Things You Didn't Know About The Fall Of Panem

Panem was created as a result of the violence that spread across the world when climate change caused resources to dwindle - it led to a global nuclear war that decimated North America.

Panem was the first civilization to be formed following a long period of catastrophic events that had forced people to escape into small communities. The Capitol and the districts were formed after the world had recovered enough for people to return to the surface.

Ravinstill is identified as the president of Panem in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which is set during the 10th Hunger Games. Ravinstill's presence goes much further back - he was also the president in the time before the Dark Days.

Ravinstill was thus responsible for the way in which the First Rebellion played out, and factored into the many calamities that took place during the conflict. 

The Capitol enacted the Treaty of Treason to ensure the districts didn't plan another uprising - the treaty contained laws the districts had to follow or face the Capitol's punishment.

Each district's mayor was required read the treaty to mark the beginning of every Hunger Games because it served as a reminder of the Dark Days. The treaty was designed in such a way that the districts would remain permanently divided in order to prevent future rebellions.

The districts had a chance to win the First Rebellion had they not made the ill-fated decision to go all-out in their attack of the Capitol. The lack of food and resources heavily depleted the Capitol to the point where its citizens started to fight each other, but the rebels decided to arrive there personally.

The decision cost the districts dearly because they had no idea how to scale the Capitol's surrounding mountainous terrain - the Capitol forces easily managed to locate their enemies and launched aerial attacks on the vulnerable rebels.

The First Rebellion was so long ago that the elderly President Snow was only 5 years old when the conflict began. Snow's age is a good indicator for the time span of the civil war, because he was 8 years old when the first Hunger Games took place.

Since the Hunger Games began very soon after the rebellion came to a close, it can be deduced that the war lasted for three years before the Capitol defeated the rebels to establish its rule.

The three years' worth of battles ultimately led to 75 years of struggles for the districts and the loss of numerous children from these communities.

Although the districts never had the same level of infrastructure or riches as the Capitol, the conditions within them were much better in the days before the rebellion. The Capitol targeted areas of importance within the rebelling districts to devastate their way of living.

The Capitol preferred to employ organic weapons in its attacks to cause mass losses of life - the weapons involved mutating creatures to use against enemies who had no idea of the existence of such violent animals.