In the Cosmic Era alternate universe of the Gundam anime metaseries, the Bloody Valentine War is a war between the Earth Alliance, an alliance of four major governments on Earth; ZAFT, a nation of space colonies located at L5; and the Three Ships Alliance, an alliance of Earth Alliance moderate factions, the Clyne Faction, and the neutral Orb Union.
Introduction
Like other Gundam universes, Cosmic Era humanity has moved into space and built massive space colonies. In the Cosmic Era, conflict arises between the Coordinators, genetically enhanced humans, who are mostly space colonists, and Naturals on Earth.
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 l 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 Units for a complete listing and development history.
Bloody Valentine War
Tragedy of Copernicus (February 5)/Declaration of War (February 11, C.E. 70)
The war was declared on 11 February, Cosmic Era year 70, after a terrorist attack on a peace conference on the Moon on 5 February wiped out the United Nations's leadership.
Bloody Valentine Incident (February 14)
Three days later, on 14 February, Muruta Azrael orders the Roosevelt an Agamemnon-class carrier of the Earth Alliance to launch a nuclear attack on Junius 7, a PLANT-type space colony in the Junius City area of PLANT killing 243,721 civilians. The incident was called the Bloody Valentine Incident and marked the opening of hostilities.
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 and resulted in the destruction of the space station.
Operation Uroboros - April's Fool Crisis (April 1)
In response to the direct nuclear attack, ZAFT modified N-Jammer technology, initially intended to be used against Earth, as a countermeasure against nuclear weaponry in space. With the modified production schedule, the N-Jammers were not dropped on Earth until 1 April, as the first phase of their Operation Uroboros.
The use of N-Jammers on Earth and the subsequent energy crisis, April Fool Crisis, provoked mass starvation due to how heavily people relied on nuclear energy.
The second phase of Operation Uroboros was the actual offensive on Earth surface, that took under ZAFT control most of Africa, all of Australia and many Asian regions, including three of Earth's five major spaceports (locations of a Mass Driver): Victoria (Africa), Gibraltar (Europe), and Kaohsiung (Taiwan), leaving Porta Panama (Central America) in Alliance hands and Kaguya at Onogoro Island in 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 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, C.E. 70. 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)
The Battle of Endymion Crater took place on the Moon. The battle came to an end due to the usage of the destructive Cyclops System. The most notable event 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.
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, and advanced further into the south of Africa.
Battle of Suez (May 30)
The Battle of Suez, won by ZAFT invading forces, ensured ZAFT the key Black sea territories and the control of 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, with northern Africa and Australia firmly in ZAFT hands, Sub-Saharan Africa, Eurasia, South Asia and the Americas in the Alliance, and the majority of Oceania 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 to seize the mobile suit prototypes secretly developed on the neutral colony Heliopolis, which was owned by Orb; and to destroy their carrier prototype ship Archangel.
Although ZAFT was able to capture four out of five units and heavily damage the colony's harbour, the fifth unit, the GAT-X105 Strike, remained in Alliance hands, was activated and engaged them in battle. The resulting Battle of Heliopolis between the Archangel, the Strike and ZAFT forces caused the complete destruction of the Heliopolis colony from collateral damage caused by both sides, and was the first of a series of battles between the Rau Le Creuset team and the Archangel crew.
Battle of Artemis (January 27-30)
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 completely destroyed 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 GAT-X105 Strike to OMNI headquarters at JOSH-A. 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 Archangel at all costs. Though the 8th Fleet was numerically superior to the ZAFT forces, its Drake-class escort ships 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.
The battle also resulted in the deaths of several hundred Orb Union 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 Joule.
Second Battle of Victoria (February 13)
In this battle ZAFT was able to capture the Victoria spaceport.
Desert Dawn (February 15-28)
After descending to Earth the Archangel took part in the Desert Dawn resistance movement's battle with ZAFT. She continued to operate with Desert Dawn until they defeated Andrew Waltfeld in the end of February.
Severely damaged, the ship then went to Orb via the Red Sea, while attempting to avoid any confrontation with ZAFT. Unfortunately, they were forced to fight Carpentaria submarine forces, led by Commander Marco Morrassim. While Morrassim's forces were defeated, the ship barely managed to enter Orb territory by early April, especially after another encounter with the members of the Le Creuset team, now lead by Athrun Zala.
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 (mid April)
In early June, 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)
The Battle of JOSH-A (Operation Spitbreak) was ZAFT's plan to take JOSH-A, the Earth Alliance's Atlantic Federation HQ, which 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. Thus, a large amount of the Earth Alliance forces were transferred to Panama to defend the base. However, this was to leave 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 beforehand about the attack and set a trap for both ZAFT and the Eurasian Federation. The base was primarily staffed and defended by Eurasian Federation personnel while the Atlantic Federation quietly transferred its own personnel elsewhere. Additionally they plotted to eliminate several of their own unwanted forces as well such as 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.
When ZAFT attacked, the Eurasian defenders resisted but were effectively wiped out in the face of overwhelming enemy numbers. ZAFT's attack force was then lured into the central bay of JOSH-A when the base's Cyclops System was activated, killing most of the ZAFT attack force as well as what was left of the Eurasian defenders in addition to destroying the installation and everything else within a 10 mile radius of the base 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 the Archangel Captain Murrue Ramius what is going to happen, enabling the Archangel to withdraw from the battle. Kira Yamato, with the stolen ZGMF-X10A Freedom also reappeared and saved the Archangel from the brink of destruction, and due to his intervention, the ship survived the ordeal along with other ZAFT and Earth forces who heeded Kira's warning to escape the Cyclops blast. Several ZAFT submarines and pilots with mobile suits fast enough to outrun the Cyclops shockwave managed to escape as well.
Blue Cosmos orchestrated the destruction of enough of the Eurasian Federation's forces at JOSH-A to alter the balance of power within 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, 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 Joule fought a duel with Jean Carrey and his GAT-01D Long Dagger unit. Much of the fight was a stalemate until the deployment of the Gungnir EMP weapon which rendered Carrey's Long Dagger useless. Refusing to attack an enemy unable to defend himself, Yzak withdrew from the battle leaving behind his oppenent.
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 a 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
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 ZGMF-X10A Freedom or the ZGMF-X09A Justice as well as the destruction of the Archangel. 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 EA and the ZAFT had to witness the increased battle capabilities of the TSA forces. The Three Ships Alliance repelled both forces, and destroyed Le Creuset's command ship while losing only a few of their M1 Astrays.
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. This battle also saw the first deployment of the Dominion, the Earth Aliance's second Archangel class battleship and captained by former Archangel XO, Natarle Badgiruel.
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 Bloody Valentine 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's 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.
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 ZGMF-X10A Freedom and the ZGMF-X09A 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. Blue Cosmos leader Murata Azrael perished in the ship's explosion.
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 a ZAFT officer, 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.
Treaty of Junius Seven
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 Bloody Valentine War. The plan came from Prime Minister Rindman of the Kingdom of Scandinavia and was accepted by all involved parties.
The Treaty of Junius Seven 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.
- Orb was forbidden to transfer any military technology (either in weapon shipments or aid) to either the Alliance or ZAFT.
- Nuclear technologies (N-Jammer and N-Jammer Canceller,) were prohibited from military use.
- There would be a limit as to how many mobile suits could be built and maintained by both sides.
- The use of Mirage Colloid was also banned.
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 Joule 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 Joule 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.
Aftermath
The Treaty of Junius's main shortcoming was the failure 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 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.
The Armory One incident and soon later the Junius 7 Colony Drop Incident, known as Operation Break the World, led again to open conflict between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT, eventually leading to the Second Bloody Valentine War.
Ultimately, the Treaty of Junius failed in all its objectives. Both factions secretly continued their development of nuclear and stealth weapons, and the Earth Alliance deployed them again in the first day of the second war. Orb allied with the Alliance shortly thereafter, rendering the ban on technology sharing a moot point.