Years 1981-1990: Tensions in Remnant

The year 1981 started off in Vacuo with a milestone. Said milestone was that Vacuo's GDP had finally surpassed its pre-Great War peak. This was accomplished by large military spending, massive public works, and massive stimulus packages. Additionally, the first of Vacuo's aircraft carriers was commissioned. By this point, 3 new battleships had already been commissioned as well. Once again, the world did absolutely nothing, not wanting to wage a destructive war.

In 1983, the statistics for Vacuo were:

121 million human residents

16 million faunus residents

4 million enlisted military personnel

7,154 military aircraft from all 5 branches of the military (Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, Hunting Corps)

384 ships and submarines

While this was impressive, Gris wanted more. He wrote in his journal in 1983, "Our numbers are not good enough. We need at least 10,000 aircraft and 600 ships if we are to ever dominate Remnant. I will not go to war with the other kingdoms until I am ready."

In August of 1983, citizens in the Republic of Dragonica, a state located on the southern part the continent of Lindwurm, north of Vytal and west of Atlas, began debating on whether or not to join Vacuo. After all, they all spoke Vacuouan and they shared many customs. There had been movements to join Vacuo in the past, but now, Vacuo's government actively supported it.

On September 6, 1983, a referendum was scheduled in Dragonica, asking the citizens on whether or not they wanted to join Vacuo or remain independent. Gris decided to take action and deployed the Vacuouan military into Dragonica the day before the referendum was to be held. On September 12, Dragonica was declared to be a part of Vacuo, adding 30 million more residents, including 500,000 more faunus.

The mood in Vacuo after this was very upbeat. Many citizens now openly expressed support for Gris Manchette and his government, thinking that with him, anything would be possible for Vacuo. The annual rallies the Authoritarianist Party held in Port Vacuo drew rapidly growing crowds all expressing admiration and adoration of Manchette.

That would all change in 1986.

For years, a resistance movement had been building in the Menagerie area, funded and supported by many faunus organisation from outside Vacuo. They had stockpiled and even made weapons that would one day be used in a massive rebellion against Gris Manchette and his mistreatment of faunus.

Meanwhile, Manchette began to theorise that the only solution to the problem of faunus was to simply get rid of them. Not by exiling them, but killing them. Already, he had imprisoned, experimented on, and worked to death many faunus who were imprisoned for crimes and political opposition, as well as collectivists, religious fanatics, pro-democracy activists, pro-monarchy activists, homosexuals, transsexuals, the mentally and physically retarded, and anyone else who didn't fit in with his idea of a true Vacuouan, and even then, if you spoke up at all against this, you'd be killed.

In 1985 and 1986, he built 5 camps in Menagerie that would hold slave labourers, primarily faunus. He then issued Order 98, which ordered the killing of all transsexual, homosexual, and mentally and physically retarded faunus, as well as the forced institutionalisation and sterilisation of all humans who also fell into those categories.

This proved to be the final straw for the faunus rebel groups. On April 19, 1986, just 7 days after Order 98 was issued, shooting broke out in the main city of the Menagerie, Semzona, when 200 rebels attacked and took over a military guard post in the city. Fighting soon broke out in the other cities in the area, such as Maunin, Houinnet, Surson, and Nalone. By the end of April, the Menagerie territory was a warzone.

Manchette ordered an immediate response. He committed 1,500,000 troops to dealing with the rebellion and ordered the military to increase in size to 10 million. Even so, because of the guerilla warfare tactics of the rebels, it would prove defeating them a difficult task.

In August, Manchette appointed Henri Lagune as the General of the Armies of Vacuo, and tasked him with crushing the rebellion. He also began drafting up plans for what would eventually become the Menagerie Extermination Campaign.

In 1988, the rebellion had lasted for 2 years. The MEC was in full swing. By now, at least 105,000 Vacuouan soldiers and over 2 million faunus had died. The rebels were being badly beaten on the field of battle, but were also inflicting heavy casualties to Vacuo. They decided they needed to make appeals to the international community for support. They coordinated campaigns with civil rights groups in Vale to gather donations in the form of both money and weapons, though the latter had to be done clandestinely. To improve their image abroad, the commanders of the rebellion began issuing leaflets to the rebels instructing them about the international laws of war, and warned that those who mistreated humans or POWs would be punished.

Meanwhile, on Lindwurm, an Authoritarianist-inspired political party in the small Republic of Hachure had taken over the government in 1986. They immediately promised to assist Vacuo in crushing the rebellion, rapidly building up their military and committing 50,000 of their 850,000-strong military to the war. Manchette congratulated them and replied by sending billions of dollars worth of economic and military aid. Hachure, at the time, had a population of 18 million.

Then in 1988, Hachure went to war with the neighbouring People's Republic of Stadia, a small collectivist-run nation with a population of 10 million, including 600,000 faunus, and a military of 350,000. It was previously a kingdom before a collectivist rebellion killed the royal family in 1949. Vacuo immediately dispatched 150,000 soldiers to help Hachure conquer Stadia. By January 16, 1989, Stadia had ceased to exist.

The rest of the world condemned Hachure and Vacuo for the war, and an angry Vale cut off all diplomatic ties to both countries. Manchette said of the matter, "The rest of the world is simply fooled by the collectivist-faunus conspiracy to believe that we are doing a bad thing. In fact, we are doing a good thing, because we are ridding the world of undesirable people, such as homosexuals and transsexuals, among other subhuman groups."

In June of 1989, a battle began at Fort Castle, a small city in Menagerie. What started as a small skirmish soon turned into one of the largest battles of the war pre-1990.

A force of 75,000 Vacuouan and 10,000 Hachurian soldiers faced off against 60,000 Faunus Liberation Army soldiers and over 45,000 armed civilians. The turning point came 12 days into the battle when, on June 26, General Lagune, who had decided to visit the battlefield due to its growing importance, ordered a night-time full-frontal assault on the lines in the southern part of the city.

However, several spotters, due to faunus night vision, spotted a large mass of soldiers approaching from the south and immediately alerted the soldiers and residents of the city. This assault sparked a massive firefight that concluded on June 29, driving Vacuouan forces back.

On July 7, 65,000 faunus reinforcements arrived. On July 10, the FLA launched an assault during the night time, surprising Vacuouan and Hachurian forces. On July 15, General Lagune was found in a tent by rebels and immediately surrendered. The next day, the remaining 42,000 Vacuouan and 2,000 Hachurian soldiers in the area were ordered to surrender.

The Battle of Fort Castle marked a turning point. Manchette angrily fired Lagune from his position and appointed Paul Clement as his replacement. The morale of anti-faunus forces began to drop.

However, new problems would soon turn the focus away from Menagerie.