Operation Divide and Conquer

Operation Divide and Conquer (AUDIO: The Dalek Conquests) was the Dalek plot to start a war between the Earth and Draconian Empires in the 26th century, assisted by and the Ogrons. (TV: Frontier in Space) Part of a wider Dalek strategy to invade the galaxy, (TV: Planet of the Daleks) the deception directly led to the Second Dalek War. (PROSE: Love and War, Deceit)

Earth and Draconian relations
By the 25th century, the empires of Earth and Draconia had carved out their own respective galactic spheres of influence in Mutter's Spiral. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Space War) Around the turn of the century, one faction of Draconians attempted to provoke Earth into hostilities over the issue of Catastrophea (Kastopheria). The two sides ultimately ended up co-operating over a crisis with the planet's natives. Though a cause for optimism, some contemporary commentators warned that maintaining friendly relations could be difficult going forward. (PROSE: Catastrophea)

In 2520, a planned meeting between representatives of Earth and Draconia went horribly wrong when a neutron storm damaged both ships. With communications severed, John Williams on the Earth ship misjudged the intentions of the (unarmed) Draconian warship and attacked it. This led to the three-day Human-Draconian War which cost hundreds of millions of lives. Hostilities were quickly ended and the boundaries of the empires were agreed upon in the subsequent treaty, but both sides continued to treat each other with volatile mistrust and suspicion. (TV: Frontier in Space)

Planning
The Daleks, planning another assault on the galaxy, realised they could use the worsening relations between the two space empires to their advantage. In this, they were assisted by, (TV: Frontier in Space) who had tired of numerous defeats of his own in plans to conquer 20th century Earth and left in favour of pursuing a meeting he had arranged on Skaro. (PROSE: Verdigris)

With the Master onboard, the Dalek leaders devised a strategy and presented it before the Dalek Emperor, the transmission of which was recovered and recorded in The Dalek Conquests. The plan, entitled Operation Divide and Conquer, was for the Master to co-ordinate attacks on Earth and Draconian spacecraft. The attacks would be carried out by a force of Ogrons equipped with hallucinogenic technology, causing Earthlings to perceive the attacking Ogrons as Draconians and Draconians to see the attacking Ogrons as Earthlings. The Daleks calculated that diplomatic relations between the two well-matched space empires would break down, leading to the outbreak of another war which would destroy them both, enabling the Dalek conquest to emerge amidst the ruins of the war. This plan was approved by the Emperor. (AUDIO: The Dalek Conquests)

The Master, who took to reading The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells in his downtime, asked that after the success of the Dalek invasion, he be allowed to "rule the planet Earth in [their] name". Privately, however, he held his nominal allies in contempt, grumbling them off as "stupid tin boxes". (TV: Frontier in Space)

"Divide and Conquer" enacted
The attacks were targeted at Earth and Draconian cargo ships, some of which were carrying cargo as inoffensive as flour. Hypnosound devices successfully disguised the Ogrons and made the crews believe they were under attack by forces of the rival empires. Some crewmen were killed in these attacks but most were kept alive in order to report the attacks as witnesses, although these reports were invariably inaccurate. The hypnosound changed victims' perceptions of reality and left them to fill in any details that didn't add up with other explanations supporting their suspicions. As the number of such attacks increased, they gave rise to fierce diplomatic rows between the Earth and Draconian governments. (TV: Frontier in Space)

Earth reaction
News of attacks allegedly carried out by the Draconians was met with widespread outrage among the people of Earth. The Draconians became more commonly referred to by the derogatory term of "Dragons". Anti-Draconian riots broke out in Tokyo, in Belgrade and in Helsinki, where the Draconian Consulate was burned to the ground. Congressman Brook, the Leader of the Opposition, voiced his support of the protests to undermine the position of his main opponent, (TV: Frontier in Space) the incumbent President of Earth, Dora. (AUDIO: The Transcendence of Ephros) Demonstrators in Los Angeles burned an effigy of the President as calls were increasingly made for retaliation against Draconian transgressions. (TV: Frontier in Space)

Dora had been elected to office on a platform of peace with the Draconians, and she stuck strongly by these policies. She even appointed General John Williams, the instigator of the previous war, and an old friend, as her military advisor partly so he could be more easily kept in check. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Space War) She attempted to keep news of Draconian attacks quiet through means of censorship but the news services had sources allowing them to bypass the restrictions. Williams continually urged Dora to take action in order to secure her own position as President. After repeated failures to reach understandings with Draconian officials, Dora agreed to sever diplomatic relations. She remained reluctant to declare war but events continued to spiral out of her control. (TV: Frontier in Space)

Draconian reaction
Draconian culture was less liberal than that of the Earth Empire (PROSE: Love and War) and they considered various human customs "strange", an attitude which underlined the tone of various aspects underpinning Earth-Draconian relations. Nevertheless, the Draconians lived by strict codes of honour and nobility. They therefore took Earth accusations of piracy and unprovoked hostilities as an outrageous insult to that honour, and were equally affronted when their own counter-accusations were denied as untruths. Once diplomatic relations between Earth and Draconia were severed, the Draconians decreed that intruders found in Draconian space would be sentenced to death.

The Draconians held firmly to the existing treaty terms. The Draconian prince warned President Dora that the Draconian Empire would "destroy" the Earth Empire should a war break out, but this was little more than a deterrent. Privately, he and the staff at the Draconian Embassy knew a war could bring down both Empires. They were willing to believe that the President was not at fault. Yet their ire was drawn towards General Williams, whom the Draconians viewed as a prejudiced warmonger. The Embassy staff believed Williams was undermining Earth policy and activities in order to force his own government into another war. (TV: Frontier in Space)

Involvement of the Doctor
The Dalek plan gradually began to unravel when the Third Doctor arrived on Earth cargo ship C982, which was shortly after attacked by the Ogrons. The Earth crewmen believed the Doctor and Jo Grant to be Draconians, but the Doctor was unaffected by the hypnosound. He realised hypnotic technology was at work when Jo herself was affected and perceived the crewmen to be Drashigs. The subsequent Ogron attack on the ship alerted him to the work of a hidden third party commanding the Ogrons, intent on driving Earth and Draconia into a second war. Jo herself suspected the Daleks due to a previous encounter with them and the Ogrons, but the Doctor dismissed the idea because the Ogrons were mercenaries who had served under the employ of many races.

The cargo was stolen, though the crewmen were spared, and they accused the Doctor of being a Draconian spy. He was returned to Earth for interrogation, and from there he devoted every effort to warning the relevant individuals that Earth and Draconia were being manipulated. However, in the heated climate of suspicion, and without proof, he met no one prepared to believe him. Not helping was a genuine Draconian raid to bring the Doctor to the Embassy for interrogation; his temporary escape only increased Earth suspicions that he was a spy trying to stir up trouble. Time and time again, the Doctor was locked up on the suspicion of espionage, with his warnings apparently getting nowhere. He was eventually sent to the Lunar Penal Colony on the Moon.

Yet the Doctor's meddling brought him to the attention of the Master. Seeking to safely remove the Doctor and Jo from the picture, the Master posed as a commissioner from Sirius IV and presented the President with forged documents "proving" the Doctor and Jo were citizens of the dominion. The two were transferred into his custody and locked up on his ship, from which they were transported to the Ogron homeworld. (TV: Frontier in Space)

The deception exposed
En route to the Ogron planet, the Master's ship passed into Draconian space and was consequently boarded by a Draconian patrol. Though threatened with execution, the Doctor persuaded the Draconian captain that he had information of vital importance to the Draconian Emperor. The Doctor, Jo and the Master were arrested and taken to Draconia, where they are allowed an audience with the Emperor in which the Doctor made used of his long-held status as a noble to gain the monarch's trust.

Ogrons, disguised as humans, stormed the throne room to rescue the Master after he activated a silent distress signal upon his arrest. The Master escaped but one Ogron was captured, and after the hypnosound wore off, the deception was laid bare before the Draconians and the Emperor himself. The Draconians at once moved to show the Ogron prisoner to the Earth government, with the Draconian prince gaining the cooperation of General Williams after clearing up and laying to rest the accidents which led to the last war. (TV: Frontier in Space)

Joint expedition to the Ogron homeworld
The latest development did not mean the crisis was over but officials from both parties were now more willing to cooperate with each other. To find conclusive proof of the malevolent actions of a third party, Williams, the Draconian prince and the Doctor all took part in a small expedition to the Ogron homeworld. Although Ogrons mounted an ambush, they were driven off by the sudden appearance of one of their predators. The Master instead mounted his own counter-expedition to capture the team with support of the Daleks. The armed escorts were exterminated while the Doctor and the government officials were taken prisoner.

War between the empires still seemed likely, and the leading Gold Dalek promptly left the planet with its subordinates in order to continue the preparations for their invasion. The prisoners were left under the supervision of the Master, who anticipated "a very short war." The Doctor used one of the hypnosound devices against the Ogron guarding their cages and urged Williams and the prince to flee home and warn their respective government about the Dalek plot. He advised that a joint expedition be mounted to the planet to capture the base as soon as possible.

Williams and the Draconian prince made their escape but the Doctor and Jo stayed back to locate the TARDIS. The Master attempted to apprehend them but the Doctor threw the Ogrons into panic with the hypnosound device. The Master fled in the chaos, but a stray shot struck the Doctor, badly injuring him. (TV: Frontier in Space)

Fate of the Master
Two other account agree that the Doctor was injured escaping the Master, and that this initially hampered his subsequent efforts. (TV: Planet of the Daleks, PROSE: Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks) By a single contradictory account, however, the Doctor grabbed the Master's gun after the Ogrons fled. The Doctor was tempted to return the Master to Earth to serve his prison sentence but addressing the more serious threat of the Daleks took priority. The Master was allowed to go free. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Space War)

Aftermath
"Divide and Conquer" was only part of the Daleks' wider strategy for invasion. In the TARDIS, the Doctor contacted the Time Lords with the telepathic circuits, appealing for them to send him in pursuit of the Daleks. The Time Lords obliged and the Doctor was brought to Spiridon, where the Daleks were attempting to wake an army from hibernation. The Doctor and a Thal expedition buried the army underneath molten ice and the Daleks were forced to abandon their facility. (TV: Planet of the Daleks)

With conclusive evidence that the Daleks had conspired against both empires, Earth and Draconia formally united to face the common threat. (PROSE: Love and War) The incident led directly to the Second Dalek War, (PROSE: Deceit) which lasted more than forty years. (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks)

During the Spiridon campaign, (PROSE: Remembrance of the Daleks) the Doctor assessed that the size of the Dalek army - which numbered 10,000 - suggested that the Daleks intended to invade the galaxy regardless of whether the Earth and Draconian Empires went to war. Although "Divide and Conquer" was a failure, the Doctor surmised that the entire scheme was of secondary importance to the Daleks; it would only have served to make the Dalek invasion easier, but the launching of said invasion did not hinge on its overall success. (TV: Planet of the Daleks)

The narrator of The Dalek Conquests noted the assistance provided to the Doctor by the Time Lords' once the plot was exposed was one of an increasing number of examples of the Time Lords directly involving themselves in Dalek affairs. He suggested that such instances, in the much longer term, may have generated the hostilities between the Time Lords and the Daleks which resulted in the Last Great Time War. (AUDIO: The Dalek Conquests)