Almadarian Civil War
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The Almadarian Civil War was a short-lived period of civil war in the former nation of Almadaria which had lasted from 1 October 2036 until XX XX 2037. The conflict is considered to be the prelude to the Central Vallos War, the first major conflict between two Vallosi nations since the invasion and conquest of the Romany Kingdoms from 1748 until 1751 by the Loa Empire, as well as the beginning of the end of Almadaria as an independent nation.
| Almadarian Civil War | |||||||
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Clockwise from top left:
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Valverdists |
 Democrats | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
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50 thousand total casualties 12 thousand refugees outside Almadaria | |||||||
The preceding rebellion which led to the civil war came to as a surprise to the international community as Almadaria had been seen as a rather stable nation, even with its rather tumultuous history with democratisation. Prior to the rebellion in late September of 2036, Almadaria was under the presidency of Arturo Nuñez whom many have attributed to being one of the main causes behind Almadaria's trend towards democratic backsliding as well as the nation's subsequent embracing of statist socially conservative cultural nationalism. This new regime was a large source of tension in Vallos, with many instances of President Nuñez claiming parts of neighbouring countries such as Castadilla, Takatta Loa, and even the entirety of Arona as rightful Almadarian land. In September of 2036, Almadaria experienced a series of terror bombings throughout the country which came with the rise of the Revenant Valverdia Vanguard. These bombings proved to be destablising to the point that armed groups known as "vigilantes" rose up against the Almadarian government and stormed the nation's capital of Piedratorres. This uprising lasted for a few days before the "vigilantes" won and took over Piedratorres and established their own ultranationalist government.
In response to the victory of the ultranationalist Valverdists in Piedratorres, members of the independent opposition during the Nuñez presidency evacuated from the nation's capital to establish a rival democratic government in the south. This democratic government, known as the United Republic of Almadaria, had gained international recognition mostly as very few, if any, nations were willing to recognise the Valverdist government. The Valverdist president Ernesto Allende made a speech on 28 September 2036 which called upon people to engage in open hostilities against the southern democratic government, referring to it as an "anarchy" under the rule of the nation's Tainean and Loa minorities. These calls for open hostilities made it pretty clear that there would be no other way for tensions to end than through armed conflict, and on 1 October 2036 the two rival Almadarian governments declared war on one another with the goal to eliminate the opposing government.
Although the democratic opposition government had initially won the first major battles of the civil war throughout the rest of 2036, they were almost always pyrrhic victories as most of these victories came at a heavy loss of equipment thanks to the effectiveness of the vigilante groups in sabotaging vital communications and supplies which became especially apparent as the armies of the democratic opposition government headed further into Valverdist territory in lesser numbers. Taking advantage of the increasing military weakness of the southern government, the Valverdist government began to order vigilante groups further south with many citizens voluntarily enlisting into these groups; it was clear that popular support outside of the government of the democratic opposition was firmly on the side of the northern ultranationalist government. These groups were immensely successful in conquering territory held by the southern government, and in February 2037 the remaining armed forces of the democratic opposition that have not entered into Valverdist territory would defect to the northern government and join the vigilante groups, prompting the southern government to flee into neighbouring Castadilla with Valverdist president Ernesto Allende declaring victory on 15 March 2037.
Not long after the civil war had ended, the victorious Valverdist government would invade its northern neighbour of Arona and spark the Central Vallosi War which saw not only direct intervention from both Urcea and Castadilla, the latter serving as the main leader of the Vallosi forces against the Valverdists, but also the eventual dissolution of Almadaria as both an independent nation as well as a national concept.
Background
Recent Almadarian history
Since 1963, Almadaria had been undergoing a long and arduous process of democratisation after the fall of the Osmian regime. Initially under the nation's third federal republic, the idea for democratisation involved the establishment of a special committee which would guide Almadaria through a three-step decade-long process known as the "democratic tutelage" in which the citizenry would be taught about both the democratic processes as well as the constitutional values and the fundamental principles of the rule of law. In an effort to prevent a possible fall to dictatorship from happening again, there were also additional checks and balances set up in exchange for preserving the presidential form of government that was put in place. For all intents and purposes, the third presidential republic was intended to serve as the beginning of a new Almadaria; a clean start for the republic which divorced itself from the previous constitutions and governments which were seen as being abysmally inadequate for democratic governance due to their perceived vulnerabilities to democratic backsliding.
The process of "democratic tutelage" would, however, experience some major roadblocks despite numerous national and international observers predicting that this would finally bring Almadaria under the rule of a sincere constitutional republic after over a century. This roadblock came in the form of the department governments which held a lot of power and influence for many years, even during the Osmian regime, and were largely not so keen on allowing the process of "democratic tutelage" to go according to plan when it could spell an end to the long-standing political machinery which had emerged during the first federal republic. These sub-national elites also held power and influence over who got to represent their department on the national level; very few legislators were able to become electable without the support of their department's political machinery. These legislators, being loyal to their departments, were urged by their bosses to engage in very long filibusters and tack on unwanted additions to the "democratic tutelage" process to lengthen it as well as to immensely delay its completion; this was most notably accomplished by adding on asinine historical lessons and exams that were nearly impossible to pass.
Getting tired of the constant delays and additions to the "democratic tutelage" process, Almadaria's provisional president Raul Hernandez, with the advice and support of the justices of the First Court of Almadaria, passed an executive order in 1995 which declared the third federal republic to be dissolved and its constitution rendered to be no longer in effect. The subsequent constitutional convention would borrow heavily from the 1963 constitution, but with a major rewrite of the exact powers of the sub-national divisions of the nation, thus allowing the republic to centralise extensively and to purge the government of the old political elite which had proven themselves to be obstructionistic and not at all supportive of democratisation if it meant that they would be removed from office. Almadaria's first truly democratic election in over fifty years was held that same year with the pro-democracy and christian democratic Social Unity Party (PUS), led by popular political figure Pedro Montillo, winning both the presidential and legislative elections with a clear mandate in favour of the re-democratisation process but this time without the need for a tutelage period nor the fear of departmental obstructionism.
This period of modern Almadarian history, which to historiography is known as the "democratic honeymoon" period, was put to a swift and bitter end in 1998 when President Montillo was embroiled in a massive corruption scandal involving numerous bribes, with some of the earliest instances dating back to the 1970s, which were revealed. To further reverse the fortunes of the pro-democracy groups in Almadaria, the PUS, which was seen as the main leader of the pro-democracy groups in the country, was struck by a series of PUS politicians being indicted for their role during the latter years of the Osmian regime as brutal law enforcement officers as well as the revelation of a slush fund. These scandals, which happened almost at once, were instrumental in both the collapse of the PUS as well as the general public in Almadaria turning against re-democratisation. One of the main anti-democratic opposition groups which stood to gain the most from these scandals was the Valverdian Popular Front (FPV) which was led by Arturo Nuñez whose eight terms would see the country drift back towards democratic backsliding as the government became a statist, socially conservative cultural nationalist regime under the increasing grip of the FPV.
Rise of the Valverdists
In the mid-1970s, a map which depicted western Vallos as it was during the Undecimvirate era was discovered by Diego Hidalgo while going through the estate of his late grandfather Alfonso de Hidaglo. The map, which was long thought to have been lost, showed the Kingdom of Septemontes and its own vassal states around the year 1082. Although mainstream historians have largely agreed that such a find depicted a Caphiric vassal kingdom during its pre-Second Warring States zenith, some people have came up with an alternative. Because both Septemontes and the vassal states were depicted in the same colour, there was a hypothesis that that map did not depict Septemontes, but rather a lost predecessor state to Almadaria known as Valverdia. Supporters of this nascent pseudohistorical concept founded the Revanent Valverdia Vanguard (VVR) which initially started off as an advocacy group that sought to have Valverdia be taught in history classrooms and held no ideological viewpoints other than Almadarian nationalism; the Almadarian government at the time had no interest in having the concept of Valverdia be taught in schools, and most especially not after the concept was soundly debunked by numerous accredited historians.
In reaction to this perceived snubbing by both the Almadarian government and accredited historians, the VVR soon adopted a more populistic approach by directly approaching and appealing to the citizenry with the concept of Valverdia; this approach proved to be much more successful and membership in the VVR steadily increased over the decades. Although still not overtly ideological, the VVR has often been cited as one of the main causes behind government mistrust and the eventual rejection of liberal democracy in Almadaria in the late 1990s. The end of Almadaria's "democratic honeymoon" period and the subsequent beginning of the Nuñez presidency saw some elements of Valverdism being adopted by the Valverdian Popular Front (FPV), albeit in a moderated form in an attempt to assuage fears of a totalitarian dictatorship being established. These elements, however, were seen as being far too watered down in the eyes of many Valverdists, with VVR leader Ernesto Allende deciding to make the VVR more ideological and thus began to write down a manifesto for the group in 2003.
This manifesto, known as On Valverdia and its Hopeful Revival, described Valverdism as being above the political spectrum as it took ideas from what he felt came from both ends of the spectrum. A syncretic political ideology, Valverdism called for a "Valverdian cultural renaissance" through the use of ultranationalism as well as the return of "rightful Valverdian land" which included all of Arona, half of Castadilla, and parts of Takatta Loa. Fearing that organised religion would prove to be a distraction to Valverdia, Valverdism supported state atheism and called for the forced disestablishment of all clerical property in the nation, particularly property owned by the Catholic Church as it saw the Church as having interfered in Almadarian affairs and keeping the nation from achieving greatness. As part of the so-called "cultural renaissance", Valverdism held an extreme form of racial prejudice against the Taineans and the Loa; membership in the VVR was soon limited to only Vallosi people of Occidental ancestry who were not Castadillaan citizens. The new ideological shift for Valverdism, although initially fringe, would grow in popularity over the next three decades as Almadarian citizens began to see President Nuñez as being a weak leader by being far too friendly with the Catholic Church and for not engaging in irredentist conquests against Almadaria's neighbours.
Fall of the Nuñez presidency
Starting in late 2035, both Almadaria and Castadilla had began to enter into a period of some rather tense relations over territorial disputes that had been put to an end decades ago, most notably with Almadaria beginning to attempt to renew its claim over the entirety of the Lake Remenau area. Initially, the VVR was supportive of this new change in foreign policy, hoping that President Nuñez would make an effort to reclaim all of what they had deemed to be rightful Valverdian territory. However, their hopes were dashed rather quickly when Nuñez made it clear that he would only be focused on territories that were once seriously claimed by Almadaria, recognising that the rest of Castadilla would not be under dispute. This would anger the VVR and thus begin their start towards militarism, seeing the Nuñez government as being a puppet of Castadilla. Starting in late September of 2036, the VVR began to launch a series of terror attacks throughout the country much to the applause of the vast majority of Almadarian citizens who had been seeing the VVR as being the only way for Almadaria to become the foremost nation in all of Vallos.
The terror attacks were soon able to destabilise the Nuñez government with numerous citizen militia groups, known as "vigilantes", rising up in support of the terror attacks with many of them marching towards the nation's capital of Piedratorres. As they approached Piedratorres, VVR operatives began to launch a coup d'état against the weakened regime. The coup mostly involved numerous cases of open violence on the streets as well as high-profile cases of descration, the most infamous and internationally well-known instances being the looting and destruction of the Piedratorres Metropolitan Cathedral as well as the Septemontes Royal Palace. The destruction of two major historical landmarks and world heritage sites were met with widespread international condemnation as well as members of the House of Duque who since the 1840s have resided in what is now Castadilla. The coup was nonetheless a success with former President Nuñez being presumed and then confirmed dead during the coup, and members of Almadaria's democratic opposition would begin their evacuation to the southern departments where they would establish a democratic opposition government in opposition to the victorious ultranationalist northern government.
Combatants
Both sides of the civil war had given different reasons for why such a war was needed. For the Valverdists the civil war was seen as determining Almadaria's destiny as either a free country or as a country under perpetual foreign, Catholic occupation. To them, the democratic opposition was nothing more than a faction for foreign interests that wished to greatly limit Almadaria's potential for greatness which many citizens had called for during the latter years of the former Nuñez presidency. The democratic opposition, on the other hand, viewed the war as more of a fight for Almadaria's soul and civility; they had feared that a Valverdist victory would lead the country to ruin as there would be no one who could stop Valverdist leader Allende's constant desire for conquest and the eventual subjugation of Vallos. Both sides at the start of the civil war were mostly unified in their goals, but after 2037 began the democratic opposition began to see the tide of war turn against them after promises that the civil war would be over by Christmas had largely been broken due to sabotage on the part of the Valverdists, and morale would die out when the draft was introduced in areas under the control of the democratic government; Valverdist territories would retain recruitment as voluntary.
Democrats
The democratic opposition was the successor to the pro-democracy political parties and independent opposition which were initially poised to win massively during Almadaria's "democratic honeymoon" period, and it was the government that the international community would recognise and try and give support to. Countries that did not remained strictly neutral for the most part. Some of the most ardent supporters of the democratic government were Almadaria's neighbours in Vallos, taking in Almadarian refugees who were not supportive of the Valverdists. Among the faction's supporters in Almadaria included christian democrats, neoliberals, agrarians, federalists, Taineans, the Loa, moderate nationalists, social democrats, democratic socialists, Marxists, and even anarchists. Members of the Almadarian clergy had urged their parishioners to do what they can to support the democratic cause due to the Valverdists' hostile approach towards the Church.
A return to federalism was also supported by the democratic opposition, mostly so as to guarantee a degree of autonomy for the nation's Tainean and Loa minorities, but also as a way to curtail the power of the central government. However, to keep the problems which had plagued the third federal republic from emerging once again, the degree of autonomy each of the departments had were significantly reduced; internal affairs were up to the departments, but certain responsibilities that were up to the departments in the third federal republic were remanded to the federal government and any powers and responsibilities that were not explicitly stated as being delegated to the departments would be granted to the federal government unless it is decided otherwise to delegate additional powers and responsibilities to the departments. Federalism was mostly supported in opposition to the increasing centralisation of the executive in the person of the President; it was the one policy that all pro-democracy groups had agreed on.
During the first two to three months of the civil war, the Democrats had numerous strategic and tactical advantages against the Valverdists to the point that most analysts had predicted a democratic victory in the civil war by Christmas of 2036. Indeed, most of the early battles in the civil war were won by the Democrats, but after 2037 began the string of victories were proving to be instrumental in turning the tide of the civil war against the democratic opposition because most of those victories came at a tremendous cost to both manpower and equipment due to the sabotaging efforts of the Valverdists. By the last days of the year, most of the democratic forces had defected to the Valverdists and by 15 March 2037 the democratic government had fled to neighbouring Castadilla to avoid capture by the victorious Valverdist government.
Valverdists
The Valverdists were defined by their lack of any other significant faction within their government, effectively giving them a united front without having to do much other than the same spreading of propaganda as they have done for a few decades already by that point.