The First Alliance-PLANT War [1], informally referred to as the Bloody Valentine War [2], is the main setting of the Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. it was fought from C.E. 70 to 71 between the Earth Alliance and the PLANTs over the genetic disparity between the Naturals (who live primarily on Earth) and the Coordinators (who mainly live in space colonies).
Introduction
Like other Gundam universes, in the Cosmic Era, humanity has moved into space and built massive space colonies. However, the main reasoning for conflict isn't due to any sort of misguided attempt at independence, like the Principality of Zeon during the One Year War: instead, it's due to germline gene therapy. The war centers primarily on the discrimination between Coordinators - humans genetically enhanced before birth, who mostly migrated and settled in space colonies - and Naturals - unaltered humans primarily residing on Earth.
Thanks to the Coordinator Boom of the C.E. 30s - 50s brought about by the first Coordinator George Glenn, many Coordinators began populating the Earth. As a result, the group Blue Cosmos made their presence known, assassinating many Coordinators and leading to them gaining positions of power within the Earth Alliance, all under the premise: "For the preservation of our blue and pure world!" (i.e. a world without Coordinators, thus making genocide their goal). Seeing the escalating tension between them and the Naturals, Coordinators decided to make their home within the space colonies known as PLANTs. But, despite most Coordinators living in PLANTs or within neutral areas such as the Orb Union, it wasn't enough for Blue Cosmos - they believed the Coordinators had to be eradicated, no matter where they lived.
As for the Coordinators, during the C.E. 50's and 60's, the political organization known as the Zodiac Alliance sought to peacefully fight for the rights and independence of Coordinators, but was suppressed by the nations controlling PLANT at the time. As it continued to gain support and activity, key members integrated themselves into the PLANT Supreme Council and, as a result, the organization would later be formally renamed and restructured into the Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty - the official PLANT-funded organized militia of civilian Coordinator volunteers - to protect the PLANT-sponsored nation. However, aggravation and hatred swelled among the Coordinators over the years due to their biased persecution on Earth, leading some to a warp ideal that Coordinators are a superior being to Naturals - that they are the evolution of mankind and should replace Naturals (thus ironically mirroring the genoism that drove them to the PLANTs).
It wouldn't be until C.E. 70 that hostilities between Naturals (fueled by members of Blue Cosmos) and Coordinators (fueled by members of ZAFT) reached the breaking point.
Development of the first Mobile Suits
Heavy space fighters called "Mobile Armors" had been in use by the Atlantic Federation since the early fifties CE (Cosmic Era), 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 machine, PLANT strategists theorized, could do much more than a Mobile Armor could for relatively the same 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.
January, CE 71 marked the rollout of the Alliance's first mobile suits (or "Gundams" as pilot Kira Yamato would later call them): the base unit GAT-X102 Duel, the heavy assault unit GAT-X103 Buster, the stealth unit GAT-X207 Blitz, the high-powered commander unit GAT-X303 Aegis and most famous of the five, the multi-mode GAT-X105 Strike. The Strike combined aspects of all four of the other units, and was able to change configurations with ease using bolt-on weapon systems called Striker Packs. Many additional units would be built by both sides during and after the war; see Cosmic Era Mobile Weapons for a complete listing and development history.
Timeline of Events
Tragedy of Copernicus (February 5, C.E. 70) & Declaration of War (February 11)
On 5 February, CE 70, a joint peace conference being held at the lunar city Copernicus was struck by a terrorist attack, wiping out the entire United Nations's leadership. The only survivor of the attack was ZAFT Supreme Chairman Siegel Clyne, which lead the Earth Alliance to believe ZAFT had orchastrated the attack. In response, the Earth Alliance issued a declaration of war on the PLANT, on 11 February.
Bloody Valentine Incident (February 14) - The Beginning of the War
Three days later, on 14 February C.E. 70, Blue Cosmos leader Muruta Azrael orders the Earth Alliance to launch a nuclear attack against the PLANTs . The Agamemnon-class carrier Roosevelt deployed a nuclear warhead which struck Junius 7, a PLANT-type space colony in the PLANT's Junius City area, destroying the colony and killing 243,721 civilians. The incident was soon infamously called the Bloody Valentine Incident, marking the opening of hostilities between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT.
Battle of Yggdrasil (February 22)
The first major battle of the war was fought near the prewar international space station, Yggdrasil. The battle lasted about a month, resulting in the destruction of the space station.
First Battle of Victoria (March 8)
ZAFT launched an attack on Victoria, hoping to seize the Habilis Mass Driver at Victoria as their first target of their invasion on Earth, only to be beaten by the Earth Alliance’s tank divisions (most under the command of the Eurasian Federation).
This marked the only victory of the Earth Alliance against ZAFT before the development of the Earth Alliance’s GAT-X series mobile suits (better known as G-weapons or Gundams) and the mass-production of the Dagger series, which eventually turned the tide to the Earth Alliance’s side.
Operation: Uroboros - April's Fool Crisis (April 1)
With the defeat at Victoria and the looming fear that the Earth Alliance would use nuclear missiles once more against them, the PLANT Supreme Council decided on an equatorial campaign, dubbed Operation: Uroboros, as an counterattack operation.
As the first phase of Operation: Uroboros, N-Jammers were to be dropped and buried under the Earth surface to cripple nuclear armaments and utilities. Prior to the drops, however, ZAFT modified their N-Jammer technology, which was initially intended to be used against Earth, as a countermeasure against nuclear weaponry in space, should the PLANTs face another direct nuclear attack. With the modified production schedule, the N-Jammers were not dropped on Earth until 1 April. The use of N-Jammers on Earth and the subsequent energy crisis, dubbed the April Fool Crisis, provoked mass starvation due to the people's over-dependency on nuclear energy.
The second phase of Operation: Uroboros involved an actual offensive on the Earth surface. This resulted in ZAFT controlling most of Africa, all of Australia, and many Asian regions, as well as one of Earth's five major spaceports: Gibraltar (Europe). This left four other spaceports outside ZAFT control: Victoria (Africa), Kaohsiung (Taiwan), and Porta Panama (Central America), controlled by the Earth Alliance; and Kaguya at Onogoro Island under the Orb Union's control. (A sixth spaceport, the mobile Giga-Float under the auspices of the Junk Guild, did not become functional until late in the war.)
Battle of Carpentaria (April 2)
One of ZAFT's earliest landings took place in the friendly Oceania Union territory. The Earth Alliance Pacific Fleet attacked ZAFT's forces. After two days the Battle of Carpentaria ended in victory for ZAFT, who immediately afterwards began the construction of the Carpentaria Base.
First Battle of Jachin Due (April 17)
The Earth Alliance ordered its 5th and 6th fleets, stationed on the Moon, to attack PLANT on April 17. They were intercepted by ZAFT forces and engaged at the resource satellite Jachin Due. In the aftermath of this battle, the PLANT Supreme Council decided to convert the entire asteroid of Jachin Due into a defensive base.
Battle of Endymion Crater - Grimaldi Front (May 3 - June 2)
This battle took place at Endymion Crater on the Moon, which came to an abrupt end due to the usage of the destructive Cyclops System. The most notable event of this battle was the almost complete destruction of OMNI Enforcer's elite TS-MA2mod.00 Moebius Zero mobile armor squadron. The only survivor was LTJG Mu La Flaga, who received the nickname "Hawk of Endymion" for his performance in this battle.
First Battle of Casablanca (May 25)
The Mediterranean fleet of the Earth Alliance fought against a ZAFT submarine carrier fleet near Casablanca. ZAFT won the battle and their forces entered the Mediterranean, advancing further into the south of Africa.
Battle of Suez (May 30)
The Battle of Suez, won by ZAFT's invading forces, ensured ZAFT control over the key Black Sea territories and the Suez area.
Battle of Nova (June 14 - July 12)
ZAFT forces launch a drawn out series of raids against the Earth Alliance resource satellite of Nova at Lagrange Point 4. Fighting between the two sides lasts for nearly a month, with neither side ever decisively defeating the other. Ultimately, the Alliance abandons the satellite and ZAFT converts it into the space fortress Boaz.
By late August of CE 70, a territorial stalemate on Earth was reached: ZAFT controlled northern Africa and Australia, while the Earth Alliance controlled the Americas, Sub-Saharan Africa, Eurasia, and South Asia. The majority of Oceania remained neutral.
Battle of Kaohsiung (January 15–23, C.E. 71)
The Battle of Kaohsiung took place on the island of Taiwan, where ZAFT forces successfully attacked the Earth Alliance spaceport located in the city of Kaohsiung. This was the first of three mass drivers ZAFT had captured from the Earth Alliance. The mass drivers located at Panama and Victoria would either be destroyed or recaptured by the end of the war.
Battle of Heliopolis (January 25)
To put an end to Earth Alliance mobile suit development plans, ZAFT planned an operation on the neutral Orb-member space colony Heliopolis to both seize the secretly developed mobile suit prototypes - the G-Weapons - held at Morgenroete, and destroy their new carrier prototype ship, the Archangel, stationed at the colony's harbor. The initial execution of the operation, headed by Rau Le Creuset, went successfully: ZAFT forces infiltrated the colony, detonating time bombs at precise locations around the colony harbor and key defense installations, which resulted in the destruction of the colony's defense center, massive damage to many transport vessels stationed within the harbor, and the death of both the Archangel's primary command crew and the pilots of the mobile suits. However, as ZAFT forces continued into the interior of Heliopolis to retrieve the prototype mobile suits, the operation quickly became unstable.
Although ZAFT was able to capture four out of five units, the fifth unit - the GAT-X105 Strike - was activated and engaged ZAFT's mobile suits in battle. Furthermore, it was later discovered the Archangel herself had survived the destruction of the harbor, managing to blast itself into the colony interior and join the Strike in combat. The resulting Battle of Heliopolis involving the Archangel, the Strike and ZAFT forces caused the complete destruction of the Heliopolis colony, due to excessive collateral damage instigated by both sides. With only capturing four of the prototype units and the unsuccessful destruction of the Archangel, this marked the first of a series of battles between the Le Creuset Team and the Archangel crew, as ZAFT pursued the Archangel to Earth.
Unbeknownst, the attack on Heliopolis also interrupted Orb's attempt to make their own Mobile Suits - the Astray series - with three of the completed units finding themselves in the hands of other factions.
Battle of Artemis (January 27)
The Archangel, pursued by the Le Creuset Team, docked at the Eurasian Federation base Artemis. Here the Archangel was taken into custody because of the lack of a friendly ID code on the ship and partly due to the Eurasian Federation's rivalry with the Atlantic Federation, who built the Archangel and the GAT mobile suits. Soon after the ZAFT forces attacked the base when it's defenses were disabled by the GAT-X207 Blitz, and the ship was able to escape admidst the chaos that ensued. As the battle ended, the Eurasian Federation base was heavily damaged in the subsequent damage taken from the battle.
Battle of Orbit (February 13)
After a long pursuit by the Le Creuset Team, the Archangel finally received reinforcements from the Earth Alliance's 8th Fleet. The Archangel was then ordered to bring the Strike to OMNI headquarters at JOSH-A. However, The Le Creuset team attacked just before reentry into Earth's atmosphere. Earth Alliance Rear Admiral Lewis Halberton ordered the entire 8th Fleet to defend the Archangel at all costs. Though the 8th Fleet was numerically superior to the ZAFT forces, its Drake-classs and TS-MA2 Moebius Mobile Armors were no match for the stolen units and ZAFT's GINNs as well as their heavily-armed Laurasia-class and Nazca-class warships. Admiral Halberton lost the entire fleet and his own life, but achieved his goal, as the Archangel successfully completed reentry. However, its attempt to save the Strike Gundam forced it from its intended goal of JOSH-A and into Northern Africa.
The battle also resulted in the deaths of several hundred Orb civilians, who were refugees from Heliopolis. They were killed as they retreated from the battle in an Earth Alliance shuttle, vaporized in a fit of rage by Yzak Jule.
Second Battle of Victoria (February 13)
ZAFT's second attempt to claim the mass driver stationed at the Victoria spaceport. This time, the Earth Alliance forces could not withhold ZAFT's attack forces as ZAFT claims victory at Victoria. With ZAFT's capture of their second mass driver, the Earth Alliance is left with their last mass driver located at Porta Panama.
Desert Dawn (February 15–28)
After descending to Earth, the Archangel took part in the Desert Dawn resistance movement's battle in Northern African desert against ZAFT's ground forces led by the "Desert Tiger", Andrew Waltfeld. The combined efforts of both the resistance and the Archangel ultimately resulted both in the defeat of Andrew Waltfeld and his forces, as well as ZAFT's control of the upper African continent.
Equatorial Skirmishes to Orb (March 3–23)
Severely damaged from the battles of Desert Dawn, the Archangel swiftly proceeds to Orb via the Red Sea into the Arabian Sea, while attempting to avoid any confrontation with ZAFT. Unfortunately, they're intercepted and forced to fight against ZAFT's Carpentaria submarine forces, led by Commander Marco Morassim, along the way. The Archangel eventually defeats Morrassim's submarine forces, and continues directly to Orb, passing through the Strait of Malacca. However, just outside Orb territorial waters, the Archangel is met with another encounter with the members of the Le Creuset team, now lead by Athrun Zala, and is forced to make and emergency landing inside Orb's national defense borders. Thanks to Cagalli Yula Athha, the daughter of Orb's Chief Representative, Uzumi Nara Athha, the Archangel was permitted to secretly enter the neutral Orb. Repairs to the ship took several weeks and it wasn't until mid April that the Archangel continued to JOSH-A (Joint Supreme Headquarters Alaska).
Battle near Orb and the Marshall Islands (April 15–17)
In early April, after a successful reconnaissance mission, members of the Le Creuset Team located and attacked the Archangel as she left Orb for JOSH-A. In this climactic battle, the GAT-X207 Blitz, GAT-X105 Strike, GAT-X303 Aegis and one of Archangel's FX-550 Skygraspers were destroyed. Skygrasper pilot Tolle Koenig and Blitz pilot Nicol Amarfi were killed. Strike pilot Kira Yamato was missing in action and presumed dead, but the Buster and its pilot, Dearka Elsman, were captured by the Archangel crew after the Buster was severely damaged and disabled right in front of the Archangel. Aegis pilot Athrun Zala self-destructed his mobile suit in front of the Strike at point-blank range in a last ditch attempt to destroy it, and was presumed dead until found by Orb rescue parties led by Cagalli Yula Athha, who then returned Zala to ZAFT.
Battle of JOSH-A - Operation: Spitbreak (May 8)
Known as Operation: Spitbreak, the Battle of JOSH-A was ZAFT's plan to take JOSH-A, the Earth Alliance forces' HQ stationed in Alaska. The operation failed.
ZAFT counterintelligence officers allowed the majority of both ZAFT and Earth forces to believe that ZAFT's next target was Porta Panama and its mass driver. In response, a large amount of the Earth Alliance forces were transferred to Panama to defend the base, thus leaving JOSH-A open to attack, which was the original plan of Chairman Patrick Zala. However, through the betrayal of rogue ZAFT commander Rau Le Creuset, the Blue Cosmos group came to know about the attack beforehand and orchestrated a trap for both ZAFT and the Eurasian Federation. The Atlantic Federation quietly evacuated its own personnel via submarine from JOSH-A elsewhere before the battle began, leaving the base primarily staffed and defended by the unwanted Eurasian Federation personnel and the Archangel, which was deemed as a hindrance due to the fact that the coordinator Kira Yamato was a member of their crew (though they did quietly transfer a few people off the Archangel such as Flay Allster, whom they believed would also be sympathetic), to be exterminated.
When ZAFT attacked, the resisting Eurasian defenders were effectively wiped out in the face of overwhelming enemy numbers. As ZAFT's attack force was lured through the base's main gate and into the central bay of JOSH-A, the Atlantic Federation remotely triggered the base's Cyclops System. The resulting explosion not only destroyed the installation, but everything within a 10-kilometer radius of the base, killing approximately 80% of ZAFT's attack force as well as the remaining Eurasian defenders in the process. During this battle, Mu La Flaga, despite having been transferred off the Archangel, learned of the Atlantic Federation's plot and warned its captain, Murrue Ramius, what is going to happen, enabling the ship to withdraw from the battle. The only remaining survivors of the battle were: ZAFT submarines and mobile suits that were able to outrun the Cyclops System's blast shockwave; the Archangel; and remaining ZAFT and Earth forces units who heeded the warning from Kira Yamato, who reappeared piloting the stolen ZGMF-X10A Freedom, saved the Archangel from the brink of destruction, and intervened in the battle.
Blue Cosmos orchestrated the destruction of enough of the Eurasian Federation's forces at JOSH-A to alter the balance of power in the Earth Alliance in favor of the Atlantic Federation (which Blue Cosmos controlled). The Eurasian Federation were the voices of reason in the Earth Alliance, ensuring that the purpose of the war was simply the defeat of PLANT. With the Atlantic Federation now mostly in control of the Earth Alliance and its military, Blue Cosmos were able to ensure that the focus of the war changed to the extermination of all Coordinators, their stated goal. They also began to apply political pressure to the non-ZAFT affiliated neutral nations to force them to join their side as part of their propaganda campaign to have the entire Earth against the PLANTs.
Battle of Porta Panama (May 25)
A few days later, following the defeat at JOSH-A, ZAFT retaliated by attacking the Panama mass-driver base with a heavy force. While the Alliance forces introduced their mass-produced GAT-01 Strike Dagger, ZAFT deployed the Gungnir EMP weapon, disabling all Alliance military equipment in the area and resulting in an overwhelming victory for ZAFT. Porta Panama, the last mass driver in Alliance hands, was thereby destroyed, cutting off the Alliance space forces from Earth-based resources. Following the battle, a number of GINN pilots slaughtered the surrendering Alliance soldiers in an act of revenge for the ZAFT personnel that died at JOSH-A. During the battle, Yzak Jule fought a duel with Jean Carry and his GAT-01D Long Dagger. Much of the fight was a stalemate until the deployment of the Gungnir EMP weapon which rendered Carry's Long Dagger useless. Refusing to attack an enemy unable to defend himself, Yzak withdrew from the battle leaving behind his opponent.
Battle of Orb (June 15–16)
With the destruction of their last mass driver in Porta Panama, the Atlantic Federation turned its interest to the Kaguya mass driver in the neutral Orb Union, one of the last mass drivers operating on Earth.
The Alliance's chief "negotiator", Murata Azrael (Leader of the extremist group Blue Cosmos), delivered an ultimatum demanding that Orb either join the war effort against "humanity's evil enemy, the Coordinators" or be declared a supporter of PLANT and face military takeover. With both sides knowing from the start that the terms are totally unacceptable, Orb deployed their recently completed MBF-M1 Astray units and the Atlantic Federation deployed massive numbers of their new GAT-01 Strike Daggers for the certainly unavoidable battle.
In the first phases ot the battle, Orb gained the advantage over the Alliance with the Astray's superior performance over the Strike Dagger, as well as with help from the rogue Alliance ship Archangel and its mobile suit complement. In fact, the late entry of Athrun Zala and Dearka Elsman with the ZGMF-X09A Justice and the GAT-X103 Buster proved to be pivotal to the outcome of this phase of the battle and the two would play a key role in Orb's forces for the rest of the war. After retreating and reorganizing, the EA forces ultimately manage to overcome the Orb forces, mainly due to the overwhelming numbers of Strike Daggers deployed and three newly completed Gundam units: the GAT-X252 Forbidden, GAT-X131 Calamity and GAT-X370 Raider.
In the final phase of the battle, Orb's Representative Athha ordered the evacuation of the remaining Orb Astray force on the battleship Kusanagi. The Kusanagi, as well as the Archangel launched into space via the Kaguya mass driver. Immediately after the launch, Athha activated the Morgenroete factory's self-destruct mechanism, completely destroying both the factory and the mass driver. Representative Athha and the other representatives of Orb were killed in the blast.
Had Orb's leadership survived, the second war may have taken a significantly different path as Orb would have never joined the Earth Alliance.
Third Battle of Victoria (June 18)
Despite the determined efforts of ZAFT forces, the Alliance managed to recapture the Victoria mass-driver in equatorial Africa with a massive deployment of the Strike Dagger and other prototype units. After the battle, a scene in that episode showed an Alliance soldier killing a wounded DINN pilot. It is unknown whether he was ordered to do so or was violating regulations and doing it for personal reasons. It is also unknown if other Alliance personnel did the same to other surviving ZAFT pilots. This scene, along with the massacre of Alliance soldiers at Panama, underlines a mental shift of how the war was now conducted by Earth and PLANT as this shows that this war wasn't a war of conquest anymore: It was now a war of extermination.
It was also rumored that ZAFT planned to self-destruct the mass driver during the battle but was stopped in time by an Alliance commando team.
Soon after Victoria Base was retaken, Earth Alliance reinforced their space fleets on their lunar base of Ptolemaeus with their new Strike Daggers, several warships, their second generation Gundams (Calamity, Raider and Forbidden) and the second Archangel-class battleship, Dominion.
Battle of Mendel (July 12)
After Lacus Clyne, Andrew Waltfeld, and the Clyne Faction stole the Eternal from PLANT, they found shelter in the abandoned colony of Mendel. The Archangel and the Kusanagi joined them, forming the Three Ships Alliance. Soon after, both the Earth Alliance and ZAFT forces attacked. The Earth Alliance's objectives were the capture of either the Freedom or the Justice, as well as the destruction of the Archangel, debuting the first deployment of the Dominion, captained by former Archangel XO, Natarle Badgiruel. ZAFT's objective was to retake or destroy the Eternal, although ZAFT commander Rau le Creuset's hidden agenda included delivering ZAFT's data on the N-Jammer Canceller to the Earth Alliance.
In the ensuing battle both the Alliance and ZAFT had to witness the increased battle capabilities of the Three Ships Alliance forces. The Three Ships Alliance repelled both forces, and at the suggestion of Lacus, destroyed Le Creuset's command ship while losing only a few of their M1 Astrays so the Three Ships Alliance could safely escape from the battle.
During the battle, the N-Jammer Canceller intelligence was successfully passed to the Earth Alliance forces, as Le Creuset planned, allowing a part of their mission objective to be completed successfully. After the Earth Alliance obtained the information, Victoria supplied nuclear warheads to the lunar base, under the request of Muruta Azrael and Captain William Sutherland, a high-ranking officer of Atlantic Federation who was also a member of Blue Cosmos.
Operation: 8.8 – Fall of Carpentaria (August 8)
Following the mass-production of the Dagger series and the fall of Victoria Base to the hands of Earth Alliance, the remaining ZAFT forces stationed on Earth faced serious problems, as the territories they claimed earlier in the war were being recaptured by the Earth Alliance. The Earth Alliance viewed Carpentaria as the last bastion of ZAFT on Earth after ZAFT's withdrawal during the campaigns at Orb and Victoria, and thus launched a large-scale military operation over Carpentaria on August 8, hence the name Operation: 8.8. Earth Alliance forces overran the defending ZAFT forces and retook Carpentaria.
Battle of Boaz – Operation: Peacemaker (September 23)
After recovering N-Jammer Canceller technology in July during the Battle of Mendel, the Alliance originally planned to use the technology to solve Earth's energy crisis but under Blue Cosmos' influence, they mass-produced and mounted them on nuclear weapons instead, launching Operation: Peacemaker - a gambit to quickly end the war by destroying all the PLANTs with nuclear missiles. They started their operation by destroying the ZAFT space fortress Boaz with an all-out nuclear missile strike.
Second Battle of Jachin Due (September 26–27)
The Second Battle of Jachin Due was both the apex of the Operation: Peacemaker and the decisive battle of the First Alliance-PLANT War.
As the Earth Alliance prepared to attack the PLANTs with nuclear missiles, the ZAFT superweapon GENESIS was entering its final stages and was ready to fire. Both factions were strongly determined not only to eliminate all enemy forces, but also to completely wipe out the opposing side's civilian population. Going into the battle, Blue Cosmos' main objective was destroying the PLANTs with nuclear missiles. Similarly, ZAFT Chairman Patrick Zala intended to fire GENESIS not only at the Alliance's Ptolemaeus Lunar Base but also directly at Earth, which would not only wipe out most life on Earth, but would also have cataclysmic consequences on the climate. Additionally, Rau Le Creuset, whose twisted logic wanted both Coordinators and Naturals to perish and was responsible for the escalation of hostilities to this level, secretly rigged GENESIS to fire when the ZAFT fortress Jachin Due self-destructs.
Between the two warring factions there was the Three Ships Alliance, whose main purpose was to thwart any attack on either side's civilian population, and end all hostilities if possible. The Eternal and Kusanagi broke through the ZAFT defensive line and fired at GENESIS, but the superweapon was protected by multiple layers of Phase Shift powerful enough to even resist the Kusanagi's Lohengrin cannon.
During the battle, the strike force carrying the EA's nuclear missiles managed to bypass all of ZAFT's defenses. With no ZAFT forces standing between them and the PLANTs, an easy EA victory seemed inevitable. However, the missiles fired at the PLANTs were all intercepted by the Freedom and the Justice with their METEOR units, and thus no PLANT was destroyed. The GENESIS weapon would be fired twice. The first shot decimated the main Earth Alliance fleets attacking the PLANTs while the second shot hit both the reinforcements being sent from the Alliance's Ptolemaeus Base on the Moon and the base itself. Half of the remaining fleet was wiped out, and the base completely vaporized. Athrun Zala then managed to detonate his nuclear-powered Justice unit inside GENESIS, completely destroying it before it fired on Earth.
The Earth Alliance fleet, after being heavily-damaged by GENESIS (the fleet lost 1/2 of its strength counting the losses on Ptolemaeus and the losses from GENESIS), lost its flagship Dominion, which was destroyed in battle by the Archangel: Muruta Azrael perished in the ship's explosion. The fleet also lost their Agamemnon-class carrier ships transporting the nuclear missiles, as well as the Calamity, Forbidden, and Raider.
The ZAFT fleet seemed to suffer slightly less losses, though they did lose both GENESIS, their main military base Jachin Due, and much of their forces. PLANT Chairman and ZAFT Commander-in-Chief Patrick Zala was killed by Ray Yuki (who got shot by Zala, only for him to shoot him back in his final moments), and soon after the moderate faction led by for council member Eileen Canaver took control of the military, ceasing all hostilities as the crippled Earth Alliance fleet retired.
Aftermath
Junius Treaty
By the start of Cosmic Era year 72, the Alliance's nuclear stockpile was destroyed, as was the ZAFT superweapon GENESIS. More importantly, the instigators of the war - Blue Cosmos leader Muruta Azrael, ZAFT Supreme Council Chairman Patrick Zala, and rogue ZAFT commander Rau Le Creuset - were all killed in action. Parties amendable to peace were now in control of the major factions. On March 10, CE 72, their representatives met at the ruins of Junius Seven and signed a formal treaty, ending the First Alliance-PLANT War.
The Junius Treaty specifically outlined several points:
- All national boundaries on Earth had to be restored to status quo ante bellum. Thus both the Orb Union and the United States of South America, which were seized by the Alliance, became independent nations again. Also ZAFT had to leave the areas they conquered during the war. However they were allowed to still run the Gibraltar and the Carpentaria Base on Earth.
- Neither side would pay war reparations.
- Instead of an international tribunal, each side would try its own war criminals.
- Preferential tariffs for former PLANT sponsors.
- Nuclear technologies (N-Jammer and N-Jammer Canceller) are prohibited from military use.
- Mirage Colloid technology is prohibited from military use.
- The moon is considered neutral territory, with both sides having the same number of bases.
- Foreign Minister Lindemann of the Kingdom of Scandinavia proposed, in the Lindemann Plan, that strict limits be placed on the number of ships, mobile suits, and mobile armors that could be owned by either nation. The armament limits imposed on each nation by the Lindemann Plan are proportional to national resources such as population and economic output, thus placing the PLANTs at a substantial military disadvantage.
A black marble monument was placed upon the ruins of Junius Seven on March 10, to both honor those who perished in the Bloody Valentine Incident and as a pledge by the signatories of the treaty to protect peace.
Nuclear power plants on Earth were fitted with N-Jammer Cancellers to restore their operation and satisfy the power needs of the severely crippled terrestrial economy. The long and costly process of digging out the hundreds of N-Jammers dropped on Earth during the war began.
Some Earth Alliance and ZAFT forces had accused some of their troops cause a war crimes against humanity and prisoners of war. Yzak Jule was accused of murdering Orb Union refugees in the Battle of Orbit. His sentence was execution by firing squad but it was stopped by chairman Gilbert Durandal and he was promoted to commander of his own Jule Team. Dearka Elsman and Athrun Zala were accused of desertion and while Athrun took an official discharge from ZAFT, Dearka was sentenced to a one rank demotion and was stripped of his elite status.
Renewed Conflict
The Treaty of Junius's main shortcoming was its failure to take steps in dismantling the Blue Cosmos organization.
Two years after the war, in CE 73, the Blue Cosmos had already rebuilt their power base in the Atlantic Federation, and reorganized under the new leadership of Lord Djibril. As before, Blue Cosmos had major influence on the Earth's political elite, and was still driven by racial hate towards Coordinators.
Ultimately, the Treaty of Junius failed in all its objectives. Both factions secretly continued their development of nuclear and Mirage Colloid weapons technologies, and the Earth Alliance deployed them again in late CE 73. The Armory One incident and soon afterwards the Junius Seven Colony Drop Incident, known as Break the World, led again to open conflict between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT, eventually leading to the Second Alliance-PLANT War, in which the Alliance launched once again a (failed) nuclear strike against the PLANTs. Orb allied with the Alliance shortly thereafter, rendering the ban on technology sharing a moot point.
Notes & Trivia
- Before the official name of the war, First Alliance-PLANT War appeared and in model kits' manuals, some fans refer to it as the "Bloody Valentine War", the latter was used once in a Gundam School blog post from the official Gundam portal site.