1699 War of the Officers
| 1699 War of the Officers | |||||||
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| Part of Third Euran War | |||||||
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| Factions | |||||||
 Constancian Navy
| Constancian Air Force
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Konstantin Moudros
| Abeiron Maniakes
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| Units involved | |||||||
Aqabah Banner Command
| Air Force General Staff
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The 1699 War of the Officers was a controversial episode in the Third Euran War, where the political dynamics of the Imperial State of Constancia had an appreciable impact upon the efforts of the Raspur Pact to bring the intractable conflict between Suren and Zeed to a favourable close before the dawn of the 18th Century. The matter would become one of factional strife between the air and naval branches of the Imperial Constancian Armed Forces, which might have posed a greater danger to the Imperial State had not the leftist and liberal opposition been quashed during Operation Paramount (1698 AN). As it was, the dispute remained one concerned with access to patronage and was resolved on those terms with the victory of the Air Force faction.
Background
By the late 1690's after Norton, the Constancian patronage-led system of managed democracy, known informally as the Primokratía, was considered by its increasing number of foreign and domestic critics to have degenerated into an extreme form of gerontocracy. After the redoubtable Autokrator of Constancia himself, the most visible signifier of the rule of the venerable was the fifty-plus year tenure of George Maniakes as Marshal of the Imperial Constancian Armed Forces and Chief of Staff for the Trans-Euran Command of the Raspur Pact. The phenomenon of billet occupying senior officers continuing in post well-past their prime because of their political reliability was a cause of considerable and increasing resentment amongst the mid-tier and indeed junior levels of command as the knock-on delays in promotion were felt throughout the force.
Timeline of events prior to the conflict
- 12.XII.1698 AN: Burning of Madinat Kasul (Laziville) marked the conquest of Mbasana and the culmination of Operation Paramount.
- 14.XII.1698 AN: Alcalá Conference began in Alcalá, Alduria. Representatives of the Honourable Company and N&H made representations through Iñigo and the Khanzada of Raspur to the Autokrator that the success of Operation Paramount would constitute a sufficient "career high" on which George Maniakes could honourably retire without being deemed to have fallen from office or been dismissed. It was subsequently made known that George Maniakes would be bestowed the unique and bespoke title of Imperial Marshal in recognition for the success of Operation Paramount.
- 18.XV.1698 AN: The Constancian Expeditionary Force, based around the 501st Army and the Black Banner Fleet, finally embarked and set sail from Arâk towards the south seas. The armada arrived off-shore from Norvind a fortnight later. This would be the last major deployment ordered by George Maniakes during his long tenure of command.
- 36.XV.1698 AN: Announcement that Imperial Marshal George Maniakes had been thanked for his services and relieved of command, including command of the allied continental theatre command for Eura. Use of the word "relieved" makes it appear to his enemies in court that George had been removed after falling from favour, in spite of this not being the case.
