AVALANCHE Insurgency

The AVALANCHE Insurgency is the war between two eco-terrorist organizations known as AVALANCHE and Shinra Electric Power Company that spans Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII- and the beginning of Final Fantasy VII, and lasts between εуλ 0001 and εуλ 0007. The war, which ultimately ends with the total defeat of both incarnations of AVALANCHE, sees the use of guerrilla warfare, terrorist attacks, genetically engineered super soldiers and Summon Materia.

Background
With the conclusion of the Wutai War, which resulted in the complete debilitation of Wutai, the last major stronghold against the Shinra Electric Power Company was gone. An anonymous man who had studied life in Cosmo Canyon established AVALANCHE and under the leadership of Elfé and Fuhito, the movement became a global insurgent group fighting to save the Planet from the misuse of Mako energy. Fuhito is a military genius, and thanks to him, the movement does relatively well against a much stronger foe. However, he is also a ruthless and cold leader, willing use any methods deemed necessary to achieve his goals.

Worldwide Guerrilla Warfare
Sometime after the formation of AVALANCHE, a girl named Felicia who had lost her memories, came to Cosmo Canyon and became the organization's leader taking on the name "Elfé". She worked with a scientist named Fuhito, whose plans far exceed a revolution of Shinra - he wants all people returned to the Planet, essentially seeking a total genocide. Elfé and Fuhito meet a bandit leader named Shears, who has his own reasons to hate Shinra.

Together the three work to destroy Shinra with an army of insurgents. They recruit the Shinra Vice President, Rufus Shinra, to fund their operations and supply them with intelligence of Shinra defenses and movements. Rufus cares not for AVALANCHE's beliefs, but hopes for AVALANCHE to kill his father, President Shinra, so Rufus could succeed him. Using SOLDIER data, Fuhito creates an attack squad called the Ravens. This movement of AVALANCHE is vicious, willing to do anything to defeat Shinra.

AVALANCHE fights the Turks, a Shinra black-ops group, but most of their battles end in draws. They unsuccessfully try to bomb the Sector 8 Mako Reactor, and attempt to capture the Mako Cannon at Junon and use it to attack Midgar - a mission foiled by Sephiroth who also duels Elfé. They conduct a number of missions across the globe, in far-off places like Modeoheim and even inside the Shinra Headquarters. Eventually cornered in Wutai, they survive a Shinra onslaught by feigning their movement is defunct, something they can only do with the help of Rufus.

They later resurge in Corel attempting to destroy the local reactor but suffer a devastating defeat; the town is destroyed by the Shinra army, and Rufus Shinra - AVALANCHE's most important supporter - is captured by the Turks. Barret Wallace, who will later become the founder of the second smaller AVALANCHE movement, is involved in the battle on Shinra's side.

Soon after Elfé loses her strength from an ancient Summon Materia called Zirconiade inside her, and Shears leaves the organization to work with the Turk leader, Veld, who is Elfé's father. The Turks defect with their leader to find four Materia to defeat Zirconiade. Rufus is punished for aiding AVALANCHE, and is placed under house arrest in Junon, but is labeled as being on an "extended assignment overseas".

While Shears is gone and Elfé is too weak to lead, Fuhito becomes the true leader of AVALANCHE. During his command, the group breaks down as AVALANCHE soldiers act as little more than zombies of Fuhito's will. Several members leave, disgusted how the group has changed. One of them is Shalua Rui, who sustains great injuries during her escape, but ends up being killed in battle on October 5, εуλ 0007. What remains of this AVALANCHE group is either defeated or falls apart, and Elfé leaves with her father to escape Shinra. This marks the end of the first AVALANCHE movement and, at least for the time being, all serious opposition to Shinra hegemony in the world.

Attacks on Midgar Mako Reactors
A second, far smaller, AVALANCHE is created by Barret Wallace, a former citizen of Corel, in Midgar. After Corel was destroyed and several AVALANCHE members defected the organization, Barret met up with one such member in Cosmo Canyon and was told of the ideals that drove AVALANCHE and their goals before being taken over by Fuhito. This gave Barret the incentive to form a resistance group of his own (it's unknown whether this was after the full destruction of AVALANCHE or not, but it is likely due to the timescale and implied injuries Barret sustained from Scarlet).

Although having some fundamental disagreements with Fuhito, Barret decides to take up the fight where Fuhito left off. On December 9, εуλ 0007, AVALANCHE bombs the Sector 1 Reactor, killing an unknown number of civilians. They launch a similar operation the next day, with the Sector 5 Reactor as their target, but are taken by surprise by the Shinra Intelligence Agency and have to fight the Air Buster. The fight splits up the group, as Cloud Strife, a mercenary hired by AVALANCHE, falls into the Midgar Slums.

While AVALANCHE tries to reunify and gather intelligence they discover Shinra plans to drop the plate above Sector 7 to wipe out the group. AVALANCHE fails to prevent this and everybody in Sector 7 is killed including three members of the group. This marks the practical defeat of the second AVALANCHE movement, although the remaining members still put up a fight to rescue Aeris, who is kidnapped by the Turks right before the destruction of Sector 7.

When Sephiroth reemerges a short while later, the surviving members pursue him rather than keep fighting for a lost cause in Midgar. AVALANCHE can be said to live on with Cloud's party, but the group rarely identify themselves with that name following the events in Midgar, and Barret Wallace eventually makes clear AVALANCHE is no more. Although he later declares the rebirth of AVALANCHE, this third incarnation rarely engaged the Shinra directly and focused on dealing with Sephiroth and the Weapons.

Aftermath
The surviving members from the second incarnation of AVALANCHE keep working against the Shinra although their main focus is to stop Sephiroth. They finance a local resistance during the Siege of Fort Condor, helping them fend off the far more powerful Shinra army, and preventing them from capturing the fort. Cloud's party prevents the Shinra from obtaining the Huge Materias and eventually finishes off the Shinra leadership by killing Scarlet and Heidegger in the aftermath of the Raid on Midgar.

After these events, the group presumably disbands, though the former members keep in touch with each other. The memory of AVALANCHE's struggles may be symbolized along with the memory of Aerith's death by the pink ribbons worn around the arms of the party.

Trivia

 * In Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, a man in Sector 7 went to Cosmo Canyon and studied life and learned of the Mako Reactors, causing him to hate Shinra with a passion, fitting the description in the Ultimania. This person could be the unknown man who started the resistance movement despite denying it when questioned about being connected to AVALANCHE.