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In the Cosmic Era alternate universe of Gundam, the Bloody Valentine War is a war between the Earth Alliance, an alliance of four major governments on Earth, and ZAFT, a nation of space colonies located at L5.
The war was declared on 11 February, Cosmic Era year 70. Three days later, the Earth Alliance used nuclear weapons to destroy Junius 7, a PLANT-type space colony in the Junius City area of ZAFT. Because of this, ZAFT modified a weapon system under development, the N-Jammer, which was intended to be used against Earth to disrupt nuclear power plants, as a countermeasure against nuclear weaponry in space. With the modified production schedule, the N-Jammers were not dropped on Earth until 1 April, a situation which became known as the April Fool Crisis. The ZAFT offensive against Earth took most of Africa, all of Australia and many Asian regions, including three of Earth's five major spaceports: Victoria in Africa, Gibraltar in Spain and Kaohsiung in China, leaving Porta Panama in Central America in Alliance hands and Kaguya at Onogoro Island in the Orb Union's control.
Atrocities were common on both sides of the war. Because of the vulnerability of space colonies to catastrophic damage, and the fact that ZAFT had no terrestrial territory, the Earth Alliance would frequently attempt to launch nuclear assaults on the Zodiac Alliance's space colonies. ZAFT forces typically gunned down captive Alliance soldiers rather than take them prisoner, and the use of N-Jammers on Earth and the subsequent energy crisis killed tens if not hundreds of millions in northern and southern regions where reliable power transmission meant the difference between life and death.
Mobile Suits
Heavy space fighters called "Mobile Armors" had been in use by the Atlantic Federation military since the early fifties, but they had many limitations in capabilities. Their small size meant they were tough targets to hit, but they were also difficult to armor adequately. A larger mecha, PLANT strategists theorized, could do more than a Mobile Armor for relatively little more cost and would be able to carry more armor as well. To give these new mecha the best multi-environment combat capacity, a humanoid shape was chosen - an enlargement and upgrade of heavy industrial exoskeletons that had been in use since the closing years of the AD calendar. Because of the humanoid shape, they were dubbed "Mobile Suits", and the first mobile suit, the YMF-01A "Proto GINN", was rolled out in CE 65. The first combat mobile suit, the ZGMF-1017 GINN, was rolled out two years later. In CE 69, the Atlantic Federation's Captain Halberton publishes a paper, "The Combat Effectiveness and Applications of Mobile Suits", which prompts the Atlantic Federation to begin development of its own mobile suits, the GAT-X series. After a short development period, the Earth Alliance rolls out its own first mass-production mobile suit, the GAT-01 Strike Dagger, in late May of CE 71.
Its Name: Gundam
January, 71 marked the rollout of the Alliance's first G-series (or "Gundam" as pilot Kira Yamato would later dub them) mobile suits: The base unit GAT-X102 Duel Gundam, heavy assault GAT-X103 Buster Gundam, stealthy GAT-X207 Blitz Gundam, high-powered commander unit GAT-X303 Aegis Gundam and most famous of the five, the multi-mode GAT-X105 Strike Gundam. The Strike Gundam combined aspects of all four of the other Gundams, and was able to change configurations with ease using bolt-on weapon systems called Striker Packs.
The five original Gundams would see action across most of the major fronts of the latter half of the war, including the Strike Gundam seeing combat with Andrew Waltfeld's Lesseps.
Ten additional Gundams would be built by the two sides in the rest of the war: The Alliance's GAT-X131 Calamity Gundam, GAT-X252 Forbidden Gundam, GAT-X370 Raider Gundam and CAT1-X1/3 and CAT1-X2/3 Hyperion Gundams, and ZAFT's YMF-X000A Dreadnought Gundam, ZGMF-X09A Justice Gundam, ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam, ZGMF-X11A Regenerate Gundam and ZGMF-X13A Providence Gundam.
Additionally, the neutral Orb Union would build the MBF-P01 Gundam Astray Gold Frame, MBF-P02 Gundam Astray Red Frame and MBF-P03 Gundam Astray Blue Frame, gaining expertise to develop the production type MBF-M1 Astray (frequently simply called the M1 Astray). Orb's final Gundam of the war would be a modified version of the Alliance's Strike Gundam, the MBF-02 Strike Rouge.
The War Progresses
In January 71, a battle which takes place at the neutral L3 colony Heliopolis (an O'Neill cylinder) causes the destruction of that colony by ZAFT forces. As part of the battle, the Duel, Aegis, Buster, and Blitz Gundams are stolen by ZAFT agents - only the Strike remains in Earth Alliance hands, and only then because of the piloting skills of civilian Kira Yamato. The escaping Archangel flees temporarily to the Earth Alliance base Artemis, before continuing to Earth, stopping in the Debris Belt (a ring of space junk around Earth) to take on supplies from wrecked spaceships (as it happens, they mine water from the wrecked Junius 7 colony).
Archangel descends to Earth on February 13-14 and immediately becomes part of the Desert Dawn resistance movement's battle with ZAFT. She continues to operate with Desert Dawn until their defeat of Andrew Waltfeld in early March, then makes her way out via the Red Sea to Orb, arriving (severely damaged) in early April. Repairs to the ship take several weeks and it isn't until early June that Archangel continues to JOSH-A (Joint Operational Supreme Headquarters - Alaska). In early June, the Blitz Gundam, Strike Gundam, Aegis Gundam and one of Archangel's FX-550 Skygraspers are destroyed and its pilot, Tolle Koenig, killed. Strike Gundam pilot Kira Yamato is missing in action and presumed dead, but the Buster Gundam and its pilot, Dearka Elsman are captured and returned to Archangel. The assault ship continues to JOSH-A and is repaired once again there.
Blue Cosmos's Treachery
At JOSH-A, a trap is set and baited for ZAFT, and a betrayal is planned by the Atlantic Federation. The base is primarily staffed and defended by Eurasian Federation personnel, while the Atlantic Federation quietly transfers its own personnel elsewhere. When ZAFT attacks, its attack force is lured into the central bay of JOSH-A, where the Cyclops System is activated, killing virtually all of the attack force as well as the Eurasian defenders. During this battle, Kira Yamato, piloting the ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam reappears to protect Archangel. Only a few units escaped, mostly Alliance and ZAFT naval forces and some pilots with aircraft or mobile suits fast enough to outrun the Cyclops self-destruct wave. The loss of much of the Eurasian military drastically alters the balance of power in the Earth Alliance in favor of the Blue Cosmos-dominated Atlantic Federation, which guarantees that no further attempts at peace will be made with ZAFT.
A few days later, ZAFT retaliates by attacking the Panama mass-driver base with a heavy force. While the Alliance forces fight valiantly - and the introduction of their mass-production model GAT-01 Strike Dagger turns the tide - ZAFT deploys the "Gungnir" EMP weapon, disabling all Alliance military equipment in the area, and then proceeds to slaughter the helpless defenders. Porta Panama, the last mass driver in Alliance hands, is thereby destroyed, cutting off the Alliance space forces from Earth-based resources.
Attack on Orb
Only one non-ZAFT mass driver remains on Earth: the Kaguya mass driver in the Orb Union. When Orb's president, Uzumi Nara Athha, denies the Federation the right to use this mass driver, the Federation attempts to take it by force, deploying a considerable force of Strike Daggers, backed up by the three new Gundams, Calamity, Raider and Forbidden, to accomplish this goal. Defending forces are Orb's military, featuring its new MBF-M1 Astrays, backed up by Archangel and her complement of mobile suits including Kira Yamato's Freedom, Mu La Flaga's new Strike and Dearka Elsman's Buster Gundams, and Athrun Zala's ZGMF-X09A Justice Gundam. Rather than allow the Alliance to take the mass driver, Athha destroys it after shooting Archangel and her half-sister Kusanagi into space.
Several weeks later, the Alliance manages to recapture the Victoria mass-driver in equatorial Africa.
Assault on PLANT
After recovering N-Jammer Canceller technology in October, the Alliance mass-produces these and mounts them on nuclear weapons, launching Operation Peacemaker: a gambit to end the war by destroying all of PLANT with nuclear missiles. This assault is narrowly thwarted by the Freedom and Justice Gundams. ZAFT then counterattacks with their "GENESIS" super-heavy space assault laser, destroying Earth's Ptolomaius Base on the moon and almost destroying half of the Earth. The war ends in late November, with both sides utterly exhausted but ZAFT nominally victorious.
Aftermath
In late 71 or early 72 of the Cosmic Era, the Treaty of Junius was signed, formally ending the Bloody Valentine War. As a provision of this treaty, both Earth and ZAFT were forbidden to produce any further nuclear-powered mobile suits or nuclear weapons of any kind. The use of N-Jammers as strategic weapons was also outlawed by this treaty. Nuclear power plants on Earth were fitted with N-Jammer Cancellers to return them to operation and satisfy the power needs of the severely crippled Terrestrial economy and the Earth's people, and the long, costly process of digging out the hundreds of N-Jammers dropped on Earth during the war began.
Battles
CE Year 70
CE Year 71
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