The decade-long civil war which began in 2406 was one of the bloodiest and ideologically-charged in Terran history. The instability was not the fault of two competing sides, but many separate factions which came and went during this turbulent period. Some 1.4 million are thought to have died as a result of the chaos and carnage, and the infrastructure of the nation was greatly damaged. To understand the complex forces at work, a background of the war is necessary: