Talk:Fhainnin Civil War

Cananach quickly claimed leadership of the National Republicans with his loyalists in tow, with the Free Faneria press supporting him in its publications as he fled to nearby Teindún, Faneria's largest city and a hub of Republican activity. Rousing the citizenry with a call to arms, Cananach spun the events at Oirthidún as a calculated purge by the Royalists, a position he maintained he truly believed for the rest of his life. Enraged, the locals fought off the pursuing contingent of Throneswatch and declared the city a safe haven for Republicans.

Cananach spent his time during the bulk of the Civil War setting up his own government, replacing institutions from scratch on paper and using his rubber stamp Senate remnants to approve any changes and reforms he wished. after the fall of Rihsport to the National Republicans in May 1907, he felt he could effectively do as he pleased, as republican militias and revolutionaries increasingly became better-equipped and just as experienced as the standing army that had split between the two factions. With Faneria's geographic core secured, Cananach called for and succeeded in a vote to dispand the Vicarial system entirely and replace is with a system of elected Governors without aristocratic trappings, as well as formally disbanding the Senate and creating a new legislature. It was no mistake that the new legislature and positions of power were packed with his closest followers first, allies second, and his enemies left excluded entirely.

In addition, numerous other issues such as the loss of the New Aenglia Vicariate to Fiannria in the Fourth Kin War in 1887, along with a general disinterest by the Throne in regards to regulating business practices or labor safety standards, created a great deal of unrest across large parts of the country, in particular the lower class. These tied in heavily with the exponential growth of populist political movements, namely the Fhainnin New Century Republicans under Callac Cananach, and the smaller but more militant Fhainnin Popular Party, the largest Socialist/Communist party within Fhainnlannachaeran at the time.

At the same time as the Vicariates were demanding alterations to the constitutional reform of 1905, the New Century Republicans and Fhainnin Popular Party jointly began to set up electoral processes independent of the government's auspices, technically committing treason. The justification being that the government refused to actually set up an electoral system, the Republicans additionally formally demanded the creation of a popularly-elected senate with the sovereign power to levy taxes and control spending, which outraged the Royal Court and lead directly to the Throneswatch being ordered to kill Socialist and Republican ringleaders.

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Founding fathers of the Revolution.... Cananach, that other federalist republican guy who died, Donnal Wynnys-Màrtainn (who bailed to the republicans as soon as he found out he was crowned in absentia)... I need a few others. I like to imagine Donnal left the capital when shit was going down, found out he was crowned and the royalist faction wasn't folding, and had to go right back to the now revolutionary-controlled capital and surrender himself and the actual last monarch, Antaine Lohr-Mártainn, basically sat it out on vacation and never went back to the country

- king orders ringleaders of populists shot, vicars who wanted further reforms to be tried and likely hung

- royal train bombed on way to inspect navy at Sethsport

By December of 1906, numerous elements of the Army had defected from the Royalists, and an attempt to take Teindún by the Throneswatch and loyalist troops was rebuffed by armed veterans and mutineers. The Vicar of Vrael was killed by Royalist troops for treason, but the Vicar of Connsmonann declared open support for the Republicans, followed shortly by the newly elected Vicar of Srathlann, who campaigned as a Republican and barely avoided assassination, which he blamed on the Throneswatch. Further compounding the situation was the new King's refusal to rule; Wynnys-Màrtainn, seeing the situation and perhaps having had republican leanings himself, fled his palace and met with the general of the 6th Army, another Màrtainn descendant named Jonah Lohr-Màrtainn. Lohr-Màrtainn agreed to defect to the National Republicans, bringing most of his army with him and contributing to a significant collapse in Royalist morale as nearly the entire Màrtainn tree was either too distant to clearly distinguish inheritance, dead, or, in the case of its most prominent members, had simply defected to the Republicans out of fear for their lives or actual support.

Despite this, Royalist forces fought against the Republicans, but increasingly lost ground, losing the western Vandarch Basin entirely by mid-March, 1907. The Navy, which had largely sided with the Royalists, was forced to split between defecting to other nations or, more commonly, surrendering themselves. At this point the war was effectively decided barring a major change in the balance of power, but fighting continued in the eastern Basin for well over a year, as well as in the north, where a joint Royalist-Nationalist effort put down a secession attempt by the Vicar of Lyukquar. Rihsport fell to the NRP in May 1907, effectively ending Royalist resistance in western Faneria as the 3rd Veterans Corps rolled those who did not surrender up to New Kurikila, forcing a surrender after a short siege. Immigrant communities and Republican partisans in Srathlann prevented the remaining Royalists from receiving foreign support, and by October, the only considerable Royalist forces remaining were retreating for the Fiannrian border, holding out in the northeastern reaches, or pocketed and slowly being strangled within the Deamhainn mountains.- sides organize

- monarchists and Constitutionalists split Vicarial gov'ts, Republicans overthrow some major cities and begin mass uprisings, socialists try but significantly smaller

Pre-Civil War Fleet (1906):

Battleships: 2 (all Royalist, 1 sunk) Battlecruisers: 6 (4 royalist, 1 sunk, 1 defected) Heavy Cruisers: 34 (19 Royalist, 3 sunk, 2 defected) Light Cruisers: 2 (all royalist, none sunk, 1 defected) Destroyers: 68 (30 Royalist, 12 sunk, 5 defected) Torpedo Boats: 19 (13 Royalist, 8 sunk, 2 defected) Submarines: 4 (3 Royalist, 1 defected) 3 airships (2 royalist, 2 destroyed, 1 defected)

Post-Civil War Fleet (1916): 1 Battleship 4 Battlecruisers 29 Heavy Cruisers 1 Light Cruiser 51 Destroyers 9 Torpedo Boats 3 Submarines 2 airships (both built midwar)

As stated above, the war is primarily considered to have started over the issue of granting voting rights to male landowners to elect candidates for their ruling Vicariate, which was intended to add a popular voice to the appointment of local governors and ensure that local Vicars were relatively sympathetic and knowledgeable about the regions they ruled. In addition, there was an undercurrent of belief that elections for Vicarial candidates would create a republican tradition within the government and lead to further reforms.

In response to the attack on the Senate Chambers, the Vicars of Vrael and Connsmonann declared their support for a temporary pause on the coronation of the next in line to the throne, one of Rethysear's nephews, Glen Wynnys-Màrtainn, along with a faction within the Senate known as the Reformists. Their movement was struck down, but the Reformists abandoned their seats, leaving the Senate to be unable to arrive at the threshold required to pass acts without them. Instead, the Reformists met with the Republican Front and other likeminded groups, accepting Cananach among others as members and rebranding themselves the National Republicans, calling for a general strike demanding the Senate pass the promised voting reforms as well as granting more powers to the Senate.

The Royalist faction ultimately caved after thousands of deaths across the country and months of martial law when paramilitaries and elements in the military and police became increasingly unwilling to fight their own people, voting (under a great deal of duress, but voting nonetheless) to pass the voting reforms and additional extensions of the franchise to any citizen, landed or unlanded, as well as formally making women citizens - another movement which had added steam to the Republicans' voting bloc. The head of the Republicans, John MacRenyth, called for immediate elections, which were held without preparation within certain areas of Oirthidún only and conveniently brought a supermajority of Republicans into the Senate - bringing Cananach into the inner circle. The Royalists decried the blatantly fraudulent elections, and the Throneswatch stepped in to break up the Senate, facing off against Republican militias which ended in a firefight in which MacRenyth was killed.

The new Rih, Wynnys-Màrtainn, surrendered himself and his relative, General Jonah Lohr-Màrtainn, along with the majority of the Royal 6th Army to the Republicans, turning the civil conflict into a proper revolution as Republican forces began to secure the western and central Ninerivers. With the military situation in hand, Cananach focused on the politics of the revolution more than its military functioning.

Itheachan and Srathlann fell to the NRPA in March 1907, and Gleathan was captured by late May, securing the Republic as the legitimate Fhainnin government. The Socialists made considerable gains during this period, and saw success fighting Royalist forces, but were unprepared to themselves be purged from the Senate and the revolutionary movement, with many of their supporters peeling away to join the Republicans or breaking down into infighting over leadership. Their temporary alliance with the Republicans had allowed Cananach's men to gain an awareness of their operations, making rooting out their cells a matter of tipping off local anticommunist veterans' organizations. In addition, some elements within the Republicans themselves were cast out, though not violently as the Socialists were.