The Last War: Timeline of Events

1995:
Final ratification of the full North American Transcontinental Free Trade act, the first real step toward a continent-wide government.

2005:
Claiming economic and security concerns, the European Community annexes the Sudetenland, Hungary, and Yugoslavia, creating a protectorate. Russian protests are ineffectual.

2006:
Russian-Ukrainian L-4 colony.

2008:
U.S. L-5 colony.

2009:
European Community annexes Balkan nations.

2010:
First commercial fusion plant online, Vancouver.

2012:
U.S. oil nearly gone.

2015:
Formation of the Paneuropean Federation from the European Community, Russia, the Balkans, and other western Soviet republics. United Kingdom does not participate, re-establishing its old currency.

2019:
Massive oil discovery in Venezuela. Within a period of two weeks, Brazil moves in and grabs the oilfields, then the capital, then the rest of the country. American neutrality proves to have been bought with the promise of oil.

2020:
12-Minute War. Tel Aviv, Cairo and Damascus are all blasted by concealed nuclear weapons. Interim governments patch up a truce immediately.

2022:
Argentina declares war on Brazil; other South American nations join with varied degrees of enthusiasm.

2023:
United States, Canada, Mexico federate as the North American Combine. Anti-ICBM laser technology developed.

2035:
Rise of conservative influence in Japan; establishment of Nihon Empire.
Brazilian War fizzles out with little effect.

2037:
Québec economy worsens. Protesting "cultural imperialism," Québec seeks Paneuropean aid to preserve use of the French language in its schools. High-level diplomacy accomplishes nothing; English remains the official Combine language.

2040-2043:
Asian provinces of Paneurope wracked by riots, racial strife, strikes. Chinese interference is suspected.

2046:
Sino-European War begins. Initial thrusts and counters quickly bog down into a slow land war.

2049:
Nihon brokers end to Sino-European War. Treaty of Osaka cedes Asian provinces to China in return for substantial payments in oil and strategic metals. Both sides claim victory.

2051:
Under increasing pressure to join Paneurope, United Kingdom moves closer to Combine.

2051:
Treaty of Liverpool formally allies United Kingdom and Combine for "mutual defense."

2060:
Ogre Mark I enters production. Combine military forces are based throughout U.K., outnumbering native forces by 5 to 1. In return, Combine agrees to share military technology freely with U.K.
Nihon Empire invades Philippines and New Guinea.

2065:
Québéc separatist riots and strikes lead to full-scale revolution. Ogres see combat for the first time in the Battle of Montréal.

2066:
Ogre Mark II enters production. Seattle-Vancouver facility is constructed to produce larger Ogre types. Annexation of Central America into the North American Combine. Cuba joins as a "protectorate."

2068:
Combine builds Ogre facilities in Oshawa, Tuloca, and Sheffield, England. British Green Party protests "collusion" with Combine military.
Ogre Mark III enters testing.
Nihon consolidates all formerly-independent Southeast Asian territories, using military "cyberships" – seagoing Ogres.

2070:
Paneuropean Federation protests Sheffield facility, and blockades England. Combine refusal to dismantle plant raises international tension. A Combine frigate and a Paneuropean submarine destroy each other in the North Atlantic, triggering World War III. Combine forces land in France but fail to establish a permanent beachhead. Ogre Mark Is and IIs head into Siberia via Alaskan fortifications.
First stories of Vanderdecken's Brigade.

2071:
Ogre Mark III goes into production in Seattle. Data and templates immediately shipped to Sheffield.
Sino-Nihon war begins with Nihon raids in Korea, followed by landings in force in Korea and Manchuria.

2074:
Ogre Mark IV and V start development: problems in drive train and missile rack system delay Mark IV production.
First Paneuropean assault on England is unsuccessful. Combine establishes beachheads in Africa, consolidating some 10% of the continent.
Sino-Nihon war heats up. Nihon cybertanks seen for first time, in the Battle of Hong Kong.

2076:
Ogre Mark V produced in new Houston Ogre facility. Detroit facility begins construction. First tests of converted supertankers used for Ogre transport. Paneuropean submarines sink five Mark IIIs just beyond Lisbon; three make it to shore anyway.
Last Atlantic satellite surveillance destroyed. Sky clearing becomes a continual operation for both Combine and Paneuropeans.
Second Paneuropean assault on England is a disastrous failure.

2077:
Massive Combine force establishes beachhead at The Hague. After six months, invaders are contained within Bremen-Cologne-Brussels arc, with huge losses by both sides.

2078:
Battle of Gibraltar; Combine Ogres smash Paneuropean Second Army and push into Spain, followed by conventional forces. Spanish provinces capitulate: Paneuropean forces stop invaders at foothills of Pyrenees. Northern Combine invasion force then breaks out. Strasbourg falls; Paris and Frankfurt threatened.
Paneurope introduces Superheavy Tank, later copied by the Combine.
Chinese invasion of Philippines.

2079:
Paneuropean political operatives and special-ops forces succeed where direct invasion had failed; the United Kingdom falls. Sheffield Ogre plant captured largely intact. New British government immediately integrated into Paneuropean Council structure. Loyalist British forces retreat to Combine and Australia.
Paneurope signs secret treaties and establishes covert bases and factory centers in Brazil and Argentina.

2080:
Combine positions in Europe begin to erode with cutting of U.K. supply lines.
Ogre Ninja introduced.
Chinese retreat from Philippines.

2081:
Paneuropean "Huscarl," a modified Mark V, enters full-scale production at Gdansk in late November.

2082-2084:
Ogre-vs.-Ogre combat becomes common. The "Ceasefire Years" – constant battle across Europe, interrupted by 88 different ceasefires, as the Combine is gradually driven off the Continent.
Paneuropean Fencer enters full-scale production at Gotha in 2084.

2085:
Combine forces evacuate Europe.
New Combine offensive in South America. Panama Canal blocked. Brazil collapses. Amazon Combat Zone becomes a no-man's land; Nova Brasilia formed.
Chinese field "Dragon" cybertanks against Nihon forces in defense of Beijing. Though plentiful, the Dragons appear individually less effective than Nihon "Steel Warrior" units.

2086:
Paneuropean cybertanks, including Fencers, appear in South America; Paneuropean/Brasilian forces push north. Paneuropean siege of Mexico City broken by the first field appearance of Combine Mark IVs.
Collapse of all authority in Central Africa; creation of Sahara Combat Zone.
Chinese "Dragon" cybertank captured by Nihon forces and displayed in Tokyo; it proves to have been a manned unit with no significant AI capacity.

2087:
The Descartes Revolution: the development of genuinely self-aware Ogres and factory complexes. The first "rogue" cybertank appears.

2088:
Ogre Mark VI enters limited production. Volgagrad and Ruhr Valley production facilities completed.
Central Chinese government collapses. Nihon Empire forces occupy all provincial capitals.

2089:
Paneuropean Doppelsoldner fielded: Huscarl taken out of production.

2090:
Antiwar riots in major cities of both Europe and North America.
Widespread use of new integrated production technologies.

2091:
The Manila Accords; armistice between Paneuropean and Combine forces. Economic backlash kindles further riots, especially in Europe.

2092:
The Combine renews hostilities in August, sending a multi-pronged attack against both military and industrial targets across Europe. The surprise is only tactical – Combine intentions had been obvious – but the Paneuropean response is ineffective and disorganized. On Christmas Day, Paneurope sues for peace. The Second Armistice is signed on Dec. 31.

2093:
Beginning of Paneuropean Civil War. Combine withdraws recognition of Paneuropean government but offers to honor Second Armistice "by separate negotiation with legitimate national governments."

2094-2095:
Paneurope continues to fragment. Combine military remains preoccupied by unrest at home and secret preparations for South American invasion.
Nihon consolidates control of Chinese production facilities.

2096-2097:
Combine signs treaties with various Paneuropean successor states, creating puppet governments. National armies are established: some have Combine units as cadre. A few die-hard areas (notably Latvia, Greece) fall under direct Combine military rule. Combine outlaws production of major military material, encourages rivalries between new states.

2098:
Combine invades Nova Brasilia, meeting unexpectedly heavy resistance from both Brasilian and other South American forces.
Combine and Nihon break off diplomatic relations.

2099:
Overextended Combine withdraws entirely from South America, abandoning Amazon Combat Zone.
France, Ukraine rebel against puppet governments.

2100:
"Crash of 2100." More rebellions in Europe. In North America, Québéc and Northern California rebel. All Combine troops called home. Some units stationed in Europe refuse, either making common cause with local governments or remaining as independent military overlords.

2101:
Combine collapses into dozens of local governments. Revolutions spread in Europe.
Nihon "peacekeeping" forces dispatched to Hawaii, California, Seattle, Santiago and other Combine West Coast cities.

2102:
Desperate resistance from local governments and free companies, many supported by self-aware Ogres, slows progress of Nihon "peacekeepers" in North America. Southern forces make more headway, especially in Chile, Panama City.

2103:
Heavenly Emperor of Nihon dies unexpectedly. Military council accuses his heir of complicity. Several mainland Asian provinces rebel. Nihon expeditionary forces in Western Hemisphere denied further reinforcements: some attempt to return home but are savaged while retreating, while others dig in.

2105:
Balkanization continues, as nation-states continue to fragment. Wars, betrayals and destruction become routine worldwide. Technological development essentially ceases. World politics and economics are covertly dominated by self-aware AI factory complexes, as the "Factory States" era dawns.