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 as well as the demand's own reasoning: Bernard's Star was a Red Dwarf, completely invisible from the territories of the Florian Matriarchy due to physics whose knowledge is necessary to settle planets (Dissipation of Radiation in Space over galactic distances originating from a barely luminous stellar object) what led many Terrans to think it as a jealous aggression veiled behind some imagined religious grievance, heightening anti-Florian sentiments and Intolerance to "subversive" Florian Religion across the Union.

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 56,000. 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 amount 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 raids 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 from GTU for an even worse overlord, leading to an outbreak of peaceful demonstrations across their space.

In one of perhaps the greatest diplomatic disaster ever occurred in the galaxy, 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 - via the carpet bombing of the Nimerium’s main governmental complexes as the dissenting figures are convened in their peaceful demonstration against their occupiers. In a misguided attempt many noble clans to establish a directly-governed territories in the event of the Axis’ eventual victory over the GTU, the Axis has instead lost whatever trust earned from the GTU vassals for their war effort.

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.

The Tides Turned

The Front collapsed

The news regarding the utter devastation of the Axis invasion forces at the Gadaxus system did not reach both the Florian and Rogethauran governments until nine Earth’s month later, but even then, the sudden months-long communication blackout from the main fleet was enough to cause panic for both the Axis military high command and its imperial government. The remaining smaller detachments of the invasion forces that doesn’t take part in the decisive battle are completely paralyzed by the loss of their leadership, with many of the attempted retreat toward the L-Cluster were continuously foiled by the combination of the FLEETCOM’s ruthless mop-up operations and the effective communication jamming employed by the Terran states. In total, more than 90% of the 200,000-strong invasion fleet and millions of its participating marines were lost in Gadaxus and the subsequent battles.

Both the Matriarchy and the Imperial Domains had attempted to marshal its reserves, but neither the Florians or Rogethauran military are unable to gather its surviving military to their L-Gates in time, which made worse by the loss of the undefended Styx system by Rahman’s ragtag fleet who had previously avoided direct confrontation after their defeat in the L-Cluster Blitzkrieg. Furthermore, despite Axis best attempt to censor the information coming out of their border, the news eventually reach other major power such as the Star Concord and the Bright League nonetheless.

On the Terran’s side, both the Terran Armed Forces and the government are effectively split on the next course of action, whether to simply dig in for a second invasion that will never come or an outright counter-invasion of the enemy’s space. The GTU as a whole did not realized that their sudden reversal of luck at the Gadaxus has effectively crippled their enemy’s military capability, yet the same victory has also assured both side that they could at last rebuild and reverse the devastation inflicted by their wartime enemy should the war rages on. And thus, after a closed vote with a narrow 51% were gained in favor of a major counter-invasion, the GTU eventually prepares itself to invade the enemy’s soil and defeat its enemy once and for all.

Invasion of the Florian space

Operation Agent Orange began in 19th of May, 2326, with the illustrious Al-Walid Task Force of the Ryan’s Raider leading the swift capture of the Gelthauri system, and as in June 6th, Suskal’s Maw system was seized by the 45,000-strong Ryan’s Raider after a short battle. With both its L-Gates had fallen into Terran’s hand, the Florians has effectively lost their only window of opportunity to prevent the invasion into their space. The resulting invasion led into numerous startling discovery made by GTU intelligence agencies, chiefly the discovery of a secret, fully-completed Sentry Array owned by the Florian’s Secret Service. While such megastructures are by no mean a shocking secret (it is a given fact that both Ruu and Xana also had the plan to build the civilian version of such structures in the future), any foreign diplomatic support toward the Florians had for their war completely evaporated as the so-called Suksal’s Data reveals that the Florians had used them to steal an innumerable confidential data from both its rival, the Star Concord and Bright League, such as its total operational combat fleets and the location of its key military bases, shipyards and its hyperlanes routes.

By the end of 2328, the GTU has captured numerous major colonized systems such as Duwix and Cursa as well several other uninhabited systems. While the planned assault against the all important Muphrid system (which houses the Sentry Array) remain a distant possibility, the Fleet Command is confident enough in their ability in keeping their recent gain as their gathering more of its fleet for the second wave of their planned invasion into the Matriarchy. Meanwhile, the Florian military are unwilling to spend the under-strength combined fleet to recapture the overrun sectors of their space, bringing the entire war into a stalemate once again.

The galactic intervention

In the diplomatic front of the war, the situation are no less dire for the Axis. Major riot began to broke out on regular basis across every Florian and Rogethaurans embassies in the Milky Way in response of the Suksal’s Data fiasco, while the military-industrial complex of the Axis forces are hard-stressed to rebuild the military as the entire galaxy placed their own economic sanctions to force the Axis into the negotiating table. Bright League in particular (having previously supportive toward Axis war effort) even as far in threatening to broke their existing non-aggression pact as the Xana fleet’s are assembled across the Xana-Florian border to force their neighbour to demilitarize their Sentry Array.

Nevertheless, despite the objection of their military, the Axis’ respective government refuse to give in to the pressure as long they couldn’t recapture their L-Gates and thus allowing for a favorable bargaining position. Nevertheless, by February 2329, after three failed attempt to dislodge the well-entrenched Terran forces in the Rayima system, Stellar Axis eventually yield to the galactic pressure. The Axis are forced to sign the unfavorable peace treaty with the GTU after two-months long negotiation in the occupied Kaprisi, ending the war.

Aftermath

The war lasted for nine years and resulted tens of millions of death of both sides, being one of the bloodiest conflict known in the galaxy despite of its comparatively short length of war compared to the centuries-spanning Terran-Compact War and the Great Tyrum War that occurred decades earlier, and it had greatly disturb the established balance of power amongst the Milky Way’s powerhouse.

With the capitulation of the Stellar Axis, the Supreme Matriarch of the Florian signed the treaty of Kaprisi. Despite pressure from various warhawk parties such as the Humanity Unity Front and the Knights of the Void, the National Council nonetheless settles down on the favorable, yet fair concessions. The treaty required the Florian to surrender all the system under Terran occupation where the democratic Kaprisi Commonwealth are to be jointly established with the Star Concord (rather than being established as a militarized zone under GTU’s direct rule), ten years non-aggression pact (that could be extended by Florians request), and a moderate war indemnity (which are reduced voluntarily by the GTU themselves later on). It also required, by the urging of other great power, to effectively demilitarize its Sentry Array (where it could not be used to spy on the hyperlane network on other nations and could be only used for defensive surveillance within their border) and accept foreign observer for that very purpose.

GTU however does expect that the Florians may attempt to breach these treaty provision regarding its Sentry Array in the future, and had quickly develop a state-of-the-art countermeasures for that very purpose in the event of another war with the Axis. This decision greatly helped the GTU in preventing the Anti-Terran Coalition from using its Array effectively during the War of the Five Fronts.

Florian's Revanchism

Despite the comparatively favorable treaty imposed upon the Axis powers, the Florian’s defeat in the First Terran-Florian War led to the birth of revanchism among the Florian populace, characterized by a deep sense of bitterness, hatred and demand for revenge against GTU. This was particularly manifested in the desire for another war with GTU in order to reclaim its so-called Kaprisi Sector as the Florians quickly became a bitter rival of the GTU, culminating in a decade-spanning Terran-Florian emnity. It also led to the development of anti-Terran ideologies emphasizing "the ideal of the Matriarchy as the vanguard against the wickedness of Terran people". Murals and choirs that emphasized the humiliation of the defeat became in high demand, to the point that one of them even become the official choir-anthem of the Florian species

Effect on galactic military thought

On the other hand, the war become a great interest among the neutral observers, and has permanently influences the military thinking of various galactic nations. Special emphasis has been given on the well-established doctrines and tactics employed by the GTU Armed Forces that soon to be emulated by various other military forces to a varied level of success. Star Concord in particular took great effort in implementing a Terran-styled centralized General Staff and combined arms doctrine over its Joint Strike Force Command, while Bright League and Stellar Axis took great effort in learning as much of the humanity’s military history and emulating the efficient military-industrial complex employed by the Terran states. This will indirectly become a great factor that led to the success of the League of the Non-Aligned Powers in the War in Heaven centuries later in the future.