The End

"What's there to say about the End? It was the End.  Before, there was the world we all knew, and after . . .  Something different."
 * ''--John Gardiner, leader, the Garden

The global collapse of civilization and death of most of the world's population, usually measured from the winter of 2061 through to the winter of 2063.

The End was preceded by the Decade of Descent, ten years of constant global war, widespread starvation, disease pandemics, and extreme weather phenomena. Instead of pulling through this decade of trouble, someone hit the reset button. Nuclear missiles launched, cities were wiped off the map, and a billion people died in the initial strikes. Subsequent months saw the deaths of seven billion more from starvation, disease, and conflict. Governments collapsed entirely, militaries broke apart in internecine strife, and those left over did whatever they could to survive.

The United States was especially hard-hit. Or not. It's hard to say, really, since there is no information to compare against. All anyone knows is that before the End, the United States had a government -- weak, yes, and sometimes fractured, but there. And the States had a society, with media, culture, communication; an economy, with business, manufacturing, and consumption of goods. After the End, all these things went away, along with most of the people.

The ten years after the End were especially difficult. Nuclear fallout blocked a great deal of sunlight, and growing crops was difficult. Many scholars think the global population continued to decline during this time.

After this, the climate stabilized. And thanks to ten years of global cooling, the effects of global warming, which before the End were growing critical, faded away. Humans can start over again, only this time, one hopes, they know better.