Second Great War

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 prior to the Final War of the Deluge. It remains the deadliest conflict in human history.

Second Great War

TBA
Date29 March 1934 – 19 May 1943
(9 years, 1 month, 2 weeks and 6 days)
Location
Result

Allied victory; Treaty of Kartika

Belligerents
 Caphiria
 Faneria (1935-1942)
Corumm
 Vachena
 Deric Republic (to 1935)
Urcea
 Burgundie
 Cartadania
 Fiannria
Alstin United Republic
 Vithinja
 Caergwynn
 Arcerion
Commanders and leaders

Caphiria Steve Doe

Faneria Cion Faelhaen
Cartadania 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

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, losing much of its eastern territory to the new nation of Veltorina, but Urcea gained the new Kingdom of Talionia, giving the Levantines a toehold in Urlazio. 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 members of 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


During the First Great War, Urcea's ruling regent, Gréagóir FitzRex, found it prudent to secretly promise cession of Talionia to Caphiria in exchange for continued military support of his regime. Once FitzRex was removed from power in 1902, Caphiria began to prepare an invasion of the territory, but the final Legitimist victory in Urcea combined with the end of fighting abroad canceled the campaign. The broken promise had the effect of significantly agitating notions of Levantine Creep and general anti-Levantine sentiment among Caphiria's ruling class. Although it ended the war having successfully conquered Veltorina, Talionia remained a threat that Caphiria would spend decades attempting to address.

The Ten Year Plan

In 1911, Magasevetus became Imperator of Caphiria. The 1910s were a period of significant domestic reform in Caphiria, temporarily halting its foreign ambition. The decade specifically focused on the integration of Caphiria's new territories, as Magasevetus and his advisors deemed it prudent to develop what it already had. Caphiria had also felt the effects of the Great Depression, and although many hawks sought a second confrontation with the Levantines, Magasevetus sought to avoid conflict for the time being. In the 1920s, however, Caphiria was once again ready to begin agitating towards unifying Greater Caphiria. In the late 1920s, it began to spend significant funds on rearmament in preparation for military conflict within the next decade. Caphirian leaders knew the parameters of the next war would be greatly different than the first one, as Urcea was unified and possessed a modern, capable military. Accordingly, keeping Urcea distracted once again as it went to war in Sarpedon was the greatest foreign policy priority of Caphiria. In 1928, the "Ten Year Plan" was adopted, envisioning a strategy of engagement with Deric nationalists to terminally undermine the Holy Levantine Empire and distract Urcea to the extent that Caphirian annexation of Talionia would have to be accepted as a fait accompli. It was necessarily assumed in the Ten Year Plan that Caphiria would also be waging a defensive war against Cartadania and Pelaxia, as Caphirian leaders correctly assumed that both were chafing under post-First Great War Caphiric hegemony. The initial Ten Year Plan presumed that neither nation were a military threat to Caphiria, a decision many historians have referred to as a "grave afterthought".

Levantine engagement

A key portion of the initial Ten Year Plan involved engaging geopolitically in Levantia, specifically with the Deric nationalists in Dericania. Urcea's obligations to the Empire would require it to suppress any rebellion against the integrity of the Empire in Dericania, and the region was a hotbed of existing nationalist agitation and ethnic strife. Caphirian leaders had previously tested the concept with support for a socialist uprising in the small Deric principality of Anivania in 1925. Although the uprising was a failure, the Royal and Imperial Army was deployed in force.

Reactions to Caphiric hegemony

After the First Great War, Caphiria was functionally unrivaled on Sarpedon, and accordingly Cartadania and Pelaxia specifically were required to give significant continental obligations to the Imperator. This situation was viewed by leaders in both countries to be chafing, but both countries were largely devestated by the first conflict and unable to contemplate military action against Caphiria until the 1920s. At that time, both countries learned of Caphirian rearmament and agreed to a mutual defense pact in 1927. In 1929, Burgundie signed on to the defensive agreement to the surprise and contempt of Caphiria, necessitating an expansion of the Ten Year Plan.

Plan expansion and Alshar engagement

The sudden alignment of Burgundie with its First Great War allies caused alarm among Caphirian leadership, requiring the Ten Year Plan to be expanded dramatically to account for the possibility of global, rather than Occidental, war. Like with its ongoing and planned engagement with nationalists in Dericania, the expanded Ten Year Plan opened relationships between Caphiria and nationalists in Alshar and Audonia, the heartland of Burgundie's overseas empire. Caphirian leaders reasoned that, if sufficiently supported, a general uprising in Alshar and Audonia could take years for Burgundie to put down, and that Burgundie would first act to preserve its empire rather than the territorial integrity of Cartadania and Pelaxia. Accordingly, Caphiria began to provide clandestine arms and funds to Alshar and Audonia beginning in 1930 in addition to Dericania.

Caphirian leaders felt blindsided by Burgundie's alignment in Sarpedon, requiring further corollaries to be added to the plan. Although Fiannria had not engaged with Sarpedonic geopolitics in a meaningful way, its position as the third major power within the Holy Levantine Empire merited attention in the plan. Accordingly, Caphiria began to open secret negotiations with Faneria regarding a military alliance in the event of a general war in the Occident. Faneria, who had been badly beaten in the Fourth Kin War in the 1880s, sought to regain lost territory and defeat its long time nemesis. Caphiria began to provide some funds and materials to Faneria, but by 1931 its resources were limited as it had obligations in Dericania, Alshar, and to its own military in rearmament.

Decline of the Holy Levantine Empire

Starting late in the 18th Century (in some scholarly 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. These and other 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 along with long-running political upheavel in Fiannria. The Third Caroline War's aftermath culminated in the establishment of Burgundie as part of the First Fratricide, creating genuine ethnic and cultural animosity within Dericania that would persist through the end of the Empire. Events further concerning Anglei and Hollona and Diorisia in the 19th century undermined the previous authority of the Empire by the time of the First Great War.

Urcean reorientation

After the First Great War, Urcea reoriented its outlook vis a vis the Holy Levantine Empire. This happened in part due to Imperial support for the cause of Patrick III during the war but also due to a general need for stability on its eastern border in order to focus its efforts on protecting against Caphiria. Patrick, and his son Niall VI both participated in the Collegial Electorate and were supportive of the efforts of Emperor August I. His failure as Emperor of the Levantines precipitated a political crisis in the Empire that was solved only by the election of Niall VI as Emperor Niall II in 1920 - an unimaginable event just two decades prior. His election completed Urcea's reorientation toward the Empire and put it largely responsible for preserving its integrity and institutions.

Military reform in Urcea

Levantine Theater

Beginning of hostilities

Beginning in summer 1933, various nationalist groups in Dericania began to send representatives to a secret conference in Corcra which would come to be known as the Provisional Assembly. This group wrote a proclamation and provisional constitution for the Deric Republic, a new state which would serve as the culmination of the Derian national idea. The various organizations remained autonomous from one another, but agreed to degrees of coordination and a specific date for the issuance of the proclamation, 1 April 1934. The Republican Front, also sometimes called the Republican Army, was established on that date as a coordinating apparatus for the various militias, cells, and other would-be combatants, and the Republican Front began to purchase weapons and ammunition as well as distribute stockpiled weapons from Caphiria. Unexpectedly, Fiannrian government officials made clandestine contact with Republican Front leaders beginning in November 1933, providing a limited degree of arms and funding. Fiannria did not pledge to recognize the new state, but its intelligence services had been tracking Caphirian activity in the region for some time and intended to use the Derian uprising as pretext to establish its official independence from the Holy Levantine Empire.

March 1934 saw a flury of militia activity throughout Dericania, alarming the authorities of the various principalities there. Due to limited central control, some cells loyal to the Republican Front began a series of terror attacks on 14 March 1934. On 17 March, the State Treasurer of Verecundia was killed in a car bombing, precipitating the need for Imperial action. The Imperial Diet met on 24 March 1934 in Urceopolis rather than Corcra due to threats in the city. The Diet gave the Emperor authority to deploy the Royal and Imperial Army to Dericania in order to combat the terror crisis. Deployments were scheduled to begin on 2 April, accelerating the need for the Republican Front to take action. Accordingly, the Provisional Assembly of the Deric Republic issued its Proclamation of the Deric Republic on the morning of 29 March 1934 and issued orders for a "general insurrection of the Derian nation". By the end of the day, the majority of principalities in Dericania were actively combating Republican Front militia forces, signaling the beginning of open war. Who fired the first shots remains a point of contention, but it is generally accepted that Republican Front militia in the city of Mesellianum began firing on palace guards at 8:48 AM Urceopolis time, making them the first shots of the uprising. Although the uprising appeared to be relevant only to Dericania and Levantia, these shots are regarded by most to be the first shots of the Second Great War.

The uprising occurred strongest in the Lapodard speaking portions of Dericania, and by the end of April 1934 roughly two thirds of modern Lapody were in the hands of forces loyal to the Deric Republic. Pro-Imperial forces were more successful in the Rhotian speaking portions of Dericania in the first months of the war, resisting total state collapse in many places for several months; despite this, the uprising was strong and numerous here as well. The scale of the uprising surprised Imperial authorities, and the intended 2 April deployment of the Royal and Imperial Army was insufficient in scope to combat the entire uprising. A general mobilization was proclaimed in Urcea on 10 April. The forces immediately available and en route to Dericania were halted in western Rhotia, both to secure the border of Urcea as well as to reevaluate where forces were most needed.

Burgundie falters

The proclamation of a unified Deric state caused significant concern in Vilauristre, causing Burgundie to issue an official proclamation denouncing the Deric Republic on the afternoon of 29 March. The proclamation did not, however, commit Burgundie to any particular course of action; though the Derians were sworn enemies of the Burgoignesc people, the nation was completely unprepared for war and traditionally maintained a very small military presence in Levantia vis a vis its overseas possessions. Despite this semi-neutral position, the relative weakness of Burgundie at the moment of the uprising as well as historic enmity led Derian militias, particularly from Lapody, to begin small incursions into eastern Burgundie on 4 April. In some places, the incursions took the form of a disciplined military occupation, but in most places it was paired with atrocities against ethnically Bergendii civilians. On 8 April, the Great Prince met with senior advisors from the Army of Burgundie who told him the small Metropole Forces would not be able to retain control of most of the country and that it would take time to redeploy its considerable colonial forces from Alshar and Audonia. Accordingly, they were pulled back to a defensive position within the Belrac caldera with National Gendarmerie forces joining them, functionally conceding the northernmost part of the country to the advancing Republican Front forces. On 9 April, the Great Prince issued a formal request to Emperor Niall II asking for Imperial forces to intervene. The Emperor granted this request and, with the approval of the Urcean government, redirected XII Corps of the Royal and Imperial Army from western Rhotia to eastern Burgundie, arriving there within a matter of days. XII Corps and the small Metropole Forces managed to solidify the defenses of the caldera and expand outward from its passes, reclaiming some of northeastern Burgundie. On 10 April, the Great Prince ordered the gradual redeployment of the Foreign Legion to Levantia, intended to be rotated out gradually in order to avoid the appearance of weakness in its colonial possessions. These redeployments were discovered by Corummese intelligence beginning in July 1934, and such redeployments later in the year would inaugurate the beginning of the Eastern Theater of the war in September. A general mobilization was declared in Burgundie also on 10 April.

Sarpedonian Theater

Initial Caphirian successes

War at Sea

Invasion of Vespera

Cavosia and end of the war

Cronan Theater

Intervention in the Cape

Operation Lightfoot

Operation Forefront

War in the Orixtal

TBA

Eastern Theater

Burgoignesc weakness

Due to the ongoing military crisis in Burgundie beginning with the general Derian uprising in spring 1934, Burgundie required large numbers of men redeployed to Levantia.

Peace Negotiations

Treaty of Corcra

Treaty of Loughlin

Treaty of Kartika

Impact

Casualties and war crimes

Occupation and liberation

Technological and social developments

Diplomatic developments

League of Nations

Levantine Union

Legacy

Third Fratricide

Leucine Rebellion

Remembrance