The time from the beginning of the Roman Civil War to just after the opening salvos of the Pride War(the name of the war between the Egyptians and Jade Falcons) was later referred to as The Age of Peace.
Though the Jade Falcons were supporting a rebellion in Roman lands, they were far from devoting the full weight of their peoples, industry, and science behind it. A handful of cities were selected to build Night Gyrs for sale to the Roman People's Movement, a few military advisors were dispatched to advise them, and even teams of scientists were sent as part of a behind-the-lines exchange of civil technology between the ancient civilization of the Jade Falcons and the new nation of Romans. Their relations with the Egyptians were peaceful, and nascent peace overtures with the Persians were promising. Despite German naval attacks along the Eastern Coast and their destruction of a handful of Jade Falcon trading vessels, the physical distance between the two and the Jade Falcon's relatively weak navy kept open hostilities from breaking out.
Three factors caused the end of The Age of Peace:
Reduced Rate of Roman collapse
Economically, militarily, and even socially, the Roman Republic was on its knees before the Pride War broke out. When Jade Falcon reinforcements were cut off, the Roman People's Movement stalled. Certainly, the popularity of the movement was enough to fill out dozens of infantry regiments, but even against the antiquated 'mechs of the Roman Republic, they were badly outclassed. Instead of throwing away what 'mechs they had and losing thousands of lives, the RPM focused on retooling factories that built 'mech repair parts to produce whole battlemechs. They played defense while the Roman Republic petitioned two of the German clans for technical support, employed their own 'mechs to suppress the popular demonstrations occurring across their territory, finished the relocation of their capitol to Neapolis, and began developing secluded bases on the Otiosus continent in the north for research into new technologies and superweapons to both control their populace and defeat the rebels.
German Ambition
All but unknown to the Jade Falcons and Egyptians--Dinot's two superpowers--the German Grand Council in Berlin saw an opportunity to strike at the weak underbelly of the Jade Falcons, gain the attention, technologies, and cities of a major power, and make themselves a major player in world politics at the same time. All they needed was the opportunity that would distract the Jade Falcons and ensure they had an even chance of success.
Persian Politicking
The fundamentalist Persian government was split sharply. On the one hand, their omens seemed to tell them that war with the "Clan of the Wing" would lead to cataclysm, but another told them that if they didn't submit to The Falcon, then they would be erased from all places, and all times. The priests of the Persians interpreted the "Clan of Jade" to be the Hausen Clan of Nuremburg, one of the most powerful German clans, who boasted a banner with the wing of an eagle and acted as the strongest proponent of the coming Trial of Righteousness against the Jade Falcons. The Hausen Clan had been openly hostile towards the Persians for their peaceful relations with the Jade Falcons and because of their position on the border between the rest of the German Clans and the Persians, were in a position to direct national policy toward the Persians. In the end--all of this unknown to the Jade Falcons--the generous technological bribes from the Egyptians resolved their political/religious quandary.
The Persians decided not to side with either faction, but instead passively hampered the Jade Falcons, abusing their freshly-inked peace treaties. They allowed Persian aircraft to pass through and base in Jade Falcon territories. The Persians relayed information gained this way to the Egyptians, and claimed resources needed to provide logistical support to moving troops and supplies along The New Project. On multiple occasions, Persian pilots would land their "malfunctioning" helicopters on major roads and rails, disconnecting Jade Falcons troops from the front lines of Byblos. Those pilots unwise enough to make such a blockage away from public view were never heard from again. In public settings though, Jade Falcon commanders usually provided enough assistance to help get the vehicle off of the tracks.
Finally, after a number of close calls, damaged helicopters and trains, 'kidnapped' pilot incidents, and a single censure from The Persian parliament, the Jade Falcons renounced the treaty and plunged an unwilling Persian government into war.
And so it came to be that the Jade Falcon civilization found itself at war with the entirely of the rest of the world, beset on the North by Egyptian planes and ships, stalled in the North and West by Egyptian ground forces, and met with ominous silence by the Persians from the Southwest corner of the Persian Bottleneck. On the East, the Germans were easily ignored, keeping The Khan ignorant of how vulnerable The Jade Falcons really were.
German initial holdings.
2007 Note: It's important to note for these maps that most of these are made c. 1960-74, in the 'Present-Day' of the game, which is about 50-70 years ahead of the events in the Battle-Civ Beta blogs right now. I'm doctoring the hell out of them to dodge spoilers. For example, in someone's homeland, I had to, well, smite some 200 units or so, friendly and enemy, to get a decent view of said homeland overrun by enemy bombers.
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