Fallout: A history of the Resource wars

by WilliamHaig

The Resource wars that engulfed the world in the 21st century would see mankind and all its civilisations laid into utter ruin. This series of inter-connected conflicts would see fighting in almost every corner of the Earth and even beyond, as the squabbling nation-states fought over the last remaining resources to fuel their crumbling economies. This is a history of that era.

Part one of an idea that's been kicking around in my head for a while. I've always loved fallout and I love alternative history, and the pre-war story of the fallout world has always been extremely fascinating to me. So without further ado, here is part one of the Resource wars this chapter focusing on the European Commonwealth.

Please let me know what you think all feedback welcomed.

Fallout: A history of the Resource Wars.

War. War never changes. Since the dawn of time man has fought and killed man. Though the weapons may change, reasons do not. Land, resources and power. For these reasons in the 16th Century the Ottoman Empire would crush the Balkans, Napoleon would launch a war of conquest that saw almost all of Europe subdued and finally in the 21st century it would once again see the world collapse into global war as nation fought nation over the dwindling resources of the planet.

The Resource wars that engulfed the world in the middle of the 21st century would see mankind and all its civilisations laid into utter ruin. This series of inter-connected conflicts would see fighting in almost every corner of the Earth and even beyond, as the squabbling nation states fought over the last remaining resources to fuel their crumbling economies.

This is where our story begins, not in the desolate wastelands of North America, but before the Great war of 2077. The Resource wars were in their scope the largest and bloodiest conflicts in human history, which would ultimately lead to the near extinction of mankind. This is the story of those wars, from the infamous Sino-American war, the bloody but largely forgotten struggle by the European Commonwealth to control the depleting oil reserves of the middle east. all the way to the Indo-Iranian-Pakistani war and beyond. The wars began with massive modern conventional forces smashing against one another, but as fuel and social order broke down so too did the various combatants.

Although these wars sealed the fate of the Civilisations that fought them, the after effects of these wars would echo throughout history as a grim reminder even after the apocalypse. The Resource wars ended in 2077 when China and the United States unleashed their nuclear arsenals upon one another, for even though man had almost destroyed the world after the end of it all, man would still fight one another for war….war never changes.

++++++++ROBCO Industries Unified OPERATING SYSTEM++++++++

++++++++COPYRIGHTED 2075-2077 ROBCO INDUSTRIES++++++++

++++CONTROL STATION: ENCLAVE++++

++++UNITED STATES OFFICE OF THE HISTORIAN++++

-19/03/2080-

ADMINISTRATOR: Colonel J. Clark.

PASSWORD: ************

Access Historical Records

American history

World History

WW1

WW2

Russo-American Cold War

Sino-American Cold War

Resource wars

2020s

2030s

2040s

2050s

Major Powers of the 21st Century

United States of America

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

People's Republic of China

United Arab Republic

Caliphate of Arabia

State of Iran

Union of India

Commonwealth of Australasia

Union of South Africa

Rhodesia

Yugoslavia

European Commonwealth

Accessing file…

European Commonwealth Summary

++++Overseers notes++++

THREAT ASSESSMENT: N/A

The European Commonwealth had its roots in a series of what were initially only Franco-German treaties but eventually came to encompass most of Western Europe. The Most common agreed starting point of the Commonwealth being the European Coal, Steel and Uranium Community treaty of 1959. This treaty would lay the ground work for what would go on to be a federalised European state. This treaty was later expanded on with a common market agreement in 1962 and finally in 1973 a unified monetary policy under the Euro-dollar. The European Common Army had its roots in the joint Anglo-French army that was formed for the invasion of Egypt during the Suez crisis of 1956, the French and British managed to succeed in securing the canal, but at the cost of massively angering the United States, who would over the coming decades gradually drift away from its former European allies.

The individual nations of Europe would experience many hardships in the mid 20th century wrecked by political and economic turmoil as bar a few exceptions the Colonial powers of Europe would experience the utter collapse, of their colonial empires. Many colonies fell to nationalistic independence movements or due to rebellions and insurgencies by Communist insurgents backed by the USSR and China. By 1963 with the exception of French Guiana, French Somaliland and the Anglo-French canal zone, all European colonies would either become independent or as was the case with Hong Kong which was handed over by a reluctant British government in 1975 due to ongoing economic instability fall to foreign powers. Faced with the loss of their colonies, economic challenges, increasing assertiveness of China on the world stage, the continuing threat of the USSR and the growing indifference the United States held towards Europe after the detente between the United States and Soviet Union in 1991. The Western European nations in 1992, finally began efforts towards unification forming a common political structure and military in addition to its unified economic policy.

This unification process was not smooth however, many nations had movements that were bitterly against Commonwealth integration, with two notables being the United Kingdom where civil war was narrowly averted after a very narrow referendum win where parliament agreed to integrate into Europe and Italy which did suffer a very, very brief civil war after a military coup deposed the pro EC government. National Parliaments and government would still exist after the initial unification but would be subservient to the European central government which was jointly based in both Paris and Berlin and had a rotating Presidency. National militaries would also still exist, but these too would be subservient to the European common military. The European army was not as vast as the Communist nations, but it did maintain a large very professional and technology advanced force mostly based in central Europe and directed against the Soviets. The Commonwealths military also staged several note worthy interventions, most notably intervening in the Algerian civil war, the third Congo crisis and numerous other small interventions throughout Africa mostly to secure resources such as oil, gas and uranium. NATO would be disbanded in 1995 after the United States began its pivot to Asia to counter the growing Chinese threat.

The Commonwealths first big test would come in 1996 when after a military coup a ultra-nationalist Turkish government would launch an invasion of Cyprus. Greece at the time was in talks to ascend into the Commonwealth after having fought a second civil war against Communists backed by the Yugoslavia. The Turks invaded the island on the 3rd of July 1996 after weeks of tension between Greece and Turkey over the status of Turkish Cypriots on the island the Turks attacked with overwhelming force beating the small Greek garrison on the island. Shortly after Greece and Turkey went to war, the Greeks while having some initial success advancing into European Turkey were soundly beaten back, by both the Turks superior numbers and American supplied technology. The Greek King personally appealed to the Commonwealths Parliament as well as the UN (but the UN even at this stage was practically Irrelevant) after Thessaloniki was besieged. After much deliberation and bickering between the national governments the Commonwealth parliament sent an ultimatum to Turkey ordering withdrawal from both Cyprus and Greece by midnight on the 20th of July. The Turks ignored the ultimatum and a Commonwealth fleet in the area began firing on Turkish naval units around Cyprus. The Nuclear French Battleship Napoleon III supported by aircraft from the Spanish light carrier Franco sank the flagship of the Turkish fleet the Suleiman a former American John Paul Jones class cruiser. A joint Franco-German battlegroup was subsequently shipped to Greece where it threw back the Turkish forces into European Turkey, as Commonwealth Fighter aircraft patrolled the Aegean sea, the Eurofighter Hurricanes being far superior to the older American F-8 Spectres. The conflict ultimately ended within two months were relativity minor casualties, the Commonwealth had been united against a common foe and the so called 'Aegean spirit' of 96 would long be quoted by European politicians pushing European unity and cohesion. Turkey's government after its failed invasion and deteriorating economic situation collapsed into a civil war that would continue on and off for thirty years.

Although the European powers alone could no longer compete against the like of the Soviets, Chinese or Americans collectively they were together a great power on the World Stage with the world's third largest GDP behind the United States and China. The Commonwealth Army of the late 20th and early to mid 21st century, was more than on par with its Soviet and Chinese rivals as well as its former American Allies. The European Commonwealth was officially created on the 12th of June 1995, Its founding members were the French Sixth Republic, the Federal Republic of West Germany, The Kingdom of Spain as well as Portugal, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy. The European Commonwealth would undergo several expansions, in 1996 Greece would join, in 2003 Italy. In 2006 Denmark, Sweden and Norway and finally in 2008 the United Kingdom and Switzerland would join.

The Commonwealth remained relatively stable and prosperous throughout the first part of the 21st century, it would however face growing dissent from within mostly from European nationalist movements, but also growing Communist influence. The Commonwealth hosted the Olympic games in Paris in 2008, It would be the most spectacular the world had seen until the Olympics stopped being held after a boycott by the US and China in 2032. European scientists pushed the boundaries of science making many advances in robotics and communications technology, European Vacuum tubes were said to be the best in the world and it's advances in Nuclear space propulsion became standard use among the world's various space agency. European cars were sold all over the world, with the German car industry being particularly successful, The European arms industry was third only to the USSR and USA, many former European colonies such as Australia, South Africa and former French Africa using primary European equipment with the Belgian FN FAL proving a mainstay of many Armies.

European culture was highly influential, it was far more liberal than the United States in some ways such as political freedom and association, Communist parties for example while mostly despised and heavily monitored by the police and military were legal. It however was a very divided society with the European elite living in gated communities and while it was technically an equal partnership, the only real powers in the Commonwealth were the UK, France and West Germany. European race relations were also far worse than the United States which saw a very successful civil rights movement. Immigrants from former European colonies were segregated, and forced to conform to Commonwealth cultural norms, and the treatment of non-European immigrants only got progressively worse as the energy crisis continued. European fashion drew heavy influence from the styles prevalent in the 1960s, with 1960s British fashion being particularly influential. European TV stations were state owned, the European state grasped early on the need for effective propaganda to influence and unite the populations of the dozen different former countries in the Commonwealth. The most watched television program broadcast in full black and white was the long running British sci-fi serial Admiral Who, about an alien time traveller who fights against the Red Empire of the Cyberlek collective and the evil United Colonies of Rigel.

The EC would go onto compete with the United States, Soviet Union and China in the space race although it was late to the race it enjoyed moderate success. The Commonwealth Space Agency would succeed in putting a man on the Moon with the Ares mission in 2010, the rocket launched from French Guiana it was followed by a mission in 2015 which laid the foundation for a lunar base, this was followed by an unmanned mission to mars which would have set the stage for a series of manned European expeditions to the red planet. However, this was not to be, as during the late 2010s the energy crisis began. Peak oil had hit in 2010 and production had been falling since, but in 2018 production finally fell below demand. The North Sea oil fields which the Commonwealth relied on began drying up. This would all culminate in the great recession of 2020, caused by the energy crisis. Energy costs just kept rising and rising. Unemployment rose massively as businesses began going bankrupt, this eventually led to the stock market crash of 2033 which would see a full blown depression kick in. For the first time in almost a century people began dying of starvation in the poorer parts of the Commonwealth. The government even had to step in to ensure farms continued operation, as such was the cost of fuel that civilian farmers couldn't even keep up mechanised agriculture.

Of all the major powers the European Commonwealth was the most susceptible to the initial stages of the energy crisis. Unlike the United States or the Soviet Union, the Commonwealth lacked any major oil production on the scale needed to sustain its economy, and with the oil fields in the North Sea beginning to run dry and with major oil producers seeing the writing on the wall that oil production was crashing and began conserving their own resources unwilling to trade. What little oil Europe did manage to trade came mainly from the Middle Eastern States. Many of the more unstable states especially in Africa and South America began buckling under the strain. In 2035 Algeria collapsed into civil war with an Islamist uprising in the South and a Marxist insurgency backed by the USSR in the heartland of the country the military government was reduced to a thin strip along the coast. The oil rich Algerian province of Ouargla fell to Marxist insurgents in the January of 2036, the European stock exchange began tanking again as the energy supplies that Europe's bustling millions needed was interrupted. As Fuel rationing became even tighter the public discount boiled over into calls for intervention in Algeria, the Commonwealths parliament more than happy to help the 'legitimate' Algerian government in securing the countries oil supply, of course the Europeans expected the Algerians to sell it to them and only them at far, far less then market price. Commonwealth troops began arriving in Algeria in numbers in the May of 2036. An attempt by a regiment of the French army to seize the city of Biskra from Marxist insurgents was thwarted, after Commonwealth troops came under fire from energy weapons. French forces took heavy casualties before pulling back. The Insurgents it was found out by European intelligence, were using Soviet supplied laser weaponry which proved supremely effective at burning through European combat armour.

++++End of extract from Colonel Clarks report on the European Commonwealth++++

++++Please insert holotape for part 2++++