View source for Armistice of Van Diemen IV

Signed in [[2905]], the '''Armistice of Van Diemen IV''' was a ceasefire agreement between the [[Capellan Confederation]] and [[Federated Suns]], notable for instituting an ban on attacks against any [[JumpShip]]s which was unofficially accepted by all the [[Successor States]].

==Overview==
Succeeding his [[Dainmar Liao|dismal father]] as [[Chancellor]] as the [[Third Succession War]] erupted, [[Otto Liao]] recognized that the continuing war required needed new thinking. Realizing the folly of offensive operations due to the depleted and weakened state of the CCAF, Otto instituted a number of policies that broke with expected conventions, including hiring as many [[mercenaries]] as the Capellan treasury could afford and his infamous policy of [[Elastic Defense]]. Otto's unconventional thinking was typified best in his unexpected response to particularly wasteful aerospace battle for the Liao mining colony of [[Van Diemen IV]] in [[2903]], sending a delegation to [[New Avalon]] proposing an armistice between the Confederation and the Federated Suns.<ref name=HLTCC-48>''House Liao (The Capellan Confederation'', pp. 48–49: "History - Third Succession War"</ref><ref name=HDTFS-83>''House Davion (The Federated Suns)'', pp. 83–84: "History - Third Succession War - Prince Joseph the Second"</ref><ref name=HHL-32>''Handbook: House Liao'', pp. 32–33: "History of the Nation - Third Succession War - Elastic Defense"</ref><ref name=HHL-41>''Handbook: House Liao'', pp. 32–33: "History of the Nation - Third Succession War - Timeline: Second and Third Succession Wars"</ref><ref name=HHD-64>''Handbook: House Davion'', p. 61: "History of the Federated Suns - Third Succession War - Rise of the Brotherhoods - Armistice - Back to Battle"</ref>

Otto's counterpart [[First Prince]] [[Joseph Davion II|Joseph Davion]] couldn't have been made from a more different mold. Aggressive and militant, Joseph was almost entirely focused on the war, personally visiting and overseeing the troops on various fronts for months at a time, crippling the realm with his steadfast refusal to delegate his authority with regards the more mundane aspects of government. At that time commanding the offensive on [[Draconis Combine]] front, Joseph dismissed the Chancellor's proposition outright, until the AFFS High Command swayed his opinion not with the benefits of a ceasefire for [[Capellan March]] but by pointing out that the halt to combat on the Capellan front would free up the entire AFFS to fight House Kurita.<ref name=HDTFS-83/><ref name=HHL-32/><ref name=HHL-41/><ref name=HHD-64/>

Grudgingly accepting on this basis, Joseph left the ceasefire negotiations to other, envoys on both sides crafting the treaty that ended combat along the Capellan/Suns border, but also formalized many of the military conventions developed as the Third Succession War threatened vital resources, none more so than the technology of the [[Kearny-Fuchida Drive]]. With the destruction of [[First Succession War|First]] and [[Second Succession War]]s crippling the knowledge and facilities required to build vessels, both sides recognized that JumpShips and the shipyards capable of building them were too valuable for anybody to lose, instituting a formal ban against attacking them under any circumstances. In short order the other Successor States, followed initially by House Marik, would also adopt this ban, if only unofficially.<ref name=HLTCC-48/><ref name=HDTFS-83/><ref name=HHL-32/><ref name=HHL-41/><ref name=HHD-64/>

The Armistice would last for an almost unheard of twenty-five years until it was intentionally broken by Joseph's equally militant son [[Peter Davion (30th c.)|Peter]]. As commander of the Capellan front, Peter was increasingly frustrated and restless at the relative peace, the temptation to strike as Otto's son [[Merlin Liao|Merlin]] wound back his father's policy of Elastic Defense and reorganized the border defenses leading Peter to press his father. Joseph finally gave approval to break the armistice in [[2930]] with Peter launching [[Operation Roland’s Horn]] that same year.<ref name=HDTFS-83/><ref name=HDTFS-85>''House Davion (The Federated Suns)'', p. 85: "History - Third Succession War - The Armistice Ends"</ref><ref name=HHL-32/><ref name=HHL-41/><ref name=HHD-64/>

Despite House Davion's willingness to break the Armistice, the ban against JumpShips would remain intact until the [[Fourth Succession War]] when the recovery of [[LosTech]] and the [[Helm Memory Core]] finally began to halt the slide in JumpShip production.

==References==
<references/>

==Bibliography==
* ''[[Handbook: House Davion]]''
* ''[[Handbook: House Liao]]''
* ''[[House Davion (The Federated Suns)]]''
* ''[[House Liao (The Capellan Confederation)]]''


[[Category:Documents]]