NCR-Khan War

The NCR-Great Khan War is an on-going conflict between the New California Republic Army and the Great Khans. The roots of the conflict date back to when the NCR was nothing more than Shady Sands and the Khans weren't yet called the Great Khans.

Prelude
When the residents of Vault 15 left the vault, four distinct groups were created, including the Khans and the settlers of Shady Sands. The Death Hand, founder of the Khans, began raiding the small settlement. The raids never caused a great problem until Garl Death-Hand, The Death Hand's son, kidnapped Tandi, the daughter of Aradesh, who became the first president of the NCR. Aradesh then tasked the Vault Dweller to retrieve his daughter from the Khan's. The resulting battle caused the deaths of all the Khans except one, named Darion. Darion became paranoid and obsessed with revenge against the Vault Dweller and Tandi, who then became second president of the NCR. He founded the New Khans with the sole purpose of taking revenge on the NCR. Then, in an ironic twist of fate, Darion, now an old man, was killed in 2241 by the Chosen One, the grandchild of the Vault Dweller who had killed his companions 80 years earlier. Then, the remnants New Khans were re-made as the Great Khans by Papa Khan. He lead the Great Khans out of the California and into the Mojave Wasteland. There they became powerful, and were known as the "Flails of God." They were powerful until the Three Families and Robert House drove them out of outer Vegas. Then, as supplies and fresh water began to dwindle, overcrowding was becoming more and more apparent. The New California Republic sent its elite Rangers and scouts into the Mojave Wasteland in search of fertile lands and resources to help expand their borders for their ever growing population.

War
Wendell Peterson, the president of the NCR, gave orders to annex the local tribals (including the Khans). Then General Aaron Kimball began a campaign to secure the Mojave Wasteland, a campaign which would later win him the president's office. Soon after though, the Khans began to raid the NCR settlements, resulting in a NCR pursuit of Khan raiding parties. The Khans were pushed out of New Vegas by Mr. House and the three tribes that had joined with him, making the Great Khans weakened when the NCR arrived. Despite this the Khans raided NCR settlements, outposts and caravans.

Initially, the NCR ignored the Khans, but they continued to fight, attacking supply caravans, settlers, and NCR troopers and took their supplies whenever they could to better arm themselves. The height of the war came when the NCR traced the Khans back to one of their settlements, Bitter Springs. The NCR thought that this was a Khan raiding base, but this proved to be false with tragic consequences.

Bitter Springs was where the Khans fighting forces were, but Papa Khan was leading most of the fighting force in a raid when the NCR arrived. In 2278, the NCR sent the 1st Recon unit to attack the Great Khan encampment while Major Gilles (demoted after the battle) lead a frontal attack on the camp. 1st Recon waited at Coyote Tail ridge to attack any Khans trying to leave the battle. Soon after the battle started, Khan women and children started walking through the canyon to the 1st Recon's position. When they radioed it in, NCR command thought there were Khan soldiers not civilians leaving the canyon. As a result 1st recon was ordered to "fire until you're out of ammo." First Recon opened fire and obeyed their orders. The actual fighting force was in another location and came back to find that the village had been wiped out.

The previous account was mostly based on the clams of Boone. His account by far gives the most facts about the battle and he also has the advantage of seeing the battle first hand, so he probably gives the most accurate account in the game. However, players should also take into consideration the fact that two other Great Khans give their own accounts of the battle. Papa Khan tells the Courier, the NCR murdered the children, elderly, and many others fleeing from Bitter Springs, and he refuses to believe that there was a miscommunication. Another Great Khan known as Chance remembers the NCR riding into the camp on horseback, killing everyone in the village, and burning it to the ground. However, Chance's account is most likely false, because there are no known horses in the NCR and Bitter Springs was not burned to the ground.

For more information, see Bitter Springs massacre.

Papa Khan thought his duty was to protect the remaining Khans, so he moved them into Red Rock Canyon. While Red Rock Canyon is an extremely harsh place to live, due to a lack of any resources and an abundance of cazadors, the Khans have found safety, because the NCR can not launch an attack there without receiving heavy losses.

After this, The NCR sent the occasional scout into Red Rock Canyon, but never attacked the Great Khans there. Ranger Station Foxtrot was set up to keep an eye on Red Rock Canyon, and to relay any important information about the Great Khan's movements.

There is currently a stalemate between the NCR and the Great Khans, as the NCR cannot attack because they could easily be ambushed at Red Rock Canyon. The Great Khans are still causing problems, however, as they supply chems to the Fiends, as Papa Khan likes the fact that they attack NCR patrols and are a very big nuisance to the NCR, they have to fight a war on two fronts - one against Caesar's Legion and one against the Fiends.