Post by SO-4 on May 21, 2016 13:09:36 GMT -5
Here is a timeline of major events that occurred both before and during the events of this RP. At any time, anyone is free to ask me to make edits that are related to your character or add events as necessary. In addition, when things on the board themself take place that might have major consequences, I will place them on this timeline as well for reference. Feel free to use this however you'd like.
2015-
Israel’s Prime Minister is shot and killed.
Considered by most historians to be the start of the war, although the roots were planted long before. To this day, it remains a mystery as to who actually shot the man. The generally agreed on opinion was that the assassin was an Iranian, footage recovered later seems to prove this fact. However, the Iranian government certainly hasn’t released any statements, even so long after the fact, suggesting that they actually committed the deed themselves. Some historians believe the man was acting on his accord, others place him acting on the orders of a government. Even those that have him working for a government, however, argue as to which one, with theories ranging from the Russians, hoping to cause unrest, to the Iranians, to even a power-hungry Mossad (though admittedly, the last theory has rarely held much weight in the community at large). At any rate, Iran was blamed in the immediate aftermath, setting the stage for the much larger conflict.
First wave of war declarations.
Israel did not wait to declare war, and neither did Iran, and neither did either country’s allies. Both Russia and the United States, some of the most major players of the war, declared war in the early days. It is believed that Russia, at least, had simply taken an opportunity it was long waiting for, especially with hindsight and the knowledge of the nearly unstoppable Russian Advance. Other key allies begin declaring war in these early days as well, though in the earlier stages of the war, most of these declarations were somewhat tentative. Some others to declare war this early include Germany and the United Kingdom. Interestingly, more of the United Allegiance’s formative members declared war before the bomb than those of the Joint Pact, despite the Joint Pact often seen as the aggressors.
2016-
A nuclear bomb is set off in Jerusalem.
It is interesting to note that, of the two deeds widely considered to have created the war, Iran claims only one, and that is the bomb. It is also interesting to note that the government never completely acknowledged the event until they apologized at the conclusion of the war. They were not apologizing to Israel, mind- they were apologizing to the war-torn region and their own country. Jerusalem, after all, is a holy city to all three Abrahamic religions, not just the one. Once again, the true origins of the bomb are debated, for while the new regime acknowledged it and apologized, though they were under extreme political pressure to do so. Adding to this is the fact that setting off a nuclear bomb hardly seemed like a politically sensible move in a wartime climate and the fact that no culprit was ever brought forward to be tried as a war criminal (despite multiple efforts on both sides to find a name to blame), and it becomes slightly more clear as to why the actual origins of the bomb remain under debate.
Second wave of war declarations.
After the bomb, almost all formative members of the Joint Pact and the United Allegiance declared war, though the actual alliances wouldn’t be formed for some months after. Many countries declared war around this point. Among those to declare war during this year include China, Denmark, Norway (who would eventually back out of the war again), Italy, Japan, and almost all of the countries bordering Russia, such as the Baltics. However, the Baltics, Ukraine, and Belarus hardly got the chance to join the long war properly before the Russian Advance descended upon them, with perhaps the exception of Lithuania, who would be an official member of the United Allegiance before finally being felled to the Russians.
Joint Pact and United Allegiance formally formed.
While talks of such alliances had certainly existed for a long time before this point, they were not named and notarized before this point. It is interesting to think of the actual formative members of each group, especially considering how the groups would shift. Almost no East or Southeast Asian countries, for example, would join until the end of the year, after the Russian Advance had already begun. China in particular, a major player in the late war, was reluctant, perhaps because of its co-dependence on the United States, though they would eventually join the Joint Pact. None of the South American fronts, considered vital later in the war, would actually be formed until 2020, in some cases later. In any case, however, the lines were now drawn, and almost every country fighting would join one group or the other.
The Russian Advance begins.
The Russian Advance refers to the quick Russian annexation of many neighboring countries over the course of the first few years of the war. The plans were so well-executed that most believe the Russian Advance to have been planned a long time in advance of the war. However, despite the legendary efficiency of the Advance (which gained more territory in the span of about seven years than would be gained for another twenty), historians point to two particular points of the Advance as evidence that the Russians were not as unstoppable as they seemed, and that their grip on the territory captured was unsustainable. The first point mentioned was most obvious, it is commonly known as the Belarusian Disaster, though it’s known less by this name because of Russian failures and more for the extremely high number of deaths attributed to it. The second, less considered, is the difficulty Russia had advancing on Lithuania, who had gotten support from the United Allegiance early on and had managed to hold out longer than anyone had predicted.
2017-
Official annexation of Ukraine into Russia.
Unlike the Belarusian affair, this particular invasion went almost eerily smoothly, and is suspected to have only taken as long as it did due to drains on resources towards other areas of the war. Most political leaders at the time seemed to suspect a move like this, which is why it is sometimes baffling to historians that the United Allegiance did not step in immediately, which might have stopped the Russian Advance before matters could get much worse. However, it is easy to forget that the United Allegiance had only barely been formed at the time of the attack and was significantly less organized. It is also important to remember that the war was not always a bastion of public support. While the years directly after the bomb were some of the years of the highest public opinion, the political and war machine of most countries had yet to be perfected to the degree they would be later in the war. Whatever the reason, though, Ukraine was the first state to fall to the Russian Advance, and sometimes the most neglected as a result. After all, their northern neighbor was significantly more trouble (at least on the surface).
Vietnam joins the war.
Initially hesitant to join the war, Vietnam was officially neutral for what ended up being a relatively brief period, but after a long process of internal debate it finally joined the Joint Pact. The speed and strength of its initial efforts seemed to indicate that it had used the delay to prepare its forces for war - something which it denies. It immediately became a key player in the islands of the South Pacific.
2018-
Official annexation of Belarus into Russia, beginning of the "Belarusian Disaster".
Scholars will often point to the rapid annexation of Belarus as one of the biggest mistakes Russia made during their seemingly unstoppable advance near the beginning of the war. However, the more correct argument has been made that the results were nearly impossible to predict. After all, it is nothing but the greatest of ironies that it was a radical group of communist revolutionaries set of the bomb in the capitol building the very same day the Russians began to occupy it, signaling the start of the newly-annexed territory’s collapse. At any other time, they might have been called terrorists. They just happened to time affairs to be “heroes” and “rebels” instead. At any rate, this small spark fractured the country in a way that would have been nearly impossible to predict ahead of time. Even once the front had long moved past Belarus, the Russians would continue having to spend money to force down numerous insurgencies, constantly changing names and leaders as factions switched between groups. Despite the fact that this made the groups weak, it certainly made them very difficult to flush out. Unfortunately, though, these groups' questionable moral character also caused the death count, even in the beginning, to be atrociously high in Belarus, a figure that would only grow as Russia grew more desperate to reel the territory back under its control.
Official annexation of Latvia into Russia.
Most people forget this particular event altogether, especially considering how nearby Lithuania is, theoretically, more important to the war overall. However, the event is still worth noting, particularly as it would set the stage for many other important future events, and was a perfect staging ground for Russia’s continued siege on Lithuania and eventual invasion of Estonia. It was also probably the beginning of the political pressure on the Nordic states to join the United Allegiance that had not already. They would still wait yet, though.
Official annexation of Cambodia into Vietnam.
Having wasted no time after joining the war the previous year, Vietnam immediately set its sights on neighboring Cambodia - which was not very surprising in retrospect given the fact that it had only begrudgingly withdrawn from the country when it was forced to by the collapse of the Soviet Union. With the turning tide of the war, it could reclaim the significantly weaker country without much trouble - much to the alarm of the neighboring Thailand. Some scholars argue that this move was not motivated by a desire to strengthen itself in light of the overall war, but out of simple self-interest.
2019-
Official annexation of Estonia into Russia.
Widely considered completely unavoidable by this point in the war, the United Allegiance, which had been caught off guard by the Russian Advance, seemed to do very little to prevent this. Some claim that this was simply a tactical sacrifice, for the Allegiance would certainly defend Lithuania to their last breath. Others argue that there was no such sacrifice or abandonment, for troops were certainly sent. It depends on which propaganda is being read, really, as to the exact order of events or causes, especially as few governments have released any classified documents relating to the war as of yet, leaving scholars only biased sources and known figures to use to try to decipher the order of events.
2020-
Venezuelan invasion of Guyana.
The catalyst to the South American front of the war was likely all started because the rest of the world was distracted with other war, and was born of an ages-old territorial conflict between the two states. Perhaps the saddest thing about it is simply that it was nearly entirely preventable. Had leaders sat down to talk, or if people had paid attention to the growing restlessness of the political climate, if other countries had remembered their allies away from the war, perhaps the resulting mess would have never happened. At any rate, this normally leads to Venezuela, and by extension, the Joint Pact, being blamed for spreading the war into the Americas. However, it is interesting to note that Venezuela was neither a member of the Joint Pact or the United Allegiance until over a year later, and had politics swung differently, it is entirely possible that the South American fronts would have been a part of a different, less destructive war altogether.
South American wave of war declarations.
Despite what some propaganda might claim, Brazil did declare war first- Venezuela had yet to declare war on anyone, after all, only claiming it was occupying territory that it had always had. Columbia and Argentina quickly followed Brazil, and no less than two days later, Venezuela and Bolivia both simultaneously declared war and began the invasion. Everything moved so quickly that it is often believed that certain countries- Venezuela and Brazil particularly- were only waiting for an excuse to fight. There is no documentation to prove this, though the timing was so convoluted that there was actually argument, even after the war was completed, as to who, exactly, declared war first, leading to propaganda on both sides declaring the other as the aggressor, and blaming them for the war coming to the region at all. However, as sad as it seems, it is likely that the war would have begun for some other reason, if not for the reason given. Perhaps it is more fitting to say that the first war declaration was everyone’s war declaration, having already long ago been written, waiting for a signature.
2021-
Venezuela joins the Joint Pact. Other South American countries follow suit.
This is the point at which the South American fronts became part of the greater war at large. Venezuela, seeking military assistance, joined the Joint Pact, to which Brazil quickly joined the UNited Allegiance in response. As a result, Colombia and Argentina, at varying levels of reluctance, joined the United Allegiance as well, and Bolivia joined the Joint Pact. However, most of the South American war would remain initially ignored, overshadowed by events in Europe and the Middle East. Events later in the war would have all sides wishing they had supported their allies a little better, however, in what would become, while not the front with the most deaths, one of what environmentalists and scientists still decry as one of the most destructive fronts in the war, and one of the most tragic of them. Unsurprisingly, though, this title could be contested by almost any front.
2022-
2023-
2024-
2025-
Death of Michael Bates.
Honestly, most historians gloss over this note. However, as both a small note of personal interest and a note for later events, this would be the moment that the small rebel faction of Sealand stopped accepting money from neighboring Britain, and its “rebellion” started in earnest. Overall, it made a small impact, but it did spark, over a long period of time and in the face of some tragedy, one of the larger peace movements. As it stands, many of the radio clips have not been recovered or are otherwise impossible to restore, but those that have been are an interesting source of data for historians on day-to-day statistics that might otherwise not be released for some time, as well as an interesting metric of public opinion- though, like all primary sources, filtered through a certain bias.
2026-
2027-
First Russian invasion of Poland.
Poland would become the main European front for a very long time during the war. The early Russian invasion, however, would do little damage, as the Russians would not be able to invade Poland in earnest until after Lithuania was taken. In an attempt to manage public opinion, which was quickly beginning to tire of the war, the Russian army would try to invade Poland in order to bring back the momentum of earlier in the war. However, even marching safely through Belarus proved to be a monumental task, forcing them to only route the army through Ukraine instead. However, by this time, the United Allegiance was already well prepared, and it quickly became apparent that an invasion of Poland would not be the stepping stone for a further advance. The idea quickly become more of a public relations drain than a boon, leading the invasion to last for less than two months as resources were pulled to maintain current borders and fuel other areas of the war.
2028-
2029-
The Siege of Lithuania.
Whether or not Lithuania was truly a part of the Russian Advance is a long-standing debate, as Lithuania was not truly annexed until after Astravets. In addition, after being met with resistance from the United Allegiance, the Russians, who were running into problems elsewhere in the war, had placed less effort than typical into their invasion of Lithuania. However, after taking some time to recover, the Russians began a blockade in earnest, taking Lithuania’s sole port city within a short amount of time. In response, the United Allegiance began airdrops of supplies and heightened military support. However, the clock was ticking for Lithuania, which would not be able to hold out after losing their sole port.
2030-
2031-
2032-
Astravets Nuclear Disaster.
Considered possibly the end of the “Belarusian Disaster” (though, according to some, the beginning of another), it in some ways encapsulates just how little anyone was prepared for the long, drawn-out insurrection in Belarus. On October 23rd of 2032, one of the remaining insurgent cells were occupying the nuclear power plant at Astravets. Despite potential risks, the Russians bombed the plant. While a more experienced crew in a better maintained plant would have likely been able to prevent disaster, the aging, poorly-regulated, and incompetently run plant quickly started to fall apart as bombs shook the plant. A cascading wave of electrical failures and safety failures, as well as miscommunication and erroneous actions by the crew manning the plant, lead to a core meltdown and a massive fire. The amount of radiation released due to the incident remains unknown, as different groups still offer different numbers. One thing is true, though: the fighting mostly stopped. The few remaining groups fled to nearby Lithuania and Ukraine, and the surrounding area was completely quarantined. After this point, Belarus’s population would no longer be sustainable, the death rate far outstripped the birth rate, especially if one only counts healthy births- though, admittedly, this may have been true for a long time before, just without a functional government to release the statistics.
Official Russian annexation of Lithuania.
The combination of the Astravets Nuclear Disaster and a long siege on Lithuania’s sole port by Russia proved to outstrip the capabilities of the United Allegiance and NATO air drops, and stripped most of the support for continued fighting in Lithuania. Unlike some annexed territories, the Lithuanian government directly surrendered to Russia without a bloody invasion, too many having already been killed by hunger and, recently, contamination to fight. This proved to be a dangerous loss to the United Allegiance at the time, as Lithuania made the Russian invasion of Poland much, much more effective and much faster.
2033-
Second Russian invasion of Poland.
Less than a month after annexing Lithuania in December of 2032, the Russians moved the front to Poland once again, this time in a manner that seemed almost permanent. Like the first invasion, the invasion ground to a halt, and would stay there for many years. Unlike the first invasion, however, the Joint Pact put real energy into the invasion, leading to the European front to essentially fall in Poland. This invasion would also begin to grow more and more drawn out as what is known often as the “interwar period” began, during which all sides started to lose support and redirect funding to other things. As a result, Poland would become one of the worst affected regions of the war, some places became uninhabitable, thanks to their status as an eternal battlefield.
2034-
The “Interwar Period” begins.
By this time, the war had dragged on longer than any side had expected. Protests were common in nations. Money was dwindling, as was public support, especially after a particularly famous campaign in which the fact that “an entire generation has not known a time we were not at war” was spread. The result was hardly a ceasefire, but hardly a war of the same intensity of previous years. The Interwar Period is the period between 2034 and 2045, during which time there was a general lull in the fighting as various nations started to try to fund other projects instead. It is also one of the few periods of the war that could at all be characterized by peace talks, which were mostly pipe dreams during other periods. Alas, none of the talks yielded much, and by 2045, the war had driven back up to levels characteristic of the earliest parts of the war.
2035-
2036-
2037-
2038-
2039-
2040-
2041-
International Space Station Treaty.
One of the stranger curiosities of the war is that, in the middle of the Interwar Period, many participating nations in the International Space Station managed to complete a peace treaty which resumed missions to the station, which had already remained in orbit longer than had been expected after it had been abandoned, but would have otherwise fallen out of orbit the following year without additional supplies. It was, at the time, hailed as a step towards peace, though that would prove not to be. It was simply an opportunity to see if space could be exploited in this new war while the fighting has slowed. While space travel was often decried later as a waste of resources, much of today’s technology owes its existence to this treaty and the research conducted as a result.
2042-
2043-
Russian shelling of Japan begins.
While, in hindsight, the reasons are obvious, at the time it remained baffling to many as to why the strong Joint Pact presence in East and Southeast Asia had not attempted any form of invasion in Japan. Part of this was due to a general lack of aggression on Japan’s part, despite being a formative member of the United Allegiance. Still, it was considered odd by many that it was the Russians who brought the war in earnest to Japan, rather than neighboring China. Then again, it was also considered odd that China had yet to become as much of a major player as they were expected to. In hindsight, however, the order of events seems slightly more sensible- though, hindsight, as they say, is 20:20.
2044-
2045-
Chinese Entry into Japanese Front.
While the Chinese army was still smaller than it had any rights to be, pressure from allies caused China to enter into the front alongside the rest of the Joint Pact. China, up until this point, had mostly been a sleeping figure in the war to most of the world (though sleeping, history tells us, is not the correct word for what China was doing). As it lumbered into reluctant fighting with its neighbor, relations in the region unexpectedly imploded, leading to Japan’s final decision to truly enter the war. Rumors included stories of failed peace talks, perhaps a precursor to the first non-aggression agreements between the Pact and the Allegiance that would happen later that year. No documentation exists of these presumably failed meetings, however.
Japan-Vietnam Non-Aggression Pact is Signed.
In an unusual turn towards peace, given the fact that the war had hit an upswing recently in most places and Japan’s increased involvement in the fighting, Vietnamese and Japanese officials met in secret to sign a non-aggression pact that would be controversial on both sides of the war. The language would become famous for being unusually strict and unusually simple, with very little words missed. While the pact was controversial in leadership on both sides of the war, it was incredibly popular in both Japan and Vietnam, and it helped bring on a period of deep, stable relations between the two countries that would continue long after the war.
2046-
Present day.
2015-
Israel’s Prime Minister is shot and killed.
Considered by most historians to be the start of the war, although the roots were planted long before. To this day, it remains a mystery as to who actually shot the man. The generally agreed on opinion was that the assassin was an Iranian, footage recovered later seems to prove this fact. However, the Iranian government certainly hasn’t released any statements, even so long after the fact, suggesting that they actually committed the deed themselves. Some historians believe the man was acting on his accord, others place him acting on the orders of a government. Even those that have him working for a government, however, argue as to which one, with theories ranging from the Russians, hoping to cause unrest, to the Iranians, to even a power-hungry Mossad (though admittedly, the last theory has rarely held much weight in the community at large). At any rate, Iran was blamed in the immediate aftermath, setting the stage for the much larger conflict.
First wave of war declarations.
Israel did not wait to declare war, and neither did Iran, and neither did either country’s allies. Both Russia and the United States, some of the most major players of the war, declared war in the early days. It is believed that Russia, at least, had simply taken an opportunity it was long waiting for, especially with hindsight and the knowledge of the nearly unstoppable Russian Advance. Other key allies begin declaring war in these early days as well, though in the earlier stages of the war, most of these declarations were somewhat tentative. Some others to declare war this early include Germany and the United Kingdom. Interestingly, more of the United Allegiance’s formative members declared war before the bomb than those of the Joint Pact, despite the Joint Pact often seen as the aggressors.
2016-
A nuclear bomb is set off in Jerusalem.
It is interesting to note that, of the two deeds widely considered to have created the war, Iran claims only one, and that is the bomb. It is also interesting to note that the government never completely acknowledged the event until they apologized at the conclusion of the war. They were not apologizing to Israel, mind- they were apologizing to the war-torn region and their own country. Jerusalem, after all, is a holy city to all three Abrahamic religions, not just the one. Once again, the true origins of the bomb are debated, for while the new regime acknowledged it and apologized, though they were under extreme political pressure to do so. Adding to this is the fact that setting off a nuclear bomb hardly seemed like a politically sensible move in a wartime climate and the fact that no culprit was ever brought forward to be tried as a war criminal (despite multiple efforts on both sides to find a name to blame), and it becomes slightly more clear as to why the actual origins of the bomb remain under debate.
Second wave of war declarations.
After the bomb, almost all formative members of the Joint Pact and the United Allegiance declared war, though the actual alliances wouldn’t be formed for some months after. Many countries declared war around this point. Among those to declare war during this year include China, Denmark, Norway (who would eventually back out of the war again), Italy, Japan, and almost all of the countries bordering Russia, such as the Baltics. However, the Baltics, Ukraine, and Belarus hardly got the chance to join the long war properly before the Russian Advance descended upon them, with perhaps the exception of Lithuania, who would be an official member of the United Allegiance before finally being felled to the Russians.
Joint Pact and United Allegiance formally formed.
While talks of such alliances had certainly existed for a long time before this point, they were not named and notarized before this point. It is interesting to think of the actual formative members of each group, especially considering how the groups would shift. Almost no East or Southeast Asian countries, for example, would join until the end of the year, after the Russian Advance had already begun. China in particular, a major player in the late war, was reluctant, perhaps because of its co-dependence on the United States, though they would eventually join the Joint Pact. None of the South American fronts, considered vital later in the war, would actually be formed until 2020, in some cases later. In any case, however, the lines were now drawn, and almost every country fighting would join one group or the other.
The Russian Advance begins.
The Russian Advance refers to the quick Russian annexation of many neighboring countries over the course of the first few years of the war. The plans were so well-executed that most believe the Russian Advance to have been planned a long time in advance of the war. However, despite the legendary efficiency of the Advance (which gained more territory in the span of about seven years than would be gained for another twenty), historians point to two particular points of the Advance as evidence that the Russians were not as unstoppable as they seemed, and that their grip on the territory captured was unsustainable. The first point mentioned was most obvious, it is commonly known as the Belarusian Disaster, though it’s known less by this name because of Russian failures and more for the extremely high number of deaths attributed to it. The second, less considered, is the difficulty Russia had advancing on Lithuania, who had gotten support from the United Allegiance early on and had managed to hold out longer than anyone had predicted.
2017-
Official annexation of Ukraine into Russia.
Unlike the Belarusian affair, this particular invasion went almost eerily smoothly, and is suspected to have only taken as long as it did due to drains on resources towards other areas of the war. Most political leaders at the time seemed to suspect a move like this, which is why it is sometimes baffling to historians that the United Allegiance did not step in immediately, which might have stopped the Russian Advance before matters could get much worse. However, it is easy to forget that the United Allegiance had only barely been formed at the time of the attack and was significantly less organized. It is also important to remember that the war was not always a bastion of public support. While the years directly after the bomb were some of the years of the highest public opinion, the political and war machine of most countries had yet to be perfected to the degree they would be later in the war. Whatever the reason, though, Ukraine was the first state to fall to the Russian Advance, and sometimes the most neglected as a result. After all, their northern neighbor was significantly more trouble (at least on the surface).
Vietnam joins the war.
Initially hesitant to join the war, Vietnam was officially neutral for what ended up being a relatively brief period, but after a long process of internal debate it finally joined the Joint Pact. The speed and strength of its initial efforts seemed to indicate that it had used the delay to prepare its forces for war - something which it denies. It immediately became a key player in the islands of the South Pacific.
2018-
Official annexation of Belarus into Russia, beginning of the "Belarusian Disaster".
Scholars will often point to the rapid annexation of Belarus as one of the biggest mistakes Russia made during their seemingly unstoppable advance near the beginning of the war. However, the more correct argument has been made that the results were nearly impossible to predict. After all, it is nothing but the greatest of ironies that it was a radical group of communist revolutionaries set of the bomb in the capitol building the very same day the Russians began to occupy it, signaling the start of the newly-annexed territory’s collapse. At any other time, they might have been called terrorists. They just happened to time affairs to be “heroes” and “rebels” instead. At any rate, this small spark fractured the country in a way that would have been nearly impossible to predict ahead of time. Even once the front had long moved past Belarus, the Russians would continue having to spend money to force down numerous insurgencies, constantly changing names and leaders as factions switched between groups. Despite the fact that this made the groups weak, it certainly made them very difficult to flush out. Unfortunately, though, these groups' questionable moral character also caused the death count, even in the beginning, to be atrociously high in Belarus, a figure that would only grow as Russia grew more desperate to reel the territory back under its control.
Official annexation of Latvia into Russia.
Most people forget this particular event altogether, especially considering how nearby Lithuania is, theoretically, more important to the war overall. However, the event is still worth noting, particularly as it would set the stage for many other important future events, and was a perfect staging ground for Russia’s continued siege on Lithuania and eventual invasion of Estonia. It was also probably the beginning of the political pressure on the Nordic states to join the United Allegiance that had not already. They would still wait yet, though.
Official annexation of Cambodia into Vietnam.
Having wasted no time after joining the war the previous year, Vietnam immediately set its sights on neighboring Cambodia - which was not very surprising in retrospect given the fact that it had only begrudgingly withdrawn from the country when it was forced to by the collapse of the Soviet Union. With the turning tide of the war, it could reclaim the significantly weaker country without much trouble - much to the alarm of the neighboring Thailand. Some scholars argue that this move was not motivated by a desire to strengthen itself in light of the overall war, but out of simple self-interest.
2019-
Official annexation of Estonia into Russia.
Widely considered completely unavoidable by this point in the war, the United Allegiance, which had been caught off guard by the Russian Advance, seemed to do very little to prevent this. Some claim that this was simply a tactical sacrifice, for the Allegiance would certainly defend Lithuania to their last breath. Others argue that there was no such sacrifice or abandonment, for troops were certainly sent. It depends on which propaganda is being read, really, as to the exact order of events or causes, especially as few governments have released any classified documents relating to the war as of yet, leaving scholars only biased sources and known figures to use to try to decipher the order of events.
2020-
Venezuelan invasion of Guyana.
The catalyst to the South American front of the war was likely all started because the rest of the world was distracted with other war, and was born of an ages-old territorial conflict between the two states. Perhaps the saddest thing about it is simply that it was nearly entirely preventable. Had leaders sat down to talk, or if people had paid attention to the growing restlessness of the political climate, if other countries had remembered their allies away from the war, perhaps the resulting mess would have never happened. At any rate, this normally leads to Venezuela, and by extension, the Joint Pact, being blamed for spreading the war into the Americas. However, it is interesting to note that Venezuela was neither a member of the Joint Pact or the United Allegiance until over a year later, and had politics swung differently, it is entirely possible that the South American fronts would have been a part of a different, less destructive war altogether.
South American wave of war declarations.
Despite what some propaganda might claim, Brazil did declare war first- Venezuela had yet to declare war on anyone, after all, only claiming it was occupying territory that it had always had. Columbia and Argentina quickly followed Brazil, and no less than two days later, Venezuela and Bolivia both simultaneously declared war and began the invasion. Everything moved so quickly that it is often believed that certain countries- Venezuela and Brazil particularly- were only waiting for an excuse to fight. There is no documentation to prove this, though the timing was so convoluted that there was actually argument, even after the war was completed, as to who, exactly, declared war first, leading to propaganda on both sides declaring the other as the aggressor, and blaming them for the war coming to the region at all. However, as sad as it seems, it is likely that the war would have begun for some other reason, if not for the reason given. Perhaps it is more fitting to say that the first war declaration was everyone’s war declaration, having already long ago been written, waiting for a signature.
2021-
Venezuela joins the Joint Pact. Other South American countries follow suit.
This is the point at which the South American fronts became part of the greater war at large. Venezuela, seeking military assistance, joined the Joint Pact, to which Brazil quickly joined the UNited Allegiance in response. As a result, Colombia and Argentina, at varying levels of reluctance, joined the United Allegiance as well, and Bolivia joined the Joint Pact. However, most of the South American war would remain initially ignored, overshadowed by events in Europe and the Middle East. Events later in the war would have all sides wishing they had supported their allies a little better, however, in what would become, while not the front with the most deaths, one of what environmentalists and scientists still decry as one of the most destructive fronts in the war, and one of the most tragic of them. Unsurprisingly, though, this title could be contested by almost any front.
2022-
2023-
2024-
2025-
Death of Michael Bates.
Honestly, most historians gloss over this note. However, as both a small note of personal interest and a note for later events, this would be the moment that the small rebel faction of Sealand stopped accepting money from neighboring Britain, and its “rebellion” started in earnest. Overall, it made a small impact, but it did spark, over a long period of time and in the face of some tragedy, one of the larger peace movements. As it stands, many of the radio clips have not been recovered or are otherwise impossible to restore, but those that have been are an interesting source of data for historians on day-to-day statistics that might otherwise not be released for some time, as well as an interesting metric of public opinion- though, like all primary sources, filtered through a certain bias.
2026-
2027-
First Russian invasion of Poland.
Poland would become the main European front for a very long time during the war. The early Russian invasion, however, would do little damage, as the Russians would not be able to invade Poland in earnest until after Lithuania was taken. In an attempt to manage public opinion, which was quickly beginning to tire of the war, the Russian army would try to invade Poland in order to bring back the momentum of earlier in the war. However, even marching safely through Belarus proved to be a monumental task, forcing them to only route the army through Ukraine instead. However, by this time, the United Allegiance was already well prepared, and it quickly became apparent that an invasion of Poland would not be the stepping stone for a further advance. The idea quickly become more of a public relations drain than a boon, leading the invasion to last for less than two months as resources were pulled to maintain current borders and fuel other areas of the war.
2028-
2029-
The Siege of Lithuania.
Whether or not Lithuania was truly a part of the Russian Advance is a long-standing debate, as Lithuania was not truly annexed until after Astravets. In addition, after being met with resistance from the United Allegiance, the Russians, who were running into problems elsewhere in the war, had placed less effort than typical into their invasion of Lithuania. However, after taking some time to recover, the Russians began a blockade in earnest, taking Lithuania’s sole port city within a short amount of time. In response, the United Allegiance began airdrops of supplies and heightened military support. However, the clock was ticking for Lithuania, which would not be able to hold out after losing their sole port.
2030-
2031-
2032-
Astravets Nuclear Disaster.
Considered possibly the end of the “Belarusian Disaster” (though, according to some, the beginning of another), it in some ways encapsulates just how little anyone was prepared for the long, drawn-out insurrection in Belarus. On October 23rd of 2032, one of the remaining insurgent cells were occupying the nuclear power plant at Astravets. Despite potential risks, the Russians bombed the plant. While a more experienced crew in a better maintained plant would have likely been able to prevent disaster, the aging, poorly-regulated, and incompetently run plant quickly started to fall apart as bombs shook the plant. A cascading wave of electrical failures and safety failures, as well as miscommunication and erroneous actions by the crew manning the plant, lead to a core meltdown and a massive fire. The amount of radiation released due to the incident remains unknown, as different groups still offer different numbers. One thing is true, though: the fighting mostly stopped. The few remaining groups fled to nearby Lithuania and Ukraine, and the surrounding area was completely quarantined. After this point, Belarus’s population would no longer be sustainable, the death rate far outstripped the birth rate, especially if one only counts healthy births- though, admittedly, this may have been true for a long time before, just without a functional government to release the statistics.
Official Russian annexation of Lithuania.
The combination of the Astravets Nuclear Disaster and a long siege on Lithuania’s sole port by Russia proved to outstrip the capabilities of the United Allegiance and NATO air drops, and stripped most of the support for continued fighting in Lithuania. Unlike some annexed territories, the Lithuanian government directly surrendered to Russia without a bloody invasion, too many having already been killed by hunger and, recently, contamination to fight. This proved to be a dangerous loss to the United Allegiance at the time, as Lithuania made the Russian invasion of Poland much, much more effective and much faster.
2033-
Second Russian invasion of Poland.
Less than a month after annexing Lithuania in December of 2032, the Russians moved the front to Poland once again, this time in a manner that seemed almost permanent. Like the first invasion, the invasion ground to a halt, and would stay there for many years. Unlike the first invasion, however, the Joint Pact put real energy into the invasion, leading to the European front to essentially fall in Poland. This invasion would also begin to grow more and more drawn out as what is known often as the “interwar period” began, during which all sides started to lose support and redirect funding to other things. As a result, Poland would become one of the worst affected regions of the war, some places became uninhabitable, thanks to their status as an eternal battlefield.
2034-
The “Interwar Period” begins.
By this time, the war had dragged on longer than any side had expected. Protests were common in nations. Money was dwindling, as was public support, especially after a particularly famous campaign in which the fact that “an entire generation has not known a time we were not at war” was spread. The result was hardly a ceasefire, but hardly a war of the same intensity of previous years. The Interwar Period is the period between 2034 and 2045, during which time there was a general lull in the fighting as various nations started to try to fund other projects instead. It is also one of the few periods of the war that could at all be characterized by peace talks, which were mostly pipe dreams during other periods. Alas, none of the talks yielded much, and by 2045, the war had driven back up to levels characteristic of the earliest parts of the war.
2035-
2036-
2037-
2038-
2039-
2040-
2041-
International Space Station Treaty.
One of the stranger curiosities of the war is that, in the middle of the Interwar Period, many participating nations in the International Space Station managed to complete a peace treaty which resumed missions to the station, which had already remained in orbit longer than had been expected after it had been abandoned, but would have otherwise fallen out of orbit the following year without additional supplies. It was, at the time, hailed as a step towards peace, though that would prove not to be. It was simply an opportunity to see if space could be exploited in this new war while the fighting has slowed. While space travel was often decried later as a waste of resources, much of today’s technology owes its existence to this treaty and the research conducted as a result.
2042-
2043-
Russian shelling of Japan begins.
While, in hindsight, the reasons are obvious, at the time it remained baffling to many as to why the strong Joint Pact presence in East and Southeast Asia had not attempted any form of invasion in Japan. Part of this was due to a general lack of aggression on Japan’s part, despite being a formative member of the United Allegiance. Still, it was considered odd by many that it was the Russians who brought the war in earnest to Japan, rather than neighboring China. Then again, it was also considered odd that China had yet to become as much of a major player as they were expected to. In hindsight, however, the order of events seems slightly more sensible- though, hindsight, as they say, is 20:20.
2044-
2045-
Chinese Entry into Japanese Front.
While the Chinese army was still smaller than it had any rights to be, pressure from allies caused China to enter into the front alongside the rest of the Joint Pact. China, up until this point, had mostly been a sleeping figure in the war to most of the world (though sleeping, history tells us, is not the correct word for what China was doing). As it lumbered into reluctant fighting with its neighbor, relations in the region unexpectedly imploded, leading to Japan’s final decision to truly enter the war. Rumors included stories of failed peace talks, perhaps a precursor to the first non-aggression agreements between the Pact and the Allegiance that would happen later that year. No documentation exists of these presumably failed meetings, however.
Japan-Vietnam Non-Aggression Pact is Signed.
In an unusual turn towards peace, given the fact that the war had hit an upswing recently in most places and Japan’s increased involvement in the fighting, Vietnamese and Japanese officials met in secret to sign a non-aggression pact that would be controversial on both sides of the war. The language would become famous for being unusually strict and unusually simple, with very little words missed. While the pact was controversial in leadership on both sides of the war, it was incredibly popular in both Japan and Vietnam, and it helped bring on a period of deep, stable relations between the two countries that would continue long after the war.
2046-
Present day.
