Utah

Utah is a western state of the United States. It was the 45th state admitted to the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,736,424 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the sixth most urbanized in the U.S. Utah is bordered by Arizona on the south, Colorado on the east, Wyoming on the northeast, Idaho on the north and Nevada on the west. It also touches a corner of New Mexico.

Utah is one of the most religiously homogeneous states in the Union. Between 58% and 72% of Utahns are reported to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which greatly influences Utah culture and daily life.

Utah in Days of Infamy
Utah was the home of Orson Sharp, a U.S. Navy pilot cadet. He dutifully gave his life in the liberation of Hawaii from Japan in 1943.

Utah in Southern Victory
Utah's Mormon population has staged several uprisings against the US since the War of Secession. Generally, these uprisings have occured as a part of a larger war between the United States and the Confederate States. Thus far, there have been three major uprisings.

The first Mormon rebellion occured during the Second Mexican War. The uprising itself was actually quite limited in its scope. Aside from cutting off telegraph and railroad lines from Utah to the rest of the U.S., the Mormons took very little direct action against the United States. General John Pope took control of the state quickly. He and his successer, Colonel George Custer ruled the state with an iron fist. Custer in particular proved quite ruthless, killing many suspected polygamists, leaving behind an angry Mormon population, determined to gain independence.

The second uprising came during the Great War in 1915. This rebellion was far more violent, as the Mormons fought to the last man against U.S. troops. Again, they were unsuccessful and the state was placed under the rule of the U.S. military. The first governor was General John Pershing. After he was assassinated by Mormon partisans, control fell to Colonel Abner Dowling, who, through both diplomatic and cover means, barely kept the state under control.

When Al Smith was elected president of the U.S. in 1936, he returned all rights to the people of Utah in an attempt to gain good favor with them. This was unsuccesful as the Mormons rebelled a third time as the Second Great War raged. In 1943 U.S. forces were victorious over Mormon rebels once again. The U.S. government had had enough of the ongoing Mormon problem. After the fighting ended the U.S. government considered moving the Mormons out of Utah and to the Sandwich Islands.

The Mormon rebels specialise in assymmetrical warfare, using terrorist tactics such as car and roadside bombs, as well as long-distance strikes with home-made spigot mortars. Most recently, they began to use living humans with explosives strapped to them, which came to be called "people-bombs". The frighteningly random nature of these attacks struck fear into the hearts of US citizens, and when black guerrillas in the CSA adopted the method, even Jake Featherston was unsettled.

Utah in "Vilcabamba"
The Krolp discovery of silver in northeastern Utah effectively voided the treaty between the rump United States and the Krolp. The silver was within the borders of the U.S. The Krolp did not care, and wanted the silver. Knowing that the Krolp's mining techniques would leave what remained of the U.S. uninhabitable, President Harris Moffat III opted to fight the Krolp, rather than simply let them mine. That fight effectively spelled the end of the U.S.