Pax Universalis, The AU

Obsydian Shade

Post subject: Pax Universalis, Background

Posted: August 4th, 2011, 11:31 am

Posts: 797
Joined: August 13th, 2010, 5:44 am
Contact: Yahoo Messenger, AOL

The modern history of the world begins with the Old Empires, some of which like the Adriaen, Priyan, and Shou were truely ancient, while the others had their beginnings in medieval times, growing from modest kingdoms, to nationstates, to finally grand empires, with overseas possessions. The previous two centuries saw limited warfare, as each sought to expand their dominions at the expense of the others, usually fighting limited wars for likewise limited objectives. With the rapid growth of industrialization among the colonial powers grew, however, so did the ability to wage war on a much larger scale, which led to the growth of alliances, so that by the early 20th Century, all the powers, except for the ailing Adriaen Empire were entangled in one of two great alliances, the Entente Cordiale, and the Große Allianz .

This system was to prove the downfall of the great powers when the Adriaen Empire finally collasped. The Birthplace of northern civilization, it once included most of the continent in ancient times, before starting on a long decline that lasted to the present day. Largely kept afloat by the efforts of the other empires in the interest of maintaining the balance of power, it finally suscumbed to internal forces too powerful to be countered from the outside. As the empire at last split into a group of squabbling provinces, Edelstreich-Szorza say an opportunity to advance itself, and invaded the former empire, absorbing large sections. Valroux, which had ties to the area, and who didn't wish to see Edelstreich-Szorza expand further, issued an ultimatum: Withdraw from the former Adriaen Empire, and allow the issue of what to do with the former empire be decided by a Grand Congress, or face war.

Appealing to the rest of the Allianz, Edelstreich-Szorza recieved assurances of support if attacked; When Valroux forces marched into the the newly conquered territories, the rest of the Allianz declared war, compelling the rest of the Entente Cordiale to follow suite. First the continent, then the globe were plunged into war.

The result was a nearly nine year bloodbath as massive forces vied for power on land, at sea, and even in the air. Both side's expectation of a short was dashed as the they proved too evenly matched, and the war soon bogged down into static trench warfare. Millions of lives were lost, and to keep the war going, additional forces were levied from the colonies, which soon themselves became another battleground. New weapons were fielded, aeroplanes, submarines, airships, tanks, and even early biological weapons, near the end of the war. By the fall of 1918, all the great powers were nearly bled dry, both of manpower, and money, resorting to all manners of expedients to stay in the game. It couldn't last forever, and over the winter, a ceasefire was arranged, followed by a treaty that essentially saw a return to prewar borders, with the question of the Adraen Empire deferred to a congress of nations, though Edelstreich-Szorza was permitted to keep some of its conquests. It did not matter, however, for the treaty had come too late.

Internal forces at been at work in all the empires during the war, and afterwards, with all sides broke, and with depleted manpower from the years of bloodshed, there was little to put down these forces with, as popular opinion turned against the imperial governments for years of senseless slaughter. Soon, empire after empire was rocked by revolutions as democratic or communist revolutions overthrew empire after empire, and each one split up into smaller nations. The only survivior was the smallest of the Old Empires, Pallamara, who had committed little in the way of land forces to the war, and thus had escaped the backlash.

For the next 20 years, social and economic chaos was the norm, as the new nations tried both to recover from the war's depletions, and achieve stable governments. Some were successful, others weren't, and a global depression which nearly ended world trade settled in. In the Northern continent, from the remains of former Eisenmark, a disaffected staff officer, Rudolph Steiner, began the National Workers Party. Soon, the weak Bund that had replaced Eisenmark had been overthrown by a Nationalist revolution, which began to spread through the continent, as other states began to adopt their own local versions, especially ones that were under threat of communist takeover. The Nationalists were virulently anticommunist, and during this time, there were numerous clashes between communist and nationalist parties, though little in the way of actual warfare, as nobody was prepared for that....yet.

Unfortunately, by the mid 1940s, tensions between Democratic, Nationalist, and Communist nations was at an all time high, and when the Nationalist alliance, called the Volkspakt, made their move to "cleanse" Aurora, the world was once more plunged into war.

Most of the SRF nations in Aurora were quickly overrun, leaving the hastily convened "Republic Alliance" to fight it out with the Volkspakt there. With the Republic Alliance so engaged, the SRF meantime launched its own offensive in Jadara, where it had secretly been building up forces for some time, forcing the Republic Alliance to fight a war on two fronts, and making considerable gain.

Only a series of naval victories over the SRF enabled the Alliance to keep fighting on, and with their supply temporarily cut off, the SRF sued for peace, on the condition that all gains made be kept. Fighting for its existance in Aurora, the Alliance had little choice but to agree, for such peace would allow them to present a unified front against the Volkspakt in Aurora.

Eventually, the fighting in Aurora stabilized, and with both sides unwilling to to hazard the kind of bloodbath of 1910-1919, an armistice was agreed upon, keeping the new borders as the war had redrawn them.

In the end, all three sides claimed victory, though it was as much a moral victory for the Alliance as anything else, having lost ground in both Aurora, and Jadara, but they had consolidated themselves into a solid bloc that had proven that it was here to stay. The SRF, while losing most of Aurora, (where it had never been strong to begin with) had made large gains in Jadara, where the postwar era would see it consolidating much of its power. The Volkspakt, meanwhile had all but eliminated its most despised enemy from Aurora, and established itself as the dominant power on that continent.

Still, all was not well. During the war, nuclear weapons reseach had been implemented by all sides, and though none of them had produced a usable weapon by war's end, the postwar period would see large scale procurement of these weapons, adding to the tension among the three factions. Today, an uneasy peace reigns, but one that could be broken at any moment, as the powers play subtle games with threats, propaganda, espionage, and proxy wars, that can spiral out of control at any time. The year is 1970, and welcome to Pax Universalis.

_________________
We can't stop here--this is Bat country!

If it's close enough to cast a shadow, I think the flying house wins initiative.

Bronies are like the Forsworn. Everyone agrees that they are a problem but nobody wants to expend the energy rooting them out.

"That is a very graphic analogy which aids understanding wonderfully while being, strictly speaking, wrong in every possible way."

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