United States of America

The United States of America was a pre-War federal republic and one of the last surviving economies in the wake of the mid-21st-century global energy crisis. Although mostly destroyed in the Great War, it would be preserved in spirit by many communities throughout the wastelands, most notably the New California Republic, which holds many of the same values as the pre-war US, and literally succeeded by the Enclave, the remnants of the pre-war government.

History
Little remains of the United States earliest historical events, though it was generally known to some in the Wasteland that a Civil War had been fought from 1861 to 1865, the South against the North. Remaining historical references included the Point Lookout national park and the numerous museums and memorials throughout the US, including the mysterious and elusive former Frumentarius Ulysses, who named himself after one of the generals who lead the North during the civil war, Ulysses S. Grant. The United States would go on to be a powerhouse of industrial output and economic progress throughout much of the 19th and 20th century, becoming a paragon of progress and achievement to the envy lesser nations. The US achieved many great feats, among the most impressive; sending the first man; Captain Carl Bell, into space in the Defiance 7 capsule, though he was killed upon his return to earth, and landing the first men on the moon during the successful Virgo II lunar lander mission for the USSA. The US also went through a cold war against the USSR and the People's Republic of China, something which left deep impressions on the US people and spread paranoia and mistrust on both peoples of all involved nations, though the USSR and the US later shared strong diplomatic relations, something that did not occur with China.

Thinly concealed tensions became clearer during the 21st Century, the US economy was experiencing a boom, with the glut of American stores and manufacturers selling or producing newer and more advanced technology for the public of the United States. The American public welcomed advancements from RobCo, Chryslus and Med-Tek, with RobCo producing new and advanced robot technology, and personal information processors, which were a resounding success with both the public sector and military sector. Chryslus Highwaymanand Corvega automobiles traveling at speed down sprawling highways, and Medical advancements that helped the sick or kick drug addiction habits, even boosting mental capacity, such as Mentats. The United States was the hotbed of commercial and industrial development, with prestigious education environments such as the Commonwealth Institute of Technology and many other prestigious education centers fueling Americas march in to the 21st century.

Though by 2052, the dwindling resources of the world was beginning to make its presence felt, with American households noting the steadily rising prices and the inflating market for fossil fuels and brief Nuclear exchanges in January of 2054 raising fears in the United States, setting Project Safehouse in motion, the US also began noting the rising desperation of its old communist foe, China. The United States fortified Alaska against invasion, raising tensions between Canada and the United States, though alternatives for automobiles were being explored such as microfusion and electric powered, even as early as the 2030's some companies began using an early from of micro-fusion technology as an alternative power source their automobiles, though these suffered unexplained detonations due to the still experimental technology, though the US economy still remained teetering on bankruptcy. The first stable microfusion technology came in to being in 2066, raising some hopes of a new alternative fuel being found in the time of crisis for much of the depleted fuel market. However, tensions between America and China exploded in the winter of 2066 and resulted in relatively isolationist America being drawn in to a war of attrition, China invaded Alaska in a desperate bid to seize Alaska's remaining oil resources. This saw the first of many pitched battles taking place across the state, the defending US garrisons being quickly overrun and forced back to the border of Canada, where they finally halted Chinese advance, Canada itself proved reluctant to allow US forces through its territory and by 2067; the United States annexed its neighbor, announcing that the continent would be one unified state against the Chinese invaders, though Canadians viewed it as a ruthless bid for America to retain her hold on the remaining oil in its borders.

The United States made many advancements in the fields of military technology, with daring men firing Nuclear war heads on shoulder mounted launchers whilst soldiers armed with laser weaponry marched across war torn landscapes, turning foes to nothing more than ash as they advanced, perhaps the most impressive display of American exceptionalism was the invention of Power Armor technology; the earliest display of these mechanized mobile tanks was during the Alaska campaign, where the T-45d saw its first use in the field, replacing the older, more costly methods of warfare, whilst the Chinese had their own brand of eccentric genius which birthed the Hei Gui Stealth Suit, the Chinese were however hard pressed to match the advantage of time that the United States had possessed when creating their Power Armor.

With these advancements, the United States made slow but steady advances into Alaska, and made quick work of defending Chinese forces, and with the command of veteran General Constantine Chase, US forces were outside of Anchorage by 2070, and in 2073, American forces had landed on the Chinese mainland, despite government claims that the US forces only sought to retake Alaska and remove Chinese forces from US soil. US negotiations with other world powers came to a dramatic conclusion on June 24th with the President of the United States walking out of the talks and declaring that any remaining petroleum supplies within the United States borders, would belong solely to the United States. In June of 2076, the final icon of American ingenuity and exceptionalism was created; the T-51b. This powered suit of bulletproof armor would be the pinnacle of American power armor technology, until the creation of the T-60, which would see limited circulation in the fighting for both Alaska and China but mostly for deployment to control domestic riots over food and perceived brutality of Law enforcement and Military units deployed at home, which in turn forced the government to take steps to further increase military authority. Regardless, the T-51b remained the singular most common powered armor variant across the east coast of the United States. By January 10th of 2077, the US forces under General Chase had all but reclaimed Anchorage and successfully dislodged Chinese forces from Alaska, with war weary American citizens hoping that the overt conflicts in the pacific would soon be over. The belief was shared by some American companies, such as Nuka Cola who began shipping a new product; Nuka Cola Quantum around the country, and the new Virtual Reality Simulation of the Anchorage reclamation goes underway, with General Constantine Chase takes a deep interest in the progress of the Simulation, and a new airborne unit, in its late prototype stages; the VB-02 Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) craft, code named 'Vertibird', was to enter military service as a tilt-wing aircraft, and fuel efficient air frame for the US Military, due in 2085, though it was being fielded in limited numbers as a means of long range aircraft for the US Armed Forces as early as 2077.

However, on October 23rd of 2077, the Great War annihilated the United States, destroying any notion of 'victory' that the American people had in mind, with little knowledge of the United States government being left over from before the War. The modern Enclave claimed to have been a immediate continuation of the United States, backing up this claim with its abundance of technological wonders, including their fleet of Vertibirds and Advanced Power Armor Mk I, though some dissidents of the wasteland argue that it takes more than a few vertibirds and some of the latest technological terrors to be a government of the people.

Departments and Agencies

 * Armed Forces
 * War Department
 * Department of Defense
 * Department of Agriculture
 * Department of Energy
 * Department of Water and Power
 * Unamerican Activities Force
 * Bureau of Alcohol, Drugs, Tobacco, Firearms and Lasers
 * Defense Intelligence Agency
 * Secret Service
 * United States Space Administration
 * Federal Fitness Registry
 * National Catastrophe Relief Auxiliary

The American Commonwealths
Prior to the Great War in 2077, the United States had an intermediate level of government between the 50 states and the federal government. The nation was divided in to 13 commonwealths sometime after World War II ended in 1945 but before the Virgo II mission landed Americans on the Moon in July 1969. The United States flag was changed as well to reflect the new political reality. Accordingly, the new flag depicted fourteen stars - thirteen in a circle to represent the commonwealths and one in the middle to represent the federal government and the nation as a whole

It was hoped that the new administrative division of the country would help create legislation broad enough to benefit those states with common regional concerns, but narrow enough not to affect those states with dissimilar interests or political cultures, which would help the nation better meet the challenges posed by the Communist threat to American democracy. In reality, it created even more political strife in the American government, as commonwealths typically did everything they could to promote their own interests at the expense of other commonwealths. The thirteen American commonwealths were: