One Year War
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The One Year War is a fictional conflict from the Universal Century timeline of the anime Gundam metaseries.
The One-Year War (Ichinen Sensô), also known as the Zeon War of Independence to the soldiers of the Principality of Zeon, is the first major war of the Universal Century (UC) and is the setting of many stories in the series. The One-Year War is analogous to World War II, where almost all nations choose one of the sides, and only very few neutral factions remained on the sidelines. The analogy is made more clear in later renditions of events during the war, specifically those shown in Gundam 0080 and Gundam 0083, with the 'nazification' of the Zeons.
The One-Year War began on January 3rd of 0079 of the UC calendar and technically ended on January 14th, UC0080, although hostilities ended on January 1st of the same year.
Introduction
After the Earth Federation forced the emigration of the major part of humanity to the space colonies, tensions between the colonists and the Earth-elite were common and ubiquitous.
The Republic of Zeon, at Side 3, started pushing for a peaceful indipendence. The Earth Federation considered this to be a threat to the Earth Spere, so they applied economic pressure in an effort to force them back into the Federation. This plan failed, and in UC0068 Zeon Zum Deikun, founder of the Republic, unexpectedly died. The independent Republic of Zeon became the Principality of Zeon when Degwin Sodo Zabi seized control of. When Degwin Zabi took over, he rapidly expanded the size of the Zeon National Guard, elevating it to the status of a full fledged army. The Mobile Suit and the majority of the Zeon space navy was formed during this time period, as was the Flangan Institute.
Alarmed at the sudden build-up of arms at Side 3, the Earth Federation launched the Year 60 Armament Reinforcement Plan and the Year 70 Armament Reinforcement Plan, both aimed at building up the strength of the Earth Federal Space Force. Federation engineers converted Luna II into a major military base and launched the Salamis and Magellan class ships during this time period.
The One Year War
In October of UC0078 the Principality of Zeon officially announced mobilization orders, and split the army into the space attack force and the earth invasion force. The Federation, anticipating a ship-to-ship type war, began reshuffling its fleets and issued a general alert to all of its forces.
The One-Week War
The opening to the One-Year War was originally referred to as the One-Week War.
The Principality launched a surprise attack against the Federation's garrisons at the space colonies located in the Zahn province of Side 1 (Lagrangian point 5), Hatte Province in Side 2 (L4) and Mua Province in Side 4 (L5). Nuclear weapons were used indiscriminately, while the Zeon' nerve gas used to suppress the garrisons from mobilizing killed the civilians they are supposed to protect. Over 2.8 billion people were killed during one day of fighting.
The One-Week War culminated in Operation British, supposedly named after the American Revolution against British rule in the 1770s. Operation British's goal was to destroy the Federation's nuke-hardened military central command at Jaburo, using a recently depopulated colony cylinder. The Federation's space forces mobilized as the Principality set the colony on a slingshot course around the moon. However, the colony fell short. It began to break up over the Indian Ocean, a massive piece, the 30km cylinder itself, fell on the heavily-populated city of Sydney, Australia. A 60,000 Megaton blast caused a 500-kilometer crater, destroying 16% of the continent and causing massive climate changes.
The Battle of Loum
The Battle of Loum took place on January 15, UC 0079 and was one of the single-most devastating battles during the war and one of the deadliest in all of mankind's history.
Following the failure of Operation British just days earlier, the Principality of Zeon still believed it could succeed in ending the war with colony drops, so it attempted to hijack and utilize colonies at Side 5, also known as Loum Province. As the nuclear engines were being put into place, the Earth Federation's space fleet arrived and the two forces clashed. During the battle, nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons were used indiscriminantly, resulting in massive military and civilian casualties. In the battle were destroyed many of the space colonies, killing their inhabitants, resulting in over 2.5 billion dead. Another 500 million combatants were killed in action.
Several of Zeon's most famous aces earned their wings in the battle. Char Aznable scuttled five of the Federation's top of the line Magellan battleships and earned his nickname the 'Red Comet', 'Crimson Lightning' Johnny Ridden destroyed three, and 'White Wolf' Shin Matsunaga sank six. The Black Tri-Stars team earned their fame capturing Earth Federal Space Forces' General Revil, the highest ranking General in the Federation, from the flagship Ananke.
With the capture of the general, the battle was tactically won by the Principality of Zeon. However, many of the original mobile suit training cadres were killed, leaving very few trainers. This caused ripercussions for the Principality for the whole war.
In the end, the EFF lost approximately half of its combined fleet. Military casualties numbered in the millions, and that came in addition to the 2.5 billion civilian casualties that resulted from the complete destruction of Side 5. Only the heavily-damaged Texas Colony survived, and the debris from Side 5's remains formed what became known as the Shoal Zone.
The Antarctic Treaty
With the capture of General Revil, the aborted colony drop and heavy losses on both sides, the Federation and Principality of Zeon agree to a truce. While negotiating the conditions of the Federation's surrender, General Revil escaped from Zeon and made a speech to the Federation Assembly, revealing that 'Zeon is exhausted!'. The Federation rejected the conditions of surrender, but agreed to a treaty prohibiting the use of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons and colony drops, whilst recognizing the neutrality of the space colonies at Side 6 (L4) and of the moon, and determining the rules of war. The Antarctic Treaty was signed on January 31st, UC0079.
The Earth Drop Operations
With the signing of the Antarctic Treaty, the rules of engagement went in favor of the Principality of Zeon, who was at the advantage in close-combat range, thanks to their mobile suits. The ban on nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, and colony drops, dashed the Zeons hope for a quick conclusion to the war, forcing them to invade Earth territories to provide mining resources, scarce on the colonies.
The Zeons begin mobilizing for the invasion of Earth. A new unit was quickly formed, the Earth Attack Force, and staged its first drop operation, on March 1st, UC0079. The drop operation quickly captured the EFF's Baiknor launch facilities and then moved onto the resource center of Odessa.
A second drop operation occurred in North America, with two divisions being dropped on both coasts and moving inward. One division captured the strategically important California Base, a series of massive manufacturing plants and ports along the West Coast. Along with this, much of the Earth Federation's naval fleet was captured and later pressed into service under the Zeon flag.
A third drop was directed at the destabilized region of Australia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania.
The fourth drop operation commenced on April 4th, and landed on the Red Sea and in the Persian Gulf.
For the next five months, the battlefronts expand and then solidify in a stalemate. At this point, the Zeons had control of over two-thirds of the Earth's landmass.
Gundam Rising
On September 18th, in a space colony at Side 7 (L3), an incident changed the entire course of the war. While transferring components of a Federation secret project, members of a Zeon Zaku recon team broke orders and begin attacking the colony. In the confusion, civilian Amuro Ray came across the result of the secret project, the Gundam RX-78-2. Unaccustomed to battle, but possessing a high degree of technical aptitude, Amuro managed to get the Gundam off its trailer and to destroy two of the Zaku recon team's Mobile Suits. This was the first ever mobile suit battle inside a space colony. Unfortunately, the colony was heavily damaged. Amuro's father, Tem Ray (who was the team leader of Project V), was missing, and many civilians died. The survivors were embarked as refugees aboard thenew Pegasus-class White Base, the prototype ship planned as the mobile suit's support carrier.
The White Base, with its precious prototype mobile suits, began a perilious return to the Earth Federation headquarters at Jabrow, being incessantly pursued by Char Aznable. During the atmospheric reentry the White Base was again attacked and knocked off its projected course to Jaburo and instead landed deep in enemy territory in North America.
Operation Odessa
Shortly after the arrival of the White Base on Earth, the ships crew engaged and destroyed a Zeon Gaw fleet, killing Garma Zabi. Seizing the opportunity to strike while the Zeon regroup, the Earth Federation amassed one third of its terrestrial forces along eastern Europe for possibly the largest land battle in the UC history. Codenamed Operation Odessa, its aim was to recapture the Odessa mining facilities and break the Zeon hold on resources. The campaign began on November 7th. Over the next two days, the Federal Forces stage a blitzkrieg attack on the Zeon's defensive lines, breaking through and overwhelming them. On November 9th, the Federal Forces break through the last of the Zeon Occupation Force's defensive lines, triggering an ultimatum from Colonel M'Quve. M'Quve demanded that the Federal Forces withdrew or else he will be forced to use nuclear weapon, in violation of the Antarctic Treaty. It is said that General Reville signaled to his communications officers not to respond. Fleeing the battlefield in the Zanzibar-class mobile cruiser Madagascar, M'Quve launched a single nuclear missile, but was destroyed by Amuro Ray in the Gundam. Zeon's commanding officers escaped the base just before the Federation forces broke through. Several Zeon units remained isolated on Earth.
Operation Rainbow Valley
Exploiting the discord within the Zeon forces after the fall of Odessa, the Federation began Operation Rainbow Valley, with the objective of recapturing Australia, on November 23rd. The operation was spearheaded by Master P. Rayer and his 'White Dingo' team. The team captured Alice Springs on November 25th, Simpson's Gap on December 1st, repulsed a Zeon counterattack at the EFF base at Torrington on December 26th, and captured one of the last remaining Zeon Heavy Lift facilities at Hughenden on January 2nd, 0080.
Operation Velvet
Following the completion of Operation Odessa, the Federation launched an offensive into Lepanto region of North Africa. The campaign began on November 18th and completed its objectives on November 28th.
The Jaburo Drop Operation
After a spy managed to infiltrate the White Base, Char Aznable discovered the precise location of the vast Earth Federation's fortress of Jaburo. On November 30th, after gathering mobile suit squads from California Base and with massive air and naval support, he launched an assault on Jaburo. Amphibious mobile suit and commando teams lead by Char himself made numerous probes and raids into the heart of the base, but were unable to take the base or destroy the mobile suit factory. The Jaburo attack failed and the Principality forces retreated on the same day. The combined losses at Odessa and Jaburo broke the Zeon Earth-bound armies, making it easy for the Federation to begin launching offensives against other holdings in Africa and North America. Over the month of December, the Zeon ground forces were in full retreat, abandoning bases and trying to escape into space. The Cape Canaveral base was liberated on December 5th, at a cost of 34 fighters, 71 tanks, and 2 mobile suits, due to the ace pilot Ian Greydon. The California Base was successfully recaptured on December 11th.
Operation Rubicon
Operation Rubicon was a secret Zeon commando operation performed by Steiner Hardy's Cyclops Commandos. The mission was to destroy a prototype Gundam designed for Newtypes. The mission is narrated in the OVA series Gundam 0080.
Battle of Solomon - Operation Cembalo
With the battle on Earth grinding to a close, the Federation began to plot to retake space. The high command's plan had two parts:
- The White Base was renamed the 13th Autonomous Mobile Squadron and given the mission to go to the neutral colony group of Side 6. Since the Zeons paid close attention to the Gundam and the White Base, the Federation wanted to cause them to think that the White Base will be a vanguard for an invasion of the Zeon lunar base of Granada.
- The rest of the Federation fleet was launched as Jaburo began staging an attack on the Zeon space base of Solomon, located in L4.
After distracting the Zeons' attention with a battle outside the neutral space of Side 6, in which Amuro Ray and the Gundam destroyed 12 of the latest frontline mobile suit, the Rick Dom, in the span of three minutes, the White Base rendezvous with the Federation fleet to assault the Zeon space fortress Solomon, on December 24th. The battle was the first in which the GM, the mass-production mobile suits derived from the Gundam RX-78-2, were used in numbers. The GM had only seen limited, squad-level engagements during its test phase and on Earth prior to Solomon.
Public-class assault boats neutralized the space fortress' beam cannon defenses with beam-dispersing smoke clouds, allowing the Federation's warships to get within close range. The Federation also unleashed a secret weapon: a solar reflector array, known as the Solar System, that destroyed any mobile suit or ship that tried to exit Solomon.
With casualties mounting and reinforcements being held back due to sibling rivalry, Space Attack Forces and Solomon commander Dozle Zabi ordered the evacuation of the base and boarded the mobile armour known as Big-Zam. While the Big-Zam inflicted significant losses on the assaulting Federation fleet and allowed many of the Zeons to retreat from the base, it was Dozle Zabi's pyrrhic victory. Dozle Zabi was soon killed in action by Amuro Ray. Solomon was soon after captured by the EFF and renamed Konpei Island.
Operation Star One
After the conclusion of primary hostilites at the Battle of Solomon, a Newtype conscripted by Char Aznable, Lalah Sune, sortied in the mobile armour Elmeth. Using the Psycommu system, the Elmeth under Lalah's control was capable of guiding independent mobile beam weapons called bits undetected into proximity of Federation ships and destroy them. This caused panic in the Federation forces and earned Lalah the moniker The Ghost of Solomon. This guerilla tactic was destructive but short-lived, as Amuro piloting the Gundam destroyed the Elmeth killing Lalah Sune.
Operation Solar Ray
Following the loss of Odessa and Solomon, the Zeon military was on the defensive. Fearing the Federation's next move would be a full-scale assault on the home colonies, Zeon's Supreme Commander Gihren Zabi ordered the construction of a massive solar powered beam projector known as the Solar Ray System. The project originally started in the Mahal colony in September, exploiting the same loophole in the Antarctic Treaty as the Federation's Solar System. Supervised by Colonel Asakura, who also developed Zeon's lethal G3 nerve gas, solar batteries from other colonies were collected and a projection array was built within the colony walls, and, on December 21st, its 6.5 million inhabitants were evacuated.
As the construction of the Solar Ray System was being completed and the Federation fleet drew near, Degwin Zabi left on a secret mission to save what was left of the Principality of Zeon. He was to meet with General Reville at Geldolva line to negotiate the terms of surrender. His departure was noticed by Gihren Zabi, who quickly rushed the Solar Ray System into operation, limiting its design to a single shot. General Revil organized the main Federation fleet into three battle lines. At 2035GMT, Gihren Zabi gave the order to all Zeonic fleets to pull out of the firing range in front of the Solar Ray System. As this was happening, Degwin Zabi and General Reville met to discuss a peace treaty to end the war. At 2105GMT, Gihren Zabi orders the Solar Ray System to be fired at the Geldolva aiming point. General Reville, Degwin Zabi, and about a third of the Federation's fleet were wiped out in the blast. The IR band signature from the Solar Ray System's discharge is detected by Mobile Assault Force commander Kycilia Zabi's fleet, traveling to reinforce the Zeon's last line of defense.
Battle of A Baoa Qu
Following the firing of the Solar Ray System, Rear Admiral Kycilia Zabi, aware of her father's secret meeting with the Federation's General Revil, learns that his ship — the Gwazine-Class Battleship Great Degwin — was on the Geldolva line at the time of the Solar Ray System's discharge. Only she and her brother Supreme Commander Gihren Zabi know of their father's negotiations and true fate.
The disarrayed Federal forces quickly regroup, using the Pegasus-Class Assault Carrier White Base as their rally point. While the Federation reorganize, Gihren Zabi meets with the A Baoa Qu defenders and gives a speech that the Zeon are a superior race, that the Earth Federation's remaining forces are now halved thanks to the Solar Ray System, and that they win this battle as to "rise up to the future".
The Federation launches an attack on A Baoa Qu's N defense field with the second and third mobile suit battalions, while their remaining fleets use the Magellan-Class Battle ship Luzar as its flagship to penetrate the S field. The White Base spearheads an assault into the F line, A Baoa Qu's crossfire aiming point but also its weakest defense point. Gihren Zabi's counterattack plan relies heavily on his mammoth Dolos-Class Heavy Carrier Ship and the Gelgoog, Zeon's latest mass-production mobile suite that rivals the Gundam in strength and weaponry. The Federation attempts to use beam-dispersion smoke again, but Gihren Zabi launches a counterstrike of missiles, all the while keeping his mobile suit forces held back.
Kycilia Zabi's Mobile Assault Force arrives as the Federation begins to penetrate A Baoa Qu's lines. While Kycilia Zabi orders her fleet to position itself along the N field, she provides Char Aznable with the MSN-02 Zeong, a new mobile suit using Psycommu technology, which would allow him to pilot using his Newtype mind. The Psycommu was used originally in the Elmeth, another psychically controlled mobile armour, piloted by Char's protégé, Lalah Sune, but was destroyed in the Battle of Solomon. After Char sorties in the Zeong, Kycilia confronts Gihren with the news of their father's death, and, after hearing him confess to killing him, executes Gihren Zabi for the crime of patricide. After his death, it is discovered that Gihren miscalculated the effectiveness of his fighting force. The three Dolos carriers are destroyed, depriving their large numbers of mobile suits of fuel and munitions, and the Gelgoogs and Doms are piloted by conscripted students who have barely enough training to properly use their mobile suits. Many of Zeon's ace pilots also are killed or missing in action, such as Thomas Krutz and Johnny Ridden, hurting the Zeon's attempt to hold A Baoa Qu. Also, angered by the execution of the Supreme Commander, the Delaz fleet (a battle unit which is very loyal to Gihren Zabi, lead by Aiguille Delaz), resigned from the battle, further reducing the number of ships and mobile suits in the Zeon lines.
As A Baoa Qu's N field is overwhelmed by the Federation's mobile suit battalions and the Zeon's S field is on the verge of collapsing thanks to the Gundam, the Zeong is sent to reinforce it and keep the Federation from penetrating the S field. The fighting becomes so thick that the Amuro's Gundam and the Char's Zeong are soon engaged in close combat inside the fortress, and the fight continues after both pilots have destroyed the others' mobile suits. The White Base is forced to beach itself on the fortress and fight Zeon infantry in close quarters combat.
As the battle for A Baoa Qu enters inside the heart of the fortress itself, Kycilia Zabi begins preparations to flee from the collapsing A Baoa Qu. Her plan is to escape to a rally point and meet up with fleets from the Zeon's Granada lunar base and the Zeon homeland and continue the war. She orders Twoning, the base commander, to wait 15 minutes after her exit then surrender the base (he will be exchanged later for Federal POWs, according to her plan). However, her plan is interrupted by Char Aznable, who assassinates Kycilia before she can leave the asteroid fortress. Her Zanzibar-Class Mobile Cruiser is soon destroyed by Federal forces.
The Principality Collapses
On January 1st, 0080, Zeon's Prime Minister Darcia Bakharov, who, under the Zabi family's dictatorship was just a rubber-stamp to approve of Zabi edicts and keep appearances of a democracy, took control of the government and sued for peace. Following preliminary negotiations in Anman, the formal signing of the end of hostilities occurs on January 14th, 0080 at the Granada lunar colony. The signed treaty by the Earth Federation and the newly formed Republic of Zeon was named the Treaty of Granada.
Aftermath
Many loyalists to the Zabi family, dedicated soldiers, war criminals, and others who could not integrate with the new government voluntarily left the Zeon homeland and went on an exodus to the asteroid Axis, which was previously used waystation for the Jupiter Energy Fleet. Others, such as Cima Garahau's Marines, became pirates while other Zeon soldiers fought inside Earth Sphere and on the Earth's surface in various guerilla and insurgency actions. Many of these Zeon insurgents would be attracted to the various uprisings and movements in the following years, such as the Delaz fleet's Operation Stardust, the Anti Earth-Union Group, and the Haman Kahn-led and later Char Aznable-led Neo-Zeons.
External Links
- Anime Radar (http://www.animeradar.net/timeline/0079.htm)
- A detailed timeline of the Battle of Loum (http://side7.gundam.com/rgz/info/loum/loum.html)