1269-1310 (516-557 AD) (L'Uniona Homanus)

The Assault of Lamanai
With secretly built up ships from both the Maya and the Zapotecs, this coalition of forces moved on the city of Lamanai on the coast of the Uaxactunese lands. The Zapotecs and the Maya leadership had both learned about the production of the plague ion this city and made this secret known to their people to encourage public hatred for the Uaxactunese, and thus support for this invasion. Early in the morning, with the sun rising behind them, in the Summer of 1269 (516 AD), the city of Lamanai came under fire with the Maya’s new Chantico style Canon from one of their new warships. The citizens of Lamanai were actually surprisingly well prepared for such an attack. The communication lines between Lamanai and the other cities would carry their distress signal all the way to the nearest naval bases and would result in the first battle of the Great Maya War. The Uaxactunese flamethrowers especially would become problematic for the coalition warships. By the end of the battle, the Uaxactunese and the Maya had both suffered significant losses and this was not the start of a war that would be simple or one sided. That being said, the damage to Lamanai made that city unusable until reconstruction started after the war. Despite this the Maya did not take the city because their commanding officer was captured and burned before the soldiers on one of the warships.

The Battle of Pajon
With the loss of Lamanai, the Maya regrouped their losses and planned to attack from another angle. The Uaxactunese cities on the northern coast were known to be very well defended and as both sides expected, the Maya would go through the southern coast of Uaxactun eventually cutting their Empire in half if they could reach the northern coast. The city of Pajon was one of the few larger sites on the southern coast and it was the most likely target. Coming out from the Central American portion of the Maya Alliance and from the southern bases of the Zapotecs, a joint operation was once again the way they went. The assault on the city of Pajon was much more successful than the one in Lamanai. They Zapotecs disembarked from their ships and overran the city and this had a foothold in Uaxactunese territory.

Uaxactunese troops began moving southward to counter and contain these actions but the Maya expected this too. The strategy was to have the Maya and Zapotecs move in through the north as the Uaxactunese moved south towards Pajon. This strategy similarly would prove paper thin to the Uaxactunese. The movement towards Pajon was very small and only served top reinforce the barrier cities around the southern area in case that was the serious plan of the Maya and Zapotecs. The defenses in the north were held and the Zapotecs found themselves at a serious disadvantage because not only were the Uaxactunese prepared but the Maya were late for the rendezvous. The great losses by the Zapotecs in the north were even more than in Lamanai and the Zapotecs at this point attempted to make a peace with the Uaxactunese.

The Treaty of Matacapan 1271 (518 AD)
Matacapan was a city near the border of the Zapotec and Uaxactunese territories and it would be the site of the treaty between these two nations. Following this the Maya Alliance and the Uaxactunese found themselves fighting the Uaxactunese once again. The Maya were not going to give up. The first move they made was on the city of Lamanai once again. That city had been so demolished that the Maya believed that the Uaxactunese had almost abandoned it. Instead they found soldiers and sailors working diligently to reconstruct the city. When the Maya moved in towards this city the Lamanai builders were taken by surprise. News of the Peace treaty with the Zapotecs had calmed some people’s fears about the war. Without hesitation the Maya tried to take advantage of the surprise. The soldiers working there were largely unarmed and the armory that existed and which was not far away had been diverted to the north to protect against the Zapotecs. Leaders of the Uaxactunese believed that the Maya would reach out for a peace treaty also and end the fighting and so they neglected to move the armory back to and equal distribution throughout the Empire. Because of their neglect the city of Lamanai was captured after its second ntime seeing battle. The soldiers of Uaxactun were treated so badly that the city became known as a “Den of Depravity and Torture.”

With a new foothold the Maya believed that they could perhaps emerge from this war with some gains even if it was not total victory. From the city of Lamanai came attacks on the rest of the Western Yucatan Peninsula. The Maya had made such an impressive string of victories that many began to believe that they did not now nor ever need an Alliance with the Zapotecs. The Uaxactunese similarly were caught by surprise at the resounding success that the Maya had made in their western lands. Rather than move against these attacks the Uaxactunese knew that there were enough troops stationed well in the areas near the new Maya gains that the Uaxactunese needn’t worry too much. The Uaxactunese, without fear of the Zapotecs and with plenty of their military stored up on the northern shore began pursuing a offensive strategy rather than remaining defensive in the wake of the Mayan Aggression.