First Rebellion

"“After all, it was Thirteen that started the rebellion that led to the Dark Days, and then abandoned the rest of the districts when the tide turned against it”"

- Snow

The First Rebellion happened when the districts of Panem rose up against the Capitol's rule. The rebellion was orchestrated by District 13.

The rebellion saw heavy use of genetically modified animals, commonly known as "muttations" or "mutts". One of the most infamous was the jabberjay, birds that had been genetically modified by the Capitol to mimic human voices. They would fly to the districts during the rebellion and spy on insurrectionist meetings. They would then fly back to the Capitol and report back with direct information from the districts. Upon discovering this, the rebels fed the jabberjays false information. The Capitol abandoned the jabberjays, releasing them into the wild and inadvertently creating mockingjays, which became the symbol of the Second Rebellion.

At one point, rebel forces had managed to reach the Rocky Mountains around the Capitol, and attempted a mass invasion of the city. However, as the rebels had to scale the mountains, which was a brutal job, Capitol aircraft were easily able to find and destroy the rebel contingents trying to reach the other side.

Near the end of the rebellion, District 13 trained nuclear missiles on the Capitol, hoping to destroy the Capitol even if the result was mutually assured destruction. However, District 13 set up a secret deal with the Capitol - they would withdraw their forces from the war and present the illusion that Capitol bombers equipped with Toxic bombs destroyed District 13. 13 withdrew and rebuilt their district underground. The Capitol's bombers then destroyed the district on the surface. Without 13's aid, the remaining rebel forces were defeated by the Capitol.