Montanaro Rebellion
| Montanaro Rebellion | |||||||
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| Part of Acirian-Montanaro conflict | |||||||
 Montanaro revolutionaries storming the governor's palace | |||||||
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 Aciria |
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The Montanaro Rebellion (Montanaro: Malai Catu uph Aciriano, lit. Montanaro War against Acirians) (Aciriano: Ribellione degli Montanaro, lit. Montanaro Rebellion) was an insurrection mainly in Aciria's Montanaro country, with the intent to create a Montanaro state. It began in spring of 1803 and ended in autumn of 1805 with the Treaty of Chegallari, but in reality, small scale insurgencies carried on until at least 1818.
To date, it is the only notable insurrection against the Empire of Aciria. Due to the ethnic nature of the conflict, the conflict had profound effects in shaping the Montanaro identity and further separating it from the other Acirian tribes, and directly resulted in the creation of the United Montanaro League.
The origin of the conflict can be traced back to the formation of the Grand Army of the Empire by Giovanni I. The Montanaros had lived in relative peace during the age Age of Instability due to their isolation from rest of the country, with the central administration unable to establish military presence in the region due to the mountainous terrain and distance from Trossera resulting in the Montanaros paying little or no tax to the central government. The formation of the Grand Army and the rise of Giovanni I to the throne however, meant a stabilized Aciria, which meant Giovanni I's attention turning to Montanaro country and its de facto autonomy. In 1786, following an order from Giovanni I, a brigade lead by Marshal of Aciria Niccolo Luppi marched into the de facto capital of Montanaro country, Chegallari. This brought regular taxation back to the Montanaros, which over time was raised considerably to fund the creation of the Imperial Navy. This alongside with the sudden migration of ethnic Acirians following the establishment of mines in the region furthered the ethnic tensions between Montanaros and Acirians. Urban Montanaros began planning an organized strike against the central government to lessen their tax burden and limit Acirian migration, which governor Luppi was able to find out. To combat this, he petitioned for the conscription law to target Montanaros more harshly to limit the amount of men capable of taking part in a possible revolt. This decision, however, was what lead to the storming of the governor's palace and the death of Luppi.
Background
The Age of Instability meant that the Free Republican Army was used to stabilize revolts and pacify unrest in areas in Acirian heartlands to ensure the stability of the seat of the government, Trossera. This meant that despite being de jure a part of the Free Republic of Aciria, they were in reality left to be alone and manage themselves, with Acirian authority seldom setting foot in Montanaro country due to its remote location. For over 150 years, the Montanaros were de jure autonomous from Aciria, with the region being administrated by traditional chiefs of local Montanaro clans. After stabilizing the heartlands, Giovanni I ordered Niccolo Luppi, the Marshal of Aciria, to march to Chegallari to return Montanaros to Aciria and grants him governorship over Santa Beatrice. Following his arrival to Chegallari, Luppi held a speech at the former governor's estate where he declared the return of law and civilisation to the Montanaros, and established himself as the new governor. He also instated the chief of Ucarisa clan as his advisor when he vowed to rule both Acirians and Montanaros equally.
To further integrate Montanaro country into Aciria, Giovanni I promised free land to any Acirians who would move to Montanaro country and establish farms, and eventually also offered free land to build a home following the discovery of precious metals and the establishment of mines in the region to encourage the movement of miners to the area. These caused an influx of Acirians to move to the region, who took over Montanaro lands which greatly upset the Montanaros.
In December of 1785, Giovanni I had founded the Imperial Navy, which required effective taxation to not only build a navy but to modernize it. Montanaro country was taxed far more than the rest of the realm, as Giovanni I saw the Montanaros having avoided paying taxes for the past century and a half, and establishing an effective taxation system in the region would legitimize his rule in the region. The taxes were progressively raised for Montanaros to further fund the navy, which angered the Montanaros after discovering their Acirian counterparts were taxed for far less. The taxation and the influx of Acirians into the lands caused the Imperial University educated Montanaros Venthre Macutne and Vulcai Crexu to begin planning an organized strike against the Acirian rule. Their plans were peaceful in nature, reaching out to nobles, peasants and even the clergy to peacefully protest the unfair taxation, believing violence would only encourage Acirian violence against them. Eventually Luppi caught wind of this plot, and worried over the strike turning into a revolt, he petitioned the Emperor to modify the conscription law to exempt Acirians living in Montanaro country from conscription to reduce the amount of Montanaros capable of joining a revolt and keep the numbers of Acirians able to take up arms up. Ironically, this decision is what lead Thancvilia Cnamulta, the daughter of a Montanaro noble, to convince the strikers to storm the governor's palace and establish the Montanaro Republic.
Call to Arms
The initial date Macutne and Crexu decided for the strike was 3 May 1803, which is when peasants and some nobles gathered at the market square and before the governor's palace. Most of the peasants didn't know of the plans Macutne and Crexu had made with Cnamulta, with Cnamulta putting faith in the peasants that simply seeing some storm the palace would convince the rest to join them. Cnamulta's faith was correct, with most of the crowd gathered before the palace overwhelming the guards, breaking down the door and eventually hanging governor Luppi from the palace's balcony. The palace was connected to the arms cache of the local garrison, which is where the first rebels gained actual weapons to use.
Cnamulta spoke to the Montanaros from the balcony after the death of Luppi, and told the Montanaros to spread the word of what had happened there to rally more Montanaros to their cause. The word quickly spread across Montanaro country, with smaller revolts happening all across the country where local garrisons were overwhelmed and arms caches raided. The inhabitants of rural Montanaro country kept contact with Cnamulta's government to a minimum and took part in guerrilla warfare, whilst Cnamulta's rebels initially fought with conventional warfare, trained by Crexu and Shertre Auxanei, both who were graduates of the Imperial Academy and defectors of the Imperial Army. The first victory of the rebellion was following the brief siege of Arastergore, where the Acirian garrison lead by Plecur Nusce not only surrendered, but joined the rebellion. Nusce lead the first Montanaro brigade, which caused the brigade to almost unanimously agree to join the rebellion.
Evolution of the rebellion
Internal conflicts
Due to the vastly differing backgrounds of the leading rebels, they often bickered and argued over how the eventual Montanaro nation should be lead. Cnamulta was raised not only in nobility but as very religious, so she believed it was only natural for the coming nation to be a Kingdom. She thought that due to her invaluable efforts in starting the rebellion were grounds for her to be the Queen of the nation, and it was her Godgiven right. Macutne was the only one to support her, while he supported a Kingdom with her at the lead, he wanted to limit the crown's powers with the establishment of a constitutional monarchy. Crexu and Auxanei were the supporters of the Montanaro Republic based around the former Free Republic of Aciria, which was the placeholder form of government during the rebellion. Nusce wanted a confederacy lead by a figurehead leader with little power, only there to unite the Montanaros if Acirians ever returned to reclaim Montanaro country.
These differences were not the only differences the leaders of the rebellion had, with some leader advocating and practising guerrilla warfare while others wanted to follow conventional warfare. These differences in the leadership eventually caused cracks in the rebellion which indirectly caused the collapse of the leadership. The eventual death of Nusce and Macutne alongside with the loss of territory that followed shortly after caused a drastic drop in morale in the ranks of the rebellion, causing some desertions and infighting, which lead to the figurehead leader of the rebellion, Cnamulta, spending more and more time trying to raise morale and keep the armies together and cohesive.
Battles
The rebellion enjoyed great initial success in battles all over Montanaro country, partially thanks to the unprepared garrisons and the overwhelming numbers of Montanaros taking part in the rebellion. Despite the lack of firearms in most of the Montanaro forces, they managed to beat their more well-equipped Acirian counterparts due to their knowledge of the terrain and notable marksmanship with bows. It was during the Montanaro Rebellion when the Montanaro archery became well known all across Aciria.
Following the death of Luppi, Remigno Pirassina became as the Marshal of Aciria, and took the responsibility of military operations against the Montanaros. Pirassina's campaigns were disastrous due to effective Montanaro interception of supply and communications between troops, which eventually caused Giovanni I to appoint Decilindo Barbone as Luppi's successor and sent Barbone to Chegallari with a brigade of Imperial Guards. Battle of Chegallari became the first major loss to the rebellion, losing not only the home of the rebellion but also both leaders Nusce and Macutne died in the battle. The capture of Chegallari became the Acirian foothold in the region where Barbone's forces made repeated attempts to reclaim nearby towns and villages, with some success at the cost of morale.
Once the lack of progress reached Trossera, on 19 September 1804 Giovanni I took a brigade of Imperial Army conscripts alongside his personal Imperial Guard brigade and headed for Chegallari. After his arrival there two weeks later, he sent his scouts to map out the region and began planning the Grand Offensive with Barbone and Pirassina. Due to his recently developed back problems, Giovanni stayed back and simply assisted in planning the campaign and providing morale for the troops. In December of 1804 the Grand Offensive was mostly finished, with Giovanni ordering the offensive to start on 1 April 1805, given the snow has melted by then.
Once 1 April 1805 came around and the plan was adjusted according to Giovanni's scouts plans, a massive offensive spearheaded by Imperial Guard was started. The Imperial Guard were expected to punch through the front lines and split the armies, whilst the following conscripts would finish off the separated army and occupy the areas. The Imperial Guard were nearly cut off by June at the Battle of Magligno Pass, where the conscripts came in much later than they were supposed to due to the rough, muddy terrain caused by the weather. The army lead by Auxanei managed to use their knowledge of the terrain to effectively communicate and reunite the shattered army, which was hours away from starting the attack that would've likely resulted in the annihilation of the Imperial Guards. The plan was stopped when the conscripts eventually reached them and broke through, connecting the conscripts with the Imperial Guards once again.
The war came to an end when in August Cnamulta was captured by Barbone's forces. She was brought to Chegallari and executed on the market square, meters away from the location she had hung Luppi from two years prior. The death of Cnamulta signaled the end of the rebellion, and to avoid the shame of public execution, Auxanei reportedly committed suicide and was buried in an unmarked grave somewhere in Montanaro country.
Aftermath
With all leaders of the rebellion dead by the end of the war, the Treaty of Chegallari was signed by the right-hand man of Cnamulta known as Treprexu. The treaty used Treprexu as the leader of the Montanaros, which then caused him to become the Imperial Envoy to the governor of Santa Beatrice by making the Montanaros relinquish all weapons they had taken during the war, pay reparations for the human life and financial losses via taxes and labour and recognition of Acirian rule over Montanaro country.
The war was the first moment in history when Montanaros saw themselves as a unified people instead of clans or tribes, which has been used by Montanaro artists as a source of inspiration for centuries. Historians also see this as the origin of the Montanaro autonomy and independence movement.