In 2025, the Greater Korean Republic detonates a nuclear electromagnetic pulse over the continental United States. The destruction of above-ground electronics across the country is followed by troop landings in Hawaii and San Francisco, paratrooper droppings across the Midwest, and the irradiation of the Mississippi River to divide the United States.

Homefront: The Revolution is set in 2029, two years after the events of Homefront and four years into the invasion of the United States by the Greater Korean Republic. The GKR has lost the western states which also include Hawaii and Alaska to the Americans, following the Battle of San Francisco.