By Owen Button, Y13
Foreword: After reading A Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, I felt that the worldbuilding of the story’s setting fell short in when it came to the Republic of Gilead, the primary nation of interest in Atwood’s dystopian future. The country, and more importantly the story of how it was founded, lacks believability and comes off as overly evil to the point of being ridiculous. While it is easy to point out flaws, however, it is often far harder to come up with something better, which is exactly what I’ve attempted to do here. While my reimagined Gilead may not necessarily be a better setting for Atwood’s narrative, I feel that it nonetheless achieves a degree of realism that the original novel lacks. Enjoy.
The fall of the United States of America was a slow one, born out of years of growing partisan tensions and the radicalization of the nation’s two dominant political parties. By the late 2020s, these tensions began to peak. Riots on both sides became commonplace in small towns and cities alike, while even in the halls of Congress, shouting matches often ran the risk of becoming violent. Most believed that the civil troubles had long since passed the point of no return, and many foresaw some kind of inevitable conflict as the most likely destination of the country’s political path. In 2030, these fears were realized.
The Second American Civil War was nothing like its predecessor, beginning with no formal declaration nor military campaign. The first stage of the conflict was, instead, fought by a growing assortment of militia and paramilitary organizations, moving from region to region and engaging one other in street warfare. Small towns were transformed into strongholds, while the nation’s largest cities were reduced to urban battlegrounds as various armed groups fought for territory, control, and self-proclaimed ideals. Serious government intervention did not occur until nearly two weeks after the violence erupted, and this action was rarely effective and often only added to the hostilities.
The climax of the war’s first stage occurred when Texas, less affected by the conflict than other areas of the country, seceded from the Union, its congress electing to become its own republic. It was joined shortly after by Oklahoma and Louisiana, which united to collectively form the Republic of Texas. In an attempt to save face and assert control, US President Donavan Tanto moved to prevent the secession, deploying the military to the newly formed Republic to force it to remain in the Union. The intervention—the first of its kind in the conflict—would unexpectedly lead to a confrontation on the Texan border between the US Army and a hastily reinforced Texas National Guard. The question of who fired the first shots across the frontier remains a contentious subject to this day, but when the ceasefire was ultimately called by battlefield commanders roughly 36 hours after the fighting started, Texas remained in control of the line.
In Washington, Congress moved to impeach President Tanto for the unsanctioned military action, but on the day of the hearings, the largest and best-equipped of the paramilitary groups, known widely as the Sons of Jacob, surrounded and stormed the US capitol building, supported in this by a mob of several thousand of the President’s supporters and a covert special forces group organized by Tanto himself. The building was quickly breached, and the raiding party rapidly penetrated to the House and Senate chambers, where they launched a gas attack against both legislative parties before opening fire with heavy weapons in an attempt to destabilize the other branches of government. Little more than a third of those in the House chamber at the time managed to escape, along with just under half of the Senate, aided in this by a final, desperate counterattack by Capitol Police. Those who didn’t were either killed or arrested under charges of conspiracy and treason. Within the day, Tanto was in control of the capital and, with the help of several key officials, commanders, and militia groups, a number of the surrounding eastern states. He would appear on television that night to denounce a congressional attempt to unjustly seize power and destabilize the government, all the while actively downplaying the day’s earlier events and blaming them on an opposing militia group. Tanto promised a return to normality and a restoration of power, notably alluding to the need to implement “moral” policy in the near future.
This control, however, would prove to not be as geographically widespread as initially hoped. Although briefly scattered, the surviving US congressmen and justices would regroup shortly after the attack in the cities of Denver, Chicago, and Nashville, each serving as the center of its own emergency government. While some initially attempted to fix the logistical mistake that had led to the formation of the separate bodies, political tensions remained high, and it was eventually decided to leave the separate governmental systems as they were to maintain order. What would ultimately become the United Federation of American States, or UFAS, based in Denver, would attract the plurality of the nation’s states, primarily those in the West and Midwest of the country. The North American Union, with its capital in Chicago, was composed only four states, while the Confederate Republics of Columbia, based in Nashville, would be comprised of most of the South. California and Alaska would each secede independently, endeavoring to form their own republics.
In spite of their initial division, the three emergency governments shared a common enemy, and plans were drawn up for an alliance aimed at launching a counterattack against Washington. The Defiance Accords, named in part after the fort on the shared border of the three superstates, was simple in its language and outlined obligations, serving mostly as a formalization of a mutually recognized pact across its constituent signatories.
What is often regarded by historians as the first of the Gileadean Wars was chaotic and ultimately changed little. With the militaries of both sides in disarray, initial operations in the conflict were often confused and indecisive, with national guard units fighting the majority of early frontline actions. With public support on his side, Tanto’s forces quickly rallied, repulsing an initial attempt to move directly on Washington and responding with a rapid invasion of the North American Union, with only a last-minute Federation counterattack preventing the fall of Indianapolis. To the south, Confederate forces would benefit from a reorganization of their forces, reinforcing their national guard battalions and militias with regular army divisions. With this, a major campaign was launched into occupied Georgia, one of the few states hindered from voluntarily seceding, successfully liberating the majority of the state. A ceasefire was called less than a month later at the height of a major US counterattack against the Confederacy, a treaty that ultimately forced both sides to recognize the other’s legitimacy, an outcome that satisfied few. In light of systematic failures throughout the war, the North American Union would be dissolved shortly thereafter, its members electing to join the UFAS. President Tanto, emboldened by his strengthened position in the war, would begin enacting the first of a long list of executive policies, seemingly unrelated in nature, yet all serving the ultimate vision of a reborn nation, one with a name to match.
Today, the Republic of Gilead exists behind a vast curtain of concrete and steel chain, its populace and policy safely hidden from the rest of the world. With a handful of powerful global allies and a vast inheritance, the nation has grown into a superpower the rival of its predecessor, earning it the blind eye of much of its international counterparts. Many have become content to forget the turbulent crisis that birthed the country and accept the new continental order. Yet, with rising frequency, disturbing reports have begun to surface from within the Republic’s walls. Most of these come in the form of intercepted transmissions and signals, too garbled to fully make out, yet the few that have been deciphered thus far are terrifying. They tell a story of oppression, of a militaristic society where public executions are routine, and slavery abounds. Whenever questioned, Gilead itself has strongly rebuffed these claims to the international community, providing satisfactory evidence of its innocence to the rest of the world. Yet as the stories increase in number across the free media, even the most skeptical politicians have been forced to address doubts in the republic’s narrative, while their more proactive counterparts have begun to weigh the risk of joining the conflict Gilead’s sisters never stopped fighting. The Federation and Confederacy had long dreamed of a war of liberation to take back the East Coast, yet as Gilead continued to increase in strength, these hopes grew ever more distant. For the first time in years, however, this is beginning to change. Despite the war that had initially divided them, most Americans have come to feel a connection with their countrymen on the other side of the wall, many trapped there against their will. Each refugee to escape, and the tales they bring with them, serve to feed a growing marshal fire burning its way across the continent, a fire that long ago, freed thirteen colonies from the hand of oppression, and one that soon, may serve to liberate them again.
