Great Wars (Ardai)

For other uses, see Great War (disambiguation).

The Great Wars or Great War, also referred to as the Fifty Years' War, was a series of major, interlapping conflicts in the first half of the 20th century, which often spanned the globe. The warring period lasted fifty years, from the start of the First Musmazian War in 1905 to the signing of the Peace of Osfjoll in 1955, although the commencement and cessation of hostilities occurred earlier or later in different regions. The Great Wars were among the deadliest conflicts in human history, with over 100 million killed as a direct result of the fighting, and millions more from war-related disease and famine. The Wars were followed by the Long Peace, a roughly eighty-year period marked by international cooperation and the absence of worldwide conflict.

Background

Redbar's War

Main article: Redbar's War

Eican prime minister and former explorer Lawrence Redbar launched the war in 1901 to free slaves and liberate oppressed peoples in Sorca. It was officially termed the Liberation Campaign, but more commonly known as Redbar's War.

Second phase

Sudlander Revolution

Main article: Sudlander Revolution

Fourth phase

Paltry War

Also known as the "Biscuit War" due to the canned rations that were prevalent at the time.

Impact

Horror

During the Great Wars, the word "horror" became the byword for the worst aspects of the conflict, from the constant shelling to the poison gas to the massacres of unarmed civilians. Soldiers who had been emotionally damaged by their experiences were said to have been "touched by the horror". In the later phases of the conflict, the term referred specifically to genocide and other war crimes, which were perpetrated by most of the involved factions.

Aftermath

Main article: Long Peace

The time after the Great Wars would become known as the Long Peace. Although it was not free from conflict, the regional wars of the Long Peace never escalated to the scale the Great Wars had, until the scarcity of resources caused by climate change sparked the Resource Wars in the 2030s.

Geopolitical upheavals from the Great Wars caused a shifting of alliances into blocs like the East-West Coalition, which dominated the Long Peace. The horrors of total warfare influenced political thought, art, and literature in many countries, whose leaders vowed to maintain peace at all costs. Widespread disillusionment with nationalism sparked popular movements centered around pacifism, democracy, social welfare and reform, many of which succeeded in their aims.

Technology

Biplanes such as these were a frequent sight in the early years of the Great Wars. By the 1930s, the skies had become a vital theater of every conflict.

Main article: Technology during the Great Wars

Vehicles

Airplanes

The first practical aeroplane was invented in 1903, just two years prior to the start of the First Musmazian War. Airplanes were first deployed for military reconnaissance purposes during the Third Musmazian War (1911-1913). The first battle between airplanes occurred in 1914, after the outbreak of the Great Nurovian War.

Landships

The Great Wars overlapped with the Landship Era, when massive armored vehicles known as landships dominated the battlefield. Landships were most zealously utilized by the powers of Nuro, whose large-scale designs have been described as "moving fortresses". The eastern archipelagic powers generally favored smaller designs that could be deployed in amphibious operations, while the nations of Kuo and Okkar preferred light, maneuverable "mechanized cavalry". Landships, along with their air and sea cousins, were seen as symbols of a nation's might and pride; thus, the decline of nationalism in the 1960s put a definitive end to the Landship Era, although advances in aerial bombardment had rendered superheavy landships obsolete by the mid-1950s. Despite the decline of massive landships, armored fighting vehicles continued to be used into the modern era and beyond.

Weapons

Sun bombs

The "sun bomb", a fusion-powered device, was invented in Musmazia in the 1940s, based on ancient Solcian research. The destructive power of the bombs contributed to the end of the Great Wars.