The Chimeran invasion of the United States began on August 14, 1951 and ended after the fall of the Liberty Defense Perimeter on May 28, 1953. The United States remained neutral during the outbreak of the Chimeran War and focused on defending its nation from invasion by the Chimera, who were determined to activate the dormant Chimeran towers in North America. For two years, the Chimera slowly and gradually assaulted the American mainland until a fleet of Chimeran airships led by Daedalus breached the LDP, killing or converting millions of people.
Background[]
More than a decade prior to the outbreak of the Chimeran War in December 1949, the United States government had been aware of the Chimera's existence through archaeological discoveries within the U.S. (such as Big Scrape Mine and Bryce Canyon) and intelligence sharing with European nations. Realising the imminent threat the Chimera posed, but unwilling to go public and foster mass panic, the Roosevelt administration instead committed to a military buildup and strengthened its ties with the United European Defence in order to combat the alien threat. However, to avert panic, the American public was kept deliberately ignorant of the Chimera's existence, which consequently led to the rise of isolationist sentiment as American citizens and politicians began criticizing Franklin D. Roosevelt as a "warmonger". Drawing on this dissatisfaction and uncertainty, Republican isolationist Noah Grace defeated Roosevelt in the 1940 Presidential Election and promptly severed America's ties to Europe. Though Grace was soon made aware of the Chimera, he continued the military buildup only to defend America and its interests; the rest of the world was left largely to defend itself.
After the outbreak of the Chimeran War, the U.S. government grudgingly allowed military support to the UED in the form of weapons, ammunition, and limited troops in response to the Chimera's swift advance across Europe. The Grace administration also reinforced the nation's propaganda efforts, resulting in a massive media blackout which made all American media state property in order to keep the American public ignorant of the true nature of the war, and creating the myth of the "European influenza" pandemic. By the time Europe fell to the Chimera, the United States remained isolated, emerging only to participate in limited SRPA intelligence operations and Operation Deliverance, which assisted in liberating the United Kingdom from Chimeran occupation in July 1951.
Despite America's continued isolation, the U.S. Department of War and SRPA developed contingency plans to defend the nation from an inevitable Chimeran invasion. The culmination of these plans led to the construction of a 4,500-mile boundary line, a safe zone that would protect the American people from the Chimera known as the Liberty Defense Perimeter.[1]
Beginning of the invasion[]
One month after the liberation of Britain, the Chimera finally began to focus their attention on Earth's western hemisphere, for reasons ascertaining to their excavation of the Chimeran towers. On August 14, 1951, the Chimera began their direct attack on America by launching a series of Spire missiles on the northeastern states of Maine, New York, New Hampshire, and Vermont.[2][1] The affected states became the first Gray Zone and the attacks forced the Grace administration to approve the construction of the Liberty Defense Perimeter.[1] On October 14, the Chimera launched a Spire attack on Chicago and claimed the city and its surrounding region, turning it into America's second Gray Zone.[2]
Near the end of 1951, the Northern United States had been completely overrun by the Chimera. The replacements of the Crawler strain in place for Spinners greatly aided the Chimera in their conquest, as they could effectively infect populated cities within days (such is what happened to Chicago). The northern invasion was temporarily halted by U.S. military, SRPA and Sentinel efforts in derailing the alien advance.
By this time, President Grace had begun to believe that America would not survive the Chimera's onslaught. With the approval of most of his Cabinet, Grace secretly executed a negotiation attempt with the leading Chimeran entity known as Daedalus to spare America in exchange for the Chimera to keep the rest of the world. However, the negotiations failed in which Grace was killed by the Sentinel, Lieutenant Nathan Hale, for his treachery to the human race.[3]
The Chimera gain ground[]
Throughout 1952, Chimeran airships bombarded the American coastlines with Spire missiles. The American southeast was entirely blanketed with Spire attacks and was declared a gray zone, while on the west coast an attempted incursion of Orick was contained by Specter Team.[4] This change in tactics was due to the new leadership of Daedalus, who augmented with his military strategy among the Chimeran military caste and as well improving the chain of leadership with the introduction of Overseers and Primarchs.[5]
As American territories gradually fell to the Chimera, Grace's successor Harvey McCullen drafted a colonization plan of the Hawaiian islands.[6] However, McCullen's plan later became an apparent failure when Hawaii's entire colonist population (including military personnel) mysteriously disappeared without signs of any conflict.[7]
The beginning of the end[]
Daedalus' flagship over SRPA Station Genesis.
On May 15, 1953, Daedalus led a massive fleet of airships to invade America's coastlines which, if taken, would allow the Chimera to surround the U.S. military on all sides. 60% of the U.S. armed forces were killed within the first 72 hours of the assault.[2]
The SRPA had led an effort to hinder the Chimeran assault and trying to stop Daedalus's plans from reactivating the Chimeran towers in America. Sentinel Echo Team had spearhead several victories against the Chimera which include preventing the Chimeran fleet from breaching the LDP in Idaho.
Despite a valiant defensive effort from U.S. military forces and SRPA personnel, on May 28, the Chimera finally breached the LDP at the southern border and caused the loss of over 63 million lives.[8] Among the dead was President McCullen and his entire cabinet.[9] All remaining human survivors, totaling about 7 million, were scattered across America. Of these, 2 million were relocated by American military forces to Baton Rouge, the last remaining protection camp in the nation. General of the Army Douglas MacArthur became temporary leader of the civilian population until orderly elections could be held.[9]
Operation Black Eden[]
- Main article: Operation Black Eden
The Chimeran fleet is destroyed in Operation Black Eden.
Despite the nation crippled by the invasion, the SRPA made a last desperate assault on stopping the Chimera's intentions over the Chicxulub crater by initiating Operation Black Eden in late June. The operation involved detonating a fission bomb within Daedalus's flagship, destroying the Chimeran fleet and Daedalus' plans. The operation was a success, as the fleet was annihilated in the nuclear explosion and Daedalus was killed at the hands of Nathan Hale. However, the destruction of the fleet did not prevent the Chimera from activating the Chimeran tower network that created a wormhole that leads to the Chimera's home planet.
The SRPA learned the imminent threat posed by the wormhole, in which it was directly influencing the Chimera's hostile terraform process that would render Earth uninhabitable for humanity. In an act of desperation, the SRPA launched an assault on the New York Chimeran tower that powers the wormhole in order to shut it off. However, the assault ended in failure in which over a thousand soldiers were killed, and the Chimera were left to claim all of the United States unopposed.
Aftermath[]
A long abandoned M-12 Sabertooth in New York City, following SRPA's failed attack on the wormhole tower.
By the end of 1953, America was rendered into a Chimeran-dominated wasteland. Most of the country's original 160 million citizens had been either killed or converted by the Chimera, succumbed to rampant disease, or starvation.[10] The several million survivors who remained were forced to hide from Chimeran Death Squads, who engaged in a genocidal campaign to completely wipe out all of humanity, and eke out whatever sort of living they could.[10]
References[]
- ^ a b c SRPA file PA51184390
- ^ a b c Vore, Bryan (October 15, 2010). "The Official Resistance Series Timeline". Game Informer
- ^ Dietz, William. (April 28, 2009). Resistance: The Gathering Storm. Del Rey Books.
- ^ SRPA Intelligence Memorandum 2
- ^ SRPA Intelligence Memorandum 3
- ^ McCullen Proposes Colony in Hawaii
- ^ SRPA Intelligence Memorandum 24
- ^ SRPA Intelligence Memorandum 19
- ^ a b SRPA Intelligence Memorandum 20
- ^ a b Dietz, William. (August 2, 2011). Resistance: A Hole in the Sky. Del Rey Books.