The Meaning of War.

2012

The beginning of the Long Emergency, global peak oil extraction is reached. Oil prices begin an irrevocable rise that slowly begins to weigh on global economies and leads political leaders to increasingly place energy at the forefront of national policies.

2014

Ukraine joins the EU. A process of pulling the strategically valuable former soviet republics away from Russia and integrating them into the EU and NATO has begun, much to the chagrin of the Russians.

2015

Democratic Socialist movements have swept through every nation in South America, the continents nations build strong trade and aid agreements and weather the coming economic downturns quite well.

After several years of civil war that has severely undermined the civilian government, the US declares martial law in Iraq. Widespread suppression of dissent and massive military action against insurgents allows US forces to make permanent their fortifications. Iraq effectively becomes a US overseas protectorate and a semi-reliable flow of oil is established from the countries oil fields. However, because the occupiers can do little to stop the bloody civil war raging between the countries Sunnis and Shiites, the conflict rapidly spreads to neighboring countries.

Global Influenza Pandemic; first of many subsequent H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks kills thousands, mainly in South East Asia, and causes tightened borders, and paranoia. The disease will continue to outbreak for the next 10 years.

The government of Afghanistan, already straining under insurgencies invites US/NATO forces to establish permanent bases in Afghanistan.

2016

Insurgents attempt to overthrow the government of Pakistan. Civil war ensues, threatening to tear apart the country. Only the intervention of US/NATO forces from neighboring Afghanistan secures the government. Georgian Republics, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia join EU, against the strong protestations of Russian Federation. NATO member states iterate their commitment to reinforce the independence of those republics, much to the satisfaction of the US and EU oil companies who are pumping oil from the region.

The Sunni/Shia conflict raging across the Middle East depends as Iran and Saudi Arabia fight a proxy war against each other using ethnic and religious militants who launch bloody insurgencies in each country, terrorizing the civilian populations and causing shocking amounts of infrastructure damage. Only the presence of the US military sitting between them in Iraq prevents them from going to all-out-war. World oil prices, already high, begin to surge based upon fears that any widening of the conflict could drastically reduce oil production.

2017

An attempted coup by pro-US, CIA backed military officers in Venezuela fails and US involvement is revealed to the international community. The US retaliates with economic embargoes and surgical military action intended to cripple the economy and topple the regime. However, because of their solidarity with fellow South American countries, the country survives. Later that year the League of South American Free States is formed. Based mainly of Brazilian agricultural might and affordable Venezuela oil, the League is much stronger than anticipated.

The first of several large scale pro-democracy, pro-liberalization movements in China are brutally crushed. Over the coming years all of the major powers come to resemble military police states to some degrees. Secret police tactics result in massive civil unrest and domestic terrorism in all major states.

The EU builds large scale fortifications and military bases in the newly joined states of Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. While officials downplay the significance of the build up, they are obviously geared towards protecting against the Russian Federation and securing access to the Caspian Basin oil reserves in these countries.

2018

The superpowers pick sides in the escalating Sunni/Shia war. China and Iran sign a deal to trade arms and oil, thereby providing Shia forces with a nearly limitless supply of arms, including (secretly) Chinese nuclear technology. Conversely, the Western Powers arm the Saudis, and their Sunni proxies, against the Iranians and the Shia militias they support. Because of the influx of high tech military weaponry, the conflict expands to include outbreaks of conventional air and land combat, as well as the use of high tech weapons against civilians.

Political developments in the Middle East, rapidly falling oil yields, repeated disease outbreaks, and environmental degradation cause inflation and a recession across the globe. In 2nd world countries with less robust economies and larger populations, particularly China and Russia, this results in severe, violent political unrest, and large-scale anti-government insurgency. Martial law becomes all-but-officially permanent in these countries. In many parts of the developing world, particularly Africa, nations crumble and a new age of anarchy begins. Starvations on a hitherto unseen, massive scale occur. In other countries, many in South America, robust micro-economies allow much of the population to thrive.

2019

Iran/Saudi war spreads across the region, erupting into direct conflict. Smaller Middle Eastern nations like Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan disintegrate, anarchy ensues. Iranian and Saudi forces clash over and on the Persian Gulf, and across the lawless deserts of Eastern Iraq. US forces in country can only retreat to their fortifications and continue to protect the oil supply.

Severe climate change ends seasonal weather predictability in many parts of the world causing intense strain on ecosystems, and massive devastation of dependant human populations as crops fail and food stocks disappear. Massive starvation, hitherto unseen in modern human history breaks out in Africa; entire populations disappear, nations crumble, wide spread anarchy ensues. The rest of the world looks on in horror. Journalists reveal that Israel has been heavily arming and covertly aiding both sides of the Sunni/Shia conflict against each other. International outrage, particularly in Iran and Saudi Arabia is extreme, and both countries retaliate with conventional and guerrilla attacks against Israel. Israel strikes back against all of its neighbors, the final act that engulfs the entire region in bloody war.

Following the assassination of its dictator by Islamic militants, Pakistan disintegrates into chaos and tribalism. Only the capitol and certain strategic and urban areas remain under 'government' control, mostly with US/NATO and Indian assistance. NATO Fortifies bases in Afghanistan and US Troops prop up the ramping forces of the government in Pakistan.

US Energy corporations gin a long term deal with Turkmenistan to exploit selected oil reserves along the Caspian Sea, and to ship it out via a new pipeline through occupied Afghanistan and Pakistan.

2020

The world is stunned as a three-way nuclear war between Israel, Saudi Arabia and Iran decimates all three countries. Major cities and large tracts of previously inhabited land are rendered radioactive dead zones. Intermittent oil extraction continues from a few remote, well-fortified oil fields, mainly those held by foreign powers in Iran, Iraq and the Saudi desert.

Middle Eastern oil production, already low, falls dismally. The industrial economies of the world, which are floundering in a recession, still attempting transformation to post-petroleum sustainability, are thrown into full-scale depression, the likes of which haven’t been seen since the 1930s.

Global warming begins to cause the oceans to rise noticeably. Coastal populations in Europe, North America and China begin semi-orderly migrations inland. In less developed countries flooding kills millions who cannot go anywhere else.

An "EU" style trade block forms in North America, called NAFU, the North American Free Union that includes Canada, The United States and parts of Mexico.

2021

The North American military begins hijacking foreign oil tankers leaving South American ports, setting off open hostilities between the two. Retaliations by South American intelligence agencies within the North American states serve as a pretext to justify invasion and NAFU troops attempt to seize key assets within Venezuela and Columbia. The League’s military and intelligence forces, bolstered by modern Chinese arms foil the attacks and inflict severe losses on the North American attackers. The North American command retaliates with a small number of strategic strikes on key SA assets. A militarized zone between the two blocks, in Central America, is established and fortified.

China and India skirmish several times, as do US and Chinese troops at the borders between China and Pakistan/Afghanistan. Tensions between China and India drive the latter into an alliance with the US designed to show a united front against increasing Chinese aggression in the area. Petrochemical revenues from the Caspian Basin oil beds result in the Central Asian Republics, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, becoming "The New Middle East" as they become more prosperous economically and correspondingly more powerful in the world community. Some of these countries, such as Kazakhstan, use the wealth to industrialize.

Russia and China, as well as a few smaller states in the region, form the Red Star Alliance, a framework for joint military operations under a single command structure, as well as energy and technology sharing agreements.

2022

US Strategic Missile Defense goes online, making North America invulnerable to long and medium range strategic weapons. This immediately cools any hints of aggression by the Red Star Alliance, specifically in Central Asia, as the US nuclear arsenal serves as a trump card and deterrent.

Continuing pandemics of disease sweep the globe causing casualties in the hundreds of millions.

The NATO member countries plus Afghanistan, Pakistan and India form the Western Coalition (WC), ostensibly as a bulwark against increasing Red Star Chinese power in Central Asia, but actually as a way of synergizing mutual energy resources and the forces required to secure them. The entire coalition is brought under the strategic defense shield.

2023

Surrounded by desperate, hostile populations and extracting ever dwindling amounts of oil at rapidly increasing cost from all-but-depleted deposits, the foreign powers evacuate their remaining forces and leave the Middle East. What little population and last vestiges of civilization that remain quickly disintegrate into a tribal wasteland.

2024

Despite high tech solutions and centralized management, the major powers are unable to sustain agricultural yields sufficient to support subsistence levels for their populations. Starvation begins to become commonplace in developed countries.

Economists agree that the global depression has become more or less permanent. Previous economic models that relied upon supply/demand, industrial output and the flexibility of free markets are unable to account for energy depletion, environmental collapse, over population, and societal disintegration. Radical voices claim that the are simply not enough resources to support a recovery for the entire global population and that war is the inevitable outcome.

2025

Under great pressure from their Russian and Chinese neighbors, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan surrender their neutrality and join the Red Star Alliance. The Western Coalition Authority is stunned and cannot stop them. Red Star Command begins to aggressively extract oil and ship it out of the new member countries. The winter of 2019 brings catastrophic weather that kills millions, and leaves many regions uninhabitable. Tropical countries experience deep freezes, and storms of hitherto unseen ferocity pound coastlines.

2026

Russian Missile Defense comes online only four years after the US, Russia brings Red Star allies under its missile defense shield. ICBM and medium range missiles effectively useless, making strategic nuclear war between the superpowers obsolete. Nuclear arsenals, already small through limitation treaties, are re-tooled for tactical use.

Superpowers initiate conventional military build up in Central Asia.

2027

Globe hails good news as treaty between Red Star and Western Coalition ends long and inconclusive conflict along the Chinese/Pakistani/Afghan border in South Asia. Leaders from both powers make rhetorical pledges to stand down from conflict and concentrate on problems at home, while simultaneously escalating an arms race.

The pro-Red Star government of Turkmenistan is overthrown in a bloodless coup, and the new government stuns its Red Star allies by ceding from the Red Star Alliance. The government then awards oil extraction contracts to WC energy corporations and allows WC security forces into the country to protect the extraction operations. Oil that once flowed north to Russia and West to China now flows south to WC ports in Pakistan, bound for the industrial heartland of the developed nations.

A ‘super-hurricane’ so powerful that a new category of intensity must be created for it, forms in the pacific and devastates the west coast of North America from Alaska to Portland.

2029

The Turkmen oil flowing to the Western Coalition countries benefits their desperate populations.

2030

The deposed regime of Turkmenistan, in exile in Moscow, offers proof of Coalition backing of the coup that overthrew them, and appeals to the International Community to restore them in their countries. They are rebuffed despite Chinese and Russian lobbying. Red Star troops aided by the deposed dictator of Turkmenistan are air dropped into the major cities and seize control of the key strategic assets in the country including oil fields, government infrastructure, communications networks, and the security apparatus.

May 2030

Using extensive intelligence about the country, Red Star Commandos are dropped and inserted into strategic areas of Turkmenistan including the main ministries in the capital city, and strategically important energy sources. The country is cut off the power grid, and easily paralyzed. WC forces in the country are killed in ambush, or mount a fighting retreat back (N1) to safer territory on the Afghan border.

Meanwhile, two large Red Star large invasion forces are sent in to Turkmenistan, one from Russia, one from China, via Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan respectively, to reinforce the occupying troops and shore up the returning dictatorship. However, WC special forces use the high mountains of Uzbekistan to ambush and destroy one of the large tank columns before it arrives to the front (N2). The result is a tenuous occupation of the country by the RS.

June 2030

The Western Coalition launches a heavy counter attack from Afghanistan which advances deep into Turkmenistan and sweeps aside the occupying forces. WC and RS space command forces clash, destroying much of both sides’ surveillance and communications abilities.

Now taking the offensive, the WC strikes and decimates the main body of the second Red Star convoy that is entering northern Turkmenistan. Before the RS forces in Kazakhstan can regroup and dig in to defend, The WC front pushes forward over the border into that country, striking opportunely at Red Star industrial support infrastructure (N3) and crippling the Red Star frontline. The maneuver catches the entire RS command off guard, forcing surviving RS units to retreat back over the border into Russia, expecting reinforcements to assist them in shaking WC close in pursuit. The conflict escalates to full fledged war as WC and RS forces in other parts of the world, including along the Pakistan/China border, in the South China Sea, along the EU/Russian Border, with both sides taking heavy losses, but neither able to advance.

July 2030

Almost unopposed, the WC frontline advances across the border into Russia from Kazakhstan. The Russians try desperately to stop their advance using tactical nuclear weapon strikes (N4) but are unable to halt the advance because of lack of effective intelligence about WC positions. WC forces moving north along the Caspian Sea again defy expectation, turning south to strike at RS Southern Russian command who are dug in against the Caucasus Mountains. WC attack choppers sweep through or evade RS air defenses and destroy RS forces approaching the front. WC Troops chase the RS back to their central command headquarters, a Soviet era deep mountain fastness closely linked to a nearby ICBM silo, located within the highlands of the North Caucasus Mountains. There they lay siege to the fortification and capture the RS southern command (N6).

Preparing for a new offensive in Tajikistan the RS army builds up forces in Western China and moves them closer to the Afghan border. However, WA and Indian troops rapidly strike into China attacking through and over the mountains on the Pakistan/Chinese border, catching Red Star forces on their flank, causing devastating loses and huge disruptions of supply and support lines. Local insurgents who have been fighting for Western Chinese independence armed with WA supplied weapons, join in and inflict heavy losses on Red Star forces inside China. Western China erupts in civil war, and the Red Star units invading Central Asia are withdrawn home to restore control.

With WC troops occupied with the Fighting in Central Asia, the RS launch a long prepared for invasion of Taiwan. WC forces from the Philippines and Guam are airlifted to the island to mount a desperate defense against the huge invasion force, while American air and naval power engage the invaders on and over the China Sea. Despite, brutal fighting, the Invasion is successful. WC and Taiwanese commandos continue to launch strikes against the invasion force from within the mountainous center of the island. Taiwan is all but leveled by the fighting and bombardment. However, the invasion proves costly to the Red Star Alliance, as it engages a huge amount of China’s focus and distracts them from reinforcing the Central Asian and Russian front.

August 2030

Having removed the Russians from the Caucasus, the WC command finishes the job by striking across the top of the black sea at the flank of RS forces reinforcing the conflict on the Russia EU border. With the crippling or surrender of these elements, the RS command in Russia has severely limited forces with which to further defend the territorial integrity of the country. All units are with drawn back to the Russian heartland and deployed for defense of the nation.

As soon as hostilities break out between China and Taiwan, the North Koreans launch a pre-emptive artillery bombardment of South Korea, triggering a catastrophic mixed conventional nuclear bombardment of the whole peninsula. Civilian casualties are massive and the infrastructure of both countries is destroyed. WC troops stationed on the DMZ, largely protected by their fortifications, hold off the invasion force of North Korean and Chinese troops trying to unite the two countries, often using tactical nuclear weapons.

September 2030

In a bold and desperate move to cripple Russia before the Chinese reinforce them, Western Coalition troops take advantage of an unseasonably early spring thaw and mount a surprise invasion of the Russian heartland. WC Forces in southern Russia strike north into the industrial heartland where they cripple the countries primary energy and industrial production facilities.

Russian armored units, artillery, and tactical nuclear strikes inflict severe losses on advancing US/EU forces. However, US/EU eventually establishes air and space superiority, and utilizes it to force the Russians back to the suburbs of Moscow (N7). WC troops march on the city, despite Russian use of tactical nuclear weapons to slow them, and a series of bloody battles are fought inside the city limits, culminating in the Western Coalition capture of the city, and the seat of Russian government (N8). The Russian Federation offers a conditional surrender which includes deactivation of their missile defense shield.

October 2030

Russian Red Star forces in Siberia and eastern Russia refuse to surrender and fall back to the Ural Mountains where they are met by reinforcements from Siberia. The Russian military command structure declares itself the Russian government in exile, and fortifies the eastern portion of the country with the assistance of China.

Red Star Alliance and WC representatives meet to sign a ceasefire. The war is over for now.

The following year, the United States of America and the European Union sign the historic SLAMS (Space-Land-Air Missile Shield) Treaty, agreeing to co-develop technologies for a comprehensive, interlocking anti-ballistic missile system. The U.S. and EU test-launch nuclear salvos against each other, which the SLAMS weapons completely destroy. Emboldened by the success of the tests, the United States and the European Union pronounce "the end of strategic nuclear war," and with the end of the war the world celebrates a new age of peace.

With the price of crude oil at USD 800 a barrel, the EU member states are forced to consolidate political, economic, and military power to form a united European superstate, the European Federation, which has a greater population and GDP than the United States. Nations too weak to join the European Federation, notably those in the Balkans and Eastern Europe, collapse completely and were subsequently taken over by the now defunct Red Star alliance, who refer to it as "their land." The U.S. and the EF regard each other's power as a threat to their own, and the now fractured former allies embark on a costly space arms race with each other.

The “new Russia” as some call it, is the world's new number one supplier of natural gas and crude oil, has its economy skyrocket up with the energy crisis, spending its oil profits on modernizing its armed forces, creating its own missile defense system, and utilizing its new-found power to influence world events.

The militarization of space reaches its peak in 2032, when the United States reveals plans to launch the Freedom Star space station in an effort to regain its position as the premier world superpower. While partly designed for civilian research purposes, the station will also house three companies of U.S. Marines, who can deploy anywhere on Earth within 90 minutes. International reaction is extremely negative, to say the least. The EF and Red Star in particular despise the development, seeing it as a way the U.S. could use to neutralize their portion of anti-ballistic defenses and upset the balance of power. The EF withdraws from the already divided NATO in protest, causing the organization to collapse. Former NATO bases and facilities in Europe are subsequently taken over by the EF.

On March 23, 2033, European Federation (EF) uplink sites in the "lawless zone," where Croatia used to be, are attacked by an as-yet unidentified group of terrorists, who are using T-80 tanks, from a beached cargo ship. They are repulsed by EF Enforcers Corps (EFEC) forces. During the battle, the EF attempts to gain access to the cargo ship that the terrorists use but the ship is destroyed before they can gain access. Details of the attack are kept secret.

On April 4, 2033, when the final module of the Freedom Star is set to launch from Kennedy Space Center amid international outcry, the same group of terrorists attack the module and attempt to destroy it, using the same methods as the Croatian attack. Once again they are repulsed, this time by the United States Joint Strike Force (JSF) as reports of yet another terrorist attack come in, this time of an assault on the Rozenburg petrol plant in the Netherlands. After being defeated by EFEC forces, the terrorists identify themselves as the "Forgotten Army" composed of people from the former Red Star Russia.

Following a final terrorist attack, this time on a Russian power plant near Minsk (an attack which the Russians were aware of beforehand but played along with for aesthetic purposes), the US finds "conclusive evidence" that the European Federation's defense minister, François Pulain, funded the Forgotten Army with modern military equipment. Suspecting there to be a conspiracy within the European government to prevent the completion of the Freedom Star, The Americans send a black-ops team to abduct Pulain while he inspects the uplink network in Copenhagen, the site of the EF's main naval base. They manage to capture him but an anonymous call by Russia informs Danish police, allowing EFEC forces to prevent extraction and trap the team in one of the uplinks. On April 7, 2033, the US crashes Copenhagen's uplinks and sends in JSF units to rescue the trapped team. The US successfully repels the EFEC's first attack, but European forces are able to counter-attack and reboot Copenhagen's uplinks in their favor. The JSF forces are forced to surrender and are allowed safe passage back to the U.S. in exchange for releasing Pulain.

The events in Copenhagen spark a major international incident but the U.S. and EF stop just short of declaring war. As last-minute peace talks are arranged to be held on neutral ground in London, it is revealed (to the player only) that Russia funded the Forgotten Army's attacks and planted the evidence against Pulain, citing the need to keep the EF and the U.S. from uniting in order to take Russia's oil. To ensure that war is sparked between the two powers, elements of the Spetsnaz Guard Brigade (SGB) embark on a covert operation, disguised as Forgotten Army soldiers, to upload a virus into the European SLAMS network at Rovaniemi air base in Finland. The virus causes an EF orbital laser satellite to shoot down the new Freedom Lifter module during lift off, thinking it to be an ICBM. The entire crew is killed, and news reports blaming problems from "malfunction" to "terrorist hijacking" to (finally) "EF satellite." This final act starts a war between the two powers. Russia initially joins the United States under the guise of "aiding it in its crusade against Europe" and invades EF-controlled Poland, but the Americans see this as an attempt to reform the Eastern Bloc and attack Russia. A new war has begun…

(Note: this is only the "plot" of the game, I will add more to it. But this is all I can type at the moment.)