History of Urcea (1798-1902): Difference between revisions
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<br />A later depiction of Prince Niall in the highlands. | <br />A later depiction of Prince Niall in the highlands. | ||
In an event that would become legendary, the 22-year old Prince of Halfway, Niall, snuck out of Urceopolis on November 24th under the cover of night after having being forbidden to do so by his father, and rode from Urceopolis to the famously loyal [[Ionian | In an event that would become legendary, the 22-year old Prince of Halfway, Niall, snuck out of Urceopolis on November 24th under the cover of night after having being forbidden to do so by his father, and rode from Urceopolis to the famously loyal [[Ionian Plateau]] alone on horseback. According to legend - and some scholars who have analyzed subsequent orders of battle have attested that it is plausible - the Prince was caught up to by a cohort of [[Life Guard (Urcea)|the Household Life Guard]], sent to detain him and escort him back to the [[Julian Palace]]. The Prince not only convinced them to allow him to proceed, but according to the legend the Cohort joined his party en route to the Highlands. Upon arrival, in a personal appeal not unlike that of his ancestor, [[Emperor Leo III of the Holy Levantine Empire]], Niall raised the clans of the Highlands and launched a guerrilla campaign in order to harass and impede the advance of the Imperial Army. The Highlanders lost every actual field battle they were forced to fight, but Niall's legend grew as he personally lead his men in the field and, unlike his father, never fled before his force retreated in good order. It was during this time that he acquired the nickname he would bear for the rest of his life, even after his accession to King - "The Black Prince", due to the Highlanders' frequency of night raids and strikes. The Imperial Army spent much of 1804 chasing Niall across the Ionian Plateau, never safe enough to advance on Urceopolis. The Prince also famously crossed the Ionian mountains and raised [[Ómestaderoi]] militia and raiders, striking at Imperial camps in [[Carolina]], previously thought safe. Despite his triumphs in every battle fought so far, [[List of Emperors of the Levantines#deChantil%20Dynasty|Emperor Mauricio I]] could neither pin down the prince nor conclusively determine how many soldiers were in the field against him, buying the Kingdom vital time. | ||
By the time of the 1805 campaign season, King Brian had raised enough men to reforge the Royal Army, although he agreed to another concession to the [[Concilium Daoni]] in order to raise the funds to pay for it. He agreed to the demand that a Chancellor of the Royal Treasury, a vicar of the Procurator, be created and that the Daoni had the power to appoint one. He also agreed to the demand that a formal vote of approval had to be taken by the Daoni in order to approve the King's appointments to the [[Concilium Purpaidá]] - the Concession of 1747 only required a "general consensus of approval". With another important development in the [[Constitution of Urcea]], King Brian departed Urceopolis, marching north, and, combined with his son's forces he defeated the beleaguered Imperial Army at the Battle of Tarrin in May 1805, sending the Imperial Army back north of the Northgate. A subsequent victory occurred in the [[Ænglasmarch#Duchy_of_Holchester|Duchy of Holchester]] the same month, where the civil conflict between pro- and anti- Urcean nobles which began in 1798 was ended by a combination of [[Ómestaderoi]] militia from [[Carolina]] and local pro-[[House de Weluta|Velucian]] Dukes, who won a decisive battle not far from Holchester. King Brian's forces were unable to cross the Northgate themselves, but the Imperial Army and Emperor saw that their supply lines across Holchester were now cut, and subsequently sued for peace under the terms offered in 1802 - namely, the surrender of the [[Grand Duchy of Carolina]], which would be garrisoned by the Imperial Army from that point onward. The King begrudgingly agreed and spent the rest of his life cursing the decision, growing extremely obese and unable. The Black Prince, meanwhile, grew in popularity and became something of a Prince of the people before the King sent him away to study in [[Béyasar]], where he encountered students of the Kilikas Enlightenment. Though he rejected much of what he deemed their "excesses", Prince Niall learned many useful ideas for reform there before being recalled to Urceopolis in 1809 - his father had died, and he was to be crowned King. | By the time of the 1805 campaign season, King Brian had raised enough men to reforge the Royal Army, although he agreed to another concession to the [[Concilium Daoni]] in order to raise the funds to pay for it. He agreed to the demand that a Chancellor of the Royal Treasury, a vicar of the Procurator, be created and that the Daoni had the power to appoint one. He also agreed to the demand that a formal vote of approval had to be taken by the Daoni in order to approve the King's appointments to the [[Concilium Purpaidá]] - the Concession of 1747 only required a "general consensus of approval". With another important development in the [[Constitution of Urcea]], King Brian departed Urceopolis, marching north, and, combined with his son's forces he defeated the beleaguered Imperial Army at the Battle of Tarrin in May 1805, sending the Imperial Army back north of the Northgate. A subsequent victory occurred in the [[Ænglasmarch#Duchy_of_Holchester|Duchy of Holchester]] the same month, where the civil conflict between pro- and anti- Urcean nobles which began in 1798 was ended by a combination of [[Ómestaderoi]] militia from [[Carolina]] and local pro-[[House de Weluta|Velucian]] Dukes, who won a decisive battle not far from Holchester. King Brian's forces were unable to cross the Northgate themselves, but the Imperial Army and Emperor saw that their supply lines across Holchester were now cut, and subsequently sued for peace under the terms offered in 1802 - namely, the surrender of the [[Grand Duchy of Carolina]], which would be garrisoned by the Imperial Army from that point onward. The King begrudgingly agreed and spent the rest of his life cursing the decision, growing extremely obese and unable. The Black Prince, meanwhile, grew in popularity and became something of a Prince of the people before the King sent him away to study in [[Béyasar]], where he encountered students of the Kilikas Enlightenment. Though he rejected much of what he deemed their "excesses", Prince Niall learned many useful ideas for reform there before being recalled to Urceopolis in 1809 - his father had died, and he was to be crowned King. | ||
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The early regency period gave the colony of [[New Archduchy]] a pretext to move against [[Urcea]]. Chafing for decades under efforts to reduce its autonomy, the colony cited the lack of a King and lack of legitimate Royal authority exercised by FitzRex. Citing that its charter established it as a "crown colony", the colony declared independence on 9 August 1890 stating that the bonds between it and Urcea had lapsed as the latter no longer had a King to rule the former. While FitzRex refused to recognize their independence, he had limited resources - and very little naval capacity - to resist their independence, resolving to reclaim the colony at a later date. | The early regency period gave the colony of [[New Archduchy]] a pretext to move against [[Urcea]]. Chafing for decades under efforts to reduce its autonomy, the colony cited the lack of a King and lack of legitimate Royal authority exercised by FitzRex. Citing that its charter established it as a "crown colony", the colony declared independence on 9 August 1890 stating that the bonds between it and Urcea had lapsed as the latter no longer had a King to rule the former. While FitzRex refused to recognize their independence, he had limited resources - and very little naval capacity - to resist their independence, resolving to reclaim the colony at a later date. | ||
FitzRex's regime heavily relied upon the veneer of legitimacy granted by the [[Concilium Daoni]], whose flag and arms he adopted as the de facto symbols of the nation during a regency period. While continuing to push new laws through the Daoni, observers noted an increasingly autocratic tendency as members of his [[Concilium Purpaidá]] were Generals or other army officers loyal to him. The election of 1895 was mired in allegations of fraud, ballot-stuffing, and violence that returned an overwhelming majority in the Daoni for independent politicians aligned with the Crown-Regent. The [[National Pact (Urcea)|National Pact]] began to openly contest the election results in 1896, resulting in the [[Royal and Imperial Army (Urcea)|Royal Army]] being called in to seize their headquarters and dissolve the party, though most party leaders learned of the operation beforehand and fled to the [[Ionian | FitzRex's regime heavily relied upon the veneer of legitimacy granted by the [[Concilium Daoni]], whose flag and arms he adopted as the de facto symbols of the nation during a regency period. While continuing to push new laws through the Daoni, observers noted an increasingly autocratic tendency as members of his [[Concilium Purpaidá]] were Generals or other army officers loyal to him. The election of 1895 was mired in allegations of fraud, ballot-stuffing, and violence that returned an overwhelming majority in the Daoni for independent politicians aligned with the Crown-Regent. The [[National Pact (Urcea)|National Pact]] began to openly contest the election results in 1896, resulting in the [[Royal and Imperial Army (Urcea)|Royal Army]] being called in to seize their headquarters and dissolve the party, though most party leaders learned of the operation beforehand and fled to the [[Ionian Plateau]]. Meanwhile, Crown-Regent [[Gréagóir FitzRex]] claimed plausible deniability by decrying the operation having occurred "at the hands of rogues" who "must face the rule of law", but no charges were filed. In 1896, FitzRex began to spearhead two of his other major initiatives. He announced the formation of a commission that would disentangle Urcea's economic and political institutions from the [[Holy Levantine Empire]], and that Urcea would secede from the Empire by 1905. His proposal to secede was approved by the [[Gildertach]] in February of 1896. Second, he passed the Property and Holdings Requirement Act of 1896. This law reduced the property requirement to join the noble [[Social class in Urcea|optimate class]] to virtually 0 [[Taler|talers]], and also suspended the mechanisms necessary to enroll and maintain membership in the optimate class, functionally abolishing the class by attrition. While most - even traditionalists and conservatives - had little to offer regarding his class changes, given how irrelevant the optimates were, the decision to pull Urcea out of the Empire was highly controversial. Despite the animosity between Urcean nationalist tendencies and the Empire spawned by the [[Recess of the Julii]], Urcea still had some national pride in its role in such an ancient institution. | ||
<br />Gréagóir FitzRex's prosecution of the [[Red Interregnum]] included the participation of many [[Caphiria|Caphirian]] advisers, with one such meeting photographed here. | <br />Gréagóir FitzRex's prosecution of the [[Red Interregnum]] included the participation of many [[Caphiria|Caphirian]] advisers, with one such meeting photographed here. | ||
Behind his public persona, FitzRex worked to consolidate power by moving away from the bourgeoisie-backed [[Crown Liberalism|Crown Liberal]] system of Urcea into a more dictatorial, military, technocratic apparatus. This division between the urban [[Social class in Urcea|privilegiata]] and the military privilegiata created most of the political fissures in his regime. In 1897, the Crown Regent announced that provincial Governors would not be elected as per the Administrative Reorganization Act of 1892, but rather would be appointed directly by the Crown-Regent with approval of the provincial legislatures, most of which were lead by FitzRex loyalists. This lead to widespread protests, and by July 1897, the [[National Pact (Urcea)|National Pact]] had been outlawed by the Crown Regency on account of it being a "criminal conspiracy against the stability of the state". National Pact leaders fled [[Urceopolis (City)|Urceopolis]] and rallied clans in the [[Ionian | Behind his public persona, FitzRex worked to consolidate power by moving away from the bourgeoisie-backed [[Crown Liberalism|Crown Liberal]] system of Urcea into a more dictatorial, military, technocratic apparatus. This division between the urban [[Social class in Urcea|privilegiata]] and the military privilegiata created most of the political fissures in his regime. In 1897, the Crown Regent announced that provincial Governors would not be elected as per the Administrative Reorganization Act of 1892, but rather would be appointed directly by the Crown-Regent with approval of the provincial legislatures, most of which were lead by FitzRex loyalists. This lead to widespread protests, and by July 1897, the [[National Pact (Urcea)|National Pact]] had been outlawed by the Crown Regency on account of it being a "criminal conspiracy against the stability of the state". National Pact leaders fled [[Urceopolis (City)|Urceopolis]] and rallied clans in the [[Ionian Plateau]] into open revolt. Civil war had begun, and it took the names "'97 Rising" or "Red Interregnum" for the blood spilled during the conflict, though some historians use that term to refer to the entirety of FitzRex's administration. | ||
=='97 Rising== | =='97 Rising== | ||
{{Main|'97 Rising}} | {{Main|'97 Rising}} | ||
While the initial revolt was largely between disaffected [[Crown Liberalism|Crown Liberals]] and the Regency, leaders of the uprising pledged to recall the [[King Patrick III|Prince of Halfway]] of [[House de Weluta]], then living in exile in [[Burgundie]], to the Throne. The promise of restoration motivated [[Catholic Church|Church]] officials to lean towards the side of the revolutionaries, and the liberal National Pact successfully forged an alliance with traditionalist conservatives. No large scale fighting occurred in 1897, but by the end of the year a portion of the armed forces had defected to the rebelling parties, which were now calling themselves the "''Legitimists''". Facing a larger coalition, [[Gréagóir FitzRex|FitzRex]] began to move his technocratic regime in an increasingly socialist direction in an attempt to bring the lower classes to his banner, a move that many historians claim was successful and politically shrewd though in complete contravention of FitzRex's stated rationale for his alliance with Caphiria. Early 1898 saw a campaign of [[Royal and Imperial Army (Urcea)|Royal Army]] forces trying and failing to break into the [[Ionian | While the initial revolt was largely between disaffected [[Crown Liberalism|Crown Liberals]] and the Regency, leaders of the uprising pledged to recall the [[King Patrick III|Prince of Halfway]] of [[House de Weluta]], then living in exile in [[Burgundie]], to the Throne. The promise of restoration motivated [[Catholic Church|Church]] officials to lean towards the side of the revolutionaries, and the liberal National Pact successfully forged an alliance with traditionalist conservatives. No large scale fighting occurred in 1897, but by the end of the year a portion of the armed forces had defected to the rebelling parties, which were now calling themselves the "''Legitimists''". Facing a larger coalition, [[Gréagóir FitzRex|FitzRex]] began to move his technocratic regime in an increasingly socialist direction in an attempt to bring the lower classes to his banner, a move that many historians claim was successful and politically shrewd though in complete contravention of FitzRex's stated rationale for his alliance with Caphiria. Early 1898 saw a campaign of [[Royal and Imperial Army (Urcea)|Royal Army]] forces trying and failing to break into the [[Ionian Plateau]] in an effort to capture Legitimist leaders, and the failure to do so - culminating with a decisive Legitimist victory at the Battle of Goldvale in April - put the Regency regime on the defensive for much of the remainder of the war. Various states of the [[Holy Levantine Empire]] - citing the illegality of Urcea's planned secession and answering calls from within Urcea - declared war following the battle in an effort to help the restoration. Much of the war from 1898 through 1900 focused on the guerilla conflict and small scale clashes domestically, though the war - which was now part of the global [[First Great War]] - saw relatively significant naval action in the run up to allied intervention. The presence of large rebel armies on Urcean territory and foreign blockading actions provided FitzRex with the pretext to indefinitely suspend meetings of the [[Concilium Daoni]], leaving total control of the war government in the hands of his handpicked [[Concilium Purpaidá]] ministers. | ||
Although the Legitimist Front was active within the [[The Valley (Urcea)|the Valley]], the [[Royal and Imperial Army (Urcea)|Regal Army]] was having better success keeping most of the allied Imperial forces bottled behind the [[Ionian Mountains]]. Attempts by [[Burgundie]] and other Imperial nations to bypass the mountains via the Julia Bay were no less successful, as combined efforts of the [[Royal Navy (Urcea)|Regal Navy]] and Caphiria's [[Imperial Naval Fleet]] successfully managed to interdict allied efforts to break through for most of 1898-1901. Despite the availability of machine gun technology, it was not widely employed during the early war, making the Red Interregnum the final major [[Occidental world|Occidental]] conflict to employ traditional cavalry charges and other traditional techniques. The early parts of the war saw employment, on both sides, of technology that would later have significant use but was not yet technologically ready for warfare. Most prominently, [[Caphiria]] and Urcea collaborated on the creation of fifteen armored cars for use in battle, but each of the fifteen broke down on the battlefield and the idea was scrapped for a decade. The failure of the forces of the [[Holy Levantine Empire]] would be temporary, however, as the internal successes of Legitimist forces - which, by February of 1899 induced defections of entire [[Ranks in the Urcean Armed Forces|Cohorts and Regiments]] at a time - opened the doorway for external aid. Defections within the Regal Navy meant that an organized Legitimist navy - sailing out of bases in [[Gassavelia]] - took to the seas by the summer of 1899. By August 1899, the Regal-Caphirian joint naval operation no longer held absolute dominion over the Julia Bay. On land, Legitimists scored a significant victory over the Regal Army, defeating it in battle at [[Northgate]] and was forcing to retreat. This victory allowed the creation of a Legitimist government in [[Carolina]] and allowed Levantine armies to link up with Legitimist forces. Despite this, allied forces could proceed no further as regrouped Regal forces created a successful defensive perimeter stretching from Westglen and Goldvale. | Although the Legitimist Front was active within the [[The Valley (Urcea)|the Valley]], the [[Royal and Imperial Army (Urcea)|Regal Army]] was having better success keeping most of the allied Imperial forces bottled behind the [[Ionian Mountains]]. Attempts by [[Burgundie]] and other Imperial nations to bypass the mountains via the Julia Bay were no less successful, as combined efforts of the [[Royal Navy (Urcea)|Regal Navy]] and Caphiria's [[Imperial Naval Fleet]] successfully managed to interdict allied efforts to break through for most of 1898-1901. Despite the availability of machine gun technology, it was not widely employed during the early war, making the Red Interregnum the final major [[Occidental world|Occidental]] conflict to employ traditional cavalry charges and other traditional techniques. The early parts of the war saw employment, on both sides, of technology that would later have significant use but was not yet technologically ready for warfare. Most prominently, [[Caphiria]] and Urcea collaborated on the creation of fifteen armored cars for use in battle, but each of the fifteen broke down on the battlefield and the idea was scrapped for a decade. The failure of the forces of the [[Holy Levantine Empire]] would be temporary, however, as the internal successes of Legitimist forces - which, by February of 1899 induced defections of entire [[Ranks in the Urcean Armed Forces|Cohorts and Regiments]] at a time - opened the doorway for external aid. Defections within the Regal Navy meant that an organized Legitimist navy - sailing out of bases in [[Gassavelia]] - took to the seas by the summer of 1899. By August 1899, the Regal-Caphirian joint naval operation no longer held absolute dominion over the Julia Bay. On land, Legitimists scored a significant victory over the Regal Army, defeating it in battle at [[Northgate]] and was forcing to retreat. This victory allowed the creation of a Legitimist government in [[Carolina]] and allowed Levantine armies to link up with Legitimist forces. Despite this, allied forces could proceed no further as regrouped Regal forces created a successful defensive perimeter stretching from Westglen and Goldvale. | ||