Today, a brutal and vicious attack has been carried out by the Union on our people! Since they dare not face us on the battlefield they have shown their true, cowardly face, and have tried to bring terror and mayhem to our civilians! The great city of Valley City, the capital city of the Republic of Valand, has been reduced to ashes by the arsonists of the Union's 29th Army Corps, not only have they looted civilian homes and burnt them to the ground, along with churches, hospitals, schools and the like they have also been seen exterminating the civilian populace, there are reports that they have even crushed innocent civilians to death under the feet of their walkers! Outnumbered more or less two to one by the enemy were the brave volunteers of the 66th Volunteer Division, who gave it their all to save their city, they fought to the last, though not before heavily damaging the enemy offensive, right now our army is on its way to meet what remains of the Union army, and bring them to justice! They shall pay dearly for their lack of Honour and Chivalry!
—President of the Confederacy Jane Zarkan in a special address to the Confederate people in regards to the Burning of Valley City
The Burning of Valley City, (also known as the Rape of Valley City, the Destruction of Valley City, and the Second Battle of Valley City, particularly by the Union/Earth Empire), was a battle in which the 29th Army Corps of the Union of Earth States devastated the city of Valley City, the capital city of the Republic of Valand, one of the Confederate states which bordered Union territory.
The battle received wide condemnation of both sides, the battle was considered part of the "Campaign of Flames", the purposeful destruction of vast amount of the Confederate border regions, the battle was considered a war crime, and the "Campaign of Flames" an attempt at genocide.
Burn the traitors! Burn it all!
—Colonel William Crest giving the order to burn Valley City
The 29th Army Corps, though successful, took heavy damage during the battle from the 66th Confederate Volunteer Division, and was later defeated at Feldin's Field. The battle would be remembered by the Confederates for a very long time to come, and Confederates would later conduct the Raid on Hilltown to avenge Valley City, Hilltown would be completely destroyed, the only statement the Confederate Parliament made regarding Hilltown was that "now maybe the Union will know what Valley City felt like."
REMEMBER VALLEY CITY!
—A popular Confederate rallying cry, referring to the Burning
During the battle the Battle Flag of the 66th Confederate Volunteer Division was captured by the Union, who took it back to Williamtown, the capital, where it was put on display, following the defeat of the Union the 66th was in Williamtown, they saw their Battle Flag on display, and took it back. The flag was based on the design of the "Blue Star Banner", a failed proposal for Confederate national flag.
Although the Burning was technically a tactical victory for the Union, as they had captured and largely destroyed Valand's capital city, it proved to be a horrific strategic blunder for the Union's war effort, one which the Union never recovered from, for it not only exasperated a majority of the Union's citizens, sparking the Third Secessionist Crisis, during which the Union lost another 30 nations, bringing the total up to 89, but it also led to a significant strengthening of Confederate resolve and aggressiveness, the Confederacy had been continuing peace efforts prior to this, resulting in the Confederacy choosing to fight a defensive war, however following the Burning the Confederacy almost totally abandoned peace efforts, and began to take more offensive action.
During the battle the 29th Army Corps, the unit spearheading the Union's offensive, lost a significant number of its forces, which stunted its offensive potential and meant the Confederates were able to destroy the remainders at the Battle of Feldin's Field.
The amount of casualties taken by the 29th Corps from a mere Volunteer Division was a humiliation for the Union.
The loss of the 29th Army Corps was a crushing loss for the offensive, the Corps' loss resulted in a loss of morale in the other units undergoing their own offensive campaigns, which soon all withdrew from Confederate territory.
The Burning also caused a significant souring of public support for the war in the Union, most of the Union public was appalled at the behaviour of their army, and thus began calling for peace talks with the Confederacy, spearheading this pro-peace movement was the Committee of Peace and Brotherhood, which had been set up to find a peaceful solution to the war.
Upon the Union's defeat the next year most Union citizens blamed the Burning of Valley City as the final nail in the Union war effort's coffin, as it reduced the Union member state numbers significantly, and forced the Union to fight a defensive war for the remainder of the conflict.