The Dead Zone War

The Dead Zone War was a conflict fought primarily between the Latherian Empire and the Navine Territories for dominance of the Dead Zone.

Origins
For many years after the Secession Wars Coalition territories bordering the Dead Zone and the Navine Territories had been engaged in a series of operations, largely covert, to gain control over the lions share of the dead zone. Many ethnic Heimater, Nikereans, Korolevans, Navine, among other groups lived within the Dead Zone who often longed to join up with states that represented their interests. The difficulty of the matter was that the heterogeneity of the population distributions made partition an unfeasible option, especially considering the hostility of the parties involved.

Many covert actions to align areas and secure access to resources took place in the time between the end of the secession wars and the outbreak of the Dead Zone war. In the half century prior to the Dead Zone war both the Navine and Latheria set up numerous listening posts and conducted regular fleet patrols, playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse.

Periodically these patrols would engage in firefights, and over time both nations built up a political faction wanting to fight the other.

Beginnings
After a series of particularly brutal fleet encounters the time seemed ripe to begin a war. The Navine would ultimately declare first, declaring that their fleets had unrestricted access to the space and the Latherians gladly counterclaimed. Both sought to mobilize allies, with Latheria quickly able to secure support from Nikerea and Gath-Sako, each ready allies and looking to expand into the area. The Navine leveraged this to gain the support of the 6th and 8th League Defense groups, and Gath-Sako's involvement quickly brought in United Hampton.

Early War
The initial fighting saw massive Latherian gains, headed by a series of rapid coordinated planetary invasions leapfrogging one another by Master Commander Werner Grosch. Grosch's command ability was undisputed and he would head the Latherian forces for the duration of the war. This period of fighting would last for 2 years, bringing the Latherian Army closer to the Navine Territories than it had been since the Secession Wars. Nikerea would mimic and follow Latherian strategy and over the course of the war the armed forces of both nations would become increasingly accustomed to operating in concert.

Meanwhile, Gath-Sako and United Hampton would proceed to fight it out, with United Hampton taking up defensive positions and Gath-Sako proceeding to test themselves against them.

Counter Attack
In early 735 the League would launch a mass scale fleet based counter attack, pushing the vaunted Latherian Navy back on many fronts. Within 2 months the rate of the breakthrough looked to be a disaster as the Latherian Center group fleet began to crumble in disarray.

With the near collapse of the central fleet, the reserve fleet, then commanded by the relatively unknown Admiral Heinrich Hemulain, was brought forward to plug the gaps. In a genius series of engagements Hemulain managed to utilize skills honed well fighting pirates in the fringe to hold the center and grind the Navine fleet to a halt.

By 736 the cadence of the war had changed.

The Wind Down
The war would continue for 2 more years but without any particular side taking a clear advantage. While many men fought and died with skill and valor it became clear to all that the continuation of the war would accomplish nothing but expenditure of everything. So the Navine took the initiative again and negotiated a cease-fire agreement bringing an end to the war in mid 738. The agreement would allow all participants some territorial gains and would establish a precedent to prevent patrolling fleets from opening fire on one another.