History Main / FallenStatesOfAmerica

* [[TurnOfTheMillennium For]][[TheNewTens years]] that the United States since after 9/11 are rumored and even theorized to completely heading this with a side of some [[OppressiveStatesOfAmerica police state]] into it.

* [[TurnOfTheMillennium For]][[TheNewTens years]] that the United States since after 9/11 are rumored and even theorized to completely heading this with a side of some {{OppressiveStatesOfAmerica police state}} into it.

%% '''To prevent flame wars, limit RealLife examples to historical situations that most historians agree was a low point in American history, [[RuleofCautiousEditingJudgment this is not a place to showcase your dislike of certain cultural beliefs, recent politicians, political parties or political policies.]]'''

* A strong possibility in ''[[VideoGame/ChoiceOfGames Choice of Robots]]'' either due to the [[spoiler:Sino-American War]] or the [[spoiler:Alaska Rebellion]].

* ''Literature/TheManInTheHighCastle'', by Creator/PhilipKDick. America loses UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo and is divvied up by the Axis powers.

* In Fyodor Berezin's ''Red Stars'' trilogy, the Parallel!USA is barely hanging on against the expanded Parallel!USSR, and the two superpowers (if the US can still be called one) even occasionally trade nuclear blows (mostly of the tactical variety). It should be noted that the Parallel!USA is a military dictatorship, having been in this state pretty much since WorldWarTwo, when the Parallel!USSR crushes Nazi Germany in under 2 years and continues taking over (sorry, ''liberating'') countries.

* ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'': The US splinters into the Northern Confederacy/Victoria formerly New England, the New Confederacy in the South, Cascadia, Azania, a Neo-Nazi Wisconsin and the Rocky Mountain States form their own governments. This to escape growing unrest, an economic meltdown, genetically-engineered super-plagues and government control. Much of the book concerns the struggle against the Feds trying to hold everything together, and then the conflicts between US successor states.

* KurtVonnegut's ''Literature/SlaughterhouseFive'' has the United States of the future bombed "by angry Chinamen" and [[BalkanizeMe Balkanized]] into a number of heavily-militarized zones so as not to be a threat to anyone.

* ''Series/TheHandmaidsTale'': The US has been replaced with the Republic of Gilead, a brutal fundamentalist dictatorship.

* ''VideoGame/Civilization'': Since America has appeared in every version of the game, this can happen anytime they lose. Given that later versions make America a Mid-Late Game Power House and an expansionist, they tend to get very big, very early, and have little ways to specialize in defending themselves, this can often result.

* ''VideoGame/DeusEx'': The United States is in a what is the worst economical state it has ever been in its history, as implied by a conversation between two French civilians. The Grey Death has hit the nation hard, the majority of civilians encountered are homeless, many citizens are in active revolt, parts of Texas have been [[MexicoCalledTheyWantTexasBack conquered by the Russo-Mexican alliance,]] and the backstory explains the United States has been in the gutter ever since a massive earthquake sank a good chunk of the West Coast twenty years before the game starts, which along with new gun control legislation about twelve years afterwards, led to a [[DividedStatesOfAmerica second civil war]]. News articles read show that politicians still act like the nation is a superpower, but this is obviously no longer the case, with that honor now taken by [[ChinaTakesOverTheWorld China.]] [[spoiler: One ending has the US dissolve in the turmoil of the collapse, and the other it can be assumed that it's functions were absorbed in the JC-Helios government. If one doesn't reject Invisible War, it fell apart completely in the years during the Collapse.]]

* The setting of UsefulNotes/{{the Bronze Age|OfComicBooks}} MarvelComics version of ''[=Deathlok=]'' was a future United States where [[ANuclearError a limited nuclear war]] has left the country devastated, with roaming gangs and independent groups vying for control with factions and remnants of the CIA and the military.

* ''DarkAngel'': After the denotation of an EMP device by terrorist groups in 2009, the United States is barely more than a third world nation.

** And they were.

* ''Incorporated'': Climate change has devastated the United States so that outside the corporate-owned "Green Zones" the country is one big slum. The pilot shows a news report about Canada building a wall to keep out illegal American immigrants and the fourth episode opens with a Chinese ad soliciting donations to aid children in America.

* ''Literature/SprawlTrilogy''. Because of Gibson's love of the incredibly vague description, it's not certain, but the U.S Government has been destroyed and most of the U.S outside the Sprawl is implied to be very, very unpleasant.

* In Creator/WilliamGibson's ''Literature/SprawlTrilogy'' the United States have broken apart following a financial collapse, ironically similar to what happened to the Soviet Union after the books were written. The most frequently seen part is the Boston-Atlanta Metropolitan Area or "The Sprawl".

A common way to create a CrapsackWorld setting is to have the United States fall so much that it becomes much like a third world nation, with a collapsed economy, decaying infrastructure, fallen or incredibly corrupt government, and so on. Perhaps a new CivilWar [[DividedStatesOfAmerica has left the nation battered and weak; only a shell of its former self,]] or possibly economic collapse due to poor management, lack of an important resource, such as [[PostPeakOil oil]], food, or water, or because of the rise of another foreign power has led to a weak US. An [[InvadedStatesOfAmerica invasion]] by a foreign power has either conquered part of or all of the United States, or weakened it severely. Or even a natural disaster of some sort has happened.

* JohnBirmingham's ''WithoutWarning'' series is focused on what happens when a NegativeSpaceWedgie known as the Wave suddenly "removes" most of the population of the US, effectively removing the world's only remaining superpower on the eve of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The second novel in the series is even called ''After America''.

Can usually, but not always, go hand in hand with DividedStatesOfAmerica, OppressiveStatesOfAmerica, and/or InvadedStatesOfAmerica. Contrast with ExpandedStatesOfAmerica, although it is also possible for the US to join with Canada and/or Mexico not because it is empowered, but because it is so weak that it needs to.