Pachoy Rebellion: Difference between revisions

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===Siege of Pachaug===
===Siege of Pachaug===
====Fate of the hostages====
The Siege of Pachaug began on 15 May as forces of the Chenango Confederacy's Trinational Army surrounded the city center and naval base which were the two main centers of pro-Republican activity. The Provisional Republic condemned the occupation as illegal and called on the Pachoy people to resist it with armed force if necessary, but few did. Contemporary reports among the Pachoy population expressed that a majority of people by this time supported ending the charter regime but opposed use of violence or an armed uprising against NSTA, a fact confirmed by later polling. Accordingly, a popular movement began to try to convince the Republic's leaders to stand down, and the Chenango Confederacy (on behalf of itself and the Charterists) began backchannel negotiations with Republican leaders on 18 May. They offered pardon in exchange for complete surrender and release of the hostages, an offer considered but ultimately rejected at a secret meeting of the provisional government on 20 May. From then on, the Republic refused to negotiate and began to prepare for a long siege, training its militia day and night while establishing an organized system of rationing and planting of food.
 
Life largely returned to normal outside the besieged areas. The Charterist government set a date for new elections on 5 June for all positions on the Communal Council as well as Mayor Intendent, with the 11 members elected in 2030 agreeing to stand aside for a new government, whatever form it took. The 5 June special election returned a landslide majority - 18 to 2 - of charter reform moderates. Although its overall platform and position relative to the Occident was moderate, the Charterists themselves began to take on a more radical demeanor, arguing that no change could occur without legitimate bodies implementing those changes; this argument represented not just a legal position, but a moral position that they effectively held the sovereignty of the Pachoy people, and that such representative government was not something to squander. Accordingly, it broke off all negotiations with the Republic on 10 June and agreed with NSTA leaders that only the total surrender of Republican forces would bring the rebellion to a satisfactory conclusion. It began to raise its own militias on 12 June; though these militias did not attract nearly as many men as the Republican forces, the Charterists did manage to put nearly 500 men in arms by the end of the month. These forces were subordinated to Chenango command under NSTA's [[Nysdra_Sea_Treaty_Association#Defense_Coordination_Initiative_(DCI)|Defense Coordination Initiative]] and largely used for defense of important installations and other non-frontline duty.
 
By the beginning of July, food within the Republican-held territory began to run short. This information reached Chenango forces through defectors, who began to steadily stream over the barricades and out of the city center as food dwindled. The Trinational Army then managed to secure a negotiated agreement with the Provisional Republican government: food shipments would arrive every four days in exchange for three hostages being released, or more in the case of a mother and children. The Charterist government protested to its allies that this prolonged the rebellion indefinitely, and NSTA eventually was persuaded to end the trades. The final food shipment arrived on 2 August following the last "bystander" (non-government, non-military, non-business proprietor) hostage being released. Overall, about 50 people were released, including the final release which included the remaining number of children and significant-others. On 8 August, it was revealed that an additional 6 hostages had been released by means of subterfuge, with collaborators within the Republic disguising hostages and sneaking them out with the departing personnel who brought the food shipment. In response, Republican forces brought forward the former naval base commander - a New Harrenic [[Ranks in the Urcean Armed Forces|Rear Návarce]] named Paul Collan - and four captured collaborators, and lined them up in view of the besieging Chenango forces. The five were then shot in the head as a reprisal for the subterfuge. The execution was viewed by NSTA forces as an escalation, and at a meeting on 9 August the NSTA Council directed Chenango forces to storm the city center and naval base before the end of the month. The Trinational Army began preparations for a full assault.
 
The summer had been a significant period of radicalization within Republican lines.
 
===Massacre of 18 August===
===Massacre of 18 August===