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 July 6th 2520 and ended on April 14th 2529, beginning during the final stages of Operation Starhammer, the Terran’s first crusade against the Vol Hive. The war was ended by the signing of the Treaty of Kaprisi, jointly brokered by the Sophox Garden of Worlds and the Star Concord due to the pressure of the observing rival powers of the Milky Way Galaxy at that time, which resulted in the formation of the Commonwealth of Kaprisi as well the Stellar Axis nearly losing its position as one of the major powers 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 Florians become the spark of the decades-spanning Terran-Florian rivalry, with the resulting revanchism resulting into an equally devastating second conflict seven decades later at the height of the War of the Five Fronts.
Background[]
By the end of the 25th century, the Greater Terran Union had unquestionably become the most powerful military powerhouse in the galaxy, placing itself as an equal with other major powers such as the Star Concord, Florian Matriarchy, Vol Hive and the Sophox Garden of Worlds. Its victory against the Beneficial 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 High Marshall Carla Diaz’s administration. Nevertheless, by the aftermath of the Byrum Cataclysm, many star-nations grew wary of its meteoric rise, fearing the potential rise of ‘another Tyrum’ that may destabilize the entire galaxy.
In one of the secret anti-Terran meetings brokered by the Ruu Confederated Planets, various convening major powers quickly found themselves in a state of panic and disorder in an attempt to find common ground in handling the so-called 'Terran Question'. The competing major powers, the Bright League and Stellar Axis in particular, grew fearful of the potential destabilizing factor of the GTU toward the galaxy’s balance of power, while some major star-nations (the Florians and Peronisti) even argued for the preemptive ‘pacification’ of the Terran state, only to be rejected as militarily unfeasible by the rest of the convening powers.
This secret convention did not go 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 the Union’s newfound position. By the first decade of the 26th century, much of this planning began to bear fruit; as by 2510, the GTU recovered quickly enough to rise as the single largest and fastest growing economy in the Milky Way Galaxy, to the point it became confident enough to unveil a series of major developments and infrastructure projects, beginning with Project Malakbel, the first ever Dyson Sphere project ever constructed in the galaxy.
However, issue regarding the GTU remained a hot topic among the major power in the galaxy. The Florian Matriarchy in particular remained the most critical voice in regard of the GTU's military expansion and modernization plan, and many star-nations continuously (and futilely) pressured the Terran state to dismantle the infamous Sword of Terra. But perhaps the strangest of all the well-known diplomatic pressures lied entirely on the issue over the non-militarized Project Malakbel. As the Dyson Sphere was to be constructed around Barnard's Star, it was later found out that the star apparently held sacred significance by one of the Florians' major religions, as it was supposedly part of the constellation depicting its holy founder, to the point that the Florians even offered astronomical monetary compensation for the Dyson Sphere to be relocated to another star. Nevertheless, such requests were rejected, simply due to the fact that such a plan would inflict a negative economic impact upon the GTU as well as the demand's own reasoning: Barnard'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) which led many Terrans to think of it as jealous aggression veiled behind some imagined religious grievance, heightening anti-Florian sentiments and intolerance to "subversive" Florian Religions 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 arise across the Vol-Terran border as reports quickly flew into the hands of the Ministry of Intelligence confirming that the Vol were amassing a major invasion force across the border territories, prompting the GTU to enact Code Yellow, and subsequently declared war against their belligerent neighbor. The war was a resounding success; a mere five years into the war, the Vol’s military was all but gone. But as Fleet Command began preparing for a full-scale counter-invasion into Vol space, the Florians unexpectedly called for a crusade against the Terran state, and on July 6th 2520, the Stellar Axis unilaterally declared war against the GTU.
Early Stages of War[]
Casus Belli and the Florians’ secret buildup[]
Officially, the Florian Matriarchy had been continuously forcing the Terran government to permanently halt the construction of the Dyson Sphere at the sacred Barnard’s Star, and their reluctance to do so prompted the Florians 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 Florians’ rival, the Star Concord, who immediately suspected that the Florians merely used the issue as an excuse to mask their real intention for the war against Terra, especially given that more than half of the Matriarchy’s leadership did not adhere to 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 Florians (and to a lesser extent, the imperialistic Rogathaurians) 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 seen the GTU as one of the ‘barbarian tributaries’ of the Matriarchy for too long, the rapid rise of the GTU was seen by many among the Florian leadership as ‘heretical’. Furthermore, the pattern of the Axis’ incursion later on was 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 state for the Florians and their Rogathauran allies, and thus (theoretically) weakening the GTU in a single stroke.
The Florians initially held an especially important advantage for the war; unbeknownst to the GTU and the rest of the galaxy, the Matriarchy did have 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 Florians 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, the Star Concord, to maintain the ruse. Prior to the start of the war, both the Florian Matriarchy and the Rogethaurian Imperial Domain had amassed an initial grand invasion force of 180,000 combat ships (or 65% of their total space forces) andmore than 70 million sailors, marines and personnel, the largest invasion force 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 Styx System, the nexus of the entire L-Gate 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, were unable to respond quickly enough to such a sudden attack against it. In response, the combined 1st and 2nd 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 the fact that both fleets were not at their fullest strength, having suffered considerable losses and damage during their previous battles 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 in the recaptured Styx System, bringing the combined response fleet at about 56,000. The Axis, shocked by the sudden counterattack by the GTU, quickly responded by bringing the entire grand invasion fleet against the combined Rahman-Constantin fleets. The resulting battle eventually put the entire Terran response fleet on a 3:1 numerical disadvantage. After days of successful, yet exhausting defense of the Styx system, the National Council quickly order both admirals to abandon the L-Cluster to prevent complete loss of the major fleets.
However, having been nearly cut off from the L-Gates, both fleet commanders were forced to use their Jump Drive-equipped starships to cut their way through the Axis blockade to allow the remaining non-JD starships to escape the system, but to no avail. The resulting attempt only led to more casualties, with a considerable amount of JD starships having their Drives disabled in the attempt, among which Harris’ flagship the Pahlawan Malaya itself, splitting the combined fleet in two as both surviving groups either escape via Jump Drives or escaping into the Jahannam system. The latter, numbering only 877 ships, would remain in the L-Cluster as they retreated into various secret outpost and planetoid underground bases while harassing the lengthy supply lines 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, 1st and 2nd Expeditionary Fleet were lost, the first major defeat of the GTU despite the successful defensive tactics employed by both fleet commanders during the course of the Blitzkrieg. Both fleets were put out of action for several months to repair and replenish both of the devastated fleets, as the Florians quickly launched their incursion toward the Outer Rim territories.
Post-Blitzkrieg actions[]
The war took a turn for the worse for the GTU, as Fleet Command was now scattered, unable to mount any effective counterattack as the Florians seized both the major L-Gates at the Howling Vortex and Urakhannon’s Maw black holes, all while completely ignoring the remaining star systems in the L-Cluster completely. To put further insult to injury, 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 the Outer Rim from the rest of the GTU.
The post-Blitzkrieg situation was largely dominated by the GTU’s effort to strengthen Fleet Command for the eventual counteroffensive, as major industrial centres and great factories began producing munitions, starship and weapons round-the-clock. The situation was further exacerbated by news of the split within the leadership of the Union of Nimerium and the ensuing quasi-uprising by it’s pro-Florian leadership seeking potential independence from Terran hegemony, as more than 120,000 starships quickly occupied parts of the Union.
The GTU however did not relent. In perhaps one of the greatest strokes of luck for Fleet Command, the Office of Naval Intelligence and the Ministry of Intelligence accidently received a confirmed report of a smaller fleet detachment of the Axis forces that held a meeting with a number of the Florian’s highest ranking officers of the invasion force, with the 40,000-strong Terran Home Fleet led by the Admiral Tina Richter being quickly deployed in hopes 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 successfully killed half a dozen of the Axis’ highest-ranking admirals and generals, the Florian’s well-timed reinforcements in turn costed about 6000 ships and seemingly Admiral Richter herself was reported to have 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 last for long, as the Stellar Axis – being utterly inexperienced in the regard of long-distance, attrition-based warfare compared to their wartime opponent – had begun to place a strain over their economy as they attempted to supply and maintain their increasingly costly and overextended supply lines. Attempts made to allocate more military assets to guard its supply lines were completely rejected due to the fact that there simply were no more available reserves to be sent to the frontlines, while other assets back home couldn’t be transferred due to the rising outbreak of piracy across the Stellar Axis.
For the GTU’s intelligence organizations and military planners, this glaring weakness represented a great opportunity that the Terran state quickly exploited. Rear Admiral Yang Tai-Long in particular even went as far as implementing the so-called Plan 717 in advance – a series of military contingency plans detailing guerrilla tactics and countermeasures in the event of the prolonged occupation of 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 Florians and the majority of their transport, merchant and supply vessels (partially due to the extremely lightly or undefended supply lines)
Plan 717 was soon implemented across the entire Armed Forces, allowing the GTU to prolong the war as it tries to muster a counteroffensive. The newly christened ‘Yang’s Plan’ was so effective that it was continuously updated by the Armed Forces long after the war’s 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 client/puppet states of the GTU (particularly the Union of Nimerium and the Faraxian Confederation), things has taken a turn for the worse, 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’ supply lines, the Axis ended up draining resources, foodstuff and energy from the occupied Terran puppet states, much to the chagrin of the Polenian, Skiro and Faraxian populace’s they promised to ‘liberate’. Furthermore, rather than setting up a semi-autonomous puppet governments like the GTU had done, the Axis forces instead were torn apart as various Florian feudal clans and their Rogethauran allies discarded their initial mission set upon them by their respective central governments in favor of establishing their own personal fiefdoms over their newfound conquests, and the citizens of the Union of Nimerium and Faraxian Confederation were essentially trading their independence from the GTU for even worse overlords, leading to an outbreak of peaceful demonstrations across their space.
In one of perhaps the greatest diplomatic disasters to havr ever occurred in the galaxy, part of the Axis’ feudal levies instead massacred many of their newfound allies - comprising many of the Polenian and Faraxian anti-Terran politicians and military officers - via the carpet bombing of their main governmental complexes as the dissenting figures are convened in their peaceful demonstration against their occupiers. In a misguided attempt by many noble clans to establish directly-governed territories in the event of the Axis’ eventual victory over the GTU, the Axis has instead lost whatever trust they earned from the GTU’s 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 Florians’ war effort. The surviving pro-Terran officers of the Nimerium Self-Defence Force and the Faraxian Legions (as well the surviving human military advisors), quickly rallied the enraged populace and military to drive off the Axis occupation forces stationed across the Terran puppet states into response of the so-called April Fool Massacre. By a single mistake, the entire Florian plan was thrown into chaos, a state of panic that was further compounded by the absence of many of its key military figure that were lost in the Battle of Braddam
1st August General Counteroffensive[]
Despite the initial failure inflicted by the GTU’s forces, its is nonetheless able to make use of it’s 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 as the successive crippling of the Axis’ overstretched supply network, has in turn give much needed time for the Union as the entire Florian-Rogethauran operation is grounded to a halt.
By the August of 2523, a massive armada of nearly 200,000 warships, comprising the recovered 1st, 2nd and 4th 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 entirety, of the Axis invasion fleets stationed at Gadaxus. On the other hand, the Axis, unaware of this major threat, did not attempt to regroup their forces as the remaining smaller detachment are kept busy by tens of thousands of FLEETCOM’s warship from the 3rd , 5th and 6th 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 further exarberated the losses suffered by the Florian,s which saw the majority of its veteran fleets destroyed in the subsequent batlle, effectively turning the tide of war as the vast majority 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 in the Gadaxus system did not reach either the Florian and Rogathauran governments until nine Earth 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 didn’t take part in the decisive battle are completely paralyzed by the loss of their leadership, with many of the attempted retreats toward the L-Cluster continuously foiled by the combination of the FLEETCOM’s ruthless mop-up operations and the effective communication jamming employed by the Terran state. 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 Domain attempted to marshal their reserves, but neither the Florians or Rogathaurans were able to send their surviving forces to their L-Gates in time, which was 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 the Axis’ best attempt to censor the information coming out of their border, the news eventually reached other major powers such as the Star Concord and the Bright League nonetheless.
On the Terran side, both the Terran Armed Forces and the government were effectively split on the next course of action, whether to simply dig in for a second invasion that would never come or an outright counter-invasion of enemy space. The GTU as a whole did not realize that their sudden reversal of luck at Gadaxus had effectively crippled their enemy’s military capability, yet the same victory has also assured both sides that they could at last rebuild and reverse the devastation inflicted by their wartime enemy should the war rage on. And thus, after a close vote with a narrow 51% gained in favor of a major counter-invasion, the GTU eventually prepared itself to invade it’s enemy’s territory and defeat them once and for all.
Invasion of Florian space[]
Operation Agent Orange began on the 19th of May, 2526, with the illustrious Al-Walid Task Force of Ryan’s Raiders leading the swift capture of the Gelthauri system, and on June 6th, the Suskat’s Maw black hole was seized by the 45,000-strong Ryan’s Raiders after a short battle. With both of its L-Gates having fallen into the Terran’s hands, the Florians had effectively lost their only window of opportunity to prevent the invasion of their space. The resulting invasion led to numerous startling discoveries made by Terran intelligence agencies, chiefly among them was the discovery of a secret, fully-completed Sentry Array owned by the Florians’ Secret Service. While such megastructures were by no mean a shocking secret (it is a given fact that both the Ruu and Xana also had plans to build civilian version of such structures in the future), any foreign diplomatic support the Florians had for their war completely evaporated as the so-called Suksat’s Data revealed that the Florians had used it to gather immense amounts of confidential data from both their rivals, the Star Concord and Bright League, such as their total operational combat fleets and the locations of key military bases, shipyards and hyperlane routes.
By the end of 2528, the GTU had 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 housed the Sentry Array) remained a distant possibility, Fleet Command was confident enough in their ability in keeping their recent gains as they gathered more of its fleet for the second wave of their planned invasion into the Matriarchy. Meanwhile, the Florian military was unwilling to spend it’s under-strength combined fleet to recapture the overrun sectors of their space, bringing the entire war to a stalemate once again.
The galactic intervention[]
On the diplomatic front of the war, the situation was no less dire for the Axis. Major riots began to break out on a regular basis across every Florian and Rogethaurian embassy in the Milky Way in response to the Suksat’s Data fiasco, while the military-industrial complex of the Axis forces were hard-stressed to rebuild their military as the entire galaxy placed their own economic sanctions to force the Axis to the negotiating table. The Bright League in particular (having previously supportive toward the Axis’ war effort) even went as far as threatening to break their existing non-aggression pact as the Commonwealth of Xana’s fleets were assembled across the Xana-Florian border to force their neighbor to demilitarize their Sentry Array.
Nevertheless, despite the objections of their military, the Axis’ respective governments refused to give in to the pressure, as long they could recapture their L-Gates and thus allowing for a favorable bargaining position. Nevertheless, by February 2529, after three failed attempts to dislodge the well-entrenched Terran forces in the Rayima system, the Stellar Axis eventually yielded to the galactic pressure. The Axis were forced to sign an unfavorable peace treaty with the GTU after two-months long negotiation in the occupied Kaprisi system, ending the war.
Aftermath[]
The war lasted for nine years and resulted tens of millions of deaths on both sides, being one of the bloodiest conflicts known to the Galaxy, despite its comparatively short length compared to the centuries-spanning Terran-Compact War and the Great Tyrum War that occurred decades earlier, and it greatly disturbed the established balance of power amongst the Milky Way’s powerhouses.
With the capitulation of the Stellar Axis, the Supreme Matriarch of the Florian Matriarchy signed the treaty of Kaprisi. Despite pressure from various warhawk parties such as the Humanity Unity Front and the Terran Legion, the National Council nonetheless settled down on the favorable, yet fair concessions. The treaty required the Florians to surrender all system under Terran occupation where the democratic Kaprisi Commonwealth was to be jointly established with the Star Concord (rather than being established as a militarized zone under the GTU’s direct rule), a ten years long non-aggression pact (that could be extended by the Florians’ request), and a moderate war indemnity (which was reduced voluntarily by the GTU itself later on). It also required the Matriarchy, by the urging of other great powers, to effectively demilitarize their Sentry Array (where it could not be used to spy on the hyperlane network or on other nations and could be only used for defensive surveillance within their border) and accept foreign observers for that very purpose.
The GTU however expected that the Florians may attempt to breach these treaty provision regarding their Sentry Array in the future, and quickly developed 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 the Array effectively during the War of the Five Fronts.
Florian 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 the GTU. This was particularly manifested in the desire for another war with the 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 high in demand, to the point that one of them even became the official choir-anthem of the Florian species
Effect on galactic military thought[]
On the other hand, the war became a great interest among the neutral observers, and permanently influenced the military thinking of various galactic nations. Special emphasis had been given on the well-established doctrines and tactics employed by the GTU’s Armed Forces that soon were to be emulated by various other military forces to a varied level of success. The 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 the Bright League and Stellar Axis took great effort in learning as much of humanity’s military history and emulating the efficient military-industrial complex employed by the Terran state. This would indirectly become a great factor that led to the success of the League of the Non-Aligned Powers in the War in Heaven about a century later in the future.