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The Thal-Dalek War, known to the Thals themselves as the First Dalek War, (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks) was the long-term conflict between the Thals and their ancestral enemies the Daleks which began when the First Doctor and his companions visited Skaro. With surviving Daleks and Thals made aware of each other, the travellers' arrival precipitated a first battle in the Dalek City, which initially seemed to be the end of the Daleks, but was in truth only the first blow in a centuries-long, space-faring conflict.
- You may wish to consult
First Dalek War (disambiguation)for other, similarly-named pages.
History
Skaro
Some time after the Thousand Year War, the planet Skaro had become a nuclear wasteland. Its principal features were the petrified jungle, in which the Thals lived, and the city of the Daleks. The First Doctor and his companions, Ian, Barbara and Susan, visited Skaro at this time and led some of the Thals to attack the Dalek City. They disabled the power generator and deprived the Daleks of the static electricity they needed to move about the city, (TV: The Daleks) and then created their own. The Thals' raid on the City became known as the Thal-Dalek battle, (AUDIO: Return to Skaro) while the Third Doctor and Taron identified this wider period as the First Dalek War, (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks) a name also used by Federation Archivist Ven Kalik to refer to the Daleks' invasion of Earth and its colonies in the 22nd century. (PROSE: Prelude Deceit) Accounts of the first conflict and the role of the time travellers passed into Thal legend. (TV: Planet of the Daleks, AUDIO: Return to Skaro)
Survivors of the Thal-Dalek battle hid in the secret incubation level beneath the rest of the city. They were reorganised by the Dalek Supreme who was able to establish a link between the new Thal City through the manipulation of the Thal's Chief Scientist, Tryana. Fifty cycles after the original battle, the Dalek Supreme raised another army and launched an assault on the Thal City. The Daleks were ultimately forced into retreat but the Thal defences were weakened. Excessive levels of power fed into the Dalek City from the Thal City destroyed the Daleks before they could launch a second wave. Though victorious, the Thals feared other Daleks resided elsewhere on Skaro and resolved to be ready for future hostilies. (AUDIO: Return to Skaro)
Indeed, the Daleks would later manage to rout the Thals and claim Skaro for themselves. (PROSE: The History of the Daleks)
Beyond Skaro
Circa 2540, (TV: Planet of the Daleks) the Thals had already launched an assault on Skaro and reclaimed the planet. (PROSE: The History of the Daleks) To aid in the campaigns of the far-reaching Dalek Empire, the Daleks had built a base on the planet Spiridon. They planned to launch an army of ten thousand Daleks across the galaxy. They hoped to render the army invisible by study of the native Spiridon humanoids. This plan failed. The Daleks could only remain invisible for a short time. The Third Doctor helped a taskforce of Thals, who arrived onto Spiridon, to defeat the Daleks, this time using the ice core of the planet to freeze the Dalek army. (TV: Planet of the Daleks)
Skaro again changed hands when the Daleks removed all Thal presence from the world. (PROSE: The History of the Daleks) The Thals also fought against the Daleks in the Great War which began in the 41st century. (PROSE: The Evil of the Daleks) In later years, the Daleks launched the campaign Pa Jaski-Thal, a "liquidation war" against the Thals. (PROSE: Remembrance of the Daleks)
The Thals fought the Daleks on the planet Terakis and destroyed the planet with a bomb in order to lure half of the Eighth Fleet into a trap which succeeded despite the natives of Terakis killed. (PROSE: War of the Daleks)
During the Last Great Time War, the Time Lords understood that the Thals, believed to have survived in a series of colonies following the destruction of Skaro, knew more about the Daleks than any other species and judged that they would make useful allies in campaigns. Maintaining an anti-war stance, the Thals refused to disclose the formula of their anti-radiation drug to the Time Lords. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual) At another point, however, the Thals participated in the Time Lords' war effort against the Daleks, though relations between the allies were tense due to the Thals resenting following Time Lord commands and believing them just as guilty as the Daleks of altering Thal history. (AUDIO: Temmosus)