Bloody Valentine War

In the fictional Cosmic Era (CE) timeline of the "Gundam" metaseries, the Bloody Valentine War is a war that began due to hostilities between the Earth Alliance, an alliance of four major governments on Earth, and PLANT, a nation of space colonies located at Lagrangian point 5.cite web |url=http://www.gundamofficial.com/worlds/ce/background/images/spacemap1.gif|title=Cosmic Era space map (at the beginning of "Gundam SEED") |accessdate=2007-04-17 |format=GIF |publisher=GundamOfficial ] This conflict is covered in the anime series, "Mobile Suit Gundam SEED". Although integral to the plot, the war is never referred to as the "Bloody Valentine War" in the series.

Introduction

Like other "Gundam" universes, Cosmic Era humanity has moved into space and built massive space colonies. In this period, 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 of the 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 more than a mobile armor could, for relatively cheaper costs 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 Anno Domini 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 Lewis 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 (or "Gundams", as pilot Kira Yamato would later call them). 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 CE 71.

January CE 71, marked the rollout of the Earth Alliance's first mobile suits: the base unit, the 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 the 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

Declaration of war (February 11, CE 70)

The war was declared on February 11, CE 70, after a terrorist attack on a peace conference on the Moon on February 5 (Tragedy of Copernicus) wiped out the United Nations' leadership. [cite web |url=http://www.gundamofficial.com/worlds/ce/background/glossary_locations.html#copernicus |title=Cosmic Era locations: Copernicus |accessdate=2007-04-17 |publisher=GundamOfficial ]

Bloody Valentine Tragedy (February 14, CE 70)

Three days later, on February 14, CE 70, the Earth Alliance, specifically the Atlantic Federation, sent the "Agamemnon"-class carrier, "Roosevelt" and escorts to the Junius City region of PLANTs, for a "show of force". However, Blue Cosmos members decided to change its mission to starving off PLANTs' food supplies, as Junius was an agricultural city. The Atlantic Federation gave permission to use the nuclear weapons placed onboard the "Roosevelt" by the Blue Cosmos. While the "Laurasia"-class frigates, "Nazca"-class destroyers and GINNs of ZAFT fought against the Roosevelt's escorts, a group of Mobieus mobile armors launched to fire the nuclear warheads. One Mobieus made it to the launch point, and fired the weapon, which made contact with and destroyed Junius Seven, a PLANT-type space colony in the Junius City area of PLANT, killing 243,721 civilians. The incident was called the Bloody Valentine Tragedy and marked the opening of Coordinator-Natural hostilities. [cite web |url=http://www.gundamofficial.com/worlds/ce/background/glossary_misc.html#bloodyvalentine |title=Cosmic Era miscellaneous terms: Bloody Valentine |accessdate=2007-04-17 |publisher=GundamOfficial ] cite web |url=http://www.gundamofficial.com/worlds/ce/background/glossary_locations.html#juniusseven |title=Cosmic Era locations: Junius Seven |accessdate=2007-04-17 |publisher=GundamOfficial ]

Battle of Yggdrasil (February 22, CE 70)

The first major battle of the war was fought near the pre-war international space station, "Yggdrasil". The battle lasted about a month and resulted in the destruction of the space station. [cite web |url=http://www.gundamofficial.com/worlds/ce/background/glossary_locations.html#yggdrasil |title=Cosmic Era locations: Yggdrasil |accessdate=2007-04-17 |publisher=GundamOfficial ]

Operation Uroboros - April's Fool Crisis (April 1, CE 70)

In response to the direct nuclear attack, ZAFT modified N-Jammer technology, initially intended to be used against the Earth, as a countermeasure against nuclear weaponry in space. With the modified production schedule, the N-Jammers were not dropped on Earth until April 1 CE 70, as the first phase of ZAFT's Operation Uroboros. [cite web |url=http://www.gundamofficial.com/worlds/ce/background/glossary_misc.html#opuroboros |title=Cosmic Era miscellaneous terms: Operation Uroboros |accessdate=2007-04-17 |publisher=GundamOfficial ]

The use of N-Jammers on Earth and the subsequent energy crisis, known as the April Fool Crisis, [cite web
url=http://www.gundamofficial.com/worlds/ce/background/glossary_misc.html#aprilfool
title=Cosmic Era miscellaneous terms: April Fool Crisis
accessdate=2007-04-17 |publisher=GundamOfficial ] provoked massive human starvation, due to the heavy reliance on nuclear energy.

The second phase of Operation Uroboros was the actual offensive on the Earth's surface, where ZAFT would take under 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, CE 70)

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, [cite web |url=http://www.gundamofficial.com/worlds/ce/background/glossary_misc.html#carpentaria
title=Cosmic Era miscellaneous terms: Battle of Carpentaria
accessdate=2007-04-17 |publisher=GundamOfficial ] who immediately began the construction of the "Carpentaria Base". [cite web |url=http://www.gundamofficial.com/worlds/ce/background/glossary_locations.html#carpentaria |title=Cosmic Era locations: Carpentaria Base |accessdate=2007-04-17 |publisher=GundamOfficial ]

First Battle of Jachin Due (April 17, CE 70)

The Earth Alliance ordered its 5th and 6th fleets, stationed on the Moon, to attack PLANT, on April 17 CE 70. They were intercepted by ZAFT forces and engaged at the resource satellite, Jachin Due.cite web |url=http://www.gundamofficial.com/worlds/ce/background/glossary_locations.html#jachindue |title=Cosmic Era locations: Jachin Due |accessdate=2007-04-17 |publisher=GundamOfficial ] In the aftermath of this battle, the PLANT Supreme Council decided to convert the entire asteroid of Jachin Due into a defensive base.cite web |url=http://www.gundamofficial.com/worlds/ce/background/glossary_misc.html#jachindue |title=Cosmic Era miscellaneous terms: Battle of Jachin Due |accessdate=2007-04-17 |publisher=GundamOfficial ]

Battle of Endymion Crater (Grimaldi Front) (May 3, CE 70 - June 2, CE 70)

The Battle of Endymion Crater took place on the Moon. [cite web |url=http://www.gundamofficial.com/worlds/ce/background/glossary_locations.html#endymion |title=Cosmic Era locations: Endymion crater |accessdate=2007-04-17 |publisher=GundamOfficial ] The battle ended with the destruction of the whole Endymion Crater, when the Earth Alliance Forces used their ice melting microwave-emission device, known as the Cyclops system, to destroy their own resource base, causing heavy casualties and damages on both sides. The 3rd Fleet of the Earth Alliance was wiped out in this battle, along with its elite TS-MA2mod.00 Moebius Zero mobile armor corps, except for one Moebius Zero pilot, Mu La Flaga. ZAFT forces were forced to abandon the Endymion Crater and withdrew from the moon. [cite web |url=http://www.gundamofficial.com/worlds/ce/background/glossary_misc.html#grimaldi |title=Cosmic Era miscellaneous terms: Grimaldi Front |accessdate=2007-04-17 |publisher=GundamOfficial ]

First Sea Battle of Casablanca (May 25, CE 70)

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, where they began constructing of the "Gibraltar Base" and advanced further into Southern Africa. [cite web |url=http://www.gundamofficial.com/worlds/ce/background/glossary_misc.html#casablanca |title=Cosmic Era miscellaneous terms: Casablanca Sea Battle |accessdate=2007-04-17 |publisher=GundamOfficial ]

Battle of Suez (May 30, CE 70)

The Battle of Suez, won by ZAFT invading forces, ensured ZAFT the key Black Sea territories and the control of the Suez area. A huge linear tank corps, led by Morgan Chevalier, was routed by Andrew Waltfeld at El Alamein, earning Waltfeld the "Desert Tiger" reputation, as a master of desert-based combat. [cite web |url=http://www.gundamofficial.com/worlds/ce/background/glossary_misc.html#suez |title=Cosmic Era miscellaneous terms: Suez Battle |accessdate=2007-04-17 |publisher=GundamOfficial ]

Battle of Nova (June 14, CE 70 - July 12, CE 70)

ZAFT forces launch a drawn out series of raids against the Earth Alliance resource satellite of "Nova" at Lagrangian point 4. Skirmishes between the two sides lasted for nearly a month, with neither side ever decisively defeating the other. Ultimately, the Earth Alliance abandons the satellite and ZAFT begins to move the station towards the PLANTs. Despite minor raids by Earth Alliance forces, Nova reaches Lagrangian point 5, where ZAFT converts it into the space fortress, Boaz. [cite web |url=http://www.gundamofficial.com/worlds/ce/background/glossary_locations.html#nova |title=Cosmic Era locations: Nova |accessdate=2007-04-17 |publisher=GundamOfficial ]

By late August 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 Earth Alliance, and the majority of Oceania neutral.

Battle of Kaohsiung (January 15-23, CE 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 mass driver ZAFT would capture from the Earth Alliance. [cite web |url=http://www.gundamofficial.com/worlds/ce/background/glossary_locations.html#kaohsiung |title=Cosmic Era locations: Kaohsiung |accessdate=2007-04-17 |publisher=GundamOfficial ]

Battle of Heliopolis (January 25, CE 71)

To put an end to the Earth Alliance mobile suit development plans, ZAFT planned an operation to seize the mobile suit prototypes, secretly developed on the neutral colony of Heliopolis, which was owned by the Orb Union, and to destroy their prototype warship, the 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 Earth Alliance hands, and 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.

Civilian casualties were nowhere near the amount of Bloody Valentine Tragedy casualties on Junius Seven, as hundreds of lifeboats with civilians onboard were ejected from Heliopolis.

Battle of Artemis (January 27, CE 71)

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 its defenses were disabled by the GAT-X207 Blitz, and the ship was able to escape amidst the chaos that ensued. As the battle ended, the Eurasian Federation base had taken considerable damage, but remained somewhat intact. Pirates would raid Artemis whilst its defenses were down, and as a result, Commandant Garcia, commander of Artemis, would hire the mercenary group, Serpent Tail. After Serpent Tail has a run-in with the Junk Guild's Astray Red Frame, Artemis is once again damaged, but, as of June CE 71, remained a functional military outpost.

Battle of Orbit (February 13, CE 71)

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 re-entry into the 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-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 re-entry.

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 ZAFT pilot, Yzak Joule, who was later tried for war crimes against civilians after the Bloody Valentine War.

Second Battle of Victoria (February 13, CE 71)

In this battle, ZAFT was able to capture the Victoria spaceport and its mass driver.

Northern Africa Campaign (February 15-28, CE 71)

After descending to Earth, the Archangel took part in the "Desert Dawn" resistance movement battles with ZAFT. It continued to operate with Desert Dawn until the defeat of the "Desert Tiger", Andrew Waltfeld, on February 28, CE 71.

Conflicts near Orb and the Marshall Islands (April 17, CE 71)

In early April, after a successful reconnaissance mission, members of the Le Creuset Team located and attacked the Archangel, as it left the Orb Union 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 Amalfi, were killed. Strike pilot, Kira Yamato, was declared missing-in-action and presumed dead, but the GAT-X103 Buster and its pilot, Dearka Elsman, were captured by the Archangel crew, after the Buster was severely damaged and disabled directly in front of the Archangel. Athrun Zala self-destructed his Aegis 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 Union rescue parties, led by Cagalli Yula Athha, who then returned Zala to ZAFT.

Battle of JOSH-A - Operation Spitbreak (May 8, CE 71)

The Battle of JOSH-A, or Operation Spitbreak, was ZAFT's plan to take JOSH-A, the Earth Alliance's Atlantic Federation headquarters.

ZAFT counterintelligence officers allowed the majority of both ZAFT and Earth Alliance 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 operation's actual target and set a trap for both ZAFT and the Eurasian Federation. The base was primarily staffed and defended by Eurasian Federation personnel (as well as other unwanted forces, such as the Archangel) while the Atlantic Federation quietly transferred its own personnel elsewhere. 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, Kira Yamato, with the stolen ZGMF-X10A Freedom, reappeared, and due to his intervention, the Archangel survived the ordeal, along with other ZAFT and Earth Alliance Forces who heeded his warning to escape the inevitable 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 in the Earth Alliance, so that the Atlantic Federation (which the Blue Cosmos had more influence in) was able to take control of the whole Earth Alliance, by default. 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, the Blue Cosmos were able to ensure that the focus of the war changed to the extermination of not just PLANT, but "all" Coordinators - their stated goal. After this battle, the Atlantic Federation began forcing all nations who are neutral and not allied with ZAFT to concede with the Earth Alliance, so the entire planet would be against the PLANTs.

According to Athrun Zala, in the manga series, "", many official documents after this operation were lost, due to confusion in the chain of command (presumably referring to the purge of the moderates by Patrick Zala), resulting in the truth of the final days of the war being hidden from the public.

Battle of Porta Panama (May 25, CE 71)

A few days later, ZAFT retaliated by attacking the Panama mass-driver base with a heavy force. While the Earth Alliance Forces introduced their mass-produced GAT-01 Strike Daggers, 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 Earth Alliance space forces from Earth-based resources.

Battle of Orb (June 15-16, CE 71)

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 Earth Alliance's chief "negotiator" and leader of the extremist Blue Cosmos, Muruta Azrael, delivered an ultimatum demanding that Orb either join the war effort against "humanity's evil enemy: the Coordinators" and disband its government and military or be declared a supporter of PLANT and face military takeover. With both sides knowing from the start that the terms are totally unacceptable, the Orb Union deployed their recently completed MBF-M1 Astray units and the Atlantic Federation deployed massive numbers of their new Strike Daggers for the certainly unavoidable battle. According to Rau Le Creuset, ZAFT did offer military assistance, but the Orb government declined their offer of help.

In the first phases of The Battle of Orb, Orb held their own against the Earth Alliance with their Astray's superior performance over the Strike Dagger, as well the help from the rogue Alliance ship, the 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, respectively, proved to be pivotal to the outcome of this phase of the battle and the two would play a key role in the Orb Union's forces for the rest of the war. But the Atlantic Federation forces push the Orb forces to the breaking point in the process, as Orb couldn't replace their lost units faster than the Atlantic Federation, essentially meaning Orb's defeat was only a matter of time. After retreating and reorganizing, the Earth Alliance 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. However, the withdrawal of Azrael's three Gundams from drained power after a prolonged fight with the Freedom and the Justice prompts a short halt in the Earth Alliance's advance.

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 was launched into space, via the Kaguya mass driver, while the Archangel used the Kusanagi's spare boosters. 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. From the opening shot of the battle to the mass driver's destruction, Orb fell in less than 24 hours of combat.

Third Battle of Victoria (June 18, CE 71)

Despite the determined efforts of the ZAFT forces, the Earth Alliance managed to recapture the Victoria mass driver in equatorial Africa, with a massive deployment of the Strike Dagger and other prototype units. After this battle, a mental shift of how the war was now conducted by Earth and PLANT is revealed, as this war wasn't a war of conquest anymore: it was now a war of extermination.

It was 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, CE 71)

After the killing of former PLANT Supreme Council Chairman Siegel Clyne by ZAFT soldiers, his daughter, Lacus Clyne, Andrew Waltfeld, and the Clyne Faction, stole the "Eternal" battleship from PLANT, and 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, with both sides totally unaware of the other's presence. 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 has his own hidden agenda, which included delivering ZAFT's data on the N-Jammer Canceller to the Earth Alliance.

In the ensuing battle, both the Earth Alliance and ZAFT had to witness the increased battle capabilities of the Three Ships Alliance forces. The Three Ships Alliance repelled both forces, and destroyed Le Creuset's command ship, the "Vesalius", while losing only a few of their M1 Astrays in return.

During the battle, the N-Jammer Canceller intelligence was successfully passed to the Earth Alliance Forces. This battle also saw the first deployment of the "Dominion", the Earth Alliance's second Archangel-class battleship, and captained by former Archangel XO, Natarle Badgiruel.

Battle of Boaz - Operation Peacemaker (September 23, CE 71)

After recovering N-Jammer Canceller technology in July, during the Battle of Mendel, the Earth 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, CE 71)

The Second Battle of Jachin Due was both the apex of 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, the 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 Earth Alliance's Ptolemaeus lunar base, but also directly at Earth, which would not only have cataclysmic consequences on the climate, but would also wipe out most, if not, all biological lifeforms on the planet. 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-destructed.

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, with the Calamity, Forbidden, and Raider clearing a path, the strike force carrying the Earth Alliance's nuclear missiles managed to bypass all of ZAFT's defenses. With no ZAFT forces standing between them and the PLANTs, an easy Earth Alliance 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 new METEOR units, and thus no PLANT was destroyed. The GENESIS weapon would be fired twice: the first shot took out half of the main Earth Alliance fleets attacking the PLANTs, while the second shot hit both the reinforcements being sent from the Earth Alliance's Ptolemaeus Base on the Moon and the base itself. Half of the reinforcement 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, lost the Dominion, which was destroyed in battle by the Archangel. Blue Cosmos leader Muruta Azrael perished in the ship's explosion. They even lost the Calamity, Forbidden and Raider to the Justice and Duel (in the special edition, the Buster destroyed the Raider).

The ZAFT fleet seemed to suffer fewer losses, though they did lose GENESIS, Jachin Due, and much of their forces. PLANT Chairman and ZAFT Commander-in-Chief Patrick Zala was killed by ZAFT officer, Ray Yuki, and soon after, the moderate factions took control of both militaries, ceasing all hostilities, as the crippled Earth Alliance and ZAFT fleets retired.

Deployed forces

ZAFT mobile suit forces included GINNs, CGUEs, GuAIZs, the GAT-X102 Duel "Assault Shroud" (piloted by Yzak Joule), and the ZGMF-X13A Providence (piloted by Rau Le Creuset). Also included were some variations, such as the GINN High Mobility types (one piloted by Mikhail Coast), the CGUE DEEP Arms (one piloted by Shiho Hahnenfuss), and the tethered YFX-600R GuAIZ Experimental Firearms Type. Their other forces included Nazca-class destroyers, Laurasia-class frigates, the Jachin Due space fortress and the GENESIS gamma-ray laser cannon.

Earth Alliance mobile suit forces included the Calamity, Forbidden, Raider, and Strike Daggers. For Dagger variations, there were Buster Daggers (one piloted by Rena Imelia), Duel Daggers, one Long Dagger (piloted by Seven Socius) and 105 Daggers (one piloted by Morgan Chevalier). For G-weapon variants, there were the two remaining Sword Calamity units (one piloted by Edward Harrelson). Their mobile armor forces included Moebius mobile armors equipped with nuclear missiles. For their space vessel forces, it included the Dominion, four Agamemnon-class carrierss Nelson-class battleships, and Drake-class escort ships.

The Three Ships Alliance forces included MBF-M1 Astrays, one M1A Astray (piloted by Barry Ho), the MBF-02 Strike Rouge (piloted by Cagalli Yula Athha), the GAT-X105 Strike (piloted by Mu La Flaga), the GAT-X103 Buster (piloted by Dearka Elsman), the ZGMF-X09A Justice (piloted by Athrun Zala), and the ZGMF-X10A Freedom (piloted by Kira Yamato). For their space vessel forces, there was the Eternal, the Kusanagi, and the Archangel.

Junius Treaty

By the start of Cosmic Era 72, the Earth Alliance's nuclear stockpile was destroyed, as was the ZAFT superweapon GENESIS. More importantly, the instigators of the war, Blue Cosmos leader Murata 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 Lindemann of the Kingdom of Scandinavia and was accepted by all involved parties.

The Junius Treaty specifically outlined several points: [cite web |url=http://www.gundamofficial.com/worlds/ce/background/glossary_misc.html#juniustreaty |title=Cosmic Era miscellaneous terms: Junius Treaty |accessdate=2007-05-14 |publisher=GundamOfficial ]
* 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 Earth 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, as well as establish facilities where allowed by the nations of Earth, including the Atlantic Federation (an example would be a ZAFT base in San Diego, which was attacked by Blue Cosmos-affiliated group, "Holy Land", shortly before the Armory One incident).
* The Orb Union was forbidden to transfer any military technology (either in weapon shipments or aid) to either the Earth Alliance or ZAFT, though either side could apparently use any Orb technology acquired before the treaty.
* Nuclear technologies (N-Jammer and N-Jammer Canceller, as well as Mirage Colloid technology) were prohibited from military use, including a specific clause regarding their use on mobile suits.
* There would be a limit as to how many mobile suits could be built and maintained by both sides.

A black marble monument was placed upon the ruins of Junius Seven on March 10 CE 72, to both honor those who perished in the Bloody Valentine Tragedy 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.

Aftermath

The Junius Treaty'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, the 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 Seven 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 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 Earth Alliance shortly thereafter, rendering the ban on technology sharing a moot point.

References

*cite web |url=http://www.gundamofficial.com/worlds/ce/background/timeline.html |title=Cosmic Era timeline |accessdate=2007-04-17 |date= |publisher=GundamOfficial