1958 New Year's Eve Riots



The 1958 New Year's Eve Riots were the beginning of the Civil War between Atlas and Andrew Ryan for control of Rapture. These riots were ultimately the cause of an economic crash throughout the entire city, as the panic caused the rich and middle class citizens to draw their money out of the banks. This caused the banks to fold and resulted in the closure of many assets in Rapture due to lack of patrons.

On December 31, 1958, Atlas led a large segment of lower-class citizens in a series of attacks on Rapture's upper-class areas and population. One of the places that was hit first and hardest was the Kashmir Restaurant in Rapture's main transportation hub, which was hosting a New Year's Eve Masquerade Ball. An Audio Diary was recorded by Diane McClintock at the exact moment when the riots begin: New Year's Eve Alone. Diane was attending the party in the Kashmir Restaurant, but shortly after the diary began she was injured and cut the recording short. The Ryan Amusements park was hit as well, being temporarily cut off from the rest of Rapture, which led to the demise of many citizens caught inside the park at the time, including Nina Carnegie and Carlson Fiddle.

New Year's Eve 1958 was also the night that Sofia Lamb escaped from the Persephone Detention Facility to retrieve her daughter, Eleanor Lamb. The bonded Subject Delta and Eleanor were making regular rounds gathering ADAM when Eleanor was attacked by a group of Splicers from the Rapture Family under the leadership of Sofia Lamb. Eleanor was ultimately taken back by her mother, and Delta was commanded into committing suicide by Sofia Lamb while he was under the influence of the Hypnotize Plasmid.

Video
thumb|300px|left|BioShock 2's viral audio broadcast of the New Year's Eve riots.

Émeutes du Nouvel-An 1959