Forum:Speculation: The Divergence!

I was always interested in the idea that there had been an alternate 20th century in the Fallout world, frozen in the atomic age. This thread is basically dedicated to how/when you all think the divergence occurred in the Fallout universe...

My theory: I think the actual divergence of the timelines occurred relatively quickly after World War II, probably between 1945 and 1947. However, I think that the 1950s remained fairly similar to how they were in our universe, and the major differences didn't start occurring until the 1960s. My theory is that the 1960s counter-culture movement was forcibly suppressed by the U.S. government (Hence the reason that Fallout is stuck in that pre-1965 "world of tomorrow"), and the United States involvement in Viet Nam ended with a U.S. victory, leading to less disenchantment with the nation. This way, the social norms and attitudes of 1950s America never experienced the same backlash, and remained popular for the next hundred-or-so years, resulting in a much more optimistic society which then focused on perfecting atomic technology, sacrificing many of our technological innovations (transistors, microchips, color televisions, the internet, etc.) in the process. This was perpetuated by government control of the media, enforcing these same social norms.

What are your theories? --GaussRifle 09:52, January 3, 2011 (UTC)
 * I believe whatever is chronicled in The Fallout Bible. MoonshadowDark
 * Ah, but the Fallout Bible is quite vague on the actual divergence, let alone on how the rest of the 20th century played out. Hence, the speculation. --GaussRifle 21:10, January 13, 2011 (UTC)

I think that this idea is pretty good, and it does make sense. But, maybe I would take Vietnam out of the equation, because maybe we could have selled weapons to the french and they held Vietnam.--MerchantofDeath 14:17, January 16, 2011 (UTC)

Nixon probably wasn't able to successfully normalize relations with China, but was able to succeed with the Soviet Union.--OvaltinePatrol 17:30, January 16, 2011 (UTC)
 * He could have also been elected in 1960, opposed to 1968. --GaussRifle 22:17, January 17, 2011 (UTC)