Operation Nuclear Winter

=Operation Nuclear Winter= Operation Nuclear Winter was a conflict between a rogue, burke, and the Byzantine Empire. The war was the longest conflict the Byzantine Empire had ever been in and it took the resources of six Byzantine nations pounding all day to bring burke to the Zero Infrastructure Club. The conflict began May 14th, with burke attacking three ranking members of the Byzantine Empire. The first nuclear weapons were used by burke on the 15th, just as the Belgian Commonwealth attacked burke. On the 16th, 5land joined the war against burke after the second round of nuclear strikes. This war was notable in Byzantine history because it was the first time the Empire had been attacked by nuclear weapons. On May 19th that last of burke's infrastructure was destoryed by cruise missile attacks from the PRCE who had joined the fray on the 17th. On May 20th, the last of burke's soliders had been killed, though small resistance pockets sprung up until the end of the war.

Background
Burke joined the Byzantine Empire and seemed to be a promising member. Jenne automatically had a bad feeling about the new member, who started off by giving instructions on 'proper' tech raiding. His thread was closed down by Klaus von Ausburg and he remained respectful of this wish. Later he helped create the Imperial Bank of the Byzantine Empire, and helped to finialize an aid programme for the Empire. Even so, Jenne remained unconvinced and Klaus stood on the line between trusting him and despising him. Eventually elections rolled around and burke ran for Megas Primus. When voting started, the Empire saw a spike in membership. Many members celebrated an end to the duldrums of membership decline and were happy that something was changing. That election saw unusually high numbers of people voting, and the election was close. Eventually Acromega of Utopistan beat burke, and burke resigned from his postion at the bank the next day. This amediatally set off alarm bells for Jenne and mr.whaley, who expressed their concern. Eventually, it was noted that all of the 'new members' had the same IP adress, and that they had all voted for burke. Conrad von Himmler PMed the nations in question whether they had even joined the Byzantine Empire, they all said no, and a few said they had never even heard of the Empire. At this point, Klaus von Ausburg posted a demand that burke return from Hiatus to accept the charges set against him. Burke claimed to be innocent, but later that night attacked three members of the Byzantine Inner Consul. As a result, all of his duplicates were banned and burke was über-banned from the Byzantine Empire.

Byzantium's Reaction
The Byzantine Empire promptly reformed the Imperial Bank, and Jenne took control of the Bank until a new leader could be found. Many members began to gather in support for the attacked and began to create aid packages for the troops over seas. Other members began to join a growing list of people who wanted to attack burke once he got into their range. Members like Conrad and fastjohnl were within range quickly and attacked burke to lessen the impact ont he other three members.

Utter Destruction
Jenne and mr.whaley, enfuriated with the attacks, declared that the Byzantine Empire would grind burke into dust. It was obvious from the start that this would be a long war with a lot of death and destruction. The number of nuclear weapons used was rather high for both sides, and burke's nation began to crumble and an alarming rate. On May 14th he had over 26,000 strength, by May 20 he was just over 5,600. The war was eventually joined by the Volksarmee of the PRCE, who joined too late to fight in any of the major battles, but kept burke's forces down at zero, and began looting and pillaging the remains of the once-proud nation. The last bits of infrastructure had bee either sold by burke to help pay his bills or destroyed by the Volksarmee. The entire nation was left in ruin, and his government was mocked by the triumphant Byzantine Armies who marched down once proud avenues and flew the Byzantine flag over any building that remained in tact.

Outcome
The Rebulik of Burke was sieged until its cities were dust and mortar. Eventually the Byzantine armies had little more to pillage. There was no mercy from the Byzantine Armies, who were happy to see burke being punished. By May 25th, the last of the Byzantine Empire's original attacks had expired, and the Byzantine Empire declared total victory. On May 24th, Baselios mr.whaley opened tech raiding of burke's ruined remains of a country to smaller members. Even so, the war was considered over, and the Byzantine Empire moved forward.

über-Banned
Burke has been über-Banned from the Byzantine Forums for being über-naughty. This is a permanent effect, as the Byzantine Empire doesn't want him back and suggests that other alliances do the same.