European Wars (Versus Tempus Futurum)

The "European Wars" were a series of military conflicts that took place on the European continent in the mid-21st century. Beginning in 2035 with the European market crash and ensuing depression, coupled with the draining of resources and subsequent withdrawal of soldiers from the various disastrous EU police actions in the Middle East, the European Union broke down into quarrelling nation-states entangled in a mess of alliances much like the First World War (1914 - 1918).

Their economies wracked by the demise of the Euro, many smaller nations went bankrupt, with the most famous cases being Belgium, which was partitioned by France, the Netherlands and Germany, with the latter also absorbing Luxembourg.

The European Wars are largely considered to be part of the larger "Oil Wars" which was a series of conflicts related to the Oil Crisis of the 2030's, 40's and 50's, which in turn was part of the much larger Second Cold War.

Background
The various EU police actions in the middle-east had led to dissent on the European home front. In the U.K. and France for instance, peaceful protests had culminated into violent riots in their capitals, which had to be put down by force. By 2030, England and Scotland had withdrawn from the E.U. entirely, focusing on domestic problems at home. The conflict in the middle east had the opposite intentional effect. EU soldiers marched in to stabilize the region (stabilize oil prices in particular) but that only destabilized the remaining functional states such as Syria. The final meeting of the European Union delegates took place on January 11, 2035, 3 weeks before the Euro crashed.

American Involvement
Following the dissolution of the EU, America had found itself with virtually no allies in Europe at all aside from Germany. In France, the United States provided support for a military junta to replace Dollard Menard, the arguably pro-Russian president of France. On February 19, French military fighter jets shot down the president's private jet and the military marched on Paris in order to quell the chaos that followed.

Early Hostilities
The new French and Italian governments had renewed pacts with Germany and the Netherlands. Germany wanted Austria to join it, however, the Austrian chancellor refused, and was determined to maintain its policy of armed neutrality. For Berlin, this was unacceptable, and the chancellor was assassinated under orders from Germany, and the Bundeswehr moved in. A short, bloody war took place and Austria was fully integrated into Germany, though a resistance movement was propped up by Russia.

On February 13, Belgium's government completely collapsed among financial ruin, and the violence that followed is now infamously known as the "Belgian Breakdown". France and the Netherlands agreed to partition Belgium along linguistic lines, however Germany demanded to be allowed to annex the German-speaking regions, even threatening war. France complied, and Wallonia was annexed by France, Flanders by the Netherlands and the German-speaking regions to Germany.