View source for Third Euran War

{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict    = {{PAGENAME}}
| partof      = 
| image       = 
| caption     = 
| date        = 17.II.{{AN|1693}} &ndash;
| place       = {{unbulleted list|Southern and Central [[Eura]]|Northern Eura|[[Lontinien]] ([[Apollonia]])}}
| coordinates = 
| map_type    = 
| map_relief  = 
| latitude    = 
| longitude   = 
| map_size    = 
| map_marksize = 
| map_caption = 
| map_label   = 
| result      = 
| status      = Ongoing
| combatants_header = 
| combatant1  = 
[[Azad Eura]] ({{AN|1695}} &ndash;)
*{{team flag|Free State of Constancia}} ({{AN|1693}} &ndash;)
*{{team flag|Zeed}} ({{AN|1693}} &ndash;)
*{{team flag|Mbasana}} ({{AN|1695}} &ndash;)
*{{team flag|Central Euran Republic}} ({{AN|1698}} &ndash;)
*{{team flag|Baatharz|flag}} Eurani Front of Liberation ({{AN|1698}} &ndash;) 
*{{team flag|Free State of Constancia}} ({{AN|1698}} &ndash;)
*{{team flag|Iteru|flag}} Iteran People’s Organization ({{AN|1698}} &ndash;)
'''Alleged material support:'''
{{team flag|Calbion}} ({{AN|1693}} &ndash;)
| combatant2  = 
{{team flag|Raspur Pact}} 
*{{team flag|Constancia}}
*{{team flag|Suren}}
*{{team flag|Nouvelle Alexandrie}}  ({{AN|1698}} &ndash;)
| combatant3 = 
| commander1  = {{unbulleted list|{{team flag|Zeed|name=Rashid Hasanzadeh}}|{{team flag|Zeed|name=Sergey Ilych Chernavyin}}|{{team flag|Zeed|name=Iosef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili}}|{{team flag|Zeed|name=Rustam Bukhori Yazghulam}}|{{team flag|Zeed|name=Ruslan Paskhaev}}|{{team flag|Zeed|name=Vladim Vasyliovich Timoshenko}}|{{team flag|Mbasana|name=Papa Hickory}}}}
| commander2  = {{unbulleted list| {{team flag|Raspur Pact|flag}}{{team flag|Constancia|name=George Maniakes}}|{{team flag|Constancia|name=Jaime Augusto Joaquin Primo de Aguilar}}|{{team flag|Constancia|flag}}/{{team flag|Raspur|name=Dāryuš Shah}}|{{team flag|Constancia|flag}}/{{team flag|Raspur|name=Azardokht al-Osman}}|{{team flag|Suren|name=Dāryuš of the Suren}}†|{{team flag|Suren|name=Mitradokht of Suren}}}}
| commander3  = 
| units1      = {{unbulleted list|{{team flag|Zeed|flag}} [[Revolutionary Armed Forces (Zeed)|Revolutionary Armed Forces]]|{{flagicon image|Constancian Free State flag-small.png}} Revolutionary Army|{{team flag|Mbasana|flag}} Glorious People's Army}}
 
| units2      = 
{{team flag|Raspur Pact|name=Trans-Euran Command}} 
*{{team flag|Constancia|name=Imperial Constancian Armed Forces}}
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:120px; overflow:auto;">
*[[Third Euran War#Operation Green-Lion|Epicheírisi Prásino Liontári]]
**<small>Constancian Expeditionary Force
**Nivardom Banner Command</small>
</div>
*{{team flag|Suren|flag}} [[Suren Confederacy#|Popular Levy]]
| units3      = 
| strength1   = {{team flag|Zeed}}<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:120px; overflow:auto;"> <small>{{unbulleted list|Militia &ndash; 1,027,929|Infantry &ndash; 96,394|APC &ndash; 3,143|MBT &ndash; 665| SPAAD &ndash; 456|IFV &ndash; 193|MLRS &ndash; 186|Rotorcraft &ndash; 88|UAV &ndash; 49|Strike fighter &ndash; 29|Maritime light attack craft &ndash; 22|Guided-missile cruiser &ndash; 1}}</small></div>
| strength2   = {{team flag|Constancia}} <div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:120px; overflow:auto;"> <small>{{unbulleted list|Constancian Foreign Legion &ndash; 16,723|Home Guard &ndash; 189,908|Support vehicles &ndash; 31,432|AFV &ndash; 1,664|SPAAD &ndash; 278|MBT &ndash; 12|
Mortar &ndash; 1,256|Towed artillery &ndash; 200|Coastal patrol boat &ndash; 157|Auxiliary vessels &ndash; 56|Logistic support vessel &ndash; 36|Corvette &ndash; 27|Offshore-patrol vessel &ndash; 26|Missile attack boat &ndash; 16|Amphibious assault ship &ndash; 2|Destroyer &ndash; 2|Landing ship tank &ndash; 2|
U-Boat &ndash; 2|Light-attack aircraft &ndash; 296|Ground-attack aircraft &ndash; 170|Rotorcraft &ndash; 88|UAV &ndash; 80|Strike fighter &ndash; 10}}</small></div>
{{team flag|Suren}} <div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:120px; overflow:auto;"> <small>{{unbulleted list|Popular Levy &ndash; 216,416|Support vehicles &ndash; 25,016|Towed artillery &ndash; 202|AFV &ndash; 9|MBT &ndash; 4|Light tank &ndash; 1|Corvette &ndash; 9|Frigate &ndash; 4|UAV &ndash; 200|Light attack-aircraft &ndash; 187|Transport aircraft &ndash; 25}}</small></div>
| strength3   = 
| casualties1 = {{team flag|Zeed|flag}} {{unbulleted list|x1 merchant vessel sunk|x14 F7 Tughra shot down}}
| casualties2 = {{team flag|Constancia|flag}} {{unbulleted list|x6 corvettes sunk, x8 corvettes damaged|x1 B-49 Delta shot down}}
| casualties3 = 
| notes       = 

| campaignbox = 
}}

{{quote|"We need only to kick in the door, and the whole rotten structure heaped up around Raspur will come crashing down."|[[Rashid Hasanzadeh]]|Rusjar (15.II.{{AN|1693}})}}


On 15.II.{{AN|1693}} between 26,000 and 33,000 Zeedic militiamen crossed the frontier between the [[Ḡur Republic]] and [[Suren]] dressed as Eurani natives headed for various areas within the Durranian highlands. Surenid gendarmes, after receiving warnings from tribal herdsmen and shepherds, dispatched patrols towards the frontier later the same day, with one troop of mounted gendarmes reaching the boundary posts demarcating the entrance to the Ḡur valley by nightfall.

During the course of that day, Zeed had thoroughly wrongfooted the chancelleries of the [[Raspur Pact]] when it recognised the [[Republic of Elwynn and Amokolia]] and the [[Republic of Tarrland]] as sovereign entities. [[Rashid Hasanzadeh]], first secretary, announced that Zeed felt solidarity with the revolutionary struggle with these two new countries, and that Zeed would support them at all costs, with the first secretary declaring "We too know what subjugation feels, and how glorious it is when one casts off one's chains". In a severe breach of diplomatic protocol, militiamen from the [[Popular Mobilisation Brigades]], accompanied by mobs of students and the unemployed, had entered the diplomatic quarter of Rusjar, Zeeds capital, and proceeded to stage violent attacks against Raspur Pact embassies located in the city. These assaults being conducted with the seemingly tacit blessing of the first secretary. The Sanaman embassy, with its mission head Yazdan Omidi ensconced within, was amongst the first to come under a concerted mob attack. The compound perimeter was soon under a continuous hail of rocks, bricks, paving slabs, bottles and flaming "Florian cocktail" petrol bombs, whilst agitators exhorted the mob to use every object and implement at their disposal in an effort to batter down the security gates impeding their access to those inside. In response to this, Sanama dispatched a naval task force consisting of the missile cruiser SNS Cisamarra, the destroyers SNS Shako Pinusho, SNS Paki Woodesham and SNS Gjanpjetro Pinucci, and the amphibious assault ship SNS Freetellya.

Even without the prospect of a Sanaman naval task force arriving off-shore, the Zeedic [[Central Committee for Security and Defence]] remained acutely aware of the vulnerability of its coast to retaliation from the Raspur Pact now that its stance on the matter of [[Second Elwynnese Civil War|Elwynn's civil war]] had been announced to the world. To mitigate this, [[Vladim Vasyliovich Timoshenko]], erstwhile leader of the United Republics, was rehabilitated and recalled to service by his successor, 1<sup>st</sup> Secretary [[Rashid Hasanzadeh]], as Marshal of the Army Maritime Corps of the [[Revolutionary Armed Forces (Zeed)|Revolutionary Armed Forces]] of Zeed.

Upon returning to duty on 15.II.{{AN|1693}}, Marshal Timoshenko found the most immediate problem facing him was the deplorable condition of the "fleet" assembled by the Secretary of the [[Central Committee for Security and Defence]], [[Rustam Bukhori Yazghulam]], for defending the coast, which consisted of one missile cruiser of [[Babkha]]n provenance, a seeming relic of the [[Babkhan Holocaust of 1598]], six motor torpedo boats, five fast missile craft, eleven patrol boats, and a collection of confiscated fishing boats and merchant vessels. The Army Riverine Corps was not any better off, and could offer only a scant further eight patrol boats to the coastal defences. 

The following day, 16.II.{{AN|1693}}, PMB militiamen entered the [[Rusjar Mechanical Machine-Building Plant]], arresting those [[ESB]] personnel who could be found at the site, including [[Karl Gutzlaff]], the Director of the RMMZ. In what would be a bitter irony for the Suren, those armoured vehicles and C-RAM platforms which had been ordered from the RMMZ under the [[Fontainebleau Accords]] were now requisitioned along with the plant itself for the sole use of the Revolutionary Armed Forces.

This move only contributed to the escalating war of words between Zeed and the Raspur Pact as spokesmen speaking on behalf of the organisation's Permanent Commission condemned the embassy attacks and called upon the Zeedic state to abide by its international obligations to protect foreign legations hosted upon its soil. 1<sup>st</sup> Secretary Hasanzadeh denounced this "calumny" and in turn demanded the immediate withdrawal of Surenid forces whom he accused of crossing the frontier and entering the Ḡur Valley. This accusation prompted Fereydoun Jamshidi, the ''Astabadh'' of the Suren with responsibility for its international relations, to urgently attempt to contact his counterpart, only to be thwarted by being passed from pillar to post between the switchboards of the Revolutionary Council, the Union Presidium, and the Supreme Council. Exasperated, Jamshidi issued a demarche, copied to all three organs of state, insisting upon the immediate withdrawal of all Zeedic citizens presently engaged in the violation of the frontiers of the Suren, which had necessitated their own counter-deployment of Gendarmes to the border. Three hours after this communique had been received in Rusjar, 1<sup>st</sup> Secretary Hasanzadeh took to the airwaves, broadcasting over the radio from the People's Palace in Rusjar to further denounce the perfidious and shameless Suren for seeking to blame their own "pathetic and decrepit" failure in containing the [[Ḥezb-e Tūde-ye Eura]] upon the noble proletariat of Zeed. Far from being cowed, Hasanzadeh assured his listeners, Zeed would live up fully to its sacred obligation to assist all partners in the revolutionary struggle, be they in Suren, [[Constancia]], [[Elwynn and Amokolia]], or [[Tarrland]], until all the petty tyrants of the decaying ''"Raspur-system"'' had been cast down.

Perhaps scenting opportunity in the midst of this crisis, the beleaguered representatives of the [[Free State of Constancia]], trapped in the Razjanian interior by [[Alduria-Wechua]] to the north and west, loyalist Constancia to the south, and the [[Thraci Confederation]] to the east issued a bulletin via sympathetic media sites on 16.II.{{AN|1693}} declaring their full support for the Zeedic position and a willingness to back it up via whatever means would be required. Having been relentlessly ground down by the forces of the Autokrator over the preceding decade, the desperate leftists and liberals of Constancia at this stage did not have much left to lose. The [[Thraci Confederation]] announced through the national media that it would remain neutral, Thraci Confederation also denied support for the Zeedic position and announced it as a trap.
==Operation Green-Lion==

[[Trans-Euran Command]], surprised by the aggressive posture adopted by the [[Zeed]]ic government in [[Rusjar]], had sought to restore a measure of sanity and de-escalating the conflict by throttling Zeed's maritime trade. As the long-term plans of the [[Raspur Pact]] called for Zeed to be eventually brought into the fold, whether as a full member or as a compliant neutral state, it was considered inappropriate to initiate the sort of total war that was being [[Second Elwynnese Civil War|waged concurrently]] against rebels in [[Elwynn]]. While every effort would be made to stave off a [[Suren]]id collapse, the strategy towards Zeed would be one of containment and persuasion.

To this end Aqabah Command dispatched a flotilla of eighteen corvettes, supported by a single Type XXV U-Boat, to intercept Zeedic trawlers and coastal shipping in the southern waters of Eura.  As Zeed's fleet comprised of a single, century-old, [[Babkha]]n missile cruiser supported by armed merchantmen, and its air arm reported to be a similarly decrepit collection of resurrected Babkhan air frames, the Návarchos Cyril Phrantzes who assembled his flotilla at [[Arak]] in mid-1693 was instructed to press his voyage as far south as onboard fuel supplies would permit, and to return with captured prizes. If the enemy's sole warship came out of port to give battle, the corvettes were to double back and to decoy the cruiser into the path of the lurking U-boat that would be following at a distance behind the main force.

==Failed peace negotiations==

In spite of the conflict turning against Zeed, the All-Union Revolutionary Party refused terms for a cessation of hostilities predicated upon the occupation of Zeeds's population centre by [[Raspur Pact]] forces.

==Death of the Surenshah==

==The march on Suren==

Emboldened by the failure of Operation Green-Lion, and scornful of the peace proposals received by the [[Trans-Euran Command]], [[Rashid Hasanzadeh]] was encouraged to assume a more offensive posture. Continuing the strategy of sending proxies into battle, the 1<sup>st</sup> Secretary dispatched [[All-Zeedic Association of Youths for the Establishment of the Republic of Vey|revolutionary "volunteers"]] under the command of his [[Leila Azayerova|wife]] to occupy [[Vey]]. Whilst these revolutionary forces waged their struggle against the remnant population of the ''Euranikon Theme'', the former [[Constancia]]n heartland, to establish the [[Republic of Vey]], Secretary Hasanzadeh commanded [[Rustam Bukhori Yazghulam]] to gather together the bands of the [[Ḥezb-e Tūde-ye Eura]] for a march on [[Surenshahr]] to distract the [[Raspur Pact]] forces from contemplating an intervention on the southern shore of [[Lake Erik]]. 

While providing labor and materiel support for the war effort, the [[Republic of Malirusenia]] declined to provide manpower or troops to serve on Suren territory, but provided personnel for internal deployments to relieve other troops of the Union of the Republics of Zeed to serve on the frontlines.

==Occupation of Vey==

''To be written'' ([[Republic of Vey]] est. 7.III.1695)

==The war on the frontier and in the green==

A frankly tedious and incessant round of border skirmishes, guerrilla ambushes, and reprisal raids, carried on across the frontier between the Suren and Zeedic realms, and across the ungoverned spaces on either flank. So far beneath the notice of the rest of the world that in many respects it was scarcely as if there was a war at all. 

For the most part, [[Trans-Euran Command]] left matters in the hands of those local commanders, posted from the Surenid Popular Levy and the Constancian Home Guard to the frontiers, to handle as they saw fit. The comparative lack of external support and interest did not, it must be said, do wonder for the morale and initiative of those on the ground whose job it was to curb the enthusiasm of the revolutionaries and their allied tribesmen for cross-border raiding.

==Red Konil==

Following the coup known as the [[Red Konil]] in Zeed, the Surenid forces, bolstered by the supply of a large number of light attack aircraft of [[Nouvelle Alexandrie|Alexandrian]] provenance, began a series of offensives to clear the province of Surenshahr of the remaining insurgents. Although not without setbacks, the guerrilla fighters in the highland regions being particularly adept at picking apart columns of Surenid conscripts along the winding vertiginous roads between mountain passes, the majority of the province bordering onto Zeedic territory had been pacified and a new forward policy of air strikes into the [[Ḡur Republic]] and the [[Republic of Vey]].

Although Zeed could have been crushed at any time, the [[Trans-Euran Command]] wished to avoid the "[[endsieg]]" strategy employed by their [[Benacia Command|Benacian colleagues]] which had so roiled the international community, not least because they were still living with the consequences of the [[1598 Babkhan Holocaust|last round of an equivalent destruction carried out a century previously]]. Moreover the long term aspiration of the Pact had been to reintegrate Zeed into the regional economic and security structures envisaged under the [[Fontainebleau Accords]]. While the insane pride of [[Rashid Hasanzadeh]] had prolonged the war needlessly, it was hoped that the new administration headed by [[Sergey Ilych Chernavyin]] would be more amenable to reason and agree to a restoration of the status quo antebellum, with adjustments to reflect Zeed's role as the wrongful aggressor in the conflict. 

Until that time came however, the cross-border air-raids would continue and the proposal for a resumption of Constancian attacks on Zeedic shipping, combined with amphibious "descents" upon its vulnerable coastal communities, was presented to the General Staff for consideration.

==Operation N'aschi Shamal==

In spite of the upheaval in Zeed, the "Red Konil" had not resulted in the hoped for shift in Zeed's stance. At midnight on 6.V.{{AN|1697}} the 508<sup>th</sup> Army, having advanced southwards from the [[Raspur Khanate]] during the preceeding fortnight, crossed the frontier into the [[Ḡur Republic]], supported by Surenid militia and [[T-5/A-5 Tejón de Miel|light strike aircraft]] whose identification decals had been painted over with bands of conspicuous red and gold striping. An hour prior to the invasion, operatives of the [[ESB-Jagdverbände]], disguised as [[Zurvanism|Zurvanite]] death-cultists, assaulted Ganzak-Gor, the seat of regional government in the Ghur Valley, targeting the headquarters of the local administration, the Revolutionary Armed Forces, and the All-Union Revolutionary Front, including the Party controlled media communications hub. Soon the longwave and shortwave radio transmitters of Ganzak-Gor were broadcasting a prepared statement in [[Babkhi]], denouncing the "treacherous and caste-shamed Rusenian race", and calling upon the Babkhans of Zeed, as good [[Eura]]ns, to prove their patriotism and faith in Zurvan by taking the knife to the throats of their ''"heretical"'' neighbours. 

==Nouvelle Alexandrie enters the war==

{{See also|Operation Paramount}}

Operation Paramount (21.X.–12.XII.{{AN|1698}}) saw Trans-Euran Command stage a joint Constancian and New Alexandrian offensive to knockout the surviving northern statelets and militant groups associated with [[Azad Eura]]. The burning of the capital of [[Mbasana]], and the carrying off its population into slavery marked the culmination of a short but brutal two month campaign. The destruction of Zeed's remaining Euran allies was calamitous as it meant now that the forces committed to the Zeedic front could now be doubled, with additional aviation and maritime assets brought in to the southern theatre as well.

The intervention of [[Nouvelle Alexandrie]] finally brought the islands of [[Altus]], located on the continent's southwestern coast, into play. These islands, governed from the provincial capital of [[Norvind]] were ideally situated to serve as a staging ground for attacks against the shores Zeedic Main, albeit that their relatively underdeveloped infrastructure had previously deterred Constancian and Sanaman task forces dispatched to the region from seeking anchorages amongst the isles.

On 5.XI.{{AN|1698}} [[Suren|Surenid]] forces, spearheaded by a demi-brigade of the [[Constancia|Constancian]] Foreign Legion, entered the territory of the Republic of Vey following the departure into exile of its ruler.

On 18.XV.{{AN|1698}} the Constancian Expeditionary Force, based around the 501<sup>st</sup> Army and the Black Banner Fleet, finally embarked and set sail from [[Arâk]] towards the south seas.

==Denouement==



As Surenid cavalry, generously equipped with Hornet recoilless anti-tank rifles and Waspsting SAM launchers that were carried on the backs of their long strings of remounts, reaved far to the south, there came news in the fourth month of 1699 of the surrender of [[Rustam Bukhori Yazghulam]] and his retinue to the representatives of [[Trans-Euran Command]].

Surenid forces launched a fresh offensive into the [[Republic of Nyongolo]], commencing on 18.VII.{{AN|1699}}. Opposed by [[Androphagi]] and Nyongolai militia groups, the 9<sup>th</sup> Brigade of the Surenid Popular Levy - which comprised of 7,213 gendarmes supported by 14 towed-howitzers, 1,202 [[Snatch Land Rover]]s, and approximately 2,000 camel-mounted [[ghilman]] slave-soldiers, made good progress towards the Nyongoloese capital of Asilimji where the III Corps of the [[Revolutionary Armed Forces]] had retired behind a series of four hastily dug anti-tank ditches enclosing the landward side of the riverside city and begun gathering in the Popular Mobilisation Brigades levied from the membership of the [[All-Union Revolutionary Front]] in Nyongolo. 

The force gathered at Asilimji ought to have been easily sufficient to repel the Surenid incursion, formed as it was of 16,065 infantry, 507 armoured personnel carriers, including 33 anti-tank vehicles, 110 main battle tanks, 72 air defence systems, 32 infantry fighting vehicles, and 31 multiple rocket launchers, supported by 12,252 personnel and 8 patrol boats from the Army Riverine Corps operating on the Potami Androphagi (River Erik / Sandy River). Moreover the existence of ground-based air defence systems had deterred the Surenids from utilising the 10 [[T-4/A-4 Flecha]] which had been stationed in the Gur Republic since its occupation. However the  President of Nyongolo, Fararaz Kinshasa, by now the de facto commander of all forces in his republic, was wavering in his loyalty to the All-Union Revolutionary Front, and had sent out discrete emissaries to make contact with the invading force led by Zahedi Khan. This caused him to stay his hand and avoid a decisive confrontation, permitting the Surenid advance upon his position to continue.

[events go above this line]

The heroic efforts of the Popular Mobilisation Brigades and the Committees of Public Safety, as well as the sacrifice of the masses were insufficient to stem the tide of imperialist aggression. Back-channel negotiations with the major Euran powers through the delegation at the [[Euran Economic Union]] soon took place. Unofficial, unconfirmed information from sources claimed that the only true negotiation details were adequate accommodations for certain high government officials of the Union. 

{{unbulleted list|[[Category:Constancia]]|[[category: Nouvelle Alexandrie]]|[[category:Suren]]|[[Category:Zeed]]}}