Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Fallout Season 1.
Fallout Season 1 (like the video games that inspired it) takes place in a post-apocalyptic, irradiated hellscape. So, what caused Fallout‘s nuclear war?
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Fallout’s Nuclear War, Explained
Fallout‘s nuclear war (known in-universe as “The Great War”) occurred on October 23, 2077. It was fought between the US and China and lasted for two harrowing hours. During this brief window, both nations bombarded each other and the other countries of the world with nukes. They also tossed some biological and chemical weapons into the mix, demonstrating a profound ignorance of the term “overkill.” Collectively, this cocktail of warheads and other WMDs decimated the global population and wreaked havoc on Earth’s natural environment. And so was born the Wasteland.
But what actually started the Great War? As you’d expect, the answer is a bit complicated, but it basically boils down to scarcity of resources. By 2066, the world’s oil supply had dried up for good. The US, however, still had some oil reserves tucked away, which China – heavily reliant on oil, unlike the more nuclear power-dependent Americans – coveted. This prompted the Chinese to invade Alaska, kicking off the Sino-American War, which, in turn, gave way to the Great War. Don’t think the US was blameless, though. The good ol’ US of A morphed into an authoritarian dictatorship long before the nukes started flying, and its belligerent attitude ensured peace was never an option.
Fallout Season 1 adds an interesting and somewhat controversial wrinkle to the events outlined above. While the Fallout games previously established that China launched the Great War’s first warhead, the Prime Video series indicates that Vault-Tec actually pressed “Fire” first. Why? To ensure the success of their Vault survival shelters, of course. That said, Fallout Season 1 is unclear on the specifics of Vault-Tec’s nuking activities, so it’s impossible to say just yet whether this revelation contradicts the franchise’s existing continuity.
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How Many People Survived the Great War in Fallout?
Fallout canon doesn’t supply an exact number of Great War survivors. At least 2,000-3,000 US-based folks survived in Vault-Tec’s underground Vault bunkers. Small pockets of the population who lived outside the major cities targeted during the nuclear strikes made it out alive, too. The same goes for some prominent Wasteland factions, such as the Brotherhood of Steel – their ranks emerged largely unscathed. Then there are the ghouls: unfortunate souls who weren’t killed in the blasts, but rather grotesquely mutated by the resulting radiation, instead.
Related: When Does Fallout Season 1 Come Out?
As confirmed in pre-release materials, Fallout Season 1 spotlights survivors from across all of these groups. That said, while the show is part of the official Fallout canon, it takes place over 200 years after the nuclear war. As such, the population size it depicts doesn’t reflect what things were like in the direct aftermath of the Great War. But based on what we know from the games and show, the total survivor count is likely in the millions – a fraction of Earth’s 8 billion-strong headcount today.
Fallout Season 1 is streaming now on Prime Video.
The above article was updated on 4/11/2024 by Leon Miller to add information about the Nuclear War in Fallout Season 1.
