Third Kin War

The Third Kin War was a conflict which took place between Faneria and Fiannria in 1820-23. It was waged over control of the Fiannrian Vandarch Regions (?) and to force the concession of the isles of ______ and _____ along the Nordskan coast.

Third Kin War
Part of Fanerian-Fiannrian Kin Wars
Fhainnin and Fiannrian regulars clash in Srathlann, 1821
Date April 1, 1820 - March 28, 1823 Location Northern Levantia Result Fanerian victory Parts of Sorhaithe ceded to Faneria Fiannrian Vandarch(?) ceded to Faneria
Belligerents
Faneria	Fiannria
Commanders and leaders
Throne's Army and allied forces Royal Army of Faneria Army of Saelin Electoral Army of Hollonia-Diorisia
Units involved
Royal Army 5th Army 8th Army 10th Army 12th Army 14th Army	Army of Fiannria (?)

Background and Causes

Second Kin War and the Commonwealth

Further information: West Vandarch War and Second Kin War

The preceding Second Kin War, fought over Faneria's annexation of the Transisthmus states in the 1770s immediately prior, had ended with a white peace in the form of the Treaty of Aucey. In effect, the treaty was designed to mock the Fiannrian state by being named for a pivotal battle site in the West Vandarch War, and effectively legitimized the conquest of the Kingdom of Culriocha and subsequent impressment of neighboring Lorea and Namve as nations in real union with the Fanerian Throne. The continued occupation of Fiannria's former ally Culriocha, despite a popular uprising against the Fanerian garrison in 1798, played a significant part in the decline of the League of Culfras and the formation of the Commonwealth of Fiannria in 1803. One of the new Fiannrian government's primary mandates in its early years was preparation for a future war with Faneria to force the emancipation of the Transisthmus.

The Saelish issue

Further information: Saelish Partition

Fiannria and Faneria had mutually agreed to break up the Kindgom of Saelin in 1745 as part of the Saelish Partition. In this deal, Saelin had become a neutral rump state along the coast and Saelish Archipelago in a personal union with Faneria, with Faneria directly annexing a large swathe of highland territory in the continental interior. The League of Culfras, unable to seriously contest the inheritance of the Saelish throne by a Fanerian monarch at the time, had accepted territory in the eastern Archipelago and coast offered as compensation for its inaction. Regardless, Fanerian dominance over Saelin allowed Vandarch-based trade to bypass Caeric taxes on the Kilikas-Nordskan Straights and interrupted Culfran plans to integrate Saelin as a member of the League.

These territories became a lever for future conflicts, as in 1794, mere months after the conclusion of the Second Kin War, Rih Cywir Suthar-Màrtainn declared himself Protector of the Saelish People and bound Saelin to Faneria as a personal posession of the Throne. In doing so, Faneria created a permanent justification for future wars against the Fiannrian state, with the only mitigating factor being Cywir's death in 1799 finally bringing less militant leadership into power in the west. Following his inheritance of Hollona-Diorisia, comments by Rih Luthais Suthar-Màrtainn's comments on wishing to integrate his posessions in Saelin into the Holy Levantine Empire dashed hopes for a thaw in relations and presented an alarming scenario where a Fanerian monarch friendly to the Emperor permanently disempowered Fiannria and Dericania.

Costbán territorial dispute

Costbán (Fhs. and Costaban) was the last part of the northern Vandarch not controlled by Faneria and a cause of concern for Fanerian irredentism as far back as the Tenth Century A.D., when the Grand Duchy of Costaban was integrated as a member state of the Holy Levantine Empire. In the following centuries, Costbán had come to represent an ethnic Fhainnin population not subject to Fhasenization. Furthermore, attempts by Faneria's government to arrange an intermarriage between the Throne and Costabanic nobility had failed, only to be followed by Costaban being admitted into the League of Culfra in 1755. Faneria's government still considered it theirs by right both through ethnic and old linguistic ties, with Costaban being separated from the wider Empire by the Hadraeon Mountains. Its being the natural launching point of any campaign into the Vandarch from Fiannria exacerbated the urgency with which Fanerian military planners and the Throneswatch wished to push Faneria's border to a stronger natural boundary than the Deir River.

Holldoner succession

Further information: Hollona and Diorisia

The final provocation for the war laid in Fanerian diplomatic policy; in 1817, Elector Baltarmia II Agreiter of Hollona-Diorisia died without an heir. As a result, Rih Luthais, through his mother Banrih-and-Princess Maria Agreiter, became Elector of Hollona and Diorisia in addition to his pervious inherited titles. This personal union granted Luthais a seat as an elector within the Holy Levantine Empire, which represented a significant shift in the balance of power present in the early years of the Recess of the Julii. With the Second Caroline War having concluded in 1805, a Fanerian elector stabilized the position of the Emperor of the Levantines and opened an array of diplomatic avenues for the Throne to isolate Fiannria and ingratiate itself with Imperial institutions. More alarming was the continued pattern of targeted intermarriage with neighboring states, which appeared to signal either an intention to put Hollona-Diorisia in a real union with Faneria.

Southern Campaign

Ships of the Royal Navy bombard Fiannrian positions, 1820

Siege of ______, 1820

Battle of _____, 1820

Fiannrian cavalry counter-charge, First Gwynneathsglen 1821

First Battle of Gwynneathsglen, 1821

Arrival of ships purchased by Fiannria from Burgundie in _____, 1821

Fiannrian cavalry charge at Saelaer, 1821

Battle of Saelaer, 1821

Illustration of the Battle of ______, 1822

The Last Charge of Gawaen's Curiassiers, 1822

Second Battle of Gwynneathsglen, 1822

Royal Guards engage the Southern Free Corps at Second Gwynneathsglen, 1822

Royal Army engages Derian Volunteer Legion, 1823

Battle of Marlin, 1823

Battle of Suttersdun, 1823

Aftermath

In Culture

The Third Kin War was a high-water mark for the Royal Army and the Fhainnin state in general, breaking it out from a rising regional power to the ranks of the major empires. It also inspired the first tentative attempts at overseas Fhainnin colonies and made retired Royal Army officers a highly-sought source of military aides and attachés.

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