The Troubles

This article or section is a work in progress. The information below may be incomplete, outdated, or subject to change.

The Troubles
Members of the 207th arriving in a small hamlet outside Hellistelli.
Date 18.IV.1707 AN–5.VIII.1709 AN (2 years, 4 months) Location  Jääland · Jääland Peninsula Status Ongoing: Collapse of Jääland government Withdrawal of Florian troops Hellistelli destroyed by extreme weather and the Apollonia Command Annexation by Meckelnburgh
Belligerents
Jääland Government Supported by  Floria	Meckelnburgh Supported by  Hurmu  Lac Glacei Pro-Normark cliques
Units involved
Apollonia Command 207th Army  Jääland Auxiliary Regiments	Native militia and protesters Expeditionary Forces Expeditionary Strike Group 1 RMSC Biddell Sea Native militia and protesters

The Troubles was a civil conflict in Jääland. With the final collapse of the Jääkeli government, nations such as Meckelnburgh, Hurmu, and Normark became increasingly interested in integrating Jääland into their respective nations. This then caused large political division throughout Jääland splitting its loyalties with the Confederate States of Floria.

The Florian government offered a treaty of protection to resolve the conflict but it was received with backlash domestically and was initially rejected by the Jääkeli Government. However, skirmishes increased in the capital activating the 207th Army for peacekeeping. These efforts were unsuccessful.

Famine, disorder, and the resignation of all government caused by the conflict eventually led to the demise of Jääland. The last remaining signs of civilized society extinguished within six months, by XI.1707 AN. After evacuating its economic interests during at the end of the turmoil, the Apollonia Command ordered orbital strikes against Hellistelli, obliterating the city’s infrastructure. The Jääkeli state had been defeated.

Meckelnburgh occupation

After the demise of Jääland, the Meckelnburghish government, a fellow Arctic Ocean state on Apollonia, found it critical to protect its economic and cultural ties to the Jääland Peninsula. With the economic, civil, and natural disasters raging in the area, the kingdom's interests, especially in the Nurthaven and Antruusbuurg Canal, were under threat. Shortly after The Troubles began, elements of the Meckelnburghish security mission at the N&A canal moved north from Port Antruusbuurg to protect the canal's northern border.

Proposals on intervention in Jääland were negotiated for months between Hurmu, Lac Glacei, and Meckelnburgh. A multilateral agreement to allow the Jääland Peninsula to fall in Meckelnburgh's sphere of control was concluded in late 1707 AN. on 2.XV, a Meckelnburghish expeditionary force left TRMB Battleferd bound for the Jääland Peninsula. It arrived in the Clear Sea on 23.XV. In the following six months, the Royal Meckelnburghish Navy and elements of the Royal Saeweard established a base of operations on the southwest coast of Jääland, and moved north.

Naval infantryman and child by Lucienne Arthur

On 13.IV.1708 AN, port security forces of the saeweard landed in Kesäranta and attempted recovery operations in the ruined port. However, by V.1708, forces considered the city a total loss and forces were evacuated. After the return of the saeweard force, on 7.VI, Meckelnburghish naval infantry began an overland rescue operation. Two months across the blizzard-battered peninsula, the contingent arrived in the ruined former capital of Hellistelli on 11.VIII. Few survivors had been found in the sparsely populated and decimated interior, either by naval air patrols or the infantry. The Royal Navy established a second base of operations over the following month in Hellistelli. Meeting with the 207th Florian Army, on 1.IX.1708 the remains of the capital were formally handed to the Meckelnburghish forces.

Simultaneously, in southwest Jääland, the Meckelnburghish navy was establishing a new administration at its base of operations on the border of the N&A Canal. On 23.IX.1708, ten months after the arrival of Meckelnburghish forces, the settlement was inaugurated as the city of North Antrusburgh, named after the western terminus of the Canal. The new capital, in anticipation of annexation, hoped to avoid extreme northern weather events that ravaged the former cities of Kesäranta and Hellistelli. Governmental administrators and regular military forces immigrated to the peninsula to improve the ranks of North Antrusburgh.

Through the winter of 1708–1709 AN, the Meckelnburgh army engineering corps was working to build basic infrastructure through housing developments, utility systems, roads, railways, and an international airport, to replace Hellistelli International Airport. With the dwindling of the Storm of the Century by III.1709, civilian homesteaders were invited to North Antrusburgh. Meckelnburgh then opened invitations for investors to reclaim Hellistelli, now Fenixtune, and to form a cross-Peninsula connection in the territory.

Finally, on 5.VIII.1709 AN, the Kingdom of Meckelnburgh formally annexed the peninsula as the fully incorporated Grand Duchy of Iselande (a translation of "Jääland").

In late 1709, a request from the Royal Meckelnburghish Government for compensation, made in regards to the destruction of Hellistelli International Airport, was rejected by the political directorate of Apollonia Command after being relayed via the government of Nouvelle Alexandrie. As the government and people of Jaaland had betrayed the Raspur Pact by allowing themselves to fall into senseless anarchy, the destruction of the airport following the evacuation of allied personnel and a number of native persons expect to be of further utility was considered a proportionate response. Moreover as Meckelnburgh had not assumed sovereign rights over the territory of the former Jaaland at the time of the orbital strike it could not legitimately consider itself to be a wronged party and therefore had no meaningful basis upon which to make any form of claim. In spite of this, the question of whether some donation of humanitarian aid should be made for the survivors at Hellistelli was referred to the Joint Military Council of the Pact for further consideration.

Responses

•  Constancia: The Imperial Constancian Government, through the local embassy, expressed concern over developments, appealed to Constancian nationals to remain in constant communication with the embassy, and began evacuating and repatriating non-essentials.
•  Floria: President Trueman was not surprised by the ongoing situation in the country and called for a swift resolution after the Protectorate Treaty with Floria was initially rejected. After it became clear that Jääkeli couldn't respect basic human rights in these challenging times, Florian troops ordered by newly inaugurated President Nick Borisov swiftly withdrew from the area signalling the 'collapse'. After entry of Meckelnburgh forces, the 207th returned to assist in a smooth transition of power.
•  Hurmu &  Normark: The embassies of both nations issued a joint statement on 24.V.1707 AN which expressed their bewilderment at the conduct of the political leadership in Jääland.
•  Lac Glacei: Elements of GARD were deployed to the Nurthaven and Antruusbuurg Canal to provide additional security and assist with humanitarian aid. The Grand Duke said that refugees would be welcome into Lac Glacei and ordered shelters to be established in Nurthaven to provide relief and temporary housing. Military units secured the Jääland Bridge both to protect the important access route and to help maintain order among the many refugees fleeing the country. Following the complete collapse of government, elements of GARD were deployed to Hellistelli and Kesaranta to help maintain order and direct humanitarian efforts. These forces were joined by parallel elements from Meckelnburgh.
•  Apollonia Command: A squadron-strength mission, spearheaded by members of the General Inspectorate of Apollonia Command, was airlifted to Hellistelli International Airport in the aftermath of the reported societal collapse. Its objective was to organise the surviving remnants of the Jääland Auxiliary Regiments into a perimeter defence whilst overseeing the evacuation ESB assets, citizens with useable skillsets and their dependents, and allied nationals from other Pact nations. Assisted by the ESB Airport Security Cohort, the force held the airport - along with a special filtration hut specifically for the purpose of identifying and executing the members of the former government who had caused this mess - for seventy-two hours until the evacuation of priority assets was completed. With the departure of the last flight an orbital strike was called down in order to destroy the airport and those not prioritised for evacuation.