Black Monday

October 19, 1987 - The Hong Kong Stock Exchange plunges. The crash spreads east through the European Stock Exchanges and into the NYSE.

October 31, 1987 - The value of the US Dollar drops as the United States Treasury begins printing excess bills. Commodities prices in the United States and Europe begin to climb.

November 5, 1987 - New York City is placed under martial law as riots explode from peaceful protests across Manhattan Island against the skyrocketing price of commodities; gasoline in New York City has jumped to $3.43 a gallon.

November 7, 1987 - President Bush calls an emergency session with Congress to discuss the Financial Crisis. The 101st Airborne is deployed around downtown Washington, DC to protect the Federal Government from the raging riots that have broken out on the night of the 6th. The United States Army deploys three CH-47 Chinook Cargo Helicopters to begin airlifting National Treasures such as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence to an undisclosed location.

November 9, 1987 - Forty-five civilians are shot and killed by the 101st Airborne following an assault by a Molotov Cocktail. Further protests break into violent riots in Chicago, Miami, Boston, Los Angeles, Austin, New Orleans, and Seattle.

November 10, 1987 - Gas prices top four dollars a gallon.

November 22, 1987 - The United States Congress is evacuated as protestors overwhelm the thinly stretched 101st Airborne and break the lines, streaming into the National Mall. The various museums of the Smithsonian are looted and burned. The smoke from the burning Capital can be seen from Fairfax, Virginia, ten miles to the west.

December 13, 1987 - Fearing further violence, the Commonwealth of Virginia declares itself seperate from the Federal Government and begins initiating economic reforms of its own. The Supreme Court declares the secession unconstitutional; President Bush announces that the Commonwealth has exactly one week to revoke the secession or face military retribution by the United States military.

December 14, 1987 - Virginia Governor Chuck Robb declares his intention to remain a seperate Commonwealth and sites the 78% popular vote for secession among Virginians. The Virginia National Guard is scrambled.

December 15, 1987 - In light of the economic disaster, the Soviet Politburo deposes Mikhail Gorbachev. The United States pleads for assistance from other, less affected NATO countries in quelling the civil unrest; even Canada refuses.

December 19, 1987 - North Carolina votes to join Virginia in secession from the United States.

December 20, 1987 - United States Army troops invade Alexandria, Virginia. Virginia National Guard troops overwhelm the Federal soldiers; several companies of Federal soldiers simply surrender outright, unwilling to kill their countrymen; two other companies defect to the Virginian side.

December 31, 1987 - West Virginia and Pennsylvania both vote to secede from the United States. Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania sign the Richmond Accords; the four states effectively establish themselves as a single nation, the Free Confederation of American States. States nationwide are invited to vote on joining the rebellion.

January 6, 1988 - The states of Texas, Louisiana, New York, Georgia, Maryland, Delaware, Oklahoma, Alabama, Mississippi, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, Nevada, and Washington vote to join the Free Confederation of American States. The United States Air Force launches a strafing run on the de facto Capital of the FCAS, Richmond, Virginia.

January 30, 1988 - FCAS soldiers under Lieutenant General David Barno invade the United States in an attempt to secure independence.