Tag: Visual edit |
No edit summary Tag: Visual edit |
||
| (43 intermediate revisions by 22 users not shown) | |||
| Line 27: | Line 27: | ||
|commanders1 = {{flagicon|United States}} [[Thomas Whitmore]] <br/> |
|commanders1 = {{flagicon|United States}} [[Thomas Whitmore]] <br/> |
||
{{flagicon|Russia}} Boris Yeltsin<ref name="War1996">''[http://www.warof1996.com War of 1996 website]''</ref> <br/> |
{{flagicon|Russia}} Boris Yeltsin<ref name="War1996">''[http://www.warof1996.com War of 1996 website]''</ref> <br/> |
||
| − | {{flagicon|China}} |
+ | {{flagicon|China}} Jiang Zemin <br/> |
[[File:Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg.png|23px|border]] Yasumichi Marukawa <br/> |
[[File:Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg.png|23px|border]] Yasumichi Marukawa <br/> |
||
{{flagicon|United Kingdom}} John Major<ref name="War1996"/> <br/> |
{{flagicon|United Kingdom}} John Major<ref name="War1996"/> <br/> |
||
{{flagicon|France}} Jacques Chirac <br /> |
{{flagicon|France}} Jacques Chirac <br /> |
||
{{flagicon|Germany}} Helmut Kohl<ref name="War1996"/> <br/> |
{{flagicon|Germany}} Helmut Kohl<ref name="War1996"/> <br/> |
||
| − | {{flagicon|Romania}} |
+ | {{flagicon|Romania}} Ion Iliescu <br /> |
| − | {{flagicon|Italy}} |
+ | {{flagicon|Italy}} Oscar Luigi Scalfaro <br /> |
| − | {{flagicon|India}} |
+ | {{flagicon|India}} Shankar Dayal Sharma <br /> |
| − | {{flagicon|Israel}} |
+ | {{flagicon|Israel}} Shimon Peres <br/> |
| − | [[File:Flag of Iraq (1991-2004).svg.png|border|23px]] |
+ | [[File:Flag of Iraq (1991-2004).svg.png|border|23px]] Saddam Hussein <br/> |
and other countries' heads of states and military leaders |
and other countries' heads of states and military leaders |
||
| − | |commanders2 = [[ |
+ | |commanders2 = [[Alien Supreme Commander|An alien supreme commander]] |
| − | [[Alien Supreme Commander|An alien supreme commander]] |
||
|forces1 = {{flagicon|United States}} U.S. Armed Forces <br/> |
|forces1 = {{flagicon|United States}} U.S. Armed Forces <br/> |
||
{{flagicon|Russia}} Russian Armed Forces <br/> |
{{flagicon|Russia}} Russian Armed Forces <br/> |
||
| Line 62: | Line 61: | ||
|next = [[Congo Ground War]] |
|next = [[Congo Ground War]] |
||
|status = Ended}} |
|status = Ended}} |
||
| − | The '''War of 1996''' was a full scale assault on [[Earth]] from |
+ | The '''War of 1996''' was a full scale assault on [[Earth]] from July 2nd to July 4th, 1996 by a vast [[Harvesters|extraterrestrial race]] (later named the "Harvesters") seeking to harvest Earth's natural resources. It was the largest military conflict in the history of mankind, taking the lives of 3 billion people. Within a span of two days, 108 cities were outright destroyed, as the aliens began a systematic and genocidal campaign of wiping out humanity. The onslaught was halted when humanity coordinated a global counterattack after the [[United States]] managed to disable the aliens' force-field technology and the subsequent destruction of the [[Mothership (ID4)|alien mothership]], thus ending the war in human victory. |
The conflict drastically altered the political alignment and social structure of Earth. Humanity set aside their previous cultural and nationalistic rivalries and united globally. The [[Earth Space Defense]] was established to defend Earth and humanity from future extraterrestrial threats. |
The conflict drastically altered the political alignment and social structure of Earth. Humanity set aside their previous cultural and nationalistic rivalries and united globally. The [[Earth Space Defense]] was established to defend Earth and humanity from future extraterrestrial threats. |
||
| Line 70: | Line 69: | ||
Only [[Project Smudge|a few selected people]] in the U.S. military and intelligence agencies knew and discouraged revealing this secret to the public for fear of mass panic and the tense political climate of the Cold War between the [[United States]] and Soviet Union. At the same time, the United States were hiding a secret war with aliens.<ref name="novel"/><ref>''[[Independence Day: Silent Zone]]''</ref> |
Only [[Project Smudge|a few selected people]] in the U.S. military and intelligence agencies knew and discouraged revealing this secret to the public for fear of mass panic and the tense political climate of the Cold War between the [[United States]] and Soviet Union. At the same time, the United States were hiding a secret war with aliens.<ref name="novel"/><ref>''[[Independence Day: Silent Zone]]''</ref> |
||
| + | |||
| + | On the Harvester's side, they had been studying Earth and the human race for many years, identifying their cultural hubs, military strongpoints, strengths and weaknesses and various other subjects, steadily gathering and processing this information and formulating the perfect time to strike. |
||
==July 2nd== |
==July 2nd== |
||
| Line 77: | Line 78: | ||
'''David Levinson:''' Checkmate. |
'''David Levinson:''' Checkmate. |
||
}} |
}} |
||
| − | On July 2, a 550 km wide alien [[Mothership (ID4)|mothership]] enters Earth's orbit and deploys 36 saucer-shaped "[[City Destroyer|destroyer]]" spacecraft, each 15 miles (24 km) wide, and taking position over some of Earth's major cities. The aliens made use of human satellites to relay signals between vessels and coordinate their attack. Human response was in panic and uncertainty as people tried to flee from the targeted cities while the world's governments placed their military forces on high alert and making attempts to contact the aliens without causing hostile first contact while remaining ignorant of the extraterrestrials' malevolent intentions. |
+ | On July 2, a 550 km wide alien [[Mothership (ID4)|mothership]] enters Earth's orbit and deploys 36 saucer-shaped "[[City Destroyer|destroyer]]" spacecraft, each 15 miles (24 km) wide, and taking position over some of Earth's major cities, either nation capitals or cultural centres like New York City and Jerusalem. The aliens made use of human satellites to relay signals between vessels and coordinate their attack. Human response was in panic and uncertainty as people tried to flee from the targeted cities while the world's governments placed their military forces on high alert and making attempts to contact the aliens without causing hostile first contact while remaining ignorant of the extraterrestrials' malevolent intentions. The United States government, under the Whitmore administration, decided to send the Vice President and the Cabinet of Joint Chiefs as well as other high-ranking government officials to NORAD as a precaution. However, President [[Thomas J. Whitmore]] elected to remain in the White House to try and reassure the population that there was no danger; Cabinet members General [[William Grey]] and Secretary of Defence [[Albert Nimziki]] stayed as well, Grey to assist the President and Nimziki as security advisor. Though Nimziki was one of the select few individuals who knew about the aliens and their advanced technology, he did not inform the President of this so as to ensure 'plausible deniability', a decision that would prove disastrous later on. |
[[File:L 1a des.jpg|thumb|280px|Destruction of Los Angeles.]] |
[[File:L 1a des.jpg|thumb|280px|Destruction of Los Angeles.]] |
||
| − | The aliens' hidden transmissions in Earth's satellites was eventually discovered by [[David Levinson]], an MIT-trained satellite technician, who quickly realized about the aliens' coordinated attack. With the support of his estranged wife [[Constance Spano]], the White House Communications Director, |
+ | The aliens' hidden transmissions in Earth's satellites was eventually discovered by [[David Levinson]], an MIT-trained satellite technician, who quickly realized about the aliens' coordinated attack. With the support of his estranged wife [[Constance Spano]], the White House Communications Director, he convinced Whitmore to call an evacuation. |
| + | |||
| + | Unfortunately, this warning came too late and at 2:32 AM EST,<ref name="novel" /> the aliens attacked with advanced directed-energy weapons and reduced the 36 targeted cities to ruins. The majority of those remaining in the cities, unable or unwilling to flee, perished in the devastation. Whitmore, Levinson, Spano, Grey, Nimziki and some of the White House staff escaped the destruction of Washington aboard the presidential plane, Air Force One. |
||
==July 3rd== |
==July 3rd== |
||
| Line 88: | Line 91: | ||
On July 3, the City Destroyers began to move onto other cities after Earth's governments began ordering [[July 3 counterattack|individual counterattacks]] against the invaders. However, human attacks against the Destroyers proved severely ineffective, as the aliens are protected by force fields, making their vessels invulnerable to conventional weapons. This resulted in a one-sided massacre on human military forces. Afterwards, the aliens began methodically eliminating many military installations, such as [[NORAD]] and NATO headquarters in Brussels.<ref name="novel"/> |
On July 3, the City Destroyers began to move onto other cities after Earth's governments began ordering [[July 3 counterattack|individual counterattacks]] against the invaders. However, human attacks against the Destroyers proved severely ineffective, as the aliens are protected by force fields, making their vessels invulnerable to conventional weapons. This resulted in a one-sided massacre on human military forces. Afterwards, the aliens began methodically eliminating many military installations, such as [[NORAD]] and NATO headquarters in Brussels.<ref name="novel"/> |
||
| − | After the failed counterattack, President Whitmore and his remaining staff, who escaped from the destruction of [[Washington, D.C.]], soon learned the secret of Area 51 from Secretary of Defense [[Albert Nimziki]] and arrived there in hopes of learning anything that could stop the invaders. |
+ | After the failed counterattack, President Whitmore and his remaining staff, who escaped from the destruction of [[Washington, D.C.]], soon learned the secret of Area 51 from Secretary of Defense [[Albert Nimziki]] and arrived there in hopes of learning anything that could stop the invaders. In the meantime, the second wave of cities was destroyed, including Atlanta, Chicago and Philadelphia, and it was calculated that the aliens would have destroyed every major city on Earth within 36 hours. |
| − | During a failed assault on a City Destroyer in [[Los Angeles]], an [[alien pilot]] was captured by Captain [[Steven Hiller]], a U.S. Marine Corps pilot, and taken to Area 51. When |
+ | During a failed assault on a City Destroyer in [[Los Angeles]], an [[alien pilot]] was captured by Captain [[Steven Hiller]], a U.S. Marine Corps pilot, and taken to Area 51. When the alien was questioned by Whitmore, the alien attempts a psychic attack against him, but is killed by Whitmore's security detail. Whitmore learned that while he was being attacked, he saw the alien's thoughts and its kind's intentions to plunder Earth's natural resources at the cost of destroying all life on the planet. Whitmore then orders a nuclear attack on the Destroyers and the recommendation is transmitted to the remaining nuclear countries. The Destroyer set to obliterate [[Houston]] was targeted, but the missile failed to penetrate the force field of the vessel, forcing Whitmore to call off further nuclear strikes. |
Other nuclear states agreed to not launch their arsenals until the results of the Houston attack were clear.<ref name="novel" /> Similar strikes were quickly abandoned. By the late evening on July 3, all the remaining major cities had been abandoned and military forces had been routed. A select few, including Whitmore, began considering ways of how they could resist the inevitable ground invasion by the aliens.<ref name="novel" /> |
Other nuclear states agreed to not launch their arsenals until the results of the Houston attack were clear.<ref name="novel" /> Similar strikes were quickly abandoned. By the late evening on July 3, all the remaining major cities had been abandoned and military forces had been routed. A select few, including Whitmore, began considering ways of how they could resist the inevitable ground invasion by the aliens.<ref name="novel" /> |
||
| Line 100: | Line 103: | ||
- Thomas Whitmore}} |
- Thomas Whitmore}} |
||
| − | On July 4, Levinson devised a plan to |
+ | On July 4, Levinson devised a plan to temporarily deactivate the aliens' shields by infiltrating the mothership using Area 51's refurbished alien fighter and uploading a computer virus into the vessel's system. With Captain Steven Hiller volunteered as the alien fighter's pilot, Levinson accompanying him to implement the virus and along with deploying a nuclear weapon on board the mothership. The shutdown of the aliens' shields would coincide with a globally coordinated attack on the destroyers with the Americans leading the first assault to confirm the shields are disabled. |
| − | With not enough military pilots to man all available aircraft, volunteers including Whitmore are enlisted for the counterattack. With the successful implantation of the virus, Whitmore led the [[Battle of Area 51|attack on a City Destroyer approaching Area 51]]. It is during this battle that the Americans learned that the |
+ | With not enough military pilots to man all available aircraft, volunteers including Whitmore are enlisted for the counterattack. With the successful implantation of the virus, Whitmore led the [[Battle of Area 51|attack on a City Destroyer approaching Area 51]]. It is during this battle that the Americans learned that the destroyer's weapon port is its weak point, when one pilot, [[Russell Casse]], flew his aircraft directly into the weapon port in a suicide attack, causing a explosive chain reaction that completely destroys the entire ship. |
| − | The Americans then informed other |
+ | The Americans then informed other military forces from around the world on the City Destroyers' weak point, before they could strike in their fourth wave. Hiller and Levinson successfully launched the nuclear warhead that completely obliterated the mothership, and managed to escape the ensuing destruction unharmed. The loss of the mothership ensured the disorientation and subsequent destruction of the remaining alien forces left on Earth. |
==Aftermath== |
==Aftermath== |
||
| Line 114: | Line 117: | ||
Within time, the international community recovers and becomes more politically united by common cause and putting to rest centuries-old conflicts and political distrust due to a newfound fundamental sense of self-awareness that humanity as a whole is not alone in the universe and had barely escaped from their extinction.<ref name="novel" /> Coinciding with this unity, the [[United Nations]] formed the [[Earth Space Defense]] to prevent the possibility of a similar extraterrestrial invasion in the future. The remains of the alien vessels were salvaged and reverse-engineered by humanity to creating new technology for consumer and military use, and further help in Earth's reconstruction process. |
Within time, the international community recovers and becomes more politically united by common cause and putting to rest centuries-old conflicts and political distrust due to a newfound fundamental sense of self-awareness that humanity as a whole is not alone in the universe and had barely escaped from their extinction.<ref name="novel" /> Coinciding with this unity, the [[United Nations]] formed the [[Earth Space Defense]] to prevent the possibility of a similar extraterrestrial invasion in the future. The remains of the alien vessels were salvaged and reverse-engineered by humanity to creating new technology for consumer and military use, and further help in Earth's reconstruction process. |
||
| − | Alien survivors were discovered in the aftermath in which many were captured or killed. Others, however, were able to establish a temporary resistance against human forces. One such example was in the African |
+ | Alien survivors were discovered in the aftermath in which many were either captured or killed. Others, however, were able to establish a temporary resistance against human forces such as in [[Russia]] and the African Congo. One such example was in the newly founded and self-isolated African nation of [[National Republic of Umbutu|Umbutu]] in which an alien cell survived for more than ten years after the invasion until they were eradicated by 2006.<ref>''[[Independence Day: Resurgence]]''</ref> |
| − | Twenty years later, it was revealed the aliens were able to send a distress signal on the X-Band frequency before the |
+ | Twenty years later, it was revealed the aliens were able to send a distress signal on the X-Band frequency before the mothership was destroyed<ref name="Crucible"/>, which results in forcing the aliens' queen to personally come to Earth and [[War of 2016|threatening the human race once more in 2016]]. |
==City Casualties== |
==City Casualties== |
||
| − | 108 cities were completely destroyed in three waves by the aliens, and 35 were saved and suffered from |
+ | 108 cities were completely destroyed in three waves by the aliens, and 35 were saved and suffered from minor structural damage after the prevention of a fourth wave.<ref name="War1996"/> |
{| class= border="2" |
{| class= border="2" |
||
| Line 144: | Line 147: | ||
| [[Los Angeles]], U.S. |
| [[Los Angeles]], U.S. |
||
| (2) Colorado Springs, U.S. |
| (2) Colorado Springs, U.S. |
||
| − | | |
+ | | Phoenix, U.S. |
| − | | |
+ | | [[Las Vegas]], U.S. |
|- |
|- |
||
| Vancouver, Canada |
| Vancouver, Canada |
||
| Seattle, U.S. |
| Seattle, U.S. |
||
| − | | |
+ | | San Francisco, U.S. |
| − | | [[ |
+ | | (5) [[Area 51]], U.S. |
|- |
|- |
||
| Toronto, Canada |
| Toronto, Canada |
||
| Line 169: | Line 172: | ||
| Dakar, Senegal |
| Dakar, Senegal |
||
| Abidjan, Ivory Coast |
| Abidjan, Ivory Coast |
||
| − | | Kinshasa, DRC |
+ | | (7) Kinshasa, DRC |
| Tripoli, Libya |
| Tripoli, Libya |
||
|- |
|- |
||
| Lagos, Nigeria |
| Lagos, Nigeria |
||
| Addis Ababa, Ethiopia |
| Addis Ababa, Ethiopia |
||
| − | | Nairobi, Kenya |
+ | | Nairobi, Kenya |
| Cape Town, South Africa |
| Cape Town, South Africa |
||
|- |
|- |
||
| Line 235: | Line 238: | ||
| Hyderabad, India |
| Hyderabad, India |
||
| Mogadishu, Somalia |
| Mogadishu, Somalia |
||
| − | | (6) [[National Republic of Umbutu]] |
+ | | (6) [[National Republic of Umbutu]], DRC |
|- |
|- |
||
| Karachi, Pakistan |
| Karachi, Pakistan |
||
| Line 269: | Line 272: | ||
| Istanbul, Turkey |
| Istanbul, Turkey |
||
| Bucharest, Romania |
| Bucharest, Romania |
||
| − | | Belgrade, |
+ | | (8) Belgrade, Serbia |
| Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina |
| Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina |
||
|- |
|- |
||
| Line 292: | Line 295: | ||
| [[Munich]], Germany |
| [[Munich]], Germany |
||
|- |
|- |
||
| − | | [[London]], |
+ | | [[London]], UK |
| − | | Birmingham, |
+ | | Birmingham, UK |
| − | | Liverpool, |
+ | | Liverpool, UK |
| − | | Belfast, |
+ | | Belfast, UK |
|- |
|- |
||
| Paris, France |
| Paris, France |
||
| Line 310: | Line 313: | ||
1. Hong Kong was under British administration. |
1. Hong Kong was under British administration. |
||
| − | 2. Colorado Springs was targeted because of the [[NORAD]] base at Cheyenne Mountain. |
+ | 2. Colorado Springs was targeted for destruction because of the [[NORAD]] base at Cheyenne Mountain. |
| − | 3. Houston was largely destroyed by a nuclear missile |
+ | 3. Houston was largely destroyed by a nuclear missile. |
| − | 4. Macau was under |
+ | 4. Macau was under Portuguese administration. |
5. The original target was San Diego. |
5. The original target was San Diego. |
||
6. The Umbutu ship was the only City Destroyer to survive intact before it was shutdown following the destruction of the mothership. |
6. The Umbutu ship was the only City Destroyer to survive intact before it was shutdown following the destruction of the mothership. |
||
| + | |||
| + | 7. The DRC was called Zaire in 1996. |
||
| + | |||
| + | 8. Serbia was part of Yugoslavia in 1996. |
||
==Gallery== |
==Gallery== |
||
| Line 368: | Line 375: | ||
==Behind the Scenes== |
==Behind the Scenes== |
||
===Appearances=== |
===Appearances=== |
||
| − | *[[Independence Day |
+ | *''[[Independence Day]]''/''[[Independence Day (novel)|novel]]'' {{1st}} |
| − | *''[[Independence Day]]'' |
||
*''[[Independence Day: Dark Fathom]]'' |
*''[[Independence Day: Dark Fathom]]'' |
||
*''[[Independence Day: Crucible]]'' {{Mo}} |
*''[[Independence Day: Crucible]]'' {{Mo}} |
||
| − | *[[Independence Day: Resurgence |
+ | *''[[Independence Day: Resurgence]]''/''[[Independence Day: Resurgence (novel)|novel]]'' {{Mo}} |
| − | *''[[Independence Day: Resurgence]]'' {{Mo}} |
||
==References== |
==References== |
||
<references /> |
<references /> |
||
[[Category:Independence Day]] |
[[Category:Independence Day]] |
||
| − | [[Category:Earth]] |
||
[[Category:Events]] |
[[Category:Events]] |
||
Revision as of 09:59, 27 May 2020
The War of 1996 was a full scale assault on Earth from July 2nd to July 4th, 1996 by a vast extraterrestrial race (later named the "Harvesters") seeking to harvest Earth's natural resources. It was the largest military conflict in the history of mankind, taking the lives of 3 billion people. Within a span of two days, 108 cities were outright destroyed, as the aliens began a systematic and genocidal campaign of wiping out humanity. The onslaught was halted when humanity coordinated a global counterattack after the United States managed to disable the aliens' force-field technology and the subsequent destruction of the alien mothership, thus ending the war in human victory.
The conflict drastically altered the political alignment and social structure of Earth. Humanity set aside their previous cultural and nationalistic rivalries and united globally. The Earth Space Defense was established to defend Earth and humanity from future extraterrestrial threats.
Prelude
Acknowledgement of extraterrestrial life was secretly confirmed when in 1947, an alien vessel crash landed in Roswell, New Mexico.[3] U.S. military authorities recovered the wreckage and the bodies of its occupants to the future military base Area 51, where they remained in secret for the next four decades while Area 51 and the Roswell incident became mythologized in popular rumors and conspiracy theories.
Only a few selected people in the U.S. military and intelligence agencies knew and discouraged revealing this secret to the public for fear of mass panic and the tense political climate of the Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union. At the same time, the United States were hiding a secret war with aliens.[3][4]
On the Harvester's side, they had been studying Earth and the human race for many years, identifying their cultural hubs, military strongpoints, strengths and weaknesses and various other subjects, steadily gathering and processing this information and formulating the perfect time to strike.
July 2nd
- "
David Levinson: It's like in chess: First, you strategically position your pieces and when the timing is right you strike. See? They're positioning themselves all over the world, using this one signal to synchronise their efforts and in approximately 6 hours the signal's gonna disappear and the countdown's gonna be over.
Marty Gilbert: And then what?
David Levinson: Checkmate.
"
- ―{{{2}}}
On July 2, a 550 km wide alien mothership enters Earth's orbit and deploys 36 saucer-shaped "destroyer" spacecraft, each 15 miles (24 km) wide, and taking position over some of Earth's major cities, either nation capitals or cultural centres like New York City and Jerusalem. The aliens made use of human satellites to relay signals between vessels and coordinate their attack. Human response was in panic and uncertainty as people tried to flee from the targeted cities while the world's governments placed their military forces on high alert and making attempts to contact the aliens without causing hostile first contact while remaining ignorant of the extraterrestrials' malevolent intentions. The United States government, under the Whitmore administration, decided to send the Vice President and the Cabinet of Joint Chiefs as well as other high-ranking government officials to NORAD as a precaution. However, President Thomas J. Whitmore elected to remain in the White House to try and reassure the population that there was no danger; Cabinet members General William Grey and Secretary of Defence Albert Nimziki stayed as well, Grey to assist the President and Nimziki as security advisor. Though Nimziki was one of the select few individuals who knew about the aliens and their advanced technology, he did not inform the President of this so as to ensure 'plausible deniability', a decision that would prove disastrous later on.
Destruction of Los Angeles.
The aliens' hidden transmissions in Earth's satellites was eventually discovered by David Levinson, an MIT-trained satellite technician, who quickly realized about the aliens' coordinated attack. With the support of his estranged wife Constance Spano, the White House Communications Director, he convinced Whitmore to call an evacuation.
Unfortunately, this warning came too late and at 2:32 AM EST,[3] the aliens attacked with advanced directed-energy weapons and reduced the 36 targeted cities to ruins. The majority of those remaining in the cities, unable or unwilling to flee, perished in the devastation. Whitmore, Levinson, Spano, Grey, Nimziki and some of the White House staff escaped the destruction of Washington aboard the presidential plane, Air Force One.
July 3rd
- "
General Grey: If you calculate the time it takes to destroy a city and move on, we're looking at the worldwide destruction of every major city in the next 36 hours.
President Whitmore: We're being exterminated."
- ―{{{2}}}
On July 3, the City Destroyers began to move onto other cities after Earth's governments began ordering individual counterattacks against the invaders. However, human attacks against the Destroyers proved severely ineffective, as the aliens are protected by force fields, making their vessels invulnerable to conventional weapons. This resulted in a one-sided massacre on human military forces. Afterwards, the aliens began methodically eliminating many military installations, such as NORAD and NATO headquarters in Brussels.[3]
After the failed counterattack, President Whitmore and his remaining staff, who escaped from the destruction of Washington, D.C., soon learned the secret of Area 51 from Secretary of Defense Albert Nimziki and arrived there in hopes of learning anything that could stop the invaders. In the meantime, the second wave of cities was destroyed, including Atlanta, Chicago and Philadelphia, and it was calculated that the aliens would have destroyed every major city on Earth within 36 hours.
During a failed assault on a City Destroyer in Los Angeles, an alien pilot was captured by Captain Steven Hiller, a U.S. Marine Corps pilot, and taken to Area 51. When the alien was questioned by Whitmore, the alien attempts a psychic attack against him, but is killed by Whitmore's security detail. Whitmore learned that while he was being attacked, he saw the alien's thoughts and its kind's intentions to plunder Earth's natural resources at the cost of destroying all life on the planet. Whitmore then orders a nuclear attack on the Destroyers and the recommendation is transmitted to the remaining nuclear countries. The Destroyer set to obliterate Houston was targeted, but the missile failed to penetrate the force field of the vessel, forcing Whitmore to call off further nuclear strikes.
Other nuclear states agreed to not launch their arsenals until the results of the Houston attack were clear.[3] Similar strikes were quickly abandoned. By the late evening on July 3, all the remaining major cities had been abandoned and military forces had been routed. A select few, including Whitmore, began considering ways of how they could resist the inevitable ground invasion by the aliens.[3]
July 4th
- Main article: July 4 counterattack
- "We're fighting for our right to live, to exist, and should we win the day, the 4th of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day when the world declared in one voice, 'We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on, we're going to survive. Today we celebrate our Independence day!'
- Thomas Whitmore"
- ―{{{2}}}
On July 4, Levinson devised a plan to temporarily deactivate the aliens' shields by infiltrating the mothership using Area 51's refurbished alien fighter and uploading a computer virus into the vessel's system. With Captain Steven Hiller volunteered as the alien fighter's pilot, Levinson accompanying him to implement the virus and along with deploying a nuclear weapon on board the mothership. The shutdown of the aliens' shields would coincide with a globally coordinated attack on the destroyers with the Americans leading the first assault to confirm the shields are disabled.
With not enough military pilots to man all available aircraft, volunteers including Whitmore are enlisted for the counterattack. With the successful implantation of the virus, Whitmore led the attack on a City Destroyer approaching Area 51. It is during this battle that the Americans learned that the destroyer's weapon port is its weak point, when one pilot, Russell Casse, flew his aircraft directly into the weapon port in a suicide attack, causing a explosive chain reaction that completely destroys the entire ship.
The Americans then informed other military forces from around the world on the City Destroyers' weak point, before they could strike in their fourth wave. Hiller and Levinson successfully launched the nuclear warhead that completely obliterated the mothership, and managed to escape the ensuing destruction unharmed. The loss of the mothership ensured the disorientation and subsequent destruction of the remaining alien forces left on Earth.
Aftermath
- "In the space of three days, the world had changed forever. The whole of the planet united in a single goal, fighting one common enemy. That is unprecedented in the history of our species and the greatest building block we could have for starting again. I do find it ironic that we came together and triumphed on a day named for independence and separation. But I'm guessing extra-terrestrials don't have a good sense of irony.
- David Levinson"
- ―{{{2}}}
Steven Hiller with Dylan Dubrow watching the remains of a City Destroyer.
Following humanity's 'Independence Day,' Earth was devastated from the invasion as more than a hundred of the planet's populous and historical cities along with irreplaceable institutions such as museums and libraries were destroyed, and at least three billion human beings were killed.[2] Many of these deaths were caused by riots, disease, crime and hunger during and following after the conflict.[5] Those alive would never recover from the wounds of the invasion, both physical and emotional.[3]
Within time, the international community recovers and becomes more politically united by common cause and putting to rest centuries-old conflicts and political distrust due to a newfound fundamental sense of self-awareness that humanity as a whole is not alone in the universe and had barely escaped from their extinction.[3] Coinciding with this unity, the United Nations formed the Earth Space Defense to prevent the possibility of a similar extraterrestrial invasion in the future. The remains of the alien vessels were salvaged and reverse-engineered by humanity to creating new technology for consumer and military use, and further help in Earth's reconstruction process.
Alien survivors were discovered in the aftermath in which many were either captured or killed. Others, however, were able to establish a temporary resistance against human forces such as in Russia and the African Congo. One such example was in the newly founded and self-isolated African nation of Umbutu in which an alien cell survived for more than ten years after the invasion until they were eradicated by 2006.[6]
Twenty years later, it was revealed the aliens were able to send a distress signal on the X-Band frequency before the mothership was destroyed[2], which results in forcing the aliens' queen to personally come to Earth and threatening the human race once more in 2016.
City Casualties
108 cities were completely destroyed in three waves by the aliens, and 35 were saved and suffered from minor structural damage after the prevention of a fourth wave.[1]
| First Wave | Second Wave | Third Wave | Intercepted Wave |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Sao Paulo, Brazil | Buenos Aires, Argentina | Caracas, Venezuela |
| New York City, U.S. | Philadelphia, U.S. | Pittsburgh, U.S. | Cleveland, U.S. |
| Washington, D.C., U.S. | Atlanta, U.S. | (3) Houston, U.S. | Dallas, U.S. |
| Los Angeles, U.S. | (2) Colorado Springs, U.S. | Phoenix, U.S. | Las Vegas, U.S. |
| Vancouver, Canada | Seattle, U.S. | San Francisco, U.S. | (5) Area 51, U.S. |
| Toronto, Canada | Chicago, U.S. | Detroit, U.S. | St. Louis, U.S. |
| Mexico City, Mexico | Guadalajara, Mexico | Monterrey, Mexico | El Paso, U.S. |
| Havana, Cuba | Miami, U.S. | Boston, U.S. | Montreal, Canada |
| Dakar, Senegal | Abidjan, Ivory Coast | (7) Kinshasa, DRC | Tripoli, Libya |
| Lagos, Nigeria | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | Nairobi, Kenya | Cape Town, South Africa |
| Jakarta, Indonesia | Medan, Indonesia | Perth, Australia | Sydney, Australia |
| Singapore, Singapore | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | Rangoon, Myanmar | Mandalay, Myanmar |
| Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam | Phnom Penh, Cambodia | Vientiane, Laos | Bangkok, Thailand |
| Manila, Philippines | Hanoi, Vietnam | Pingxiang, China | Kunming, China |
| (1) Hong Kong, China | Guangzhou, China | (4) Macau, China | Taipei, Taiwan |
| Shanghai, China | Ningbo, China | Hangzhou, China | Wuhan, China |
| Beijing, China | Shenyang, China | Changchun, China | Qiqihar, China |
| Seoul, South Korea | Pyongyang, North Korea | Pusan, South Korea | Hiroshima, Japan |
| Tokyo, Japan | Yokohama, Japan | Nagoya, Japan | Osaka, Japan |
| Calcutta, India | Dhaka, Bangladesh | Kathmandu, Nepal | Lahore, Pakistan |
| Bombay, India | Bangalore, India | Madras, India | Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| New Delhi, India | Hyderabad, India | Mogadishu, Somalia | (6) National Republic of Umbutu, DRC |
| Karachi, Pakistan | Islamabad, Pakistan | Kabul, Afghanistan | Mecca, Saudi Arabia |
| Tehran, Iran | Baghdad, Iraq | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | Cairo, Egypt |
| Jerusalem, Israel | Tel Aviv, Israel | Damascus, Syria | Beirut, Lebanon |
| Vladivostok, Russia | Harbin, China | Sapporo, Japan | Petropavlovsk, Russia |
| Moscow, Russia | St. Petersburg, Russia | Helsinki, Finland | Stockholm, Sweden |
| Kiev, Ukraine | Odessa, Ukraine | Volgograd, Russia | Ankara, Turkey |
| Istanbul, Turkey | Bucharest, Romania | (8) Belgrade, Serbia | Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina |
| Athens, Greece | Naples, Italy | Algiers, Algeria | Casablanca, Morocco |
| Rome, Italy | Venice, Italy | Milan, Italy | Monaco, Monaco |
| Warsaw, Poland | Vienna, Austria | Prague, Czech Republic | Budapest, Hungary |
| Berlin, Germany | Hamburg, Germany | Frankfurt, Germany | Munich, Germany |
| London, UK | Birmingham, UK | Liverpool, UK | Belfast, UK |
| Paris, France | Lyon, France | Marseille, France | Barcelona, Spain |
| Amsterdam, Netherlands | Brussels, Belgium | Antwerp, Belgium | Rotterdam, Netherlands |
1. Hong Kong was under British administration.
2. Colorado Springs was targeted for destruction because of the NORAD base at Cheyenne Mountain.
3. Houston was largely destroyed by a nuclear missile.
4. Macau was under Portuguese administration.
5. The original target was San Diego.
6. The Umbutu ship was the only City Destroyer to survive intact before it was shutdown following the destruction of the mothership.
7. The DRC was called Zaire in 1996.
8. Serbia was part of Yugoslavia in 1996.
Gallery
Arrival of the City Destroyers
The City Destroyers attack
July 4th counterattack, also known as The Fourth
Behind the Scenes
Appearances
- Independence Day/novel (First appearance)
- Independence Day: Dark Fathom
- Independence Day: Crucible (Mentioned only)
- Independence Day: Resurgence/novel (Mentioned only)