First Rebellion

The First Rebellion was a major civil war in Panem which lasted three years, ending seventy-four years before the beginning of The Hunger Games trilogy. A rebel coalition of districts, led by District 13, launched an open insurrection against the ruling totalitarian government of the Capitol.

Prelude[]

Some time after the collapse of modern civilization, the nation of Panem was established in North America, with its capital and seat of power, the Capitol, situated in the Rocky Mountains. In the following years after its founding, Panem expanded across North America and eventually was segmented into thirteen outlying districts that covered much of the former United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Either since the nation's inception or a gradual transformation in the years that followed, the government of Panem was a totalitarian dictatorship and a police state in which each district was subservient to Panem's Capitol and responsible for producing goods of a particular industry to serve the growing needs of the nation and the Capitol in particular. Despite producing advanced technology and immense wealth, all of the goods and services provided by the districts were strictly controlled and operated by the oppressive government. The Capitol and its citizens were the only ones able to reap the full benefits of Panem's vast resources, largely at the expense and detriment to the district and its citizens, who had no say or control and largely remained impoverished. The oppressive nature of this relationship would, over a period of time, sow the seeds of dissent and resentment inevitably amongst the populace against the ruling government.

Eventually, the outlying districts grew tired of the oppressive regime of the Capitol and initiated a revolution.

The War[]

Students at the Capitol's Academy were taught that rebels from District 13 had instigated the conflict, disseminating arms and communications to other rebels throughout the districts.^[1]

Very little information exists regarding the details of the First Rebellion and the scope of the conflict, although it is likely the war was waged across the entire country, with multiple fronts likely in most, if not all, of the districts. The war presumably led to mass loss of life on both sides as well as immense devastation to the infrastructure of many districts.

Capitol air raids[]

A few months into the war, the first major rebel air raid on the Capitol immobilized the city for several days.^[2] Every citizen was assigned a bomb shelter near their residence. However, the Capitol's surveillance system relied on electricity, and rebel interference in District 5 caused frequent blackouts. Under these circumstances, air raid sirens were unreliable, so citizens were often caught off guard and forced to shelter in place.^[3]

Retaliation by the Capitol[]

The Capitol staged high-profile executions in the Capitol Arena, making it a prime target for rebel bombers.^[4]

Muttations[]

Alongside regular military units, the Capitol used genetically-modified muttations against the rebels. Tracker jacker nests were strategically placed around the districts like land mines, but could be sedated by smoke.^[5] In districts 9, 11, and 12,^[6] jabberjays were used to spy on rebels, but they were countered by simply feeding them false information.^[7]

Rebel siege of the Capitol[]

Rebels were able to sustain the fight on their end with support from District 13's military arsenal. For the last two years of the conflict, the Capitol was under siege, entirely cut off from outside supplies.^[8] As a result of this, food supplies ran low, forcing desperate families to sell their goods and furniture for rations, or else face starvation. In extreme cases, some Capitol citizens resorted to cannibalism.^[9]

Failed rebel invasion[]

Eventually, the rebels attempted to break the siege by scaling the Rocky Mountains and invading the Capitol itself. The terrain left them exposed to Capitol aircraft, likely resulting in heavy rebel casualties. This loss presumably had a devastating impact on the rebel war effort, turning the tide of the war in favor of the Capitol.^[10]

The Dark Days[]

Realizing that the rebels had lost their advantage, District 13 decided to abandon its allies in the other districts and secure its own independence. They seized a significant portion of the Capitol's nuclear arsenal and targeted the city. Understanding the Capitol still possessed its own separate nuclear arsenal out west, District 13 threatened mutually assured destruction unless the Capitol struck a deal. District 13's leaders proposed that the Capitol allow them to quietly secede from Panem as an independent state, in exchange for their withdrawal of support from the rebel war effort and presenting the illusion that the Capitol destroyed the district. Left with no other viable alternative and unwilling to escalate the rebellion into a nuclear war, the Capitol reluctantly agreed to the terms of the ceasefire.^[11]

District 13 pulled back all of its military forces and assets to the district, and it relocated its military and populace to an existing underground complex. It then allowed the Capitol to cut off all access to district from the rest of Panem, demolishing the infrastructure above through repeated carpet bombing.^[11] The Capitol then used the decimated ruins of District 13 as propaganda to showcase the consequences for rebelling.

With the total loss of support from District 13's military, the remaining districts could not hope to further resist against the Capitol forces. In this final phase of the war, the Dark Days, the Capitol quickly overran all rebel resistance across Panem as the rebellion collapsed in the face of superior Capitol numbers and weaponry. One by one, the remaining districts were eventually pacified and reunified under the firm grip of the Capitol.^[12]

Aftermath[]

The Treaty of Treason[]

With the collapse of the rebellion, the Treaty of Treason was signed and put into effect over the defeated districts. The Treaty imposed sweeping restrictions on the districts that severely curtailed civil liberties. Inter-district travel and communication was banned for the district citizenry, effectively quarantining the individual districts from one another as part of an effort to hamper any future coordination of another rebellion. Similarly, state surveillance was expanded and punishment for dissent was ruthlessly enforced by the Peacekeeper Corps as they rooted out all remaining rebel resistance throughout Panem. With the First Rebellion having taken a heavy toll on both Panem's population and infrastructure, the nation presumably began a gradual reconstruction period after the war.

The Hunger Games[]

The Treaty's most prominent and lasting provision was the founding of the annual Hunger Games. First conceived of by Casca Highbottom and brought to fruition by Crassus Snow and Dr. Volumnia Gaul,^[13] the event was set up as both a cruel reminder of the rebellion to the districts and a means to ensure it never occurred again. It mandated that each district must select one male and female tribute between the ages of 12 and 18 via a lottery system known as the reaping. The selected children would be taken to the Capitol where they were to be briefly trained before fighting to the death in a winner-take all battle royale in an engineered arena until only one remained, who was crowned victor.^[12]

Trivia[]

• The First Rebellion is assumed to have lasted for 3 years, as Snow was 5 years of age when the first year the war broke out, and was 8 years old when the Hunger Games officially began.^[8]
• When the jabberjay project failed, the Capitol abandoned the birds, releasing them into the wild and inadvertently creating mockingjays, which ironically became the symbol of the future Second Rebellion.^[7]
• Interestingly, the outcomes of both the First and Second Rebellions were decided through air raids conducted in the Rocky Mountains. In the First Rebellion, a massive air raid conducted by the Capitol on rebel forces scaling the mountains led to massive losses in terms of both manpower and equipment for the rebels, leading to a victory for the Capitol. During the Second Rebellion, an air raid conducted by the rebels in the mountains surrounding the Nut in District 2 led to the burial of the Capitol's military headquarters, and the massive loss of large numbers of ground troops, equipment, and the complete destruction of the Capitol's Air Force. This led to a rebel victory.

References[]