The First Contact War, otherwise remembered as The Invasion, the First Human-Tyrum War, or the Great Defensive War was the invasion of Earth by the Tyrum Consciousness between 2090 and 2097. The invasion resulted in a defensive victory for Earth, throwing off the invasion, and was instrumental in creating the Greater Terran Union.
On 22 April 2089, military surveillance satellites operated by nine nations individually and simultaneously identified a collection of large objects passing through the orbit of Neptune, effectively entering the Solar System.[1] In the course of the following weeks, both civilian and military observatories continued to track the object until an announcement was made by the United Nations Security Council on the almost certain artificial nature of the objects, marking the confirmation of the existence of life and intelligence beyond Earth. The announcement by the UN also revealed that the objects’ orbit would directly intersect Earth’s within a year.
When the objects, later identified as some kind of spacecraft, arrived over Earth on 17 February 2090, their function as warships were revealed as the spacecraft destroyed the minimal amount of space-based defenses Earth’s nations could construct and deploy in the course of a year. At the same time, the same warships began a campaign of orbital bombardment of Earth’s surface, targeting major population centers.
In response, Earth’s militaries coordinated a global-scale intercontinental ballistic missile nuclear strike against the invading warships, destroying a significant amount of the largest and most heavily armed ships in the course of the action. This action would severely limit the ability of the alien invasion to conduct orbital strikes against Earth, leading to a prolonged global war of attrition against the now revealed aliens.
The following seven years of war would see the collapse of every nation-state, the reduction of global infrastructure to pre-industrial conditions, and the occupation of one-third of the entire landmass of Earth. At one point in the war, there were ongoing engagements between the Humans and the alien invaders, later revealed as the Tyrum, on every continent, most notably Europe and South America.[2][3]
The European Theatre
On February 17th, 2090 CE, the Tyrum launched their first orbital strike, destroying the city of Berlin. The Tyrum's orbital bombardment inflicted cataclysmic damage to the civilian government of the European Federation. However, the Federation's military was very decentralised with several regional commands and was unable to be crippled in a single decapitating strike. This redundancy allowed the EUROCORPS to remain organised while the Tyrum landed ground forces in Europe. Landing in Central Europe the Tyrum overran several German, Belgium, and Czech States, threatening to split what remained of the European Federation in two.[4]
In response to the deteriorating situation EUROCORPS military authority was further decentralised. The remaining European forces organised themselves into a loose coalition of battlegroups, each capable of acting independently and without external support. The size and composition of these battlegroups varied wildly, some were little more than scattered battalions garrisoning small towns, while others consisted of entire army groups which controlled vast territories and integrated themselves into local governments. This so called "European Strategy" was later discovered to have been the most effective in the entire war.[5]
The improvised command structure of the coalition made the integration of foreign elements easier than it might have otherwise been. Over the course of the war, surviving battlegroups from the Middle East, Eurasia, Africa, and North America were integrated into the coalition command structure. This command, rather than a rigid, traditional military hierarchy, consisted of a coalition of high-ranking military officers drawn from the battlegroups making up the coalition. This coalition command was able to organise the coalition, resulting in the European Counter-Offensive. The Franco-German Counterattack and the Spanish-Italian landing at Algiers began to turn the tide of the war against the Tyrum in the European Theatre. The success of these offensives cemented the Coalition as the most effective human military force on the planet.[6]
The Franco-German Counterattack and the Eurasian push from Dresden pushed the Tyrum out of Europe, liberating the continent and ending fighting in the European Theatre. Following the liberation of Europe, the Coalition's forces were increasingly deployed to other theatres of war across the Earth.[7]
The North American Theatre
In the opening hours of the war, the North American continent suffered a disproportionate number of orbital strikes from the orbiting Tyrum fleet. These strikes devastated the population and infrastructure of the North American Commonwealth, which was subsequently thrown into disarray. Weeks after these initial orbital strikes the Tyrum began landings in North America.
By 2091 the Mt. Weather Emergency Operations Centre, the Raven Rock Mountain Complex, and Commonwealth Aerospace Defence Command had all been destroyed or captured by the Tyrum. By 2092 four Presidents of the North American Commonwealth had been killed and the Federal Government collapsed, afterward all functions of the state were run by the North American Commonwealth Military under the authority of Executive Order 19,407.
Famous battles and events from the North American Theatre; such as the Vancouver Evacuation, the Jalisco Offensive, the Dakota Salient, and the Liberation of Chicago have gone on to form part of the founding mythos of the Greater Terran Union.
In 2097 the Emergency International Coalition committed significant forces to the North American Theatre to liberate occupied American territory. This offensive consisted of Chinese, Russian, Indian and European Soldiers alongside remnants of the Commonwealth military.[8]
Known Events
Battle of Jeddah: Notable Major Human Victory during the war, the Battle of Jeddah is considered a seminal moment for the foundation of the Greater Terran Union, as an army composed of 19 former nations, notably including the North American Commonwealth, successfully repulsed a Tyrum attack.[9]
The modern version of the GTU emblem, it is believed that the Budapest Campaign was its first appearance.
Budapest Campaign: Notable as it was during the Budapest Campaign that the first claimed uses of the Greater Terran Union's emblem were recorded.[10]
