I was rereading Tallstar's Revenage and surprised to remember just how Stonetooth and Cedastar what had been doing. Turns out Brokenstar isn't the first Shadowclan leader to have the idea to drive out Windclan from their home for good:
"Next time, we'll drive you from your dens for good." Hissing at the watching
WindClan warriors, Stonetooth limped out of the camp. - Tallstar's Revenge Chapter 15.
Stonetooth had no proper reasoning for the Attack:
"Why did you attack us? Why?" Heatherstar shook the ShadowClan deputy savagely.
"Why shouldn't we?" Stonetooth hung limp in her claws, his eyes shining with hate. "We could hunt
on these moors just as well as you."
Heatherstar's eyes flashed. "The moors are ours and always will be." She hauled Stonetooth to his
paws and flung him toward the edge of the hollow. "Run after your weasel-hearted Clanmates before I
rip you to shreds."
Stonetooth climbed out of the dip, leaving blood in his wake. "We've seen your weaknesses, you
rabbits!" he snarled.
He even orders his warriors to:
At the centre Stonetooth, the ShadowClan deputy, reared up on his hind paws, teeth
bared. "Spare no one!" he snarled. - Tallstar's Revenge Chapter 15.
This attack even allowed for Brackenwing's death. And if it wasn't for Stonetooth's spefic order, maybe Shadowclan warriors wouldn't of been so rough to cause her death:
The she-cat's eyes were closing. Redclaw looked at Hawkheart, his eyes as round as an owl's. "Can
you save her?" Hawkheart touched the small wad of web with his paw. "It's too late," he growled softly. "She's lost
too much blood." - Tallstar's revenge, Chapter 15.
In the 2nd attack in Chapter 43, lead by Cedarstar, that uses dirty tactics:
First Blizzardwing:
His first attack is to aim for Talltail's throat, the well-known most vulnerable part of the body in Warriors:
White fur blinded him as Blizzardwing knocked him off his paws and lunged for his throat.
He does what he can to stop Talltail from helping his mentor:
Dawnstripe! Talltail tried to jump toward her but claws pierced his flanks and Blizzardwing dragged
him back.
He even taunts him about it:
"You can't save her, rabbit heart!" Blizzardwing snarled
Raggedpaw and an unknown Shadowclan warrior tag-teamed to drive Plumclaw dangerously close to the Thunderpath:
Plumclaw screeched with fury as a ShadowClan apprentice, Raggedpaw, joined the ginger tabby's
attack. The tunneler was beating them off with a flurry of blows, but they were driving her farther
down the slope, closer to the monsters thundering past.
Then Cedarstar and Newtspeck tagteamed against Dawnstripe, seemingly attacking her more than necessary, as she cries in pain serval times in a row:
Dawnstripe shrieked with pain. Talltail whipped around. Newtspeck had joined Cedarstar. The black-and-ginger she-cat was battering Dawnstripe's muzzle while Cedarstar raked her flank with vicious claws. [...] Less than a tail-length from Talltail, Cedarstar wrestled Dawnstripe onto her spine. Newtspeck nipped at her thrashing hind legs. Blood stained her
muzzle. [...] Had Aspenfall persuaded Heatherstar to send warriors? Dawnstripe shrieked. If help didn't come soon, they'd have to retreat. [...] "Talltail!" Dawnstripe's panicked screech ripped through the air.
Their assault was so bad, Dawnstripe is reduced to writhing around on the floor. Yet they carry on hovering around her, just watching her, not leaving her alone, even though she's defeated. Where it becomes clear they are aiming now to kill her, Newtspeck even enjoying it:
Cedarstar loomed over Dawnstripe as she writhed on the
grass. Newtspeck leaned back, her lip curling in delight. Talltail braced himself to watch the ShadowClan leader deliver the death blow.
Even after Windclan reinforcements come, instead of helping to defend his clanmates, like Newtspeck right beside him or attack worthy opponents, he coutuins attacking the clearly defeated Dawnstripe.
With a hefty blow, Cloudrunner sent Newtspeck staggering away from Dawnstripe while Reedfeather
and Hareflight raced to help Plumclaw. Shrewclaw glared at Cedarstar as the ShadowClan leader pinned Dawnstripe to the ground.
Windclan starts to become less the victim when Shrewclaw and Talltail trying to kill Cedarstar for Brackenwing's death, even though it's not confirmed which Shadowclan cat killed her. That still doesn't change the fact, Newtspeck killed Shrewclaw:
"I'll help you kill him," Talltail hissed. Shrewclaw lifted his forepaws and together they swiped at the blood-spattered tom, driving him toward the Thunderpath.
"Cedarstar!" Newtspeck's yowl split the air as the tabby warrior rushed to help her leader. She dived
for Shrewclaw, ears flat, lips drawn back. She sank her yellow teeth into Shrewclaw's shoulder,
thrusting her paws around the WindClan warrior and hauling him off Cedarstar. Shrewclaw snarled
and thrashed with his paws as he tried to reach for Cedarstar. Hareflight crouched stiffly beside him. "He'll die like his mother." The warrior's mew cracked. "Killed defending the moor against ShadowClan."
Since Cedarstar led the patrol and is the Leader, he'd clearly had some fault for why his Warriors to acted so viciously. He's the one who probably came up the battle tactics. So he's the one who ordered his warriors to:
Tag-team against outnumbered opponents. Including personally doing it himself.
Ordered or allowed Raggedpaw and the other warrior to drive Plumclaw dangerously close to the Thunderpath, which could of easily killed him.
Attacked a defeated warrior beyond necessary and was seemly aiming to kill her.
Allowed his warrior to aim for a throat-bite, usually fatal attacks and stopped Dawnstripe's apprentice was trying to prevent her murder attampt, including taunting him about it.
So to put all of Cedarstar's/Stonetooth's crimes together: They lead two unjustified attacks against Windclan for no reason. The first was to forever drive out the whole of Windclan from their camp and take all of the territory, not just a small area. The attack lead to Brackenwing's death.
The 2nd attack was against an outnumbered patrol, and they attempted to murder Dawnstripe. And their dirty methods could of easily killed Plumclaw and arguably Talltail as well. Finally, the attack leads to the death of Shrewclaw.
Attempted exile of a whole Clan and stealing of their entire land, just because they thought they were an easy target. Attacks lead to 2 deaths and almost resulted in serval more.
Even for Cedarstar's own clanmates he's questionable. Such as naming a warrior an insult and this is actually addressed in the Book. So this isn't some mistake on the Erins' part, Cedarstar is canonly aware of this. Then, he makes the inexperienced warrior, Raggedpelt deputy, despite his reckless plan had just got the previous deputy killed, which Cedarstar listened to. Also, even if Cedarstar wasn't aware of Raggedpelt's abuse towards his mate or killing his father, there still should of been outwards signs of the kind of cat he was.
When Cedarstar announces Stonetooth's retirement at the Gathering, even Shadowclan was surprised. Meaning Cedarstar hadn't even told his own Clan yet.
Windclan:
However this isn't to say Windclan so innocent, proven by Yellowfang's Secret.
When Yellowkit was in the Nursery, even the kits were wary/aware of Windclan being the current danger:
"You're not our mentors!" Nutkit snapped. "All you know how to do is mess up our game."
"Your game!" Raggedkit rolled his eyes. "Like you wouldn't go squealing into the nursery if
WindClan really attacked our camp."
"Would not!" Rowankit exclaimed.
In the same scenes, The Elders tell stories about having trouble with Windclan even back before their retirement:
The elders were gossiping in a patch of warm sun beside the tree stump. Yellowkit caught a scrap of their conversation.
". . . sent that WindClan warrior squealing all the way back to his camp," Lizardfang meowed. "We didn't put up with any nonsense from WindClan in my day, let me tell you."
"No, and not from ThunderClan either," Silverflame purred. Maybe if I go over there she'd tell me a
story. Then she shook her head. No, more likely I'd have to listen to Lizardfang yakking on about
all the WindClan warriors he chased of .
When the kits see Snow for the first time, Raggedpelt instantly assumes it Windclan, implying once again, they had run in with Windclan before:
The camp lay under a thick white covering, and more of
the white stuff weighed down the branches of the encircling pine trees.
"Wow!" Yellowkit squeaked. "What happened?"
Nutkit and Rowankit appeared beside her, their eyes round as they gazed out.
"Did WindClan do this to us?" Nutkit growled. "I'll shred their fur!"
"No." Brightflower pushed her way out of the nursery, her paws sinking into the white stuff, and
turned to look back at her kits. Her eyes were warm with amusement. "This is snow. We get it
sometimes in leaf-bare."
As an apprentice, Yellowpaw instantly suspicious of the Windclan tunnel:
"Over there," Deerleap continued, "is another tunnel. That one leads straight into
WindClan territory. What do you think that means?"
"Trouble!" Yellowpaw exclaimed.
Slightly later, a Windclan was found stealing prey and trepassing on Shadowclan territory during Leafbare:
"Cats—and not ShadowClan cats," she mewed softly as she followed Foxpaw. "This could mean
trouble." She caught up to Foxpaw within sight of the Thunderpath. The young ginger she-cat was standing in
the middle of a puddle of feathers, gazing down at them with a look of dismay. [...]
"Look at this," she meowed, beckoning Foxpaw with her tail. "See how small and light those paw
prints are?" she pointed out when Foxpaw reached her side. "I'll bet a moon of dawn patrols that they
were made by WindClan cats." "WindClan!" Foxpaw exclaimed. "Stealing our prey! They can't do that. Let's get them!"
While searching for answers by going into Windclan territory, Stonetooth even plans to give them the chance to explain themselves:
Stonetooth went on. "Listen to everything I say. We won't attack right away. We'll give
WindClan a chance to explain themselves first."
"Like they'll be able to explain WindClan scent and pigeon feathers inside our borders," Deerleap
snarled.
More of Stonetooth's peaceful methods show:
When the ShadowClan cats reached the brow of the hill, they spotted a patrol of WindClan cats
heading across the moor toward them. Stonetooth halted, signalling with his tail for the rest to do the
same. "We'll let them come to us," he meowed.
Ok, this is where is gets more questionable, however, Shadowclan still does have their reasons for attacking:
"What are you doing on our territory?" Reedfeather demanded.
"Don't you know?" Stonetooth challenged. "We found pigeon feathers on our side of the Thunderpath, with WindClan scent and paw marks. You've been stealing our prey!"
"We've done nothing of the sort," Reedfeather retorted. "We chased that pigeon from our own
territory, and that makes it WindClan prey."
"That's not true, and you know it," Stonetooth growled, sliding out his claws.
Reedfeather tensed his muscles, his neck fur bristling. Yellowpaw could smell his fear. The
WindClan patrol was smaller, and the cats looked too weak and skinny to fight well.
[...]
"You need to leave," Reedfeather hissed. "You're not welcome on our territory."
"We're not going anywhere until you've been taught a lesson," Stonetooth responded.
Yellowpaw saw Reedfeather's gaze flicker. "All right," he mewed wearily. "You've made your
point. We'll stay on our own side of the border from now on."
Stonetooth didn't reply with words. Instead, he leaped onto the WindClan deputy, bearing him to
the ground. A heartbeat later, fighting exploded all around Yellowpaw.
Though Stonetooth quickly goes back being more humble like in earlier quotes:
Glancing around to find another opponent, Yellowpaw realized that the fight was all but over. Most
of the WindClan cats were pelting across the moor. Reedfeather was the last to break away and race
after his Clanmates, with Rowanpaw hard on his paws.
"No!" Stonetooth commanded. "Rowanpaw, come back!" As Yellowpaw's sister returned,
growling angrily, the Clan deputy continued, "There is no need to pursue a defeated enemy."
Yellowpaw thought she could discern sympathy in the deputy's voice and his eyes as he gazed after
the vanishing WindClan patrol. But he did not admit as much out loud. Instead he raised his tail.
"Back to our territory," he ordered. "There's nothing more to do here."
After the battle, Hollyflower still knows there will be more Windclan theists/attacks:
"There'll be other chances," Hollyflower told him with a twitch of her whiskers. "WindClan isn't
going to go away."
When Leafbare has drawn to a close and Yellowfang and Raggedpelt are warriors, Raggedpelt bring back news of Heatherstar assuming Shadowclan on trespassing. However, even Shadowclan within their own camp calls ridiculous, meaning it's proably false. As if it was true, Shadowclan would probably be boasting about in safe within their own borders. Or at least, they wouldn't be so offended about it:
"Any news?" Yellowfang asked, springing up.
Raggedpelt's expression was grim. "All the Clans looked better fed than us," he reported, his lips
drawn back in the beginning of a snarl. "And Heatherstar of WindClan told this ridiculous story about
picking up ShadowClan scent on their territory."
"That's completely unfair!" Yellowfang meowed indignantly. "No cat has been over there."
This carries on with patrolling. Once again, Shadowclan offer a more peaceful alternative then fighting:
Archeye halted and stared at the hills with narrowed eyes. "I can't believe what Heatherstar said at
the Gathering last night. She accused us of trespassing!"
Amberleaf flicked her tail. "Let her talk. WindClan cats are all meow and no claws."
Then directly after this, they find a Windclan patrol trespassing just for the sake of trespassing, considering Windclan are better fed now and ain't in need of stealing prey to survive. Also we see a few familiar faces:
How dare those mangy WindClan cats cross our border? Yellowfang thought. They accuse us of
trespassing, and then they set their filthy paws on our territory!
The trail led toward the underground tunnels. But before they reached the edge of the Thunderpath,
the patrol rounded a spindly thicket of birches and came upon four cats, confidently surveying
ShadowClan recognized them from previous Gatherings: Dawnstripe and the
young warrior Talltail, and a tom called Redclaw with his apprentice, Shrewpaw.
The Windclan try to us the made up accusation/lie of Shadowclan trespassing in order to trespass themselves:
"What in the name of StarClan are you doing here?" Archeye demanded.
All four WindClan cats jumped at the sound of his voice, and whipped around to face the
ShadowClan patrol. Yellowfang saw a flash of guilt in their faces, which vanished almost at once to
be replaced with defiance. Dawnstripe stepped forward. "ShadowClan scent has been found on WindClan territory," she
asserted.
"That's not true!" Archeye's voice was furious, and his neck fur began to bristle.
The Shadowclan cats are clearly weaker then Windclan cats, yet they feel the need to trespass anyway. They even offer them to leave peacefully, but they won't listen and even mock them about it:
Yellowfang moved forward to stand at Archeye's shoulder. Out of the corner of her eye, she could
see his ribs jutting through his patchy gray coat. Can't the WindClan cats see we're all so weak that
we can barely make it to the edge of our own territory?
"Even if we had trespassed on your territory," Amberleaf meowed, "which we didn't, that doesn't give you the right to be over here." She took a threatening step toward the intruders. "Get out now."
"Oh, can't we stay and have a look around?" Shrewpaw asked, his voice full of mock disappointment. "These skinny creatures aren't going to be able to stop us."
Without saying a word, Yellowfang and her Clanmates stepped into a battle line. A lightning bolt of
anger sliced through Yellowfang. ShadowClan is strong! How dare WindClan cats talk to us like
this?
"Look," Archeye began, "you know you're in the wrong. Leave now, and we can avoid a fight."
The WindClan cats didn't felt tension tingling through her body from her ears to
tail-tip, and she flexed her claws.
"And if we don't?" Redclaw sneered. "Are you going to eat us?"
After the fight, Shadowclan needs enforcement to defeat the stronger Windclan patrol. They give out more threats, when Shadowclan in the earlier battle, when Yellowfang was apprentice, thought the one attack was enough and planned to leave them alone:
"Get out!" Raggedpelt snarled. "If you think you can come here and attack our cats, you can think again. My
claws will show you that you're wrong."
"Easy enough to say," Dawnstripe growled.
[...]
"Don't you dare set paw on our territory again." Redclaw thrust out his neck so he was nose-tonose
with Raggedpelt. "Or you'll get more of the same."
Raggedpelt let out a contemptuous snort. "You terrify me."