History of Urcea (1575-1798): Difference between revisions

The '''History of Urcea from 1575-1798''', sometimes also called the '''Imperial Period''', consists of period of time from the establishment of end of the [[Great Confessional War]] through the end of the reign of King Lucás III, last [[Emperor of the Levantines]] from [[House de Weluta]] during this period. This period saw [[Urcea]] reach one of its apexes of power and influence, holding the title of [[Emperor of the Levantines]] for more than half of the period while making major gains in military professionalization and early economic industrialization. The period is characterized by growth for the Kingdom as it gained the [[Kingdom of Crotona]], [[Talionia|Kingdom of Talionia]], and [[Grand Duchy of Carolina]]. The period also lead to significant alienation between Urcea and its neighbors within the [[Holy Levantine Empire]] which would have repercussions in the period to come.

The period saw a relative unusual succession, including two "Years of Three Kings" - 1627 and 1656. Leo II was succeeded by his son Constantine III, who reigned from 1597 to 1601 dying from natural causes. His son, Aedanicus IV, was also short-reigned, ruling from 1601 to 1612. Aedanicus IV had three sons, two of which would rule the country. The first, Aedanicus V, died in 1627 and left the throne to his son Adrian IV, who died in childhood after just three months on the throne. Aedanicus V's brother, Leo III, assumed the throne and would rule from 1627 through 1651. Leo's sons (Brian I and Seán III) would rule respectively from 1651-1656 and for two days in 1656, before the throne passed to a cousin. The accession of King Riordan VI was unusual in this respect, in that it was the only time in the history of [[House de Weluta]] that the throne passed to a cousin. Riordan VI was the descendant of the third son of Aedanicus IV. Riordan and his sons were prodigious, ensuring the survival of the dynasty.

At the end of the [[Great Confessional War]], the Urcean Crown annexed the entire western heartland of the former [[Kingdom of Gassavelia]] in the 1570s. The legal, economic, and social integration of these regions were haphazard at best and were not a major priority of the Crown or Government. The area was divided into more than a dozen different counties, duchies, and margravates ruled individually by the [[Apostolic King of Urcea]] but functionally governed by local magnates. Severe economic depression gripped the region as futile efforts to transform the hilly and tropical area into land suitable for large, Valley-style agricultural settlement. These efforts lead to famine and large scale out-migration into other parts of the Kingdom, worsening the labor supply and economic situation. Despite this, little effort was made to ameliorate conditions. By [[1650]], secret socieites began to form throughout the few remaining heavily populated urban centers of the region. The authorities, such as they were, managed to suppress opposition for a time, but by the 1670s culturally [[Gassavelian people|Gassavelian]] magnates began to store large amounts of arms and ammunition. In 1675, the magnates and large groups of urban rebels declared an open rebellion against the Urceans in favor of one of their own, a magnate named Arses, who began to style himself King Arses III. The ensuing conflict would be known as the '75 Rising.

Forces loyal to Arses, known as ''Arsesians'', managed to quickly seize most of the militarily valuable castles and strongpoints throughout the region, such that by December 1675 de facto independence had been achieved. Few forward positions in Gassavelia existed that the Royal Army could use, but a route did exist south of the [[Magnag]] running through large passes in the [[Hortus Mountains]] which the Royal Army still controlled. The situation essentially required the Army to campaign through the eastern [[Urcean frontier]], through which large scale military movement was not possible without huge supply trains due to the near-desert like conditions of the region. Accordingly, the first Royal Army expedition which intended to cross the Hortus Mountains was launched in February 1676 from [[Urceopolis (City)|Urceopolis]] of 15,000 men, most of whom died from starvation and disease along the way. By the time the first expedition reached the passes, only 4,000 men remained and it was decided they would remain at the passes to garrison them rather than pushing onward. Despite the early military failures of the Royal Army, the Gassavelians were diplomatically and economically isolated. The [[Royal Navy (Urcea)|Royal Navy]] began a blockade of the region, and neighboring authorities in [[Faramount]] fully complied with the embargo due to their own fears of a Gassavelian uprising in their territory. With the [[Urcean frontier]] to the north of Gassavelia and [[Canaery]] and its associated duchies to the west, Gassavelia was encircled. With little foreign trade options, famine in the territory grew worse. This lead to many extremely violent raids for food into Canaery, which raised enmity between both sides. Small raiding parties from Canaery were raised in early spring 1676 and began their own campaign of plunder against the Gassavelians, representing the first loyal land force engaged in the conflict.

In May 1676, the Royal Army managed to deploy a significant force - 12,500 men - into Gassavelia. Since the approach to the country was totally secured by the enhanced Hortus Mountain pass garrisons, the Army was accompanied by a disproportionately large supply train. While such a train would be difficult to defend in open conflict, the region north of the Hortus was completely safe. From the arrival of this force in May, the main portion of fighting began. From then on, the northernmost portion of the country was considered to be the most loyalist and the major base of resupply and recruitment for the Royal Army, with the central part of the country having the most Arsesian support. Following storms and other difficulties, a second force of around 13,000 was landed in the coastal region of Gassavelia in October 1676. For the next three years, these armies would engage in a brutal campaign of attrition against Arsesian loyalist forces. In most battles, the Arsesians were able to better concentrate their forces and issue smaller tactical defeats to the Royal Army that nonetheless stymied its ability to project power into the Gassavelian interior. Supply issues remained constant, and much of the war was characterized by large scale raids by each side against the other's supply trains and farms loyal to each side, leading to strategic supply concerns and additional devastation to the civilian economy. Campaigns throughout 1677 and 1678 were largely unsuccessful before a major campaign in April 1679 saw the northern Royal Army forces sail up the Saianda River and sack [[Harzenon]], the historic capital of the region and the major base of Arsesian support. The sack allowed the Royal Army to control the entire length of the Saianda River, linking up the northern and southern Royal Armies and sending most of the rebels into isolation. The conflict continued until August 1679 when the unified Royal Army destroyed the largest rebel army and captured the pretender Arses, who was subsequently sent back to [[Urceopolis (City)|Urceopolis]] in chains.  

The period of Imperial rule made any potential loss of the Imperial title a deep wound that de Welutas would do everything in their power to prevent. Not only would it remove the high station to which the Apostolic King would have become accustomed to, but it might also signal the weakness of the House against other potential Julian cadet branches domestically. Once it came, it meant that the [[Julian dynasty]]'s leading family could no longer accept being a "mere" Imperial vassal. Academics who have focused on the family believe this sense of entitlement not only lead to the later [[Recess of the Julii]] but also set Urcea down the course of becoming an international {{wp|great power}} rather than a major political player within the Empire.

In 1780, Emperor Brian VII intervened in the [[Veltorine War of Independence]], a war that saw the [[Royal and Imperial Army (Urcea)|Royal and Imperial Army]] fight on [[Sarpedon]] for the first time against [[Caphiria]]. The war concluded under Brian's successor, Emperor Lucás III, and in 1782 the Urcean Crown received [[Talionia]] as compensation for their aid to [[Veltorina]]. The Kingdom of Talionia was established that year as a holding of the de Weluta family outside the jurisdiction of the Empire and, critically, it was not directly incorporated under the sphere of the [[Concilium Daoni]] as had been the case with other crownlands. The decision to not incorporate Talionia within the Empire damaged relations between the Emperor and the [[Imperial Diet]], senior leaders in which viewed the move as a consolidation of power for House de Weluta at the expense of a potential gain for the Empire. Despite this incident, some efforts towards legal reform and centralization continued to receive favorable votes within the Diet and were implemented throughout the 1780s.

The first decade of Lucás's reign proceeded mostly without incident, but under the surface several Princes were conspiring. The Duke of Upper Verecundia, son of the Emperor who was defeated in the [[War of the Caroline Succession]] was revealed in 1794 to be part of the so-called "''Red Emperor''" Plot, a conspiracy to potentially assassinate the Emperor in conjunction with a mass uprising of the Princes. King Lucás's forces easily overcame Upper Verecundia's small forces and took the Duke into custody. While imprisoned, several other conspiracies began to grow throughout the Empire, particularly in the [[Kingdom of Dericania]]. The question of what to do with the Duke of Upper Veredunia became a major political issue in both [[Urceopolis (City)|Urceopolis]] and in [[Corcra (City)|Corcra]], but in early 1796, after waffling indecisively for two years, Emperor Lucás decided to sentence the Duke to death for treason. The decision to sentence the Duke to death for treason, rather than the conspiracy itself, lead to widespread outrage within the Empire and, in conjunction with three decades of de Weluta primogeniture, proved to most the "despotic" nature of the Urcean Crown. The Princes and Estates of the Kingdom of Dericania declared themselves in rebellion by June of 1796, joined later in the year by most of the other princes in the Empire, beginning what was later known as the [[Second Caroline War]].

At the dawn of Urcea's Imperial period, {{wp|baroque}} art was entering prominence in Urcea and throughout the [[Holy Levantine Empire]] within the context of the {{wp|Counter Reformation}} and Catholic victory in the [[Great Confessional War]]. The rise of the [[Social class in Urcea|privilegiata]] during this period lead to the development of private commissions for court, Church, and noble artwork, which greatly expanded the quality and quantity of art in Urcea during this time. As part of Urcea's "Baroque explosion," {{wp|Rococo architecture}} in Urcea became the default construction style of public and ecclesiastical structures during the 17th century and is best exemplified by the great Royal palaces: the [[Julian_Palace#Caeline_Palace|Caeline Palace]] (part of the Julian Palace complex), the [[The Hermitage (Cálfeld)|Hermitage]], and [[Electorsbourg]] were all built or partly rebuilt in this style. Throughout the streets of [[Urceopolis (City)|Urceopolis]], many new churches were constructed in this style during the 17th century.

Sacrifice and simplicity not only extended to architecture. Public concern over social opulence lead to the extravagant parties and numerous commissions of art to decline rapidly in the last decade of the 17th century as many prominent Urceans attempted to emphasize their own humility. No "Caroline" art style emerged during this period, as the Baroque painted style continued throughout the 18th century, but with much fewer commissions and generally less grand and creative works created during this century.