Alternative History

Washington, D.C. was the capital of the United States of America before Doomsday. Formally known as the District of Columbia, Washington itself was a separate municipality within the territory of Columbia until an act of Congress in 1871 merged it with the territory into an entity called the District of Columbia. Washington was informally known as Washington; the District; or D.C.

U.S. Vice President George H.W. Bush was in the city at his residence on September 25, 1983 (local time). He and his wife, Barbara, and a handful of staffers and other officials evacuated the city, barely escaping the impact of the Soviet missiles in the area.

The D.C. area was hit with multiple nuclear weapons on Doomsday. It has long been held by nearly all observers that Washington was one of the most heavily targeted regions in the entire world.

While it is not known where exactly the missiles struck, nonetheless the city was devastated almost completely, voiding it of all forms of life.

It is believed, based on tales from raiders and survivalists, and more recently military expeditions from Delmarva and the American Alliance, that the following areas were destroyed on Doomsday:

  • Washington and the entire District of Columbia
  • Almost every sq ft along Interstate 270 from Bethesda, Maryland to Frederick, Maryland
  • Suburbs along the Interstate 495 portion of the Capital Beltway in Maryland, and every suburb and town from 495, along Interstate 95 and State Road 295 up to Baltimore
  • Suburbs in Maryland east of Washington, including Kettering and Largo
  • Alexandria, Reston, McLean, Tyson's Corner, Annandale, Woodbridge, Arlington, Herndon, Vienna, Clifton, the City of Fairfax, Falls Church, Mount Vernon, and Chantilly in Virginia, and adjacent towns and suburbs. This would also include Dulles International Airport, Washington National Airport, and the Pentagon.
  • The Quantico Marine Corps Base outside Manassas; Fort A.P. Hill outside Fredericksburg; and Fort Belvoir and Davison AAF next to Mount Vernon, all in Virginia.

For many years the area was abandoned with the exception of a few small, roving groups of raiders.

As radiation levels went down over time, new interest arose in exploring Washington D.C. So far, two separate expeditions have been launched - one by Delmarva and the other a joint Virginian/Kentuckian military expedition. Both yielded roughly the same results: there were no signs of life, human or otherwise, and nothing could be salvaged from the area. A Kentucky Air Force plane that flew 7,000 feet over Washington on a clear June day in 2009 reported seeing "sheets of glass" where the federal district used to be.

In short, Washington D.C. had been obliterated.

Popular Culture[]

For the past few decades, the D.C. metropolitan area has been a major setting for post-apocalyptic and alternate history fiction in South America and particularly in Mexico and the ANZC, both nations having large American refugee populations.

Washington has also been a popular setting for several comic book series published by Mexican, ANZC, and South American companies.

A television series based in the city was developed for broadcast by the ANZC's Nine Network and debuted in September 2011.