United Nations War

The United Nations War was a war that took place between multiple European nations from 2030–2039. The United Nations War was a culmination of rising tensions between a Europe that had militarized after the collapse of the United States and United Nations' authority.

Major consequences of the United Nations War were Sicilian ascendancy in Eastern Mediterranean trade, the Spanish recapture of Navarra and Catalonia, and general economic downturn in Western Europe.

Northern Front
The Northern Front of the war was principally fought between Fetusia and Scandinavia, although it also incorporated the United Kingdom at times. During 2030–2031, ground warfare was minimal, but the Scandinavian Air Force was bombing Britain heavily from several Icelandic bases. Thus, in a move to break out of the stagnation that was plaguing them, the Fetists spearheaded Operation Unborn Lion— a military maneuver designed to capture Iceland in its entirety. Operation Unborn Lion was initiated in April 2032, and lasted for about four months as Fetist and British forces landed on Iceland and swept through the island nation. Unborn Lion led to heavy loss of life for the Anglo-Fetist army, but they did manage to successfully capture Iceland, which significantly damaged Scandinavian morale.

Throughout the autumn of 2032 and the 2032–33 winter, Fetusia capitalized on Scandinavian malaise and managed to capture further Scandinavian land in the regions of Nordland and Norrbotten. Thus, the Scandinavian military spent many of the early months of 2033 reorganizing their military command with the hopes of settling on a new strategy that would bring them more success. The strategy that was ultimately preferred was that of General Jakob Lundgren, who pulled back most of the Scandinavian forces from the sparsely populated frontier; his goal was to disorient the Fetists and ultimately destroy them through attrition. During the ensuing period, Fetusia suffered high loss of life and deteriorations in communication, as Scandinavian armies sought to disrupt supply lines and sabotage navigation. However, Fetist scientists hastened to develop counters to this strategy, and so starting in January 2035 soldiers were provided with improved GPS and mapping equipment that helped them overcome many of the aforementioned problems.

Also in 2035, the Scandinavians attempted to recapture Iceland, but owing to the heavy Fetist military presence on the island, the Scandinavians were repelled. Thus, the Fetists were able to largely recover their ground superiority and make a southward advance toward the Scandinavian population centers. By 2038, the Fetists held most of northern Scandinavia in their control, and were launching bombing raids and ground attacks on targets like Lillehammer, Trondhiem, and Uppsala. Despite fighting a losing battle, Scandinavian President Roland Langenberg was adamant that the state could recover victory; however, in 2038 he was voted out of office in favor of the pro-peace Lena Vinter.

Scandinavia and Fetusia ultimately made peace in the Treaty of Amsterdam, which was ratified on 27 March 2039. The relevant terms of the treaty saw Scandinavia ceding parts of their northern counties and paying hefty war reparations to Fetusia; however, Scandinavian negotiators were able to convince Fetusia to return Iceland.

Western Front
The Western Front was, itself, largely composed of two smaller fronts; Spain mostly fought against the breakaway states of Catalonia and Navarra on the Iberian peninsula, while France fought against a combined Anglo-Breton force to its north. It was in the west that the majority of the ground warfare in the United Nations War was fought; Brittany and the United Kingdom were quick to launch invasions of northern France, particularly the Centre and Pays-de-la-Loire departments. The close proximity of Paris to British-controlled Normandy was a common source of anxiety to the French government, and so they consequently ignored the British advances and instead launched their own attacks into Normandy as early as autumn 2030. Brittany, meanwhile, launched a largely naval campaign to secure the west coast of France.

Spain began sending forces to the French front in 2030, but in the winter of 2030–31, Catalan and Basque forces began capturing territory in the regions of Aragon and Cantabria. Consequently, Spain pulled back from the north and began redirecting its forces in an attempt to overwhelm its breakaway states. In March 2031, a Spanish envoy asked Portugal to join the war alongside it; however, the Portuguese were hesitant to get involved, and provided only material aid. Rather than attempt to divide its forces, the Spanish army decided to focus on each of its targets in turn; Catalonia was chosen as the first target, as it was increasingly boldly disrupting Spanish-Sicilian trade. In late 2031 and early 2032, Spain managed to push back the Catalan territorial gains, and then it initiated a two-pronged attack. Spanish ground troops advanced into Catalonia proper, while the Spanish navy blockaded several important targets, including Barcelona and the Baleares. Thus, Catalonia saw heavy land loss throughout 2032, a trend the Basques hoped to prevent by stepping up their own military campaigns during the summer and autumn of that year.

On the French front, 2031 saw them attain a number of victories over the Brits, who were more occupied with their conflict against Scandinavia. France was able to oust Britain from a number of French territories, as well as capture a fair amount of Norman land, forming a buffer of French land to protect Paris. The war against Brittany, meanwhile, was stagnating— the Bretons managed a number of successful military operations, but were struggling to hold territory. The success of Operation Unborn Lion, however, allowed the United Kingdom to reallocate a significant force to the French front, and so 2032–33 saw the Brits capture large swaths of land in the north of France. Paris and Ile-de-France managed to hold out, but Champagne-Ardenne and Centre both succumbed largely to British control.

Spain sent much of 2033 quashing the Basques, who had ramped up their aggressive action in the hopes of drawing Spanish ire away from Catalonia; although Navarra succeeded in that mission, they still drew enough firepower to find themselves completely occupied by February 2034. Meanwhile, the Catalans expanded back into their former territory and Aragonese captures, pushing back the semi-neglected naval blockades and resuming their harassment of trade vessels. Consequently, Spain revitalized its old tactics against Catalonia in the spring of 2034, resuming their naval blockades and even making a landing and ground capture of Mallorca. Palma was repurposed as a Spanish base of operations in September–October 2034, and was used as a base for several bombing raids on Barcelona; this allowed Spain to then start seizing the Catalan heartland, reaching Barcelona itself by the spring of 2035. After a matter of weeks, Barcelona fell, and on 2 July 2035 the Treaty of Cordoba returned Catalonia and Navarra to Spanish control.

With France occupied more and more with the British army near its capital, Brittany became a lesser concern, and so the Bretons managed to successfully secure much of the coastline of Pays-de-la-Loire and Poitou-Charentes throughout 2033–34. During the winter of 2034–35, the British army paused to resupply and collect reinforcements; then, in February 2035, they marched on Paris. France, having concentrated much of its forces in the region, was able to slow down the British advance significantly; however, by the summer, British soldiers were only a short distance from the city itself. However, the Treaty of Cordoba freed up large portions of the Spanish army, who were largely flown northward to disrupt the Anglo-Breton forces in the region; Spanish forces made a beachhead in Cornwall and fought for control of the English Channel, disrupting British supply lines and forcing them to pull back from Paris.

French armies began recapturing lost territory throughout later 2035, delegating many of its attacks on the British heartland to Spain; then, in the winter of 2035–36, a joint Franco-Iberian force assaulted the Breton territory. Brittany was forced out of much of its newly claimed land, although with British support it managed to hold onto its core territory; with a substantial portion of its navy forced out of port, the Bretons instead used the ships to aid British attacks on Cornwall. Thus, by August 2036, Cornwall was again under English control.

Between existing losses and difficulties in holding onto its new possessions, Spain began decreasing its involvement in the war during this period, allowing Britain some breathing room to regroup and reinvigorate its populace. Throughout 2037, Britain managed to recapture significant portions of northern French land, although after the fiasco that was the original siege of Paris they stayed out of Ile-de-France itself. France was forced to pull its own armies back from the west coast, which allowed Brittany in turn to expand again in 2038, and France gradually found itself outmatched. With peace drawing near on the Northern Front, France was quick to call for peace alongside it, and so the Western Front powers took to the negotiation table at Amsterdam as well. With the Treaty of Amsterdam, France gave up Champagne-Ardennes to the United Kingdom and Pays-de-la-Loire to Brittany; furthermore, France and Spain each paid considerable war reparations to their opponents.

Southern Front
The shortest and quietest portion of the United Nations War, the Southern Front was fought largely between Sicily and Neo-Byzantium. Drawn into the war by its Avignon Pact membership, Sicily could only contribute modest assistance to its ally Spain; however, Neo-Byzantium was a British ally, and furthermore sought to expand its influence by outfighting other regional powers.

The Sicilian and Byzantine navies clashed in the Adriatic Sea starting in November 2030, and were about evenly matched; however, Sicily struggled early on due to Catalan attacks on Sicily-Spain sea trade. Thus, in April 2031, Sicilian ambassadors requested Yugoslav intervention against Neo-Byzantium. Already hesitant about growing Neo-Byzantine power and resentful that the Greeks controlled Macedonia and Kosovo, Yugoslavia eagerly accepted the Sicilian suggestion and promptly began marching troops into Neo-Byzantine land.

Despite its substantial navy, Neo-Byzantium was ill-suited to ground combat, and so it lost a fair amount of territory even throughout 2031. Rather than attempt to stem this tide, the Greek military instead redoubled its naval efforts in an attempt to overwhelm Sicily with naval force. This saw some early success, as Neo-Byzantium won a fair share of naval battles in the 2031–32 winter and spring, even making landfall on Apulia, but bombing campaigns and damage to its trade forced the Byzantines to pull back.

By this point, Neo-Byzantium was fighting a losing battle, and Sicilian ships were quick to take advantage of the Greek hesitation and advance into the Aegean. After a series of disastrous naval battles in the Aegean Sea, the Byzantines called in their navy and decided to focus on ground warfare instead in the final months of 2032; however, this was too little, too late. A series of defeats marred the Byzantine ground campaign, and so Neo-Byzantium attempted to cut its losses and sue for peace in 2033. Although it managed to negotiate its way out of ceding any territory, Neo-Byzantium was forced to give up many of its trade rights, effectively forcing many of its imports and exports to be funneled through Sicily or Yugoslavia. The Treaty of Skopje, ratified on 8 September 2033, was a serious economic blow to the Greeks.