The Great War - Goonswarm vs Band of Brothers

Way back in December 2007 I started a thread on the Total PC Gaming Forums about EVE's 'Great War' between Band of Brothers (BoB) (and friends) and Goonswarm (and friends), which had already been raging for over a year by that stage.

I have since updated the thread on a relatively frequent basis as the war has progressed and as such it is a relatively accurate and objective 'history' of the Great War written from a 'neutral' perspective.

It will have some inaccuracies and distortions as I did have to rely on third party forums for much of the material and deliberate misinformation for strategic and propoganda purposes is as much part of EVE warfare as it is in the real world. Nevertheless it is possible to sift much of this and while some details may be slightly off it should provide a reasonably solid 'big picture' overview of the conflict and its roots.

One area which is not covered well in the thread is BoB's 'MAX Damage' Campaign against the Northern Coalition after the initial 'failed' assault on Delve. This coincided with a period of relative EVE inactivity on my part.

As the MAX campaign is generally perceived to have failed its impact in the grand scheme was relatively limited, apart from the fact that it helped unite the Northern Alliances and gave them a new determination to assist Goons in seeking BoB's destruction.

Similarly, the pact between BoB and Against All Authorities (-A-) in late 2008 is not mentioned, nor the fact that until Goons 'disbandment' coup (as written about by the BBC here) BoB, and allies had been pushing Goons remorselessly backward with Goon activity and participation tailing off.

With KenZoku (the BoB successor) now pretty much eliminated from any sovereignty responsibilities in 0.0 many people are claiming that the 'Great War' is over. Certainly the picture is very bleak for them. But with over 3,500 veteran pilots on its roster I believe talk of the Great War's conclusion may be slightly premature - particularly as -A- and other BoB allies still maintain significant 0.0 holdings (much of which were taken off the Goons or Goon allies).

Will the Empire strike back?