The games in the Fallout series are known for starting with the same declaration: "War... war never changes." The words were famously spoken by Ron Perlman (who has served as narrator for almost every game in the series thus far) and they allude to mankind's propensity for armed conflict through the ages.

That propensity would hit a crescendo on the October 23, 2077, in a two-hour conflict known as 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the Great War, a nuclear holocaust that left much of the world scarred and forced most of its survivors to live in underground vaults. While there's yet to be any game set during or immediately before the war itself, you can still piece together the chain of events that led to the conflict.

Updated April 28, 2024 by Dennis Moiseyev: The Fallout TV show came through and pleasantly surprised everyone, new fans and old fans of the games alike. It also delves deeper into the pre-war storyline to shed some light on some of the moves Vault-Tec was making in the events leading up to the Great War, along with introducing new important characters to the greater Fallout canon. All the new information has been added here!

The Prelude To The Great War

Following the events of World War 2 (which had ended with the bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki), scientists of the world saw other applications for nuclear technology outside of warfare.

This would help them realize the "world of tomorrow," an idyllic future where nuclear fusion is used to power everything fro✤m automobiles to robots. But as the technology in this alternate timeline progressed, so al🌺so did the strain on its dwindling resources.

By 2052, available resources were fast approaching critical levels, with 💙both America and China (the two largest superpowers) scramb𒁃ling to secure as much of what was left as possible.

In 2059, the U.S. established the Anchorage Front Line in Alaska, to help protect its oil reserves. But in 2066, Chinese forces would successfully invade the city, taking over those reserves. Under the command of 🌳General Constantine Chase, the U.S. Army was able to reclaim Anchorage.

But after expending billions of dollars on the cause, the larger Sino-American War didn't appear to have an end in sight. It wasn't until October 23, 2077, that things finally hit a breaking point.

The first nuclear missiles headed for America were detected by the Integrated Operational Nuclear Detection System at 09:13 EST. Not sure where the missiles had come from, a retaliatory strike was ordered by the U.S. government at 09:26 EST in accordance with scenario MX-CN91, with the end goal being mutually assured destruction.

Soon the whole world was engulfed in a rain of nuclear missiles that lasted two hours. By the time it was over, the damage was already done, and the wor🐷ld was fore♏ver changed.

Vault-Tec's Role In The Great War

The Fallout TV show gives you the biggest glimpse into the pre-war timeline yet, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:one of the many d🎃ifferences fro🌼m the games. You learn about some of the key players at Vault-Tec, like Barb Howard, Bud Askins, Betty Pearsꦇon, and Hank MacLea🌳n.

You also gain more insight into the company's scheming with regard to the vaults. Their ultimate goal is a full monopoly over restarting civilization in the wasteland, which is initiated by a project called 'Bud's Buds.'

This project was masterminded by Bud Askins, Vault-Tec's Senior Junior Vice President, and it sets aside Vaults 31, 32, and 33 to be combined into one systematic eugenic🐟s breeding ground, where Vault-Tec execs are unfrozen from cryo chambers over the years and members marry to make future generations of superior Vault-Tec loyalists to populate the Earth – "a true monopoly."

Vault-Tec believes this is the only way to end all global conflicts and conspires with other major corporations like Big MT, West Tek, REPCONN, and, of course, Rob-Co, with Mr. Ho🎀use at the table (a major character in Fallout: New Vegas).

To sell and advertise their vaults, Vault-Tec uses famed Hollywood actor Cooper Howard, who's also Barb's husband. Howard does a televised commercial for Vault 4, which would become home to more sinister experiments.

Cooper Howard is also the inspiration for the Vault Boy mascot's thumbs-up.

During this time, you also find out there's a resistance movement to Vault-Tec meeting at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. It's led by a scientist who studies cold fusion and who would later assume the identity of Lee Moldaver, the new leader of the NCR faction post-war in 2296.

To ensure total control of cold fusion and further display its efforts to establish a monopoly, Vault-Tec has also bought up all the cold fusion research companies. This effort would keep the energy 🥂source from the world and have the Sino-American war continue, so the corporation can turn a profit on its vaults and its vision for the future.

Theories About Who Started The Great War

There is much debate surrounding who actually launched the first nuclear missiles that started the Great War. The games themselves have purposely left this detail vague and open to interpretation.

That said, there are a number of hints and nudges sprinkled throughout the series t𒈔hat help paint a picture 🐲of what might have happened. What follows are some of the more prominent and interesting theories.

China Started The Great War

This is arguably one of the most widely accepted theories. Before the Great War, tensions between the U.S. and China were at an all-time high due mainly to the stalemate both countries had found themselves in after🍎 the U.S. won back Anchorage during the Sino-American War.

According to President Dick Richardson in Fallout 2, China had launched a preemptive nuclear strike against the U.S. on the morning of October 23, 2𝐆077. This is further supported by Switchboard terminal entries in Fallout 4.

Specifically, DEFCON Status - 2077 traces a chain of events that implies that a squadron of Chinese airplanes was responsible for the preemptive strike against the U.S.

P.A.M. Started The Great War

One debatable theory that has made waves takes root in Fallout 4. In that game, you meet a robot known as P.A.M. (short for Predictive Analytic Machine🐟) that was to help the Defense Intelligence Agency predict the likelihood of a preemptive nuclear strike.

With access to massive databases, P.A.M. was able to make such predictive calculations, although these were still subject to human unpredictability. In a bid to remove 'the human element' from her calculations, it is believed that P.A.M. might have actually fed the U.S. false information about the impending nuclear strikes recorded in DEFCON Status - 2077.

This then forced the country to retaliate to an attack that was probably never going to happen and set into motion the chain of events that resulted in the Great War.

Another Country Started The Great War

While much focus has been given to the Sino-American War in the Fallout games, there were several other conflicts that fed that war or happened in conjunction with it.

The U.S. had infamously annexed Canada. The Euro-Middle Eastern War had the European Commonwealth going against the Middle E𒐪ast over dwindling resources.

All these factors no doubt meant there were other nations that stood to gain from watching China and the U.S. destroy one another — Russia, North Korea, and even Mexico.

Of course, the evidence for this ad♊mittedly inconclusive theory hinges on the ciꦫrcumstantial over anything concrete.

Vault-Tec Started The Great War

After watching the show, this theory looks more likely. There's one scene in particular where Barb Howard asserts how "war never chaꦐnges" and that Vault-Tec dropping a nuclear bomb themselves would be the only right solution to ensure their uto💧pian plan and the va♌ults come to fruition.

The investors needed some reassurance for their skepticism about the vaults being something that would be worth it for them, and Barb says the only way to guarantee they work is to be the catalyst and launch the bombs to force the vaults to go into effect before anyone else can.

However, the showrunners and many fans were quick to note this isn't definitive proof of Vault-Tec being directly culpable. It was a hypothetical statement made by Barb Howard, maybe a bit too rash even. You also have to consider Barb's ex-husband and daughter Janey were outside and caught off guard when the bombs exploded in Los Angeles.

According to , the first strike was actuꦺally made by Vault-Tec, whose executives had agreed to kickstart the Great War in a bid to fulfill their own prophecy.

Aliens Started The Great War

In the Fallout 3 add-on, Mothership Zeta, the Lone Wanderer is abducted by aliens. And as you💙 might expect, the very existence of extraterrestrials in the larger Fallout canon has fueled speculation as to what role they might have had to play in the events that led to the♎ Great War.

While the events in the game take place several years after the Great War, this doesn't preclude that they might have had a vested interest in human affairs prior to that.

In particular, it was inferred that the aliens from Zeta had been probing humans prior to the War💫 and that they might have in fact come into possession of🍃 the nuclear launch codes.

There was also an audio log that seemed to insinuate that some soldiers might have been forced to launch the missiles that started the Great War while under mind control by the Zetans. None o𒁃f this is explicitly stated though, like many of the other💯 theories surrounding the Great War.

Conclusion

From all the different theories covered above, there is no clear answer to the question of who started the Great War.

While China remains the most likely culprit going by the information found in the games (and the fact 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:original series creator Tim Cain said 𝔉so), other countries and parties like Vault-Tec also stood to gain from the conflict by way of increased relꦿevance or even control in a post-Great War world.

The show makes it only more compelling that Vault-Tec is the primary suspect behind the Great War, yet still keeps you guessing like in the games. Even the U.S. can't be completely absolved, as it too could have been seeking to gain the upper hand in an exchange it already saw as inevitable.

Ultimately, we may never definitively know who started the Great War. But now that Fallout has been picked up for Season Two, you can only hope that more d💦etails surrounding the events that led up to the Great War will be further explored to provide a much clearer picture.