Second Great War
| Second Great War | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Clockwise from top left: Hekuvian nuclear bombing of Paulastra, Kiravian planes being reloaded after conducting missions in 1952, Umcaran paratroopers landing during the Invasion of Paulastra in 1949, Flordetian soldiers during the Siege of Marcus in 1951 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
|
 Urcea Burgundie Cartadania Fiannria Veltorina United Republic Vithinja Caergwynn Arcerion Carna (1939–1948) | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Cion Faelhaen |
Paul Doe King James VI (to 1929) King Brian IV (1929-1947) King Lucás IV (1947-1952) King Patrick IV (1952 onward) | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
Military dead: over 26,000,000 Civilian dead: over 40,000,000 Total dead: over 56,000,000 |
Military dead: over 20,000,000 Civilian dead: over 28,000,000 Total dead: over 48,000,000 | ||||||
The Second Great War, also sometimes called the World War, was a global war that lasted from 1934 to 1943. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the Great Powers of the time - were involved. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people and resulting in over 64 million deaths. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. It is marked by massive strategic bombing campaigns of industrial and civilian centers, trench warfare, the rise of mechanized warfare, and the only use of nuclear arms in war. It remains the deadliest conflict in human history.
Background
Caphirian Expansionism
Beginning in the 17th century, Urcea and the Holy Levantine Empire began to directly confront Caphiria and worked proactively to prevent its spread into Levantia. The Levantine powers began intervene in various conflicts and international incidents on Sarpedon, which Venceia had long considered its prerogative. In the Veltorine War of Independence in the 1770s and 1780s, Urcea on behalf of the Holy Levantine Empire intervened, aiding the eastern provinces of Caphiria in their quest to secede. Not only did Caphiria lose that war, infuriatingly losing half of its territory to the new nation of Veltorina, but Urcea gained the new Kingdom of Talionia, giving the Levantines a toehold on mainland Sarpedon. Later, the Levantines gained the Legatation of Ankivara and Port de Vent. Out of these developments, the conspiracy theory of Levantine Creep developed - and Caphirian policymakers were determined to make any moves necessary to disrupt and dislodge the Levantine powers, actions it claimed to take in self defense.
The independence of Veltorina was considered a grave affront to the prestige and independence of Caphiria, but with guarantees on its independence from the Holy Levantine Empire, Caphiria was unwilling to take on the Empire by itself. Throughout the 19th century, Caphiria made contact with agitators and rebels throughout the Empire and especially within Dericania. Famously, 1848 revolutionaries in Dericania following the Second Caroline War refused to accept Caphirian assistance, hoping to curry favor with the Emperor of the Levantines, a strategy that failed. Caphirian concerns with Veltorina were escalated dramatically with the Tyrian Revolution in 1864, which turned its eastern neighbor into a socialist state. Despite this development, the Levantines refused to abandon Veltorina. Caphirian policymakers began to develop a long-term plan on how to proceed, and would spend the next several decades waiting for an opening.
First Great War
A massive opportunity presented itself in the 1890s with the rise of Gréagóir FitzRex in Urcea and beginning of the Red Interregnum. Caphiria offered its full support to FitzRex, providing materiel and volunteers to fight against the now-hated House de Weluta. The prospect of a FitzRex victory was promising not only due to the destabilizing nature of regime change but because his desire to destroy socialism and secede from the Holy Levantine Empire lined up with Caphiria's own goals, and FitzRex indicated that if he was victorious, he may be willing to surrender Talionia and would not interfere in Veltorina. The Imperial Naval Fleet began to actively interdict the Navy of Burgundie, which impeded the Legitimist cause significantly.
With the Urceans and Burgundines absorbed in the fighting on Levantia, Caphiria launched the First Great War, calling on what allies it could to wage war against Veltorina, Pelaxia, and Aciria, aiming to overrun all its major continental adversaries while the Urceans were unable to meet their international obligations. (requires considerable work/additions)
In Levantia, FitzRex began to court socialism in order to gain the support lower class revolutionaries, allowing socialists to win a majority in the Concilium Daoni in 1900. Caphiria, bitterly disappointed, continued to support the regime with limited vigor, and their gradual withdrawal led to the Fall of Cana. The collapse of FitzRex's Crown Regency and the rise of the short-lived Urcean Republic led Venceia to reluctantly recognize the restoration of House de Weluta, but it had learned lessons during the war. It rushed to end negotiations with the Alliance before Urcea and Burgundie were able to redirect their attentions from recovering from the war against FitzRex, leaving a number of issues unresolved with Aciria, Pelaxia, and Veltorina. The initial softening of the First Great War and the preparations laid by Caphiria in Levantia would go on to inform its strategy in the Second Great War.
Decline of the Holy Levantine Empire
Caroline Wars and Recess of the Julii
Starting late in the 18th Century (in some scolarly opinions, as early as the mid-18th century), the Holy Levantine Empire entered a period of terminal decline in terms of influence over its members and the working of its core institutions. Despite the best efforts of the Imperial Court in Corcra, members of the Empire were rapidly liberalizing and eschewing centralized power in favor of various levels of devolution outside of the Imperial power structure. This process had started with the War of the Caroline Succession, after which the power of many Electors in the Empire had been stripped, particularly the Derians. The events of the subsequent Second Caroline War did little to improve the divide between the Urcean and Derian states, which later spiraled into a decline in earnest beginning with the Recess of the Julii, during which the the Apostolic Kingdom of Urcea began to act autonomously of the Empire's institutions in light of its inefficiency in maintaining order in central Levantia. It was further exacerbated by the White Revolution in Fiannria in 1823, which resulted in the dissolution of the Kingdom of Culfra and its replacement by the Republic of Fiannria. Both events served to dramatically reduce the manpower, funds, and political capital available to the Empire throughout the 19th Century. Urcea's conquest of Carolina and defeat of most of the Kingdom of Dericania in the Third Caroline War proved another body blow to the authority of the Empire and created a generation of veterans in Dericania who had been exposed to some of the ideas of Crown Liberalism held by the Urceans while captive as prisoners of war.
First Fratricide and Fourth Kin War
In the Wake of the Third Caroline War, the Peoples Spring of 1848 saw the formation of formidable groups in fifteen Imperial states which formed their own protests, revolts, and organized labor actions. These were brutally suppressed by then-Emperor Louis XI, leading to the long-winded violence of the First Fratricide. Many Derians had long feared that Urcea would attempt to consume the Kingdom of Dericania and its constituent states, and Derians now felt that the only thing keeping the Urceans away - the Imperial Court - would no longer protect them. Some speculated that Corcra would attempt to keep the “northern liberals” out of “southern politics” - fears which reached new heights in 1887, when The Kingdom of Fhainnlannachaeran openly invaded Imperial territory through Fiannria. The Imperial response to this flagrant assault on its being was the Emperor enforcing a non-engagement order, barring any of the other Holy Levantine states from coming to Fiannria’s defense. This breach of the long-standing mutual defense customs the Empire had once held flamed fears of both internal warfare and foreign conquest, shattering much of the remaining goodwill held towards the HLE in Deria. The surprise victory of Fiannria in the war proved bittersweet, as it left many feeling they were better left to their own devices than relying on the Imperial court.
Red Interregnum
In Urcea, developments in the government lead to the regency of and consolidation of power by Gréagóir FitzRex, who sought to elevate the military above the traditional nobility and spearhead a number of reforms culminating in an attempt at outright seccession from the Holy Levantine Empire. The resulting civil war involved members of the Empire, and eventually the Empire as a whole, intervening in the war on behalf of House de Weluta against the Crown Regent. It also resulted in the Depression of 1900, which destabilized the Empire and lead to mass uprisings in the Dericania, as well as reigniting the longstanding feud between Urcea and Caphiria, politically charging the role of the Catholic Church in Levantia. FitzRex was replaced with the short-lived Urcean Republic, which created a left-wing, idealistic radical socialist state from which Derian revolutionaries were later inspired; the Republic was shortly overturned and the the primacy of the King of Urcea reinstated in 1902. With the de Welutas restored to the Julian Throne, the Recess of the Julii came to an end, temporarily strengthening the Empire despite the severe economic depression and uprisings. During the conflict, there were isolated shooting incidents between the Levantines and Caphirian expeditionaries who supported the Crown Regency. These skirmishes would prove to be a prelude to the coming conflict.
The Powder Keg
In 1909, the Grand Duchy of Anivania was gripped by violence as republican forces took control of the ducal palace and declared a republic. By 1911, the conclusion of the civil war and declaration of the Serene Republic of Anivania were completed. The new state's use of “Serene” to emphasize its sovereignty was not recognized by most other Imperial states, but its success in achieving and maintaining autonomy sparked other movements across the Empire. In 1920, as it became clear violence and instability was gripping the Empire, the Collegial Electorate did what would have been unthinkable a century before and elected King James VI of Urcea as Holy Levantine Emperor in a last-ditch effort to stabilize the Empire's internal affairs. It was thought that Urcea's muscle behind the Empire may have given it the resources needed to hold itself together; simultaneously, it eroded the last shreds of serious support for the Empire in Dericania. The next year, in 1921, the Electorate of Aescarata faced a socialist revolt. Urcea intervened, with the intervention evolving into outright occupation. By 1925, the region was considered a "powder keg", waiting for the right spark to explode. This was aided along by agents from Caphiria, who since the Red Interregnum had worked to foment unrest, eliminate charismatic officials and strongmen supporters of the Empire, and undermine Levantine wartime readiness. Caphiria capitalized on the fever-pitch of Derian nationalism, intending to have a Latin-dominated state in the orbit of Venceia burst from the corpse of the Holy Levantine Empire. This interest was not primarily in Dericania itself per se, but rather eastward, in Veltorina, whose independence was guaranteed by Urcea and other Imperial states.
Republican Revolutions
Capetian Revolution
Fhainnin Revolution and Militarization
The Kingdom of Fhainnlannachaeran had suffered a number of internal issues since its first constitution in 1830, and was forced to put down local nationalist uprisings in Culriocha, Namhe, and Leucwar during the 1848 Peoples' Spring. In spite of this, it had won in the defensively-fought Third Kin War against Fiannria, which directly caused the White Revolution, and maintained its new territories on the Nordskan coast and across the Ereglasian Isthmus and stood at the height of its power. Republican and socialist groups, while strong politically, remained marginalized, and the Kingdom appeared to be ascendant enough to compete with the Burgundines for the title of second among the states of Levantia after Urcea. This radically changed with the Fourth Kin War, which ended almost solely due to the personal ineptitude of King Rethys V, ceding massive territories along the Vandarch coast to Fiannria to free himself from imprisonment. Afterwards, the history of Faneria became bloodied with riots, territorial wars with Vithinja, returning exiles from the Cape, Fiannria, and Carna, and eventually the violent overthrow of the monarchy in the Fhainnin Revolution of 1906.
Afterwards, Faneria's republic initially focused on repairing its economy and military, but after the death of the Republic's semi-dictatorial figurehead, Callac Cananach, in 1922, parliamentary politics were undermined by the socially dominant revolutionary military. Cion Faelhaen, a military officer pardoned by the Republicans and reinstated as a general, eventually became Director of the Republic after widespread campaign of political terror, including the assassination of one heads of government in 1932 and the imprisonment of another 1934, after which he selected a Taesteach loyal to the militarist faction of the Republican Party. Throughout the lat3 1920s and early 1930s, the civilian government was chilled into silence through threats and occasional violence, and a growing alliance between the perpetual revolutionary doctrine of Faelhaen's faction and the already powerful pan-Gaelic movement formulated a doctrine of Gaelic unification under the perception that Fiannria and the other Gaelic nations were illegitimate states whose people would welcome unity in a single nation.
In reality, such propaganda was simply an excuse to wage a war against Fiannria intended to prevent its surpassing Faneria, and to capitalize on perceived Imperial weakness to reclaim lost territories, as well as to distract from growing tensions with Caergwynn over the gains made in the Boreal War, which had been retained even through the Revolution.
Levantine Theater
Dericanian Front
Lutsanan Elections and Outbreak of War
Matavista Campaign
Second Fratricide
North Levantine Front
Vandarch War and Invasion of Fiannria
Kilikas-Nordskan Campaign and Caergwyne Revolution
Rose Revolution
Sarpedonian Theater
Initial Caphirian successes
War at Sea
Cavosia and end of the war
Cronan Theater
Intervention in the Cape
Operation Forefront
War in the Orixtal
TBA
Eastern Theater
Burgundine Campaigns in Alshar and Audonia
War in the Cathay
TBA