First Great War (Sunalaya)

First Great War
From left to right: Ventismarian battlefield (top), Talvistovan soldiers, Englean Imperial Army Sturmpanzer V7A, Taoist Imperial Navy battleship, Rhodeve naval vessels.
Date 11th October 1915–22th October 1919 (4 years, 11 days) Location Sunalaya Result Tensions leading to the Second Great War Establishment of the Taufor Republic
Belligerents
Allied Powers: Rezua Rhodevus	Central Powers: Taoist Empire Englean Empire Taufor Republic (1918) Talvistova
Commanders and leaders
	Shingo Shōhei Wilhelm III Ferdinand Pfitzner

The First Great War, also referred to as World War I (often abbreviated to WW1 or WWI), was a global military conflict on Sunalaya. It was the second deadliest conflict in the history or Sunalaya and originated via a smaller conflict on the continent of Ophion. An estminated 19 million died as a result of the War, nearly 11 million of which were civillians.

The initial conflict began when Rhodeve Prince Daniel Pentagrom and his transport ship were taken into custody during a layover in the city of Ein, within the Empire of the Tao. Being held for suspision of smuggling for over two weeks, it was questioned if the Taoist government was holding the ship and its occupants for direct legal reasons.

After firm demands to release the ship, its crew, and the Prince, Taoist Emperor Shingo Shōhei responded by demanding that Rhodevus regain a grip on its anti smuggling, illegal trade, and piracy operations in Ophion, as Rhodeve Smugglers were beggining to cause considerable amounts of damage to the Tao's newfound thriving economy and industry. As Rhodeve smugglers were trading in serious drugs as well as goods coming from national animals, the Tao began to develop a drug epidemic, and found its supply of longtime national symbols to be quickly dwindling. Unclassified documents from the Tao at the time have revealed that the ship was indeed only under custody to use as leverage to influence the Rhodeve government to adress the smuggling issue. Despite this, Rhodevus felt it did not have the economic or military resources to pursue any serious inter-continental military operations; and responded by declaring that if the Prince and all it's crew were released within a reasonable manner and unharmed, that the Tao would be commiting an act of war.

Approximately 48 hours after the message was recieved by the Rhodeve Embassy in Ein, the ship, and all of its occupants were still under custody. At approximatately 2:00am, Taoist Time, on October 11th, 1915, the Prince's security detail made of Rhodeve amphibious special forces, fired upon Taoist military personell guarding the vessel. The resulting skirmish, now named The battle of Sunalaya is known as the first battle of World War I, and during the Taoists' attempt to regain control of the vessel and it's occupants, the Rhodeve Prince, son of King Julius and third in line for the throne, was killed in the crossfire. It is unkown to modern historians which side ultimately fired the shot, but it is currently believed to have been accidental. It is unkown whether or not the Rhodeve government officially initiated the conflict, or if it was a rogue action.

Only eight hours after the death of his son, King Julius offcially sent a declaration of war to the Taoist Embassy in Kingstown.

Naming

In the very early stages of the war, it was commonly called the "Second Tao-Rhodeve war", however this term quickly became antiquated as powers from all over the globe began to get involved, namely Rezua and the Englean Empire.