Third Caroline War
| Third Caroline War | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Caroline Wars | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Urcea |
 Aciria (1844) | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| King Aedanicus VIII | War Council of the Kingdom of Dericania | ||||||
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The Third Caroline War was a conflict between Urcea and members of the Holy Levantine Empire from Dericania over the continued independence of the Grand Duchy of Carolina. Acquired by Urcea during the War of the Caroline Succession and separated from it after the Second Caroline War, Urcea's definitive triumph in the Third Caroline War ended the Caroline Wars and permanently joined Carolina to Urcea. During the war, the liberal reforms of King Aedanicus VIII of Urcea proved effective in strengthening the Urcean nation, and the Royal Army, allowing it to assume a dominating position in Levantia. During the war, Corcra was sacked for the only time in its history, deepening the enmity between Urcea and the Holy Levantine Empire that characterized the 19th century in Catholic Levantia. The war also featured a brief and failed venture by Aciria to seize New Archduchy during a perceived state of Urcean weakness.
Following the conflict, the power vacuum created by withdrawing Royal Army and the chaos of war lead to the beginning of the First Fratricide. The successful conclusion of the war brought a full cultural revival to fruition in Urcea in the period known as the Aedanicad. Urcea's victory in the war was commemorated by its construction of the Caroline Arch in the late 1850s.
Background
Campaigns
Cholera Expedition
As a third conflict between Urcea and Dericania appeared to be likely in the late 1830s, the government of Aciria began to lay the groundwork for a military campaign against New Archduchy, a colony of Urcea, in order to begin creating a colonial empire in nearby Crona. It was assumed that Urcea would lose a third Caroline War or would otherwise be so distracted that it could not effectively wage war in Crona, an assumption largely modeled after the historical Cronan Beaver War. When hostilities broke out, Aciria began to gather an expeditionary force to land in New Archduchy. Intelligence suggested that a large troop transport fleet would be departing for Urcea to New Archduchy and would return in August 1844, and Acirian military leadership believed this movement would bring reinforcements to Levantia from the New Archduchy garrison. The Crona Squadron and its army departed Trossera and arrived in New Archduchy on August 14, 1844, a week following the departure of the ships. Unfortunately for the Acirians, the Urcean ships had actually been bringing reinforcements to Crona in an effort to avoid a repeat of the Beaver War.
As the expeditionary force of 15,000 landed, it encountered stiff and unexpected resistance as well as significant disruption from a Royal Navy squadron based out of Adriansville. Following a difficult but successful establishment of a beachhead in the southern part of the country, Aciria circulated a missive that it was annexing the territory as New Trossera on September 2, 1844. By this time, the Royal Navy had driven off the supporting fleet of the Acirian navy. The Acirian expeditionary force pressed on to the outskirts of Adriansville, where it was soundly defeated by the city's garrison, and the expeditionary force returned to the southern portion of the country, where it was increasingly cut off from supplies and surrounded by Urcean forces, who were evenly matched numerically and decided to essentially besiege the expeditionary force. Disease, especially cholera, set in in the Acirian camp, devestating their ranks. Eventually, in October of 1844, a humiliating peace settlement was reached whereby the expeditionary force was allowed to return to Aciria for significant war indemnities which would help Urcea prosecute its war in Levantia. Of the 15,000 Acirian forces that landed, only 4,267 would return to Trossera at the end of the year, with most casualties coming as a result of disease. Historians in both Sarpedon and Levantia took to naming it the "Cholera Expedition" following the use of the term in Levantine papers in late 1844.