"Our nation is enjoying an unprecedented time of peace and wealth.

Our people are happy, and we're

so fortunate in so many ways. [...] we should share this prosperity with the rest of the world. In our
hands is the most successful empire in history. It's time we expanded it."

— Fire Lord Sozin to Avatar Roku about his plan that would lead to the start of the Hundred Year War.[1]

"Sozin's Comet, Part 4: Avatar Aang"

The Hundred Year War, also known as the War or the Great War, was a major global military conflict
that began with the Air Nomad Genocide and lasted for a century. The conflict raged between the Fire
Nation and the other three nations: the Earth Kingdom, the Water Tribes, and the Air Nomads. However,
over the course of the escalating conflict, several smaller factions became involved in the fighting as
well. The war was initiated by Fire Lord Sozin, who wished to expand the Fire Nation into a worldwide
empire and spread what he saw as his nation's prosperity to the rest of the world.[1]

Taking advantage of the absence of the Avatar and using their economical, technological, and military
superiority for most of the war, the Fire Nation was able to wreak worldwide destruction and
widespread loss of life in the other nations. The war began in 0 AG with the infamous genocide of the Air
Nomads, whose air temples were falsely presumed to be unassailable to the Fire Nation due to the Air
Nomads possessing the sole means of getting to them.[4] Following the destruction of the Air Nomads,
the Fire Nation launched a massive coordinated invasion on the western Earth Kingdom. For the next
one hundred years, the Fire Nation slowly advanced into the Earth Kingdom and established several
colonies on the mainland. The Fire Nation also initiated raids on the Northern and Southern Water
Tribes, which devastated the South, while the North managed to remain relatively untouched for almost
a century. By 99 AG, the Fire Nation had effectively eradicated the Air Nomads, virtually annihilated the
Southern Water Tribe, and controlled almost the entirety of the Earth Kingdom, to the point of near
victory. The last strongholds able to defend themselves were the Northern Water Tribe and the Earth
Kingdom cities of Omashu and Ba Sing Se.

Upon the Avatar's return in 99 AG, the Fire Nation undertook a far more aggressive plan of attack, taking
bigger risks to deliver devastating blows to their opposition and render any possible intervention from
Avatar Aang too late. This strategy resulted in colossal setbacks for the Fire Nation when the Avatar
became involved. Notably, the Fire Nation launched a massive invasion of the North Pole, after they
realized that Aang was taking refuge there, and suffered a crushing defeat at the last second when the
Ocean Spirit and Avatar merged to intervene. Similarly, an effort to breach the walls of Ba Sing Se
utilizing a giant drill was also thwarted. Despite these setbacks, several victories were also won including
the surrender of Omashu and the infiltration and Fall of Ba Sing Se, leaving the Northern Water Tribe as
the last remaining stronghold to Fire Nation hegemony. In an effort to turn the tide of the War, an army
assembled from the remnants of the Southern Water Tribe and members of the Foggy Swamp Tribe and
Earth Kingdom attempted an invasion of the Fire Nation Capital on the Day of Black Sun in mid 100 AG,
when firebenders were powerless and as such incapable of defending against a siege. The invasion
ultimately failed, with nearly all members of the invasion force captured by the Fire Nation.

Nevertheless, the Hundred Year War ended roughly a year following the reappearance of the Avatar due
to a combination of efforts of the remaining two nations, the Avatar's group's destruction of the air fleet
meant to use Sozin's Comet to deliver the killing blow to the Earth Kingdom, Aang's victory over Phoenix
King Ozai, and the newly crowned Fire Lord Zuko's intention to restore peace and harmony among the
four nations.[5]

However, the Hundred Year War had changed the world forever; one whole nation and its unique
bending art had been virtually wiped out, and it would only slightly recover in the following 70 years.
The Fire Nation had become an ethnocentric and autocratic dictatorship, and much effort had to be
applied to restore a tolerant attitude among its people as well as its image among the other nations,
which had come to hate the country after a century of conflict that it initiated. On the contrary, great
technological and industrial advancements had been conducted by both the Fire Nation and Earth
Kingdom during the war. The different nations had also blended to create new and diverse cultures in
the older Fire Nation colonies,[3] which eventually led to the foundation of the United Republic of
Nations, a new sovereign state comprised of a multitude of citizens from all nations.[6]

Contents[show]

Prelude

Rise of the Fire Nation

Following its unification,[17] the Fire Nation gradually became powerful and militaristic, placing great
importance on cohesion, strength, and effectiveness.[18] It developed an extremely capable military,
including the most powerful navy in the world,[19] and fought many wars against the other nations.[20]
Though the Fire Nation had halted its expansionist warfare by the 4th century BG,[21] the country
continued to develop contingency plans for all kinds of conflicts, including invasions of the Earth
Kingdom and the Water Tribe.[22] At the same time, the Fire Nation's ability to truly threaten the other
nations was hampered by violent conflicts within the Fire Nation Royal Family and among the country's
powerful noble clans. From 295 BG, however, Fire Lord Zoryu and his successors gradually
disempowered the clans and turned the Fire Nation into a highly effective autocracy.[23]

By the 1st century BG, an industrial revolution in the Fire Nation saw its economic, military, and living
standards greatly outpace those of the other nations.[1][24] In contrast, the Earth Kingdom had been
greatly weakened by unrest and corruption,[25][26][27] and though the Northern Water Tribe remained
strong,[28] the Southern Water Tribe had slipped into relative poverty and political irrelevance.[29]
Sozin's plan

Thirty-seven years prior to the beginning of the Hundred Year War, Fire Lord Sozin began to feel that
because his nation was so fortunate in so many ways, that he should "share" this prosperity with the
rest of the world. He spoke about his plan to his best friend, Avatar Roku, and tried to convince him to
join him on his quest to expand "the most successful empire in history". Roku vehemently refused to
help him and reminded his long-time friend that the four nations were meant to be just what they were:
four.[1]

Despite Roku's warnings, Sozin prepared for the unification of the nations through war. He greatly
expanded the Fire Nation's already powerful army and navy,[30] and occupied some Earth Kingdom
territories[1] including the village of Yu Dao. He sent Fire Nation families to settle in these areas, forming
the Fire Nation's first colonies.[3]

Roku's intervention

"I'm sparing you, Sozin. I'm letting you go in the name of our past friendship, but I warn you, even a
single step out of line will result in your permanent end."

―Roku to Sozin.[1]

Years later, however, Roku discovered Sozin's colonies and went to rebuke him, leading Sozin to attack
him. The Avatar subdued the Fire Lord, utterly destroyed his palace and warned him that if he ever
acted out of place and attacked the other nations again, he would put an end to him permanently.[1]
Regardless, the first Fire Nation colonists were allowed to remain in the Earth Kingdom.[3]

Twenty-five years later, Roku's home island was consumed in a volcanic eruption so massive that Sozin
could see and feel it from a hundred miles away, and he flew in on his dragon to assist his old friend. The
two used their bending to try to contain the lava flow, but they were hindered by poisonous gases that
eventually overwhelmed Roku, leaving him lying on the ground and begging for his old friend's help.
Sozin suddenly realized, however, that Roku's death would allow him to fulfill his plans, and he left the
Avatar to die. The new Avatar was born into the Air Nomads as Aang.[1]

Twelve years after Roku had died, Sozin used the return of a comet, a celestial event that grants
firebender near-unlimited power, to deliver a devastating first blow to the other nations and start the
war, setting the stage for the Air Nomad Genocide.[31]

Early stages (0 AG - 20 AG)

Air Nomad Genocide

Main article: Air Nomad Genocide

Air Nomad Genocide

The Eastern Air Temple during the attack of the Fire Nation.

Fire Lord Sozin decided to launch his attack upon the arrival of Sozin's Comet. With the power of the
Comet, Sozin's firebender armies launched a genocide on the pacifistic Air Nomads in an attempt to
capture the new Avatar, Aang, and to break the Avatar Cycle.[31] This would overcome one of the Fire
Nation's biggest obstacles to victory.[1] However, Aang had run away before the attack, thus escaping
the carnage.[32] Almost all other Air Nomads were believed to have been killed in the attack, and the
remainder ruthlessly hunted and killed as the Hundred Year War progressed, by the end leaving Aang
the only known airbender left alive. Sozin would continue searching for Aang up until his death.[1] The
Air Nomad Genocide involved massive firebending attacks on the four temples. Thousands of Air
Nomads were slain along with their flying bison and lemurs.

Spread

Fire Nation Army

The first landing of the Fire Army at the Earth Kingdom coast.

After the first strike against the Air Nomads, Fire Lord Sozin and the Fire Army began their first assaults
into the western Earth Kingdom. Sozin's main objective was to overcome the next Avatar and secure a
beachhead on the western coast of the continent and use it as staging grounds to advance further
throughout the Earth Kingdom and to supply his forces. Other objectives were to cripple and destroy key
Earth Kingdom trading centers to weaken the large Earth Kingdom economy. After several battles,
including decisive Fire Nation victories in the Battle of Han Tui, the Battle of Garsai and the battle for
Taku, the Fire Nation was able to gain a strong foothold in the Earth Kingdom.[33]

The Fire Nation's war effort was focused at the Western theater through the use of a large portion of the
Fire Navy, but Sozin expanded northward and eventually was able to send forces to conduct an
attempted invasion of the Northern Water Tribe fifteen years after the Hundred Year War began, which
ended in failure due to the North Pole's treacherous landscape. The battle saw ground forces from both
the Water Tribe and the Fire Nation confront each other directly.[12]