THE ONE YEAR WAR

This account of the One Year War serves as a prologue of sorts to the original Gundam series. Though the early days of the war have never been portrayed on-screen, they have great repercussions throughout Gundam history.

The One Week War

The cataclysmic conflict later known as the One Year War begins on January 3, UC 0079. Three seconds after declaring a war of independence against the Earth Federation, the upstart Zeon Dukedom launches massive attacks on the space colonies at Sides 1, 2 and 4. Dukedom forces bombard the Federation fleets stationed at these Sides with nuclear weapons and pump poison gas into the colonies, routing the unprepared Federal Forces and killing 2.8 billion people with their destructive tactics.

Attempting to bring the war to a swift conclusion, the Dukedom then launches Operation British. Dukedom forces attach engines to one of the now-depopulated colonies and force it out of orbit, intending to drop the 20-mile-long cylinder onto the Federation's headquarters at Jaburo in South America. A Federation armada intercepts the falling colony, but is roundly repulsed by the Dukedom mobile suits guarding it.

Though the falling colony does impact on Earth, it breaks up into several pieces during its entry into the atmosphere and consequently misses its target. Colony fragments rain down upon North America, while the largest chunk lands on Sydney, Australia, destroying one-sixth of the continent and killing 200 million people. The casualty toll for the first days of the conflict, referred to as the One Week War, now stands at about three billion people.

The Battle of Ruum

On January 15, the Zeon Dukedom makes a second attempt to carry out Operation British. Entering Side 5, Dukedom forces begin attaching engines to another colony in order to take a second shot at Jaburo. This time the Earth Federal Forces are ready for them, and the two sides begin lobbing nuclear missiles back and forth, laying waste to Side 5 and killing 2.5 billion people. From the colloquial name for Side 5, this conflict is known as the Battle of Ruum.

Zeon's mobile suits prove to be devastatingly effective in this unprecedented space battle. A lone Dukedom pilot, Char Aznable, destroys five Federation battleships. Although the Federal Forces prevent the activation of the engines, the Federation armada is wiped out and its commander, General Revil, is captured by the Dukedom's elite Black Trinary pilot team. Both sides withdraw, having turned Side 5 into a colossal graveyard.

The Antarctic Treaty

Less than two weeks into the war, the indiscriminate use of nuclear weapons and chemical warfare have killed half the human race. Earth's climate has also been ravaged by the effects of Operation British, and a small-scale "nuclear winter" is under way. Shocked by the carnage, the Earth Federation and the Zeon Dukedom meet for negotiations in Antarctica.

During the negotiations, the battered Federation comes close to surrendering outright, until General Revil escapes captivity and gives a rousing speech claiming that Zeon is exhausted. With many of the Dukedom's best pilots killed during Operation British and the Battle of Ruum, and its limited resources stretched to the breaking point, Revil declares that the enemy is bluffing.

On January 31, the warring parties sign the Antarctic Treaty. Though there is no Federation surrender and no peace settlement, the treaty establishes certain rules of warfare that both parties are to abide by. Nuclear and chemical weapons are banned, as are colony drops; nations that declare themselves neutral, like Side 6 and the lunar cities, are to be left unmolested; prisoners are to be treated humanely; and attacks on the energy fleets that supply both sides with vital fuel are prohibited.

Earth Invasion

The Zeon Dukedom may be exhausted, but the Earth Federation is itself in dire straits. The destruction of the Federation's space fleet and the environmental disruption caused by the colony impact gives the Dukedom an opening to attack Earth itself. Quickly organizing an Earth Attack Force, the Dukedom carries out a series of drop operations throughout the month of March, ultimately seizing half Earth's surface and capturing several key Federation bases.

In the first drop operation, on March 1, the Dukedom's 1st Terrestrial Mobile Division lands in Asia and captures the Federation's Baikonur spaceport. It then heads around the west shore of the Caspian Sea into Europe, and around the east shore into the Middle East. A resource mining unit commanded by Captain Ma Kube is then dispatched to the north shore of the Caspian Sea, where it begins extracting mineral resources to feed the Dukedom's war machine.

The second drop operation, on March 11, targets North America. The 2nd and 3rd Terrestrial Mobile Divisions land on the west and east coasts, respectively. Within two days the 2nd Terrestrial Mobile Division has captured the Federation's sprawling California Base, which soon becomes the Dukedom's major terrestrial stronghold.

The third drop operation takes place on March 18, when the 4th Terrestrial Mobile Division lands at several key points in Southeast Asia and Australia. A couple of weeks later, the 5th Terrestrial Mobile Division is dispatched to reinforce the Dukedom's forces in North Africa and the Middle East.

Interlude

A period of uneasy peace ensues, as both sides begin rebuilding their forces. While it reconstructs its lost fleet at Jaburo and the asteroid base Luna Two, the Earth Federation begins work on its own mobile suits and other advanced weapons. Meanwhile, the Zeon Dukedom completes the asteroid fortresses Solomon and A Bao A Qu, forming an unbreachable line of defense around its home colonies at Side 3. With its captured resources, the Dukedom rebuilds its forces and develops new mobile suits designed for land and sea combat.

After several months, the Federation and the Dukedom are again approaching full strength, and both sides are drawing up plans to bring the war to a speedy and triumphant conclusion...

Mobile Suit Gundam, Z Gundam, Gundam ZZ, Char's Counterattack, Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, Gundam F91, Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory, Gundam 0083: Last Blitz of Zeon, Gundam: The 08th MS Team, and Gundam W: Endless Waltz are copyright Sotsu Agency and Sunrise. V Gundam, G Gundam, Gundam W, and Gundam X are copyright Sotsu Agency, Sunrise and TV Asahi.