Third Caroline War: Difference between revisions

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 [[Aciria#Military|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 (Urcea)|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 {{wp|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.