Terran-Florian war

The First Terran-Florian War, also called the War of Justice and Liberation by the Florians, was a devastating nine-years conflict fought between the Greater Terran Union (as well its vassals) and the Florian Matriarchy-led Stellar Axis. The war lasted from 6th July 2520 and ended on 14th April 2529, beginning during the final stages of Operation Starhammer, the Terran first crusade against the Vol Hive.

The Treaty of Kaprisi established many things, such as a 10 year long pact of non-aggression treaty and the establishment of a new Terran protectorate named Commonwealth of Kaprisi. It also established Terran domination in a new area of the galaxy

The war was ended by the signing of the Treaty of Kaprisi jointly brokered by the Sophox and the Star Concord due to the pressure of the observing rival powers of the Milky Way Galaxy at that time, which resulted to the formation of the Commonwealth of Kaprisi as well the Stellar Axis nearly losing its position as one of the major power of the galaxy, having lost three-fifth of its entire standing military along with its resulting economic recession.

Despite the signing of the peace treaty, the sheer devastation and humiliation inflicted toward the Florian become the spark of the decades-spanning Terran-Florian rivalry, with the resulting revanchism resulted into an equally devastating second conflict seven decades later at the height of the War of the Five Fronts.

Background

By the end of 25^th century, Greater Terran Union unquestionably become the most powerful military powerhouse in the galaxy, placing itself as an equal with other major power such as the Star Concord, Florian Matriarchy, Vol Hive and the Sophox Garden of World. Its victory against the Beneficiary Compact quickly solidified its position even further, albeit at the cost of nearly causing an economic recession due to the careless wartime economic management of <insert current High Marshall> administration. Nevertheless, by the aftermath of the Byrum Cataclysm, hundreds of star-nations grew wary of its meteoric rise, fearing of the potential rise of ‘another Tyrum’ that may destabilize the entire galaxy.

In one of the secret anti-Terran meeting brokered by the Ruu, various convening major power quickly found itself in a state of panic and disorder in an attempt to find common ground in handling the so-called 'Terran Questions'. The competing major power, Star Concord and Stellar Axis in particular feared of the potential destabilizing factor of GTU toward the galaxy’s balance of power, while some major star-nations (the Florians and Peronisti) even argues for the preemptive ‘pacification’ of Terran state, only to be rejected as militarily unfeasible by the rest of convening powers.

This secret convention did not goes unnoticed by the GTU’s Ministry of Intelligence, prompting the GTU to announce its ‘Centuries of Peace’ policy to appease the galactic powers, as well a major economic rejuvenation plan to further strengthen humanity’s newfound position. By the first decade of 26^th century, much of its planning began to bear its fruit; as in 2510, GTU recovered quickly enough to rose as the single largest and fastest growing economy on the Milky Way Galaxy, to the point it become confident enough to unveil a series of major development and infrastructure project, beginning with the Project Malakbel, the first ever Dyson Sphere project ever constructed in the galaxy.

However, issue regarding GTU remain a hot topic among the major power in the galaxy. Star Concord in particular remain the most critical voice in regard of GTU's military expansion and modernization plan, and many star-nations continuously (and futilely) pressured the Terran states to dismantled the infamous Sword of Terra. But perhaps the strangest of all the well-known diplomatic pressures lies entirely on the issue over the non-militarized Project Malakbel. As the Dyson Sphere are to be constructed on the Barnard's Star, it is later found out that the star apparently held sacred by one of the Florian's major religion as it is supposedly to be part of the constellation depicting its holy founder, to the point that the Florians even offering an astronomical monetary compensation for the Dyson Sphere to be replaced to the other star. Nevertheless, such request were rejected, simply due to the fact that such plan will inflict a negative economic impact upon the GTU itself.

Nevertheless, even the guarantee of peace by the Terran High Command itself did not prevent further conflict from brewing at its doorstep. A particular threat began to arose across the Vol-Terran border as report quickly flowing in into the hand of the Ministry of Intelligence confirming that the Vol is amassing a major invasion force across the Border Territories, prompting the GTU to enact the Code Yellow, and subsequently declared war against their belligerent neighbor. The war was a resounding success; after a mere five years into the war, the Vol military are all but diminished. But as the Fleet Command began preparing for a full-scale counter-invasion against the Vol space, the Florians unexpectedly called for a crusade against the Terran states, and as in 6th July 2520, the Stellar Axis unilaterally declared war against the GTU

Early Stages of War

Casus belli and the Florian secret buildup

Officially, the Florian Matriarchy had been continuously forcing the Terran government to permanently halt the construction of the Dyson Spheres at the sacred Bernard’s Star, and their reluctance to do so prompting the Florian to declare ‘the cleansing of the Holy Constellation’ as their sole casus belli for the war. This reasoning however did not convince other star nations, particularly the Florian’s rival, the Star Concord who immediately suspect that Florian merely use the issue as the justification to mask their real intention for the war against Terra, especially given that more than half of the Clan’s leadership did not adhere the religion that supposedly held the aforementioned star as sacred.

Their suspicion however, turned out to be correct. Unbeknownst to many nations in the galaxy, the Florian (and to lesser extent, the imperialistic Stellar Axis) has gradually saw the GTU as the single most dangerous threat to their Sacred Authority – a philosophy comparable to the Mandate of Heaven of the old Imperial China – and even more so than the Concord, the Axis long-time rival. Having been too long seeing the GTU as one of the ‘barbarian tributary’ of the Matriarchy, the rapid rise of GTU was seen by many among the Florian leadership as ‘heretical’. Furthermore, the pattern of the Axis incursion later on are deathly focused on the Terran puppet states rather than attacking the GTU head-on, which in line with the Axis true plan for the war; to 'liberate' and install a new loyal tributary states for the Florian and their Rogathauran allies, thus (theoretically) weakened the GTU in a single stroke.

The Florian initially held an especially important advantages for the war; unbeknownst to the GTU and the rest of the galaxy, the Matriarchy do have the knowledge in regard of the Terran-held L-Cluster, having previously discovered the area shortly before the GTU claimed the whole region. This meant that the Florian and their warrior client-species could secretly built up their military without drawing the GTU’s attention, even as far as concocting a military crisis toward their democratic rival Star Concord to maintain the ruse. Prior to the start of the war, both the Florian Matriarchy and the Rogethauran Imperial Domains has amassed an initial grand invasion force of 180,000 combat ships (or 65% of their total space forces) and more than 70 million sailors, marines and personnel, the largest invasion forces ever assembled in the history of the Stellar Axis.

L-Cluster Blitzkrieg

The first opening hours of the war was marked by the swift takeover of the GTU’s Styx system, the nexus of the entire L-Gates network across the L-Cluster and the Milky Way Galaxy. The sudden invasion and the ensuing declaration of war shocked the GTU who, being too preoccupied with the mass reorganization of its massive Fleet Command, are unable to respond quickly with such sudden attack against its sovereignty. In response, the combined 1^st and 2^nd Expeditionary Fleet, numbered about 54,000 starships led by Admiral Harris Rahman and Vice Admiral Dragomir Constantin respectively, were quickly sent to aid the defending Styx Garrison Fleet despite both fleet are not at its fullest strength, having suffered considerable losses and damage during their previous battle against the Vol.

The response fleet initially managed to recapture the Terminal Egress Station virtually unscathed, having linked up with the remaining 2,000 starships of the battered Styx Garrison Fleet on the recaptured Styx System, bringing the combined response fleet at about 58,000. The Axis, shocked by the sudden counterattack by the GTU, quickly respond by bringing the entire grand invasion fleet against the combined Rahman-Constantin fleets. The resulting Battle of Styx eventually put the entire Terran response fleet on a 3:1 numerical disadvantage. After hours of successful, yet exhausting defense of the Styx system, National Council quickly order both admiral to abandon the L-Cluster to prevent complete loss of the major fleet.

However, having nearly cut off from the L-Gates, both fleet commanders are forced to use their Jump Drives-equipped starship to cut their way through the Axis blockade to allow the remaining non-JD starship to escape the system, but to no avail. The resulting attempt only led to more casualty, with a considerable amound of JD starships having their Drives disabled in the attempt, among which Harris’ flagship Pahlawan Malaya itself, splitting the combined fleet in two as both surviving group either escape via Jump Drives or escaping into the Jahannam system. The latter, numbering only 877 ships, will remain in the L-Cluster as they retreated into various secret outpost and planetoid underground bases while harassing the lengthy supply line of the Axis invasion forces throughout the duration of the war.

By the end of the battle, nearly 32,000 starships from the combined Styx Garrison, 1^st and 2^nd Expeditionary Fleet perished, the first major losses of the GTU despite of the successful defensive tactics employed by both the fleet commanders during the course of the Blitzkrieg. Both fleet are being put out of action for several month to further repair and replenish both of the devastated fleet, as the Florian quickly launch the incursion toward the Outer Rim territories.

Post-Blitzkrieg actions

The war took a turn for the worst for GTU, as the Fleet Command are now scattered, unable to mount any effective counterattack as the Florian seize both the major L-Gates at the Howling Vortex and the Urakhannon’s Maw star system, all while completely ignoring the remaining star system on the L-Cluster completely. To put further insult to the GTU, major shipyards and economic centers of the Outer Rim such as Voldop and Iberia fell into the hand of the Axis almost unopposed, effectively splitting a vast swath of Outer Rim from the rest of the GTU.

The post-Blitzkrieg situation are largely dominated by the GTU’s effort to strengthen the Fleet Command for the eventual counteroffensive, as major industrial centres and great factories began producing munitions, starship and weapons round-the-clock. The situation are further exacerbated by news of the split within the leadership of the Union of Nimerium and the ensuing quasi-uprising by the Nimerium’s pro-Florian leadership seeking for potential independence from Terran hegemony, as more than 120,000 starships quickly occupies parts of the Union.

The GTU however did not relent. In one of perhaps the greatest stroke of luck for the Fleet Command, the Office of Naval Intelligence and the Ministry of Intelligence accidently receive a confirmed report of a smaller fleet detachment of the Axis forces that held a meeting with number of the Florian’s highest ranking officer in the invasion force, with the 40,000-strong Terran Home Fleet led by the Admiral Tina Richter were quickly deployed in hope to decapitate the Florian military leadership.

The ensuing Battle of Braddam however did not achieve the result that the GTU hoped for; while the Home Fleet has successfully killed half a dozen of Axis highest-ranking admirals and generals, the Florian’s well-time reinforcement has in turn has costed about 6000 ships and seemingly Admiral Richter herself reported to be perished in combat, forcing her lieutenant Rear Admiral Yang Tai-long to retreat from the battle. This battle however would be the GTU’s last major defeat during the course of the war.

Middle Stages of War

Implementation of Yang's Doctrine

The initial successes of the Florian-Rogethauran invasion forces did not stays for long, as the Stellar Axis – being utterly inexperienced in regard of long-distance, attrition warfare compared to their wartime opponent – had begun to place a strain over their economy as they attempt to supply and maintain their increasingly costly and overextended supply lines. Attempts were made to allocate more military assets to guard its supply lines were completely rejected simply due to the fact that there are no more available reserves to be sent to the frontline, with the other assets back home couldn’t be transferred to further combat the rising outbreak of piracy across the Stellar Axis.

For the GTU’s intelligence organizations and military planners, this glaring weakness represent a great opportunity that the Terran states quickly exploits. Rear Admiral Yang Tai-Long in particular even as far as implementing the so-called Plan 717 in advance – a series of military contingency plan detailing guerrilla tactics and countermeasures in the event of the prolonged occupation of the Terran space – and his brilliant tactics and maneuver was so successful to the point the entire Axis invasion was stalled, as shown by the loss of over 20 million Florian and the majority of the transport, merchant vessel and its supplies (partially due to the extremely light or undefended supply lines)

The Plan 717 soon being implemented to the entire Armed Forces, allowing the GTU prolong the war as it tries to muster a counteroffensive forces. The newly christened ‘Yang’s Plan’ are so effective that it was continuously updated by the Armed Forces long after the war end, proving itself extremely useful during the NEX Uprising and the War of the Five Fronts in the future.

'Liberation' of Terran puppet states

Across the clients/puppet states of the GTU (particularly the Nimerium and the Faraxians), things has taken a turn for the worst, both toward the Axis ‘liberators’ and the citizens of the aforementioned puppet states. As a result of poor logistical planning and the GTU’s successful raid upon the Axis’s supply lines, the Axis end up draining resources, foodstuff and energy from the occupied Terran puppet states, much to the chagrin of the Polenian, Skirons and the Faraxians populace they promised to ‘liberate’. Furthermore, rather than setting up a semi-autonomous puppet governments like the GTU has done, the Axis forces instead were torn apart as various Florian feudal clans and their Rogethauran allies discarded their initial mission set upon by their respective central government in favor of establishing their own personal fiefdoms over their newfound conquest, and the citizen of Nimerium and Faraxian were essentially trading their independence form GTU for an even worse overlord.

In one of perhaps the greatest diplomatic disaster ever occurred in the galaxy, in order to silence the opposition of the Axis occupation of their homeland, part of the Axis feudal levy instead massacred many of their newfound allies - comprised of the Nimerium and Faraxian’s anti-Terran politicians and military officers - carpet bombing of the Nimerium’s main governmental complexes where the dissenting figures are convened, in a misguided attempt to establish a directly-governed territories in the event of the Axis’ eventual victory over the GTU.

The GTU quickly broadcasted the massacre across the galaxy to destroy the morale of the invasion forces and delegitimize the Florian war effort. The surviving pro-Terran officers of the Nimerium Self-Defence Force and the Faraxian Legions (as well the survived human military advisors), quickly rallied the enraged populace and military to drive what little of the Axis occupation forces stationed across the Terran puppet states into response of the so-called April Fool Massacre. By a single mistakes, the entire Florian plan was thrown in chaos, a state of panic that further compounded by the absence of many of its key military figure that are loss in the Battle of Braddam

1st August General Counteroffensive

Despite the initial failure inflicted upon the GTU forces, they are nonetheless able to make use of their gargantuan industrial capacity and its vast manpower to recuperate much of its initial losses, allowing them to replenish their forces beyond the pre-war level strength for their general counteroffensive. The general failures of the Axis occupation forces as well the successive crippling of the Axis’ overstretched supply network has in turn give a much needed time for the Union as the entire Florian-Rogethauran operations are grounded into a halt.

By the August of 2523, a massive armada of nearly 200,000 warships are assembled, comprising of the recovered 1^st, 2^nd and 4^th Expeditionary, as well the Gray Fleet and elements of Ryan’s Raiders were secretly assembled in an attempt to wipe out the majority, if not entirely, of the Axis invasion fleets stationed at Gadaxus. On the other hand, the Axis, unaware of these major threat, did not attempt to regroup their entire forces as the remaining smaller detachment are kept busy by tens of thousands of FLEETCOM’s warship from the 3^rd , 5^th and 6^th Expeditionary in an attempt to restore their severed logistical lines, culminating in the Battle of Gadaxus that lasted nearly two months.

By the end of the battle, the Axis invasion fleet, already exhausted and ill-supplied, are completely annihilated by the fresh and well equipped GTU armada. The Axis’ No Retreat policy had further exarberate the losses suffered by the Florians which saw the majority of its veteran fleets are destroyed in the subsequent batlle, effectively turning the tide of war as the vast chuck of the Axis’ military are completely wiped out in a single decisive strike.