This is a comprehensive summary of all conflicts that took place in Strangreal in chronological
order.
This video will include both international and civil wars, diplomatic crises and even
terrorist acts - that being said, this video will be useful for both new and veteran Ace
Combat players.
Our journey starts in the 1400s, when the medieval state of Emmeria was under unrest
and the local lords were fighting for Emmeria’s fertile lands.
The divisiveness left Emmeria vulnerable and several foreign forces attempted to invade
the country.
King Aurelius II rose to prominence and was able to unite the Emmerian lords and successfully
defended Emmeria.
A consequence of these conflicts was a strengthened sense of union in Emmeria and the transition
from a monarchy to a republic.
We now jump to the continent of Osea at the dawn of the twentieth century.
At that period of time Osea was pursuing an expansionist policy against Belka which culminated
in the Osean War that went from 1905 to 1910.
It is unclear which side won the war or if there was even any change in territory, but
this was the first conflict that saw the airplane as a tool of war.
Belka was the first country to officially set up an air force and according to the Belkan
Air Power magazine Belka had an edge on aeronautical technology and production.
We now jump to the 1940s, according to the assault records of Ace Combat Zero there was
at least one war going and Belka was once again involved.
We don’t know the name of the conflict, how long it lasted or who else was involved
other than Belka.
If you recall from Ace Combat 5’s opening cutscene, it mentions that Belka had tried
to invade Osea ‘time and time again’ so it is quite possible that this was another
conflict between Belka and Osea, one which Belka apparently lost - however this all my
hypothesis based on the hints we have.
It’s now the 1970s, and guess who’s fighting again?
Of course it’s Belka, they are now fighting in the Rectan Conflict.
For some background, what today is the country of Recta used to be a Belkan territory back
when we had, what I like to call, Greater Belka.
In the 1970s the people of Recta came out with this crazy idea called democracy and
started to rebel against the Belkan government.
Belka dispatched its military to quell the riots but there was fierce resistance because
Recta had managed to set up its own forces: the Rectan Liberation Front and the Rectan
Air Force.
Their air force was small but highly skilled which created a stalemate between the two
forces.
But that didn’t hold up when Belka sent its elite squadrons which broke the Rectan
line and were instrumental in occupying Recta once more by the year of 1973.
Before moving forward, a quick note about what’s happening in the continent of Usea.
There was a revolution happening in the Grand Duchy of Shilage, despite being successful
the revolution was useless because Shilage was soon annexed by the Kingdom of Erusea,
the same happened with the Republic of Voslage.
The games don’t give details on when these events take place but judging by Mihaly’s
age I would guess sometime in the 70s or 80s.
Speaking of the 1980s, a new conflict is brewing up, this time it’s between the Osean Federation
and the Union of Yuktobanian Republics.
Strangereal had its own Cold War and arms race between the two largest nations complete
with hints of military alliances and the development of new weapon systems.
Though Project Aces didn’t explicitly mention official alliances, the states in the south
of the Usean Continent were very pro-Osea while the northern states were against foreign
influence, be it either Osean or Yuktobanian, and this generated the 1997 Usean Coup which
we will talk about briefly.
With all this world tension going on, military spending for pretty much all countries was
skyrocketing.
Osea began development of its maneuverable orbital spacecraft, later the Arkbird, while
Yuktobania focused on the Arsenal Ship project, later the Scinfaxi-class submarine.
Consequences of the Cold War were the creation of super weapons, well equipped militaries
and high levels of government spending.
The end of the Cold War is marked by the Belkan War as both Osea and Yuktobania fought on
the same side against Belka.
In 1985 we had a famous event called the Wellow Incident where some unidentified aircraft
entered Belkan airspace and were shot down by the Belkan Air Force.
Despite the name, there isn’t evidence connecting the country of Wellow to this incident, sometimes
translating stuff from Japanese is complicated.
In the next year, 1986, there was a border war between Yuktobania and its neighbour,
the Republic of Kaluga.
We don’t really know how long it lasted or the outcome, but we do know both Kaluga’s
and Yuktobania’s air force had extremely high casualties, all above 80%.
In 1987 a coup took place in the Republic of Romny, which is part of the Yuktobanian
Union.
The Kholm regime that briefly took power was suppressed by loyalist forces and reinforcements
sent in by Yuktobania.
As the 1980s come to an end let’s shift our attention to the northeast of the Osean
continent because there’s a lot of stuff happening over there.
As I mentioned before, one of the consequences of the Cold War was the high government spending.
Belka entered in recession in 1987 and several of its territories took advantage of the situation
to obtain independence peacefully.
While all this was happening there was an underlying conflict for influence and economic
power in the region between Osea and Belka.
The Aces at War book makes it clear that Osea was secretly funding Ustio’s secessionist
movement away from Belka so Osea could gain access to underground resources.
Moreover there’s the Great Lakes Resource Development Company controversy.
The outcomes were clear: an increase in Osean territory and influence in the region and
the political and economic destabilization of Belka.
This and other developments set the stage for the Belkan War in 1995.
To quickly recap Ace Combat Zero, Belka invaded: Osea, Sapin, Ustio, Gebet and possibly Recta.
Yuktobania later joined the war as part of the allied forces against Belka for reasons
unknown.
The war went from March 25 to June 20 of 1995.
For outcomes we have the end of the Cold War and the arms race with the slashing of military
budgets, strong co-operation between Osea and Yuktobania, a sense of world peace after
the war’s devastation, the refrain of using nuclear weapons, Belka’s loss of status
as a middle power and their isolation from the international community - except when
it comes to the development and export of weapons.
Still in 1995, and as a direct consequence of the Belkan War, we had the A World With
No Boundaries rebellion which is also covered in Ace Combat Zero.
A group of defectors from all sides that fought in the Belkan War formed this terrorist organization
and their goal was to abolish borders and bring world peace - by launching ICMBs with
nuclear warheads all over the world.
But they didn’t get that far as the allied forces quelled their rebellion.
The Belkan War created yet another terrorist organization known as the Falcons of Dawn.
They have carried out 7 attacks on Osean soil from 1995 to 2005 and membership includes
former members of the Belkan military.
As far as we know this terrorist group is still active.
And before we put an end to 1995 let’s remember the Skully Islands insurrection that took
place that year.
An armed militia took over the islands in a coup but were quickly defeated after the
Federation of Central Usea hired the Scarface Squadron to deal with the rebels.
These are the events of Air Combat, or Ace Combat 1.
Then from 1997 to 1998 we had the Usean Coup, or Usean Continental War.
Tensions in the continent had existed for several years, the nations in the north formed
an alliance while the southern nations preferred making a defensive pact with Osea.
The northern alliance protested and feared the loss of mining rights and an invasive
Osean presence in the continent.
On the day of the defense pact signing with Osea, a coup broke out on several nations
of Usea with the goal of uniting the continent and while being neither pro-northern alliance
nor pro-Osea.
The rebels almost conquered everything but Scarface was hired once more and quelled the
rebellion.
These are the events covered in Ace Combat 2 and its remake Ace Combat: Cross Rumble
(or Assault Horizon Legacy if you prefer).
A major event happened in 1999 that would become the catalyst for several future wars
in Strangereal.
I am taking of course about the fall of the Ulysses 1994XF04 asteroid and the devastation
that followed.
In order not to make this video extremely long, I will be covering the Strangereal wars
of the 21st century in part two.
I hope you have enjoyed this video and I’m looking forward to the discussion and feedback
in the comments.
Thank you for watching and see you next time.