2060 - The European Civil War begins, the US and China escalate military expansion
After draining the Middle East oil reserves and not recovering enough fuel to meet demand, the European Commonwealth dissolves. The remaining concentrations of humanity form nation-states battling over what was once the coalition's resources.
With one major global region locked in a vicious civil war and no significant political maneuvering from the USSR, South America, Africa, or Australia, the United States and the People's Republic of China continue to expand military operations without resistance. An ever-increasing demand for oil from both nations strains international diplomacy.
2063 - Vault evacuation drills commence and are immediately ignored
As construction concludes on the first set of public Vaults, regular evacuation drills become common throughout the United States. While this is purportedly a safety precaution taken with the interest of protecting the general public, the 122 Vaults under construction are not sufficient to house more than a small portion of the population. Optimal candidates for Vault placement are chosen and quietly informed of their inclusion in the program.
The frequency of drills increases over time, which leads to a steady decrease in emergency evacuation attendance. Citizens assume that all uses of the air raid warning system will signal additional drills, and find better things to do with their time.
2065 - Robert House predicts the future, takes drastic steps to protect the most important city in the world
Orphaned son of a Nevada tool-magnate, entrepreneur, technical genius. Robert House's list of accomplishments is already pretty long when he founds RobCo Industries (creators of the Pip-Boy line of electronics) in 2042. Nobody figured he'd also turn out to be a modern-day Nostradamus, but in 2065, his most intense calculations confirm that all hell's going to break loose in the next fifty years.
Knowing all is lost, he comes up with a plan to save his beloved hometown of Las Vegas from impending doom: outfit the city with the best defense technology money can buy, and ensure he's around to make use of it. House's body is put into cryo and his brain integrated into a vast computer network housed at the Lucky 38 hotel; from there, he's able to control all the city's defense systems and a vast army of securitron robots. The last thing he needs is a specially-designed platinum chip that will update both his and the securitrons' OS automatically, allowing them to function for decades to come. It's a delicate procedure though, so the engineers need a bit more time than House accounted for which doesn't turn out well.
2066 - China invades Alaska and claims its oil reserves, starting the Sino-American War
In a valiant effort to keep its infrastructure from collapsing due to a lack of fuel, China adopts a two-pronged approach, seeking out a deep-sea oil reserve in the Pacific Ocean and negotiating with the United States to establish trade. However, when America refuses to part with its oil and sabotages China's excavation operations, China launches a full-scale assault on the oil-rich Alaska.
Despite heavy American fortifications, China takes Anchorage and the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline, securing America's sole domestic oil supply (after the collapse of the withered husk of what was once Texas). In an effort to push back Chinese forces, the United States government commissions ungainly but highly effective power armor suits for all soldiers on the Anchorage front line. However, further complications develop when Canadian forces, drained by American demands for supplies and access to Canadian lands, attack the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline in a bid to bring the conflict to an end.
2072 - America annexes Canada
In a calculated maneuver to show Canada it really shouldnt have done that, the United States forcibly annexes its northern neighbor. Civil rights are suspended within the newly claimed territory and resistance groups are executed en masse.
Images of America's war crimes are broadcast in the United States, spurring unrest and rebellion. The occupation continues until, drained of resources and nearly conquered in its entirety, Canada cedes to America's demands for annexation.
2073 - The Poseidon Oil Rig is built to house the Enclave in the event of a nuclear war
Seven years after sabotaging China's Pacific excavation operation and claiming the world's last untapped oil reserve, the United States government entrusts fuel giant Poseidon Oil with the construction of a state of the art drilling rig. Ostensibly a show of America's dominance and (heavily disputed) claim to the oil, the rig is also meant as an isolated base of operations for the Enclave, from which they can direct Vaults and still guarantee survival in the event of a nuclear strike.
While the rig is suitable as a fallout shelter, the Enclave's end goal is to eventually repopulate the mainland or, in the event of total destruction of the livable environment, find a new planet to colonize in the vast reaches of space. To that end, the Enclave captures the Bloomfield Space Center in 2076 and seizes the Hermes-13 space shuttle. However, they are unable to properly operate the ship, and this second phase is abandoned.
2074 - America lands ground troops in China, sends Chinese-Americans to concentration camps
Despite assuring the American people that the war with China (and all associated resource loss and crimes against humanity) is strictly a defensive effort, the US government directs a sizeable force to the Chinese mainland. Military campaigns are conducted in the Gobi Desert and on the Yangtze River, but American forces are eventually bogged down in the mainland, further draining domestic resources. However, a delivery of top of the line T-51b power armor (which may look familiar) turns the tide of the offensive, giving American forces the strength to advance through China and conquer Nanjing and Shanghai.
Meanwhile, all Chinese-Americans living in the United States are shipped to a concentration camp known as Little Yangtze in the Southwest commonwealth, previously southern California and Nevada. Few records from the period survive, but those that do detail horrific military experiments.
2077 - West Tek manufactures the virus that creates Super Mutants, and the US military teeters on collapse
The Enclave shadow government orders West Tek, a defense contractor, to fashion a biological agent to immunize American soldiers against any possible contagion. That will effectively safeguard the troops and cure the New Plague, though they're really more interested in the former than the latter. Early tests of the Pan-Immunity Virion Project result in animal specimens with drastically increased muscle mass and brain activity. From there, the aim of the project immediately shifts to the creation of super soldiers, and is moved to a secret military installation in Mariposa, California.
The resulting virus is renamed the Forced Evolution Virus (or F.E.V.), and regular testing begins on military personnel. However, when the project's directive is leaked to soldiers guarding the base, the garrison mutinies, executes the researchers, and declares that Mariposa has seceded from the union (which would later lead to the birth of the technocratic Brotherhood of Steel). Stretched thin by a two-front war and unable to quell riots and demonstrations amongst the civilian population, the U.S. government doesn't notice they're gone.
2077 - The Great War ends human civilization
Though it is uncertain where the war's first shot originated (though there are strong guesses to be made), the presence of an unmarked nuclear warhead, en route to an undisclosed target leads to full-scale military strikes by the United States, China, and the USSR, all launching their nuclear payload simultaneously. The two-hour volley is so energy-intense that it reshapes the Earth's geography, altering the movement of its tectonic plates, evaporating or poisoning water sources, and drastically altering the planet's climate by launching debris into the atmosphere.
Humanity is virtually annihilated in what is later described as a "nuclear firestorm". In America, many civilians believe the air raid warnings to be signalling another drill and don't relocate in time. The Vaults close with few of their selected candidates inside, and those left outside perish in the resulting chaos or are horrifically mutated by radiation. Ill-equipped to handle the reality of a nuclear apocalypse, most Vaults collapse in the ensuing decades. Human civilization disappears from existence.
2161 onward - The story begins
In 2161, the Vault Dweller (whose travels are documented in their well-loved biography, Fallout) leaves Vault 13 to find a replacement for the vault's broken water chip. On their journey, they discover a hellish version of human civilization that still exists in the wreckage of its former glory. 180 years later, their grandchild, the Chosen One (of Fallout 2 fame) travels the wasteland in search of a Garden of Eden Creation Kit, and gives the remaining members of the Enclave their just reward.
Society begins to reemerge, in a broken and confused sort of way. In 2277, the Lone Wanderer (from Fallout 3) escapes Vault 101 in search of their father and gives humanity the one thing it needs most to rebuild. Just half a decade later, the Courier (in Fallout: New Vegas) gets their hands on Robert House's platinum chip, and determines the fate of the last true human city in the Southwest United States. And somewhere in-between, the Sole Survivor emerges from Vault 111 and takes on the task of restoring what was once Boston, Massachusetts (which awaits us in Fallout 4). Two hundred years after it was nearly obliterated, against all logic and expectations, humanity stubbornly continues to live.
