The Vrignyan Revolution (Pacifica)
| The Vrignyan Revolution | |||||||
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Lifov Uprising. The Northern Guerilla Campaign. Burning of the Murkan Temple. Forest battle in the Firest Campaign. | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
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 First Republic of Vrigny |
 Zarkanxiz Resistance | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Jox Ibenin † |
 Marzarch Maxim Igen † | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
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Start of the conflict:
By 1806:
By 1810: ~850,000 |
Start of the conflict:
By 1806:
By 1810: ~180,000 | ||||||
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The Vrignyan Revolution (Vrignyan: Vrignyen Vikexir) or Vrignyan Revolutionary War (Vrignyan: Vrignyen Vikexiren Karvrak) was a period of sudden political and societal change in Vrigny which occurred mainly as a 11 year long civil war. Although several changes and smaller uprisings were reported prior, the date which is regarded as the official start of the Revolution is March 31 1801, due to the large scale of the Adlan Uprising and the skirmishes that followed. Due to the poor economic and societal conditions of the Vrignyan society under the rule of Zarnarch Erick Hassarn, the Revolution gained substantial support by the Vrignyan peasantry and parts of the military.
The initial conflict is considered to have ended on November 11 1806, after the end of the revolutionary conquest of the city of Vraks, the historical, administrative and spiritual capital of the Zarnarchy. Immediately after the revolutionary victory in the city, Zarnarch Erick Hassarn and Allxervar Jagan Yurin were captured trying to flee south to the remainder of Zarkanxiz-controlled territories. On the same day, both leaders were executed by a wooden stake against their heart and beheading. With the deaths of the Zarnarch and highest authority of the Zarkanxiz religion, the First Republic of Vrigny was proclaimed.
These executions sparked a war with the Marzarchy of Firest, a semi-independent vassal theocracy of the Zarnarchy. This war ended after 3 years of conflict between the remaining Zarkanxiz loyalist troops, the proper Firestian military and the Republican Army. With the Marzarchy of Firest defeated, the Vrignyan Republic of Firest was proclaimed as a fully independent Republic.
The Vrignyan Revolution officially ended on May 28 1812 after the final surrender of the southeastern Zarkanxiz guerrillas.
Causes
The Revolution was the result of several long-term and short-term factors that ended in a social, economic, financial and political crisis in the late 1790s and early 1800s. Due to the adoption of several authoritarian reforms by the Zarkanxiz clergy and administration, suggested mainly by Allxervar Jagan Yurin, Zarnarch Erick Hassarn and both their predecessors, the state was unable to gather enough support to uphold their values and manage the crisis.
Between 1730 and 1801, the Vrignyan population grew from an estimation of 18 to 26 million. The proportion of population living in the main towns and cities increased, with the three largest cities: Vraks, Adlan and Lifov having a population of around 450,000 each. Although the 18th century was relatively prosperous, the benefits were distributed mainly throughout the Vrignyan clergy and upper classes, as well as to maintain the Vrignyan colonization effort in Firestian lands. This unequal distribution due to the legislation of extraordinary taxes on the peasantry led to an increase of social conflict, which was exacerbated by the start of an economic recession since 1790. This recession led to high unemployment, and due to bad harvests and the tax on pastures for religious sacrifices, food prices also rose. This economic situation caused several small uprisings all around the Zarnarchy and only worsened the crisis.
Another important cause to note is the rise of Enlightened philosophers and writers in the second half of the 18th century. With many defending a democratic Vrigny for the peasantry, in which no such level of inequality between the lower and upper-religious classes exist, several groups and clubs were formed by the rising and dissatisfied midle-class in Vrigny's major cities to discuss the future of the country. Some of these philosophers and clubs also extended their ideology, from just a democratic republican Vrigny, to a Vrigny with no more Zarkanxiz; mainly due to its authoritarian nature and the rise of nihilism. The largest and most prominent of these groups was the so called Liberalists, which was formed in 1800 by Noah Vuseln, Nick Bisten, Maxim Hures and Jox Ibenin. Although its popularity was limited at first, due to censorship and prosecution by the Zarkanxiz Inquisition Tribunal (ZIT), the economic situation of the lower classes and the discontent within the Zarkanxiz Military made it soon gain a large following in the cities of Adlan and Lifov. The Liberalists regularly met in several undisclosed locations, since they had been classified as an illegal, heretic, group by the Zarnarchy.
Timeline
The Adlan Uprising
On March 30 1801, the group organized a secret meeting in a Vrignyan clothing workshop, however, several guards of the ZIT had managed to get the information about the meeting. This led to the arrest of around 36 members of the group, one of which was Nick Bisten. Although the guards were only able to arrest a small amount of all of the group's members which were assisting the meeting, an execution for the 36 members, including Nick Bisten, was scheduled for the following day by the Marzarxiz (Grand Priest) of Adlan.
The members of the Liberalists which managed to escape from the ZIT quickly organized and convened with the remainder of Liberalists all across the city of Adlan; many of these members being soldiers of differing ranks within the Zarkanxiz Military. During the night, several of these soldiers managed to covertly acquire a large amount of rifles, muskets and other weapons, such as pikes, battleaxes and swords.
During the morning of March 31, the preparations of the public mass execution of the Liberalists by the Zarnarchy were on their way. While it was being prepared, the members of the liberalists organized; weapons were distributed among the soldiers and the rest of the members. Just as the religious executioner was preparing the strike to behead the first victim of the Liberalists with his great Zarkanxiz executionary axe, he was shot several times as a small group of the Liberalists charged and another took positions for a guerrila-style skirmish against the ZIT and Zarnarchic forces.
This first skirmish allowed the captured Liberalists and Nick Bisten to resist and kick back against the Zarnarchic guards, even under their chains. Under the leadership of mainly Noah Vuseln and Maxim Hures, the Liberalists managed to overpower the Zarnarchic guards, many of whom fled, with some being captured or killed from the shootout. This symbolic battle marks the start of the Vrignyan Revolution: the Liberalists managed to break the chains of authoritarian religious rule and defeated a much more powerful enemy.
The Adlan War
With the Liberalist victory in the Execution Skirmish, the Liberalist forces reorganized, forming a true army of their own. A large amount of Adlan's citizens joined the revolutionary forces, under promises of a much better economic situation, the elimination of the Zarnarchy's unfair taxes, that only feed the Zarnarch and clergy's decadence; and political representation. For the following 20 days, the revolutionary forces fought several skirmishes against the Zarkanxiz military garrison within the city of Adlan, raiding armories to get a supply of weapons and consolidated their forces, as more and more Adlan citizens joined the revolutionary forces.
Different small military detachments fought for each street of the city. The Zarkanxiz military forces found themselves constantly under fire from the least expected locations or from residential buildings. The bloodiest battle fought in this initial phase of the revolution was in the Adlan Allxervar Winery in the eastern edges of the city. Revolutionary forces were greatly outnumbered by the first row of Zarkanxiz military reinforcements. However, under the leadership of Noah Vuseln, the intense battle fought both in the vineyards and in the winery itself ended up being a major victory for the revolutionaries, and pretty much solidified revolutionary control over the north and eastern parts of Adlan.
Another crucial battle for the revolutionaries was the battle of the Ekxen Bridge; Adlan's main and central bridge over the Vengril. Although it was a costly victory for the revolutionary militia, the Zarkanxiz garrison was overwhelmed by revolutionary forces, as well as rioting by part of unarmed civilians. In the immediate aftermath of this battle, the Marzarxiz of Adlan, Jox Hinelen was captured by revolutionary forces. A small conflict then sparked between the four leaders of the revolution: Noah Vuseln and Nick Bisten, fierce anti-theists, defended the execution of all captured Zarkanxiz clergy; meanwhile, Maxim Hures and Jox Ibenin, simple republican democrats, weren't in favor of any executions, as they considered it a morally superior rule of law over the Zarnarchy.
This small conflict was resolved by input of lower ranked military officers within the revolutionary militia. On April 20 1801, Marzarxiz Jox Hinelen was executed by a wooden stake on the heart, as well as beheading with a Zarkanxiz executionary axe. This day also saw the city of Adlan being fully under revolutionary military control, which led to the proclamation of the Adlan Republic by revolutionaries. A white-black-white tricolor was flown over several important administrative and religious buildings, the latter being closed due to the imprisonment of the Zarkanxiz clergy by revolutionary officials.
The Lifov Uprising
Following the victory of revolutionary forces in the city of Adlan, a small group of members from the Lifov detachment of the Liberalists, as well as ex-Zarkanxiz soldiers covertly infiltrated Lifov's main military garrison, on the northern side of the city, to find the necessary weapons for the group. However, on April 29, after days of fighting on the fields in between the cities of Adlan and Lifov, a large group of revolutionary militia successfully made its way to Lifov's northern costal district. After establishing contact with the revolutionaries, the Lifov Liberalists soon began an uprising of their own in other zones of the city, slowly making some gains against the Zarkanxiz garrison with some support of the Adlan revolutionary militia.
Although these skirmishes and battles weren't as intense as those that occurred in Adlan, the Lifov revolutionaries slowly and gradually gained control of the city and pushed out the Zarkanxiz military by May 17. Although the Marzarxiz of Lifov, Nicen Iuras, managed to escape from being captured by the revolutionaries, the Lifov Zarkanxiz Temple was set aflame by the militia, and other administrative buildings were decorated with a white-purple-white tricolor.
With Lifov now under revolutionary control, instead of the establishment of yet another revolutionary republic, it was decided between the two revolutionary groups to form one single republic: The Western Republic, which would fly the flag of the Adlan Republic. This united republic soon enough managed to recruit and conscript enough citizens and peasants from controlled territories to be able to match the strength of the weakened and demoralised Zarkanxiz army.
The Northern Guerilla Warfare
After the fall of Vrigny's western cities, news had spread all across the Zarnarchy about the revolution and how its armies were preparing to expand its control to all of Vrigny's coastal provinces. In Northern Vrigny; mainly around the city of Dianxe and to the east of Murkan, the economic situation had become much more dire compared to that on the rest of the country. This situation led to the creation of an initially small group comprised of hunters and rainforest explorers with the objective of disrupting Zarkanxiz supply routes to the cities of Murkan, Vimen, Hern and the rest of the provinces. With a secret visit of Nick Bisten to the village of Diburien, where the group was organized at first, an alliance was formalized that made the group officially join the revolutionary army.
There were countless guerilla raids and ambushes against Zarkanxiz supply convoys that were headed towards Murkan and the Northern scenario. Most of these supply convoys had their resources seized and distributed among the guerilla fighters and the population of several small towns around the area. Some were even re-routed towards revolutionary supply routes after the capture of the Zarkanxiz soldiers or their recruitment after swearing loyalty to the revolution.