Hawaii (1983: Doomsday)

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The Free State of Hawai'i (Moku'áina Ku'oko'a o Hawai'i) can be considered the last remnant of the United States of America. It is an independent republic in free association with the Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand.

Background
The Hawai'ian Islands were among the most militarized parts of the USA before Doomsday. The most populated island, O'ahu, was home to over a dozen Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force installations and was the headquarters for most American military operations in the Pacific. The Pacific Missile Range on Kaua'i was a key launch site and testing area for American missiles. The island of Hawai'i, called the Big Island, was home to a large tract that the Army used as a training center. The Space Surveilence Complex on M<aui was an important observatory and radar station.

Three separate Soviet thermonuclear missiles landed on O'ahu on Doomsday, 1983. A fourth landed at the Missile Range and devastated nearly all of Kaua'i and Ni'ihau. The military facilities on the other islands were not considered key targets. The equipment was rendered inoperable by the missiles' electromagnetic pulses. The Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island was left intact. It was nearly empty at the time of the attack but did have a few vehicles.

Therefore, Hawai'i after the war consisted of only four habitable islands: Hawai'i, Maui, Lana'i, and Moloka'i.

Immediate response
Municipal authorities in the largest remaining city, Hilo, took charge of rescue operations and administrated the remaining islands in the weeks following the attacks. The most immediate concern was food, since Hawaiians relied heavily on imports from the Mainland. (work in progress)

Contact with USA
Both Ronald Reagan and George Bush stopped in Hawaii on their way to Australia. Over the next eight years Hawaii, American Samoa, and the smaller US territories in the Pacific remained in contact with the Provisional United States Government in Canberra. Food supplies began to be shipped from Australia. When the US and Australian militaries began missions of exploration of the American coasts, Hawaii was the natural starting and end points for these voyages.

Independence
In 1994, it was announced that Australia and New Zealand would soon form a Commonwealth together, and that the US Provisional Government would then disband. The people of Samoa and other territories voted to join the new Commonwealth, but Hawaiians did not. The results of their referendum:
 * Join the Commonwealth as an equal member: 26%
 * Free Association with the Commonwealth: 58%
 * Full separation from the Commonwealth: 16%

On May 1, 1994, the Free State of Hawaii was proclaimed. A new Constitution and treaties of free association with the Commonwealth were ratified over the following months. On January 20, 1995, the first Congress of Hawai'i met in Hilo.

Today
Hawaii's claimed territory covers the entirety of the old US State, plus the uninhabited Midway Islands, Wake Island, and Johnston Atoll. It only has effective control over the four remaining inhabited islands, plus the uninhabited island of Kaho'olawe.

Nothing was salvagable from the blast sites on O'ahu and Kauai'i. A number of tanks, jeeps, and Humvees were left in Pohakuloa Army Training Area in the center of the Big Island. Today many have been moved to other locations on the other islands. The ANZC has built a military base near Hilo that has become a crucial link between Australia and the Americas.

Hawaii's 1995 Constitution was based on that of the USA and the old State of Hawaii. Its legislature is called the Congress and its head of state has kept the title of Governor. It uses the same flag that it has used since its days as a Kingdom in the early 19th century, combining elements of the British and US flags. The British flag in the canton has a new meaning today, showing Hawaii's relationship to the ANZC.