First Tiberium War

The First Tiberium War was the global conflict waged between the United Nations Global Defense Initiative (GDI) and the Brotherhood of Nod. The war began in 1999 and ended in a GDI victory three years later. The advent of Tiberium harvesting technology and the subsequent rise of Nod as a global political and economic superpower, as well as the formation of GDI, were the primary catalysts of the conflict. Tiberium granted these two organizations the ability to rapidly acquire a huge amount of wealth, allowing them to quickly expand their forces.

Kane's goal was to conquer the world in order to reshape it, as well as the complete destruction of GDI, which was an impediment to this goal. Or at the very least, place Nod onto a much larger world scale for preparations for the future. Kane believed that to do this, Nod would have to manipulate mass media and public opinion, both through propaganda and hacks (e.g. Netwarriors who were eventually used to hack into the GDI networks and by turning the GDI ion cannon against civilians while framing GDI) they believed they could make GDI lose their financial backing and smear their reputation, thus allowing them to be eliminated more easily, leaving Nod the sole global superpower.

GDI was a force used by the United Nations to uphold and enforce their New World Order. Existing as far back as the 1950s, they were at first a covert black op organization, forced to go public after a failed assassination attempt on Saddam Hussein. Their primary objectives were controlling and harvesting the world's tiberium supplies and destroying the Brotherhood.

Background
Before the war begun, Nod was already an economic power. With their intricate knowledge of Tiberium, they gained most of the world's Tiberium assets: 49 percent of the world's supply, leading GDI in control of only about a quarter of the Tiberium the world had to offer. This was in part due to superior Tiberium harvesting technology being developed by Nod. With this much Tiberium derived wealth at his disposal, Kane, leader of the Brotherhood, made a crucial decision.

His organization would openly engage GDI on political, media and military fronts. Although the Brotherhood had been extremely successful in utilizing such tactics before, the scale of this venture was unlike any operation before. Nod begun to seize territory and build up its military. After a series of high profile urban bombings (including the Grain Trade Center in Vienna, which was the 17th target), Nod supporters begun regular military operations in Niger and Gabon in Africa and the nations of Eastern Europe west of Russia with only a few exceptions such as Ukraine.

Following the terrorist attacks in Slovenia, the United Nations Security Committee entered a close session and gave permission to GDI to engage Nod openly.

Nod Campaign for Africa
Nod's actions were becoming increasingly hostile and their anti-west rhetoric earned them many followers, especially among the impoverished populace in Africa. Their supporters intially gained control of Niger and Gabon moving swiftly into Libya and in order to secure their influence and prevent fragmentation of their territory, the Brotherhood removed some local warlords, chieftains and local leaders with real or suspected GDI sympathies, including Nikoomba, a petty Libyan tribal leader.

This allowed them to consolidate their power and estabilish forward attack posts in Egypt, which helped them take the country from GDI.

With Egypt taken, Nod attacked Sudanese GDI prisons, liberating Nod prisoners who then helped them to gain control over neutral Sudan as some of them presumably were local leaders with some influence there.

Having secured Sudan Nod began aiding Nod supporters against the GDI in Chad (during the Mao civil war) while making an example of certain GDI friendly villages (Oum Hadjer). In this manner Nod gained control over neutral Chad.

At this point Seth personal commander led an assault through neutral Algeria aiming to outmanuevre the GDI before they could complete their own invasion of neutral Kenya and move into Niger, part of the core of Nod's African domain. Aided by a rising Nod commander's attack through Mali on GDI Mauritania, home to many GDI airbases in the region this manuevre was massively successful and Nod gained control of nearly all of Western Africa rapidly.

The GDI had installed nuclear devices in Nigeria, Benin and the Ivory Coast in order to 'influence' local leaders and ensure their loyalty to GDI, so Nod forces launched daring raids on Nigerian, Beninese and Ivorian GDI bases in order to aquire their detonators. With these nukes thus rendered useless to GDI, Nod forces were able to secure those leaders aid in order to gain control over the three countries. It can be surmised that from the elaborate nature by which the nukes were installed beforehand with detonators rather than simply being dropped from planes as required the GDI intended to be able to frame 'Nod terrorists' should they have decided to use any of them.

Nod forces would then proceed into neutral Central Africa and they raided a GDI base there to steal an advanced Orca helicopter and attack a nearby village. Because the helicopter was based at a GDI base they were able to easily frame the GDI for the attack, turning Central Africa against the GDI and into the arms of Nod. They would also attack some villages in GDI occupied Gabon and Camaroon because these villages were overly close to rich Tiberium deposits they had claimed and Kane believed the would spread Tiberium related illnesses to the extraction workers if they were allowed to remain. Having eradicated these villages Nod was able to safely extract enough Tiberium to drive out the GDI from Gabon and Camaroon and restore Nod rule there.

At this point, Nod commander Seth was personally executed by Kane for high treason. He tried to dispatch numerous troops to the USA on a suicide mission to attack and destroy the Pentagon in hopes of eliminating the subordinate commander he placed in charge of them. However, his plans were found out by Kane, Seth was executed and the troops recalled. Kane also took command of Seth's forces, including over that commander. Afterwards a poorly equipped force of Nod proceeded into neutral Zaire which was at the time being invaded by GDI forces and by making use of two abandoned GDI outposts there they were able to use captured GDI weaponry and equipment to destroy the invading GDI forces and secure control of that nation for Nod.

GDI naval power however took it's toll on Nod forces. Sending fleets of armoured gunboats up the Nile and destroying Egyptian Nod bases they were able to regain control of Egypt. At two points along the Nile Nod forces moved in from Sudan and Libya aiming to rebuild their bases and regain control of the Nile and thus Egypt. While they were successful in this endeavor, large segmants of the Egyptian population had come out in support of the new regime installed by the returning GDI forces. According to orders Nod forces were to show no mercy to those elements of the Egyptian population and Nod forces were to massacre them in a great bloodbath.

GDI Campaign for Europe
Initially most of continental western Europe, with the exception of Switzerland, Denmark and possibly Spain and Portugal declared in favour of the GDI. GDI began their European campaign with an amphibious assault on Nod Estonia.

Having gained a beachhead in Estonia, Nod forces would then launch an extensive assault on Nod forces in Estonia, driving Nod forces from the country and securing it for GDI.

GDI forces would proceed to destroy Nod SAM sites in Latvia, freeing GDI air power to be deployed against the Nod forces in the region. They were thus able to secure Latvia and Lithuania for the GDI. The commander of the GDI forces James Solomon however had to make a crucial decision, whether to move his the bulk of his forces through Nod Belarus in order to eventually aid Ukraine against the Nod assault or whether to move them into Nod Poland instead in order to help defeat the Nod onslaught on Germany.

GDI Campaign for Europe: Had Solomon invaded Belarus
Moving into Nod Belarus they retrieved stolen GDI property from a Nod base there. At the same time two smaller forces moved into Poland, retrieving more stolen GDI property from another base and more importantly siezing control of the town of Bailystok in Poland and defending it against a Nod counterattack.

With control over Belarus secured they moved to reinforce neutral Ukraine which was under Nod attack. Reinforcing their forces there they were able to enlist Ukraine in the GDI and their counter-attack drove Nod forces from Ukraine. Launching a commando raid on a key Nod airbase, GDI forces were then able to advance into the Czech Republic and drive Nod forces from that nation.

However, things took a turn for the worse for GDI, when reports created by a Nod and spread by the WWN reporter Greg Burdette convinced the United Nations that GDI had massacred the population of the Polish town of Bailystok on suspicion of them being 'Tiberium Smugglers.' The UN immediately began an investigation and cut GDI's funding, but even so, a GDI commander managed to stop a Nod counterattack on a poorly defended outpost in Nod Austria and destroy the Nod base supplying the attacks. At the same time another GDI commander defended Professor Mobius in Slovakia against a Nod onslaught. Dr Mobius had arrived with the invading GDI forces in Slovakia and established a hospital there to aid victims of Tiberium poisoning among the local population in a bid to win their support for GDI and had naturally become a key target for Nod forces. When news of Mobius's hospital spread, the Slovakian people abandoned Nod and GDI was able to secure the area.

Having secured Slovakia and Hungary GDI forces decided to make use of their naval supremacy over Nod to send relatively small, armoured and heavily armed gunboats up the rivers Danube and Tisza hoping to destroy strategic Nod bases there. In preparation for this ground forces had destroyed Nod defensive turrets along the river, but Kane had already preempted GDI's move. Nod workers had installed an Obelisk of Light, the Brotherhood's deadly new weapon along the river. As soon as the gunboats arrived near the base they were swiftly obliterated by the terrible power of these weapons. GDI was forced to change their plan and use their ground forces instead to launch assaults on the bases. While the cost was higher than it would have been had the original plan worked, GDI forces were able to sieze the bases at both locations despite the awesome power of Nod's obelisks of light. With both rivers under GDI control, GDI forces were able to drive Nod forces out of Hungary and secure it for GDI.

It was at this point that the Białystok scandal finally came to an end and UN funding to the GDI was restored. While it could be argued that the funding cut wasn't that devastating to an organisation at that point largely funded by Tiberium and was more of a political and ideological blow, it did allow them to purchase a number of the new Orca attack helicopters for their European Campaign. With the aid of these helicopters they were able to successfully advance into Nod Romania and Slovakia and drive Nod forces out of these countries.

Aftermath
As GDI succeeded in Europe, Captain Nick Parker took part in a battle in Mexico to rid prisoners and civilians of Nod indoctrination, one of the few, if not the only, battles that took place outside Africa and Europe. Commanding GDI forces in the area were Captain Duncan (army forces), Captain Soanso (Naval forces), and General Adam Locke. The operation was a decisive success despite early GDI losses and may have kept the war from spreading into Central America.

The First Tiberium War had the effect of catapulting Nod and GDI to the world stage. It also forced countries worldwide to unite either under GDI or Nod's banners. However, its most lasting consequence was that it established how important Tiberium was, since none of the spectacular successes gained by either Nod or GDI would have been possible without this resource.

Furthermore, a large portion of Africa and Europe were devastated by the war, and there were massive casualties on both sides as well as among the civilian population, both due to the war as well as massive tiberium poisoning due to disrupted tiberium harvesting.

In the long run, the war set the stage for the developed world coalescing under GDI control, while the Nod splinter factions began a brutal war for control of the organization. It was not until almost thirty years later; when the toxic spread of Tiberium had begun to truly devastate the world, destroyed major countries and Nod was reunified, that the Second Tiberium War began.

Maps
Maps the First Tiberium War

Major Events

 * Attack on Mauritania
 * Mao civil war
 * Sudanese prison break
 * Delphi's rescue operation
 * Bialystok scandal
 * Battle for Sarajevo the final battle which ended the war.