Mars Crisis

The Mars Crisis was a massive conflict that erupted around Mars when the Brotherhood of Free Mars made its initial appearance. It is the largest and most violent skirmish between the UN and Federation thus far, and resulted in a brief, undeclared war called the First Solar War. Due to questionable military decisions and a fleet that was outclassed by the Federation, the UN was forced to make several concessions to the Federation in the Odessa Accords. Despite this defeat, the crisis was valuable for the UN as it allowed them to observe Federation fleet strategies and learn more about their designs. This outcome led to much tighter coordination between UNEC members.

Background

The Federation was the first power to land a human on Mars[1]. UN geosurveys revealed the presence of Belnar ruins on Mars' surface[2], which, along with the expected competitiveness between the superpowers, propelled the UN to be the first colonizer[3] of the planet.

The triple threat of the UN colonizing Mars, extracting its valuable TNE deposits, and exploiting the only known extraterrestrial ruins put the Federation in a strategically precarious position. Both sides recognized the likelihood of war erupting as a result of the need to either gain or maintain access to Mars' riches. To this end, the Treaty of Mars was signed[4]. As it turned out, Mars was sufficiently important to the Federation that they abandoned their Lunar colony to focus resources on their Martian colony growth[5].