The Sunrise War began 2342 when two Southern Alliance battle fleets was launched against the Imperial planet Dawn.  The two fleets, which originated at Vaatrel, were charged with forcing the universal destruction of all United Imperial Worlds forces on Dawn, in order to eliminate the Imperial Army Headquarters and its presence on the border of the two nations.

On 23 August 2342, the first fleet organized a surprise attack on Dawn from multiple directions and quickly destroyed or drove away the Imperial starships defending the Sunrise system.  After cutting Imperial interstellar supply lines and bombarding the capital, Dawn City, Gatraxian infantry of the Southern Alliance Army (SAA) began to land and surround the city.  Imperial troops, under the command of generals in Dawn City, dug in and prepared for a long siege.  On 26 August, the second fleet dispatched from Vaatrel intercepted the approaching Imperial 1st fleet on the edge of the Sunrise system and attacked.  The Battle of Sunrise resulted in no clear victory but assured the future career of 1st fleet’s admiral, Peter Frederick.  The Second Battle of Sunrise began two days later when the 1st fleet, augmented by the elements of the Imperial 2nd fleet, attacked again and all but destroyed theSouthern Alliance Navy (SAN).  It was also on this day that Emperor Ivan Romanov was assassinated by the hawkish extremist, Mathias Gröner.

The siege of Dawn City lasted until autumn of 2343, and control of the Sunrise system had often changed hands since the opening days of the war.  The Southern Alliance desperately attempted to break the siege by detonating a tactical nuclear device over central Dawn City on 14 October 2343.  The beleaguered Imperial troops were shocked when thousands of SAA troops appeared in the flattened areas of the blast zone only an hour later.  

This attempt to break the siege, the Battle of Dawn City, was nearly successful, but failed because of General John Paul Windsor’s tactical mastery.  Forced to assume command when the Imperial Army leadership in Dawn City was destroyed, Windsor successfully executed a tactical gamble and decisively broke the siege.  The Imperial 1st fleet, seized the opportunity to surprise the Southern Alliance’s blockade fleet and quickly drove it out of the system.  The Imperial 2nd fleet, now at full strength in the system, bombarded the remaining Gatraxian ground positions and forced an armistice on 15 February.

The Treaty of Crylix was signed on 6 February 2344 to secure the Southern Alliance’s surrender.  The treaty provided for four main conditions:  the complete withdrawal of Southern Alliance forces from both the Sunrise and Star of Faith systems, the observed destruction of all surviving Southern Alliance starships which saw action in the war, a universal ban on nuclear weapons, and a bill of reparations amounting to 870 billion Taurian Dollars in military machinery.