courier: "What preparations did you make to save Las Vegas?"Robert House: "On the day of the Great War, 77 atomic warheads targeted Las Vegas and its surrounding areas. My networked mainframes were able to predict and force-transmit disarm code subsets to 59 warheads, neutralizing them before impact. Laser cannons mounted on the roof of the Lucky 38 destroyed another 9 warheads. The rest got through, though none hit the city itself. A sub-optimal performance, admittedly. If only the Platinum Chip had arrived a day sooner..."(Robert House's dialogue) Although suffering from the sudden loss of access to water, food and medical care, these survivors went on to found new communities across the newly born wasteland, becoming the founding fathers of a new civilization struggling to rise from the ashes. These included Darkwater, the founder of Junktown, Angus of the Hub, the founders of Megaton and Diamond City, and so on and so forth.
Some of the less fortunate survivors on the surface turned into ghouls, a result of their exposure to radioactive fallout and/or thermal radiation from the blasts, with their horrifying appearance leading to a kind of racial prejudice among other human survivors.The Chosen One: "Tell me about this place."Wooz: "Not much to tell, really. Just a bunch of ghouls clinging tenaciously to the ass-end of life."The Chosen One: "No, I meant tell me about this bar."Wooz: "Well, the Harp’s named after a favorite hangout that I used to have before the war. I guess it’s just a reminder of times past. Sort of a joke on the only way we’re going to get a better deal, too."The Chosen One: "Before the war? But that was a long time ago."Wooz: "It sure was a long time ago. How do you think ghouls are made? You think some of us just got up one fine day and said to ourselves: "Gee, I wonder what it’d be like to have my flesh rotting off my fucking body?""The Chosen One: "Well, no, I didn’t. Say, how do you make a ghoul?"Wooz: "With silver-bells and cockleshells and… Boy, you are dumb, aren’t you? Severe radiation. That’s how. How do you think? You know, many bombs go boom, flash of light and heat, flesh burns off, but you don’t-quite-die-type severe radiation?"The Chosen One: "Uh well, I mean…"Wooz: "Well, I didn’t think so. Fuck you very much for bringing back all those intensely painful memories. Asshole. We’re a town of fucking leftovers -— slightly overcooked leftovers."The Chosen One: "I prefer medium-rare myself. Hey, let me ask you something else."(Wooz's dialogue) 
A relative few were able to reach safety in underground vaults constructed by the Vault-Tec Corporation at the behest of the federal government, with most often trading suffering on the surface for suffering in confinement, due to the social experimentation that had been initiated by the forebears of the Enclave.See Vault for references. Some refused to go into their assigned Vaults, believing that it was all just another drill, not realizing the truth of their situation until it was far too late.Fallout Bible 0: "2069 March Vault 13 is finally completed - it is the last of the Vaults, and drills begin. Due to its late completion, the "cry wolf" effect that hurt the other Vaults is not as pronounced."Fallout Bible 0: "2077 October 23 Great War: Bombs are launched; who struck first is unknown... and it is not even known if the bombs came from China or America. Air raid sirens sound, but very few people go into vaults, thinking it is a false alarm. The Vaults are sealed." Vaults that didn’t fail as a result of their experiments frequently became another source of civilization across the wasteland, such as Vault 15, whose inhabitants founded the village of Shady Sands (as well as the raider tribes of the Khans, the Vipers and the Jackals), the Los Angeles Vault, which led to the establishment of Adytum, and Vault 8, which led to the establishment of Vault City.
==Event time==
The beginning of Fallout 4 (2015) establishes the precise timeframe of the Great War: The game starts out in pre-War Boston in the morning, only moments before the bombs fall, showing that the Great War occurred at 9:47 AM Eastern time. New York and Pennsylvania were hit at 9:42 AM,The Switchboard terminal entries with Boston and Washington, D.C. being hit at 9:47 AM, five minutes after.War Never ChangesNewscaster: "Followed by... yes, followed by flashes. Blinding flashes. Sounds of explosions... We're... we're trying to get confirmation... But we seem to have lost contact with our affiliate stations... We do have... coming in... confirmed reports. I repeat, confirmed reports of nuclear detonations in New York and Pennsylvania. My God. Our soldiers were right: War. War never changes."(Newscaster's dialogue) This time was first presented in Fallout 3 (2008), in which all clocks are stuck at 9:47, and Carrie Delaney's recordings from Early Dawn's Saturday trip to Little LamplightJournal of Carrie Delaney (the same clocks were also reused , in the debris of Three Marys, with the same hour, despite being in a time zone 2 hours behind the East Coast). A ghoul, Carol, who recollects her survival of it to the player, claims that the west coast had been hit prior to D.C., and that an amount of time passed between the two, which allowed news to reach them, prompting them to enter fallout shelters.
The timeframe has been consistently maintained in subsequent games (e.g. a terminal in the Palace of the Winding Path states a group of technicians saw "bright lights on the horizon, and clouds of fire in the sky" during the morning of October 23)Palace of the Winding Path terminal entries; Guided meditation terminal with one exception: The opening narration (2011) states the bombs fell during the night ("On the night of October 23rd, 2077, the scientists received an answer that put all their questions to rest"). However, by 9:47 AM Eastern, dawn has already broke across the contiguous United States.Day and Night World Map This is the only exception, as (2010) Mr. House says that the platinum chip was to be delivered in the afternoon of October 23, "but by then, the world had ended."
==Notes==
In Fallout 76, there is a diary written by a survivor of the Great War named Ben who blames the American government for the Great War. It reads, "Capitalism stole my parents away from me. The government's greed and refusal to cooperate with China initiated the catastrophic war that ultimately claimed the lives of those dearest to me."
==Behind the scenes==
* In an interview in October 2022, when asked who started the Great War, Leonard Boyarsky stated that he thought it should not really matter who started it. Tim Cain said that his intention was that while China launched the first missile, the U.S. had been doing illegal biotech research and kept doing it after being exposed, which could be seen as a start to the Great War.Fallout at 25 Fallout Wiki roundtable However, Tim Cain also said that he is not in control of the Fallout canon anymore, saying that what Bethesda decides is canon.
** In an October 2023 interview, Tim Cain, regarding his original envisioning, said that China was the one who fired the first nuclear missile and thereby the originator of the nuclear exchange in the Great War; China was provoked into doing so after learning of the United States' development of the FEV. After receiving China's demand to stop development altogether, the United States only "moved it over," despite bio-weapons being outlawed.26 years later, original Fallout co-creator settles the RPG's biggest debate: who dropped the first nuke and why?
*** However, in the Fallout TV series, it is shown that Vault-Tec, at the very least, discussed initiating or provoking a nuclear exchange, if not implying that they played a direct role in the war themselves. The scene in the TV series is left only as a suggestion on the part of Vault-Tec, and it is not shown that Vault-Tec actually physically started the nuclear exchange. In reflecting on the series, Tim Cain commented that he believed Vault-Tec would not have gotten the chance to drop the first nuke, pointing out that Janey Howard would likely be in a Vault with Barb Howard, rather than attending a birthday party with her father, if Vault-Tec had not been caught off guard by the bombs.Original Fallout lead designer Tim Cain says he loved the TV show
*** In Fallout: New Vegas, Robert House said, "I thought I had plenty of time to prepare. As it turned out, I was 20 hours short." In the TV series, he was also part of the executive meeting. This supports Vault-Tec not dropping the first nuke.
* In a post on the Modiphius Discord server, Fallout developer Jesse Heinig said the following regarding the Great War: "Personally I think who started the war is kind of a less interesting question than 'what policy and agenda failures created conditions that drove to a global nuclear war'. Like, I feel (and I suspect Tim feels the same) that I'm less interested in who fired the first missile, than in what kind of jingoism, revanchism, imperialism, and bigotry created the climate in which people in power felt that destroying civilization was their best action compared to all other alternatives."Discord link
* The war is referred to as World War III on the Fallout Trilogy PC cover. In the Fallout intro, the narrator states that "the storm of world war had come again." 
* Within the abandoned script of the canceled Fallout movie, neither China, India, nor even North Korea launched the first bomb. It was the Vault 13 overseer, who is depicted as being the creator of the Vault-Tec Vaults, who launched the first bomb to fulfill his own prophecy of nuclear Armageddon.Fallout film treatment
** As previously mentioned, the Fallout TV series shows that Vault-Tec was at least interested in helping set the Great War in motion by some means, reasoning that with enough time, only Vault-Tec would eventually be left standing and would have near-total control of the surface. Barb Howard, however, only says it in the form of a suggestion. However, this concept is again alluded to when Bud Askins says "after we've wiped the surface clean" while speaking to Norm MacLean, although it is unclear if Askins meant Vault-Tec or humanity in general. Lee Moldaver also says, while discussing the fate of Shady Sands which was destroyed by a nuke, "That's how Vault-Tec deals with competition, just like they did 200 years ago."
==Gallery==
F1-intro-nuke.png|Fallout intro
F2-intro-nuke.png|Fallout 2 intro
Great War FoT.jpg|Fallout Tactics intro
FOBOS Great War.png|Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel intro
F3-nuke-intro.jpg|Fallout 3 intro
GreatWargraffiti.jpg|Great War graffiti in Fallout 3
FO3 GreatWarConceptart.jpg|Fallout 3 concept art by Adam Adamowicz
DM intro atom bomb.jpg|Dead Money intro
GreatWar OWB intro.jpg|Old World Blues intro
Fallout4 Concept Blast.jpg|Fallout 4 concept art at E3 2015
FO4 Trailer 02.10.png|Nuclear strikes on Boston
Fallout 4 Nuclear Detonation Pre-War Sanctuary Hills.png|Nuclear strikes on Boston
Fo4 Art T-minus 60 years! October 23, 2017.jpg|60 years to go! Concept art from Fallout Tweet, October 23, 2017
FO76 trailer mushroom cloud.png|Fallout 76 intro
FO76 trailer power armor overlook.png|Soldier witnessing the Great War in Fallout 76
FOTV Trailer 1 64.png|Fallout TV series trailer
Fallout Season 1 Amazon Great War.png|A nuclear detonation in Los Angeles, California
;Magic: The Gathering
Fallout Magic Nuclear Fallout.png|Nuclear Fallout
File:Fallout Magic Nuclear Fallout art.jpg|Card art
Fallout Magic Nuclear Fallout PipBoy.png|Showcase Pip-Boy Variant
Fallout magic Casualties of War.png|Casualties of War
Fallout magic Casualties of War Extended Art.png|Extended Art
Fallout magic Casualties of War art.jpg|card art
==References==
Non-game
Non-canon
 
Category:United States Armed Forces conflicts
Category:People's Liberation Army conflicts
de:Großer Krieg
es:Gran Guerra
fi:Suuri sota
fr:Grande Guerre
it:Grande Guerra
ja:Great War
ko:대전쟁
pl:Wielka Wojna
pt:Grande Guerra
ru:Великая война
sv:Det Stora Kriget
uk:Велика Війна
zh:Great War