How Would the Post Apocalypse World Look Politically

Starvation will be the major killer. Anyone needing specialized services/medicine (blood pressure meds, insulin, special diets, etc) will be in real trouble from the outset of the conflict. Many people out of shape with minimal job skills will also be in real trouble as manual labor will be in demand but short supply. Those without a trade in engines, medical care, or something tangible / useful will likely be doing field work to eat by the sweat of their brow as it were. And that might include anyone whose job was reliant on computers that no longer work or paper pushers who no longer have a bureaucracy to insulate and manage them. People used to government assistance would also be in trouble for similar reasons. The refugees from the dying and dead cities will be the major problem. The survivors of the blasts will need medical attention, food, water, and shelter. They will be numerous and will seek the necessary resources by whatever means necessary. Most people can go about three days without eating before serious problems arise and maybe two days without drinking, so the first week will be the most desperate. The closer you are to an interstate or federal highway within a day's drive or a few days walk from a major city (200 miles or so) the more trouble you are likely to find.

Day One will see much of the Northeast, West Coast, and parts of the Great Lakes eradicated along with state capitals, eastern Tennessee, western Nebraska, northwestern Missouri, parts of Montana and Colorado, Hoover Dam/Las Vegas, and specific military bases especially along the coasts. Wilmington NC might be the largest surviving port left in the US for example and save the chance of a triad of duds no major city in the US is safe. With sufficient warning many might go into the cities before the strike to avoid having to rebuild. When it happens though it will not be like anything Hollywood has told us so far.

This is not about civilization but *survival* and the folks who make it through that first week will not be very nice to deal with. Moral boundaries will be tested quickly and it will be murder for canned goods in many places. Robbery and murder will be justified in the name of survival, likely along iwth cannibalism if things get desperate enough. There will be plenty of food in some wilderness areas but most people can not identify the helpful plants or the harmful ones, so they are SOL. What order remains will be on a local level at first, mostly towns with sheriffs and maybe counties that band together if they are lucky and organized. But justice will be harsh and quick, probably with capital punishment making a rapid recovery. Towns like Douglas, GA and Dodge City, KS and Coos Bay, OR will be more likely sites for where civilization on a larger scale recovers first- towns of 10,000+ that are well away from major travel arteries and have the economy to support some non-agricultural occupations along with enough educational infrastructure to make life more tolerable. Appalachia might also be a nice place to live as they will be adept with older technology while being far enough out of the way to stay relatively intact. With time, say in about 5-10 years, regional trade blocs will arise that evolve into larger governments, perhaps with a new union as a Federation of North American States or somesuch. They might also settle for regional governments with 6-10 out of what was the US, Canada, and Mexico. South America, South Africa, and Australia/New Zealand should be in better shape. They will likely be the powers to watch, especially South America.
 
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Starvation will be the major killer.

Day One will see much of the Northeast, West Coast, and parts of the Great Lakes eradicated along with state capitals, eastern Tennessee, western Nebraska, northwestern Missouri, parts of Montana and Colorado, Hoover Dam/Las Vegas, and specific military bases especially along the coasts. Wilmington NC might be the largest surviving port left in the US for example and save the chance of a triad of duds no major city in the US is safe. With sufficient warning many might go into the cities before the strike to avoid having to rebuild. When it happens though it will not be like anything Hollywood has told us so far.

The refugees will be the major problem. The survivors of the blast will need medical attention, food, water, and shelter. They will be numerous and will seek the necessary resources by whatever means necessary. Most people can go about three days without eating before serious problems arise and maybe two days without drinking, so the first week will be the most desperate. The closer you are to an interstate or federal highway within a day's drive or a few days walk from a major city (200 miles or so) the more trouble you are likely to find. This is not about civilization but *survival* and the folks who make it through that first week will not be very nice to deal with. What order remains will be on a local level at first, mostly towns with sheriffs and maybe counties that band together if they are lucky and organized. But justice will be harsh and quick, probably with capital punishment making a rapid recovery. Towns like Douglas, GA and Dodge City, KS and Coos Bay, OR will be more likely sites for where civilization on a larger scale recovers first- towns of 10,000+ that are well away from major travel arteries and have the economy to support some non-agricultural occupations along with enough educational infrastructure to make life more tolerable. Appalachia might also be a nice place to live as they will be adept with older technology while being far enough out of the way to stay relatively intact. With time, say in about 5-10 years, regional trade blocs will arise that evolve into larger governments, perhaps with a new union as a Federation of North American States or somesuch. They might also settle for regional governments with 6-10 out of what was the US, Canada, and Mexico.
South America, South Africa, and Australia/New Zealand should be in better shape. They will likely be the powers to watch, especially South America.
I imagine the U.S.A> post a 1962 NBC war to be very much like modern Africa. Starvation, internectine wars, harsh justice and death suffering and sickness.

In some areas the living WILL envy the dead, even if only for a while.

Eventually order will be restored, but some of what goes on will be amlost literally medieval.

And when I say eventually, we may be talking several decades.

For a long while and for many life will be nasty brutish and SHORT!
 
Actually I'm not sure how a 1962 war would play out. I once spoke with a Soviet engineer who started a career in that era who was very specific that their early ICBM rockets were notorious for mechanical failures. Their capacity to hit CONUS was limited largely to one-way bomber trips, now granted the MRBMs in Cuba were not yet set up but there might be a few surprises via nuclear torpedoes or other weapons we do not know about. But overall, I think in 1962 if war breaks out the USA will "win" if only becuse large parts of the country would be livable. Remember that at said time there were many families who had lived through the Depression, many people were veterans of the Second World War, and many had a greater sens of community. Your main areas likely to survive will be Appalachia, the Pacific Northwest, much of the Southwest, and parts of the Deep South. Much of the Midwest is likely to be hit as will the Rust Belt, New England, the Mid-Atlantic, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Life will suck for the immediate survivors, but it will be livable in the US. Europe and Russia will glow in the dark while much of the rest of the world will survive. Japan might ironically become a world power, as might India, Brazil, and South Africa.

The worst case would probably be an all-out war between 1975 and 1985, and if this occurs I would expect most of the Northern Hemisphere to be wiped clean along with much of the English-Speaking world elsewhere. South Africa, South America, and perhaps parts of Southeastern Asia would be ok but beyond that the world would be a nasty place to live in for a long time.
 
do you guys know any TLs worthy of mention dealing with a "post nuclear war" - world ? I would love to read one.
 

Das_Colonel

Banned
The 'effort' you put into those two lines was clearly lacklustre, to say nothing of its being woefully inaccurate. The fact that you're sitting in front of a computer but can't be bothered to Google 'NBC' suggests that you're not really pulling your weight on this one.

I'm heading down the shop Mcragge. Can I get you a block of chocolate and some tampons?
 
well it would depend on the Apocalyptic event that triggered it, if its nuclear war your going with, it would also depend on what the size of said war would be.

say it is a full on nuclear exchange between the US-USSR in the 60's. You would have the actual federal government still around most likely but with the loss of communications, power, etc. there actual power would stop most likely at the capital. while each city would eventually form its own style of government, if that city even survived. It would be almost as if each town, or city was it's own country, and would continue to be that way until one grew big enough to begin taking control of the rest.
 
Actually I'm not sure how a 1962 war would play out. I once spoke with a Soviet engineer who started a career in that era who was very specific that their early ICBM rockets were notorious for mechanical failures. Their capacity to hit CONUS was limited largely to one-way bomber trips, now granted the MRBMs in Cuba were not yet set up but there might be a few surprises via nuclear torpedoes or other weapons we do not know about. But overall, I think in 1962 if war breaks out the USA will "win" if only becuse large parts of the country would be livable. Remember that at said time there were many families who had lived through the Depression, many people were veterans of the Second World War, and many had a greater sens of community. Your main areas likely to survive will be Appalachia, the Pacific Northwest, much of the Southwest, and parts of the Deep South. Much of the Midwest is likely to be hit as will the Rust Belt, New England, the Mid-Atlantic, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Life will suck for the immediate survivors, but it will be livable in the US.


Portland and Seattle would probably also go.

I'd have thought the Rocky Mountain States might be better off than most. Any bomber going for Denver or SLC has to penetrate deep into the US interior, and also to fly over a lot of thinly populated mountain or desert, where a nuke can be used against it without too many Americans being underneath.

OTOH, some parts of the Southwest could be in a bad way if the Hoover and other dams are destroyed.
 
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If I were to do it.

If I were to actually write about a 1962 Nuclear war between the U.S.S.R./Warsaw pact and the U.S.A./NATO I would I am ashamed to say, not be able to keep from being almost unforgivably charitable to the U.S.A./NATO

The damage that the U.S.S.R. would inflict would I am sure be considered absurdly minor and the damage the U.S. A. inflicts would be bizarrely severe.

In effective terms the Soviet Union/Warsaw pact would cease to exist.

But by 2000 the United States would stil lexist as a re-emerging second world power.
 
Post Apocalypse

We would have to have some type of critera for this timeline like:

What time in history?

post WW2

Korean conflict

Fifties Cold War

Cuban Missel Crisis

Viet Nam era

1983 Doomsday Alert

India-Pakistan issues

fall of SU and Warsaw Pact

Iran or N. Korean issues

and last a Crimsion Tide/ Sum of all Fears senario with a rouge groupe taking a nuke and using it.

All of these issues could trigger a nuclear war and the political world would look vastly diffrent. I think with fifty states we would have a number of states trying to put together anold defunct union and sectional conflicts trying to grab power and stability.
 
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