Great War (Pacifica)

Great War
Date 27 August 1949 – 7 February 1955 (1949-08-27 – 1955-02-07) (5 years and 164 days) Location Crabry, Gulf of Kringalia, Frastinia, South Pacific Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Western Keyli, Southwestern Bailtem Result Allied victory Fall of Imperialist Karnetvor, Imperialist Tekarai and Nationalist GI-Land Allied military occupations of Karnetvor, liberation of Ubesii Beginning of the Nuclear Age Beginning of the Cold War (See Aftermath)
Participants
Allies	Imperialists
Commanders and leaders
Main Allied leaders: Anti-Imperialist TCC city states: ??? Hevv Ponienn  ??? The Peony, Mei Yan Ernst Stroman	Main Imperialist leaders: Stjepan Masić Johnathan Fletcher Meinhard Frank
Casualties and losses
...further details

The Great War was a series of interconnected wars and spin-off wars in the South Pacific that lasted from 1949 to 1955. It involved two opposing alliances: the Allies and the Imperialists and their respective allies. The major participants engaged their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities in the war effort. It was the deadliest conflict in human history with over xx military and civilian casualties.

The Great War begun on August 27 1949 when Karnetvor under Stjepan Masić invaded the TCC from Tasternine. Subsequently, Sedunn, Ryccia and Stoina - dubbed the Allies, including the TCC - declared war on Karnetvor. Tekarai honoured its alliance with Karnetvor, and were collectively called the Imperialists.

Background

Sub-Capricorn

In the 1940s the political situation in the southern half of the South Pacific Ocean (i.e. the Sub-Capricorn) had been relatively stable since the collapse of the expansionist Karnetvorian Confederacy in 1928, which had been replaced by a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy. However, the Kingdom of Karnetvor was becoming overpopulated and the new welfare system struggled. In 1944 Stjepan Masić of the Social-Democratic Party was elected on a platform of social reforms, an expanded welfare system and a revanchist foreign policy. To solve Karnetvor's problems, he argued for gaining control over the southern half of the South Pacific Ocean to provide the necessary goods and raw materials to his population and land for repopulation.

On 24 October 1944, Karnetvor and Tekarai signed a non-agression pact. Tekarai was a colonial empire and had recently annexed Ubesii on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, where Tekarai wished to expand further.

The Tasternine Archipelago was a main hub for trans-Pacific trade as well as for Karnetvorian power projection in the region. It was considered to be in a vulnerable position due to its proximity to Termina, located to its south. Since the Karnetvorian Confederacy had annexed Tasternine there had been calls to control the Terminan city states along the the Crabrian coast, and serval proposals had been made to the TCC to let Karnetvor rent ports and build bases there, which had all been turned down, but unanimously. Some city states favoured Karnetvorian control for the business opportunities it provided. By 1949, tensions were high.

On 23 August 1949, the Karnetvorian crown prince and his wife travelled to Clocktown, Termina, for trade negotiations. During a tour of the city, an immigrant called Alexandro Petro got on top of the car's hood, and shot the Crown Prince in the chest three times before moving onto his wife, which he also shot three times, killing the couple. Petro was apprehended and taken to a prison where he would be executed, and the TCC chancellor sincerely apologised for murder. The following day, Karnetvor started mobilising in secret.

Course of the war

War breaks out (1949)

Karnetvorian paratroopers taking an unknown airport in the TCC.

05:00 hours, August 27th 1949 the Karnetvorian navy and air force launched strikes against TCC ports and airfields (Operation Raven). Airborne and marine troops were deployed to secure airfields, ports and other strategic infrastructure to secure beachheads and airheads for the bulk of the invasion forces. Some TCC city states openly sided with Karnetvor, offering favourable concessions to the detriment to the city state where the assassination happened. A formal state of war was declared, citing the assassination of the heir to the throne of Karnetvor as casus belli.

On the same day, Sedunn, Ryccia, both being important naval powers in the South Pacific Ocean and liberal democracies, and Stoinia, declared war on Karnetvor, wanting to preserve the balance of power in the region and save Termina from annexation. Johnathan Fletcher, supreme leader of the Dominion of Tekarai, honoured the alliance with Karnetvor and joined the war, seeking to dominate the Mediterranean Sea and cripple its rival Sedunn.

On August 28, Sedunn pulled back naval forces from the Remetull Islands to concentrate them in the Mediterranean Sea to take on the Tekarian navy to prevent it from joining the Karnetvorian forces in the ocean, despite knowing about the Karnetvorian plans to invade the strategically important islands. Sedunn started evacuating the military from Piel, the main island, to save its cities from destruction in a potential battle, to the smaller islands. The main harbours were destroyed to prevent Karnetvor from making strategic usage of the islands. Ezervulge mobilised its military to potentially take advantage of the situation and avenge its defeat in Peter I's War.

Karnetvor maked rapid gains against TCC and was able to transfer several hundreds of thousands troops by ship and air, having supremacy at sea.

<North Cordilia here...>

The fight for naval supremacy in the Sub-Capricorn (1949-1950)

Tekarian carrier group "Johnathan Fletcher" under attack during the Second Naval Battle of the Strait of Saint Michael.

In October, the Sedunnic navy engaged and thoroughly defeated the Tekarian navy in the Second Naval Battle of the Strait of Saint Michael, dealing a crippling blow to the Tekarian war effort in the Mediterranean Sea and the Sub-Capricorn. Ezervulge demobilised and declared strict neutrality which meant that Sedunn and Stoinia could redeploy units that had been intended for the defence of the homelands. Karnetvor invited Techganet to join the war on its side, offering territory in Crabry. Techganet accepted.

It is my great pleasure to relay to you that all primary and secondary objectives have been fully completed. This occasion, which may have won us the war, calls for celebrations, but I am afraid we are sinking. No time for anything elaborate.

—Paksarr Vosallu, captain of the Sedunnic flagship the cruiser SNS Tapparad (lost), reporting to the naval headquarters

Meanwhile, Karnetvor landed troops unopposed on Piel Island, occupying it. In what was to be known as the Gentlemen's War, the Karnetvorian and Sedunnic commanders avoided excessive force and informed each other when they were about to destroy equipment or buildings so that they could evacuate their personnel. This was due the old friendship between high ranking officers in the nations.

(??, ??: Gianlucaland joins the war. Sedunn and Stoinia incapacitates its small naval forces in Sallodesia...)

Karnetvor invaded and annexed Government Island in January 1950, deporting the entirety of its population. The island had great strategic value and was to be used as a stepping stone for the planned invasion of the Siculites later. Sedunn's navy was strained from the previous battles and patrolling and needed to recover. Additional ships were ordered on a massive scale. Stoinia helped building ships.

In February 1950, the situation stabilised in Termina, but Karnetvor was not in full control yet as the capital was not in their hands yet. Imperialist forces (Karnetvor, Techganet and Tekarai) landed on the Siculite Islands. In a month, they defeated the Ryccian defenders, but the Ryccians and the natives fought a guerrilla campaign, that was not fully defeated until April. The islands were annexed by Karnetvor.

Sedunn, being largely unopposed in the Mediterranean Sea, supplied Ubesian rebels with weapons. Ryccia managed to send naval reinforcements through Imperialist blockades (either Gianlucan if north or Tekarian if south) which arrived in Stoinia and Sedunn.

By May 1950, Sedunn was ready to resume large-scale naval operations. Sedunn, supported by Stoinia and Ryccia defeated the Karnetvorian navy in the Battle of the Sea of Sedunn and the Battle for Bravero Sea, cutting off the Siculites and Government Island from Karnetvorian supply lines. With the eastern half of Sub-Capricorn mostly secured, the Allies (Sedunn, Ryccia and Stoinia) started sending reinforcements to Termina, and the Karnetvorian advance was slowed down.

Stagnation and rise of rebellions (1951-1952)

The frontlines in Termina stabilised in 1951 after both sides were able to send reinforcements. Imperialist air forces launched an unsuccessful bombing campaign of the Sedunnic west cost from Government Island and the Siculites. On March 5 1952 the Sedunnic King Hevv died and Queen Yemms Sperallu replaced him. It is not known if the cause was natural.

Sedunn and Ryccia launched a top-secret plan to develop nuclear weapons.

Rebellion in Ubesii

By June, it was becoming evident that Tekarai was struggling to maintain control in Ubesii and a new law was passed, which deprived Ubesians of their citizenship and forced many of them to live in closed-off ghettos. This sparked an armed rebellion, which slowly gained momentum.

Rebellion in Huawan

During the first two years of the war, the Peocracy had been strictly neutral. Then through the agitation of Mikhail Aerinn, the country started questioning the role of The Peony and her decisions plunging the country into a civil war in August 1951. Three sides rose. One faction supported the Imperialists, being sympathetic towards the Karnetvorians avenging the crown prince and harbouring anti-Sedunnic sentiments, one that supported the Allies, and one that supported the status quo and the royal palace.

In July 1952 the civil war in Huawan was resolved with the infiltration of the shogunates of Huawan, and the Peony regained complete control. Evidence of Sedunnic agitation, and private calls for alliance with the imperialists were uncovered. But The Peony maintained the court, and assured that "no further blood was to be spilt", and that she would not join the war.

Rebellion in Arnchow

Main article: Arnchow Rebellion (Pacifica)

Invasion of Huawan and entry of Izaakia (1952)

Peonic troops defending Xīnyuè 28 September 1952.

Fearing that the Peonic Navy could still enter the war on the Allies' side, the Imperialists took pre-emptive action to ensure that the ships would not enter the ocean. After a rejected ultimatum to join the Imperialist side, Imperialist forces landed on Hai Men Island in August 1952 and airborne troops landed in the Shogunate of Minnan, that was trying to secede from Huawan. By controlling the the island of Hai Men, the goal was to close the straits between the island and Huawan Seaside and block vessels from leaving Huawan. The Imperialists rapidly gain ground, but never completely controlled the island due to the fierce guerilla fighting and support from the Izaakian garrison in the Hai Men City. However, the Imperialists established control over the straits for a time and managed to damage some of the Peonic ships at dock.

Izaakia declared war on Karnetvor and invaded the Karnetvorian Antarctic to reclaim territories lost in 1883-1885 and 1915. In October 1952 Izaakia had initial successes against the Karnetvorians in Keyli, liberating Manta City, but their advance was halted by Techganet reinforcements.

Allies gain momentum (1953–54)

In August 1953, the Imperialist forces finally laid siege to the TCC capital, having pushed a costly advance for almost six months. The battle was brutal, as it quickly degenerated into house to house fighting. In October, the Imperialists had taken half of the city, but could not replace their losses as easily as the Allies. On December 3, the Allies counterattacked, destroying the Imperialist divisions that defended the outskirts of the city. The Allies then surrounded the Karnetvorian forces. The situation became dire, as they were left without food, water, or ammunition, and supplying the besieged Karnetvorians became impossible. They were annihilated. The Battle of Clocktown, the most bloody battle of the war, ended on February 4th, 1954, when the remaining Karnetvorians surrendered to the Allies and the devastated city was liberated. The Imperialist survivors were captured and sent to POW camps. They only returned home after the end of the war. The battle proved to be the turning point of the war, the Imperialists could never resupply their forces properly. Remaining Imperialist forces started retreating towards Tasternine, fighting a successful delay campaign against the Allied forces, implementing a scorched earth policy; the Imperialist soldiers burned villages, destroyed railways and roads, killed civilians, and looted or destroyed anything that could help the enemy. In Karnetvor, Prime Minister Masić was given emergency powers, allowing him to take decisions without parliamentary oversight. In Tekarai, the government started the "Final Solution" to the "Ubesiian problem", deporting Ubesians to concentration camps, and killing them by shootings, or gas.

As the battle for Clocktown dragged on, the Allies ramped up their naval campaigns. During the Battle of the Tasterninian Sea, July 19 1953, the Sedunnic, Ryccian, and Stoinian navies destroyed Karnetvor's Tasterninian Fleet, cutting off the Imperialists in Termina from Tasternine. The Allies landed on Tasternine, which fell a month later, on August 25th. Tasternine was the first "official" Imperialist territory to be captured by Allied forces.

In August, combined Peonic-Izaakian forces were also successful against the Imperialists. The Imperialist forces on Hai Men Island surrendered after a series of battles, meanwhile in southern Huawan, the Imperialists were defeated in a bloody battle. The Peonic Navy could finally leave its ports. Huawan officially joined the war on the Allies' side.

On December 14 1953, Allied forces landed on the Siculite Islands, liberating them almost without resistance, as the defending Karnetvorians had run out of supplies due to the fall of Tasternine, and were demoralized. The Karnetvorians surrendered three days after the landings. On the same month, Ubesii declared its independence from Tekarai following the advance of the rebels. In January 1954 the Karnetvorian forces on Piel Island surrendered without a fight, being totally cut off and outgunned.

Allies close in (1954)

On February 10, 1954, the new Republic of Ubesii had defeated the Tekaraian Army and stopped the Ubesiian Genocide. Tekarai, faced by a possible Allied invasion, informed the Allies of their decision to surrender. Karnetvorian Prime Minister Masić took the news as a betrayal, and severed relations with Tekarai. Ubesii, now enjoying international recognition, declared war against Karnetvor. Since then, Ubesii sent its own units to fight with the Allies.

In 1954, the Imperialists in occupied territory were low on supplies and morale, which the Allies took advantage of. Government Island was liberated by the Allies in March. Large-scale bombing campaigns of Mainland Karnetvor were initiated. In may 13, the surviving Imperialists in Termina surrendered. In September 1954, Allied naval forces defeated a joint Imperialist navy in the Battle of Foreseas. The joint navy was the last time the Imperialists managed to deploy a larger naval force, and the Allies gaining total supremacy at sea. Protests and strikes against the government happened in Karnetvor.

Collapse of the Imperialists (1954-1955)

General Dragov (centre) signing the capitulation in Karnetgrad.

As conditions had worsened for the Techanerean economy and facing imminent defeat, Techganet decided to surrender to the Allies on new years eve, 31 december 1954. All territories gained in Crabry were ceded to the Allies, and the Techanerean king was required to broadcast a formal apology for Techganet's involvement in the war.

Due to the timely surrender of Techganet, the Allies were confident enough to land troops on Mainland Karnetvor on February 1, significantly bolstered by Peonic land and air forces. The invasion shocked the Karnetvoiran government as well as the population. Prime Minister Masić tried to convince the Karnetvorian people to fight to the death for their country, but they had had enough. Behind the scenes, General Dragov, King Peter II, and the opposition started plotting to overthrow Masić and end the war. In an emergency session on February 5, the Parliament adopted a motion of no confidence in Masić's government, with most members of his own party voting in favour. Masić contacted the army to evaluate his options, but Dragov had convinced the Armed Forces to remove Masić by force if the plan failed. King Peter officially deposed Masić on February 6th, and ordered his arrest on charges of abuse of power, violating the Constitution, and war crimes, which was carried out the same day. Dragov was appointed Interim Prime Minister by the King. Due to his earlier support for both the war, and Masić's government, the King's position became untenable, and, to avoid a general uprising, he abdicated in favour of his daughter, Princess Zelda. The next day, February 7, 1955, Karnetvor surrendered to the Allies, ending the war. The Arnchow Rebellion would continue to drag on violently for another year after the capitulation of Karnetvor until the weakened Republic of Arnchow capitulated to the Allies through the signing of the Treaty of Jalan Mulut Timur on July 11, 1956 during the Siege of Hsi'an.

Aftermath

More than xx million people died on the war. It is the deadliest war in South Pacifican history.

Karnetvor was under Allied occupation for ten years. Karnetvor was declared to be the main perpetrator of the war. As such, it lost all of its colonies (Karnetvorian West Keylian Territories to Izaakia, Marresa to Ryccia), with the exception of Tasternine; half of the Tasterninian population was (and still is) of Karnetian (Karnetvorian native) descent. Karnetvor also renounced all claims to Termina, and lost its status as a major power. Princess Zelda was officially crowned Queen on January 1st, 1956, and elections were held two weeks later, resulting in an Opposition victory. The Imperialists were also forced to pay war reparations to the Allies, which were completed in the 1970s. In 1989, after the fall of the monarchy, the new republican government in Karnetvor announced it would not respond to any more reparations claims, due to the debt being already paid.

In Sedunn the policy of combatting expansionism in the South Pacific was questioned, and in the 1960 elections the Moderate Party promised to pursue a less "extraverted" foreign policy and refrain from policing abroad and to reduce military expenses. However, with its infrastructure and industry largely intact, the Sedunnic economy entered the post-war era in a strong position.

To this day, the war is a controversial topic in Karnetvor, and Prime Minister Masić (who was released in 1969, dying three years later) is a controversial figure, with some praising him for defending the country's interests, and others condemning him for bringing it to ruin.