By Jim Zub March 20, 2012
(an excerpt from Animal Armies: History and Cook Book)
Tensions had been running high between the Allied herbi-omnivores of Euromal (primarily the United Quackdom, Furance and Rushya) and the carnivore-lead countries of the Axes powers (Grrrmany, Hungry and Eataly) for many years prior to the war’s outbreak, but in the summer of ‘14 it truly spun out of control.
Extensive negotiations on eating meat versus agricultural solutions had started and stopped several times in late ‘13 and early ‘14. The Ally countries banded together to keep from being consumed by meat eaters and the Axes claimed they were only following their nature. Finding common ground looked increasingly unlikely. It was, quite literally, nature versus nurture.
By the spring of ‘14, a secret group of herbivores calling themselves the “Vege-Ultimatum” had arisen. They began spreading rumors through newspapers and telegrams that they would strike first and strike deep against the “meat eating tyrants”. The Allies denounced this radical group and their loud boasts, but the Axes’ diplo-cats were thoroughly skeptical. As far as the Axes were concerned the Vege-Ultimatum were just saying publically what was clearly being talked about in closed Ally warrens. The Axes pulled away from all negotiations by mid-April and began ramping up vehicle and weapon production for war. A few attempts were made to bring both sides back to the table, but they ended in dismal failure.
In June of ‘14 things went past the point of no return. While inspecting an Axes production site Franz Furdinand, the Axes’ Archduke, was snuffed out by a small Vege-Ultimatum strike team. The leader of the group, a violent troublemaking duck named Guano Confit, was captured and interrogated. He insisted that he was a secret agent for the Quackdom. Although no proof of this could be found and the UQ loudly denied his claims of allegiance, the Axes weren’t convinced. All hope of bringing the two groups back to the negotiation table fell apart. Within week each country would formally declare war and back their particular meat eating or non-meat eating side.
The theatre of war would begin in July and slowly overwhelm Euromal along with almost every connected country in the eastern hemisphere. Furance and Grrmany became one of the earliest and most conflicted battle grounds, with neutral Belljam caught in the middle. It would be the first time that traditional tooth and claw battles of the animal kingdom would be replaced by technology. Infantry, navy and air force took to the ground, sea and air in mechanized animal vs animal combat.
