Ishval Civil War

The Ishval Civil War was a major event in the Fullmetal Alchemist series and set the stage for many of the significant occurrences throughout the plot in the manga, video games, light novels and both anime series.

The people of Ishval had clashed several times with the central government of greater Amestris in the past and had been annexed to a region in the southeast of the nation, near the Eastern Desert. Though religious and cultural tensions continued between Ishvalans and Amestrians, a relative peace had been achieved between the two until 1901, when an Amestrian soldier accidentally shot and killed an Ishvalan child. The area exploded in a storm of riots and protests until the situation had become an all out civil war, causing massive casualties on both sides. Though the Amestrian Military had the Ishvalans outnumbered by far, the people of Ishval were able to keep the conflict going due to a steady supply of munitions from the neighboring country of Aerugo, which pretended to sympathize with them as an excuse to weaken Amestris' southern border for their own gains.

The fighting continued to spread until the entire East Area of Amestris had become a war zone. In 1908, a full seven years after the conflict had begun, Amestrian Fuhrer King Bradley issued Decree, sending State Alchemists in to the front lines to act as human weapons.