Streïur uis Faïren: Difference between revisions

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| conflict    = {{PAGENAME}}
| conflict    = {{PAGENAME}}
| partof      =  
| partof      =  
| image      =  
| image      = [[File:Photos Shiro-Benacian War.png|300px]]
| caption    =  
| caption    = <small>Shirerithian soldiers in red battle uniform launching attacks on enemy lines in the early offensives (''upper left''), Szodan [[Daniyal ibn Daniyal Simrani-Kalirion|Daniyal ibn Daniyal]] declaring the launch of operation Riposte in which a nuclear attack devastated Musica (''2nd row, left'') and a Jing officer in blue Kildarian uniform proclaiming "Vell!" ("War!") and mobilisation of the military and industrial complex (''2nd row, right''), the IRS Xiacheng leading a troop convoy from Greater Kildare to Batavia (3rd row, left) and the town of [[Dewfield]] in [[Schwinn Circle]] devastated by the Benacian onslaught in the opening days of [[Fall Krokodil]] (''3rd row, right''), air offensive of the Benacian airforce in 1739 AN (''bottom'').</small>
| date        = 22.XI.{{AN|1733}} –
| date        = 22.XI.{{AN|1733}} – 8.III.{{AN|1741}}
| place      = [[Benacia]]
| place      = [[Benacia]]
| coordinates =  
| coordinates =  
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| map_caption =  
| map_caption =  
| map_label  =  
| map_label  =  
| result      =  
| result      =
*Claimed Shirerithian victory
*Dissolution of Elluenuueq as State of the Benacian Union
*Shireroth gains Elluenuueq and Sabatini
*Benacian Union gains Guttuli and Sagittarius
| status      =  
| status      =  
| combatants_header =  
| combatants_header =  
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| units2      = {{unbulleted list|{{team flag|Raspur Pact|name=Benacia Command}}|{{team flag|Benacian Union|name=Benacian Union Defence Force}}|{{team flagn|N&H|flag}} [[Vanguard Division|International Volunteers]]}}
| units2      = {{unbulleted list|{{team flag|Raspur Pact|name=Benacia Command}}|{{team flag|Benacian Union|name=Benacian Union Defence Force}}|{{team flagn|N&H|flag}} [[Vanguard Division|International Volunteers]]}}
| units3      =  
| units3      =  
| strength1  =  
| strength1  = {{AN|1733}}:<br>
| strength2  =  
~15,500,000 troops (''incl. militia/reserves'')<br>
{{AN|1741}}:<br>
~23,200,000 troops<br>
| strength2  = {{AN|1733}}:<br>
~8,500,000 troops (''incl. militia/reserves'')<br>
{{AN|1741}}:<br>
~18,100,000 troops (''incl. militia/reserves'')<br>
| strength3  =  
| strength3  =  
| casualties1 =  
| casualties1 = '''Military casualities:'''~7,2 million<br>
| casualties2 =  
'''Civilian casualities:''' ~5 million<br>
'''Total casualities:''' ~12,2 million
| casualties2 = '''Military casualities:''' ~6 million<br>
'''Civilian casualities:''' ~3,5 million<br>
'''Total casualities:''' ~9,5 million
| casualties3 =  
| casualties3 =  
| notes      =  
| notes      =  
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}}
}}


The '''{{PAGENAME}}''' ([[Praeta]]: ''kin strife''), '''Shiro-Benacian War''' or in many newspapers simply called the '''Benacian War''', was a major conflict between the [[Benacian Union]] and [[Shireroth]], bring to a head the longstanding [[Shiro-Benacian Cold War|geopolitical competition]] for hegemony over the continent of [[Benacia]]. The outbreak of war was the result of a combination of several factors: the Shirerithian victory in the [[Sathrati Emergency]] brought the nerves in [[Chryse]] to a fever pitch. This followed an increase in conflicts on the border between the two countries. The nuclear attack by Shireroth, carried out on the orders of Kaiseress Salome, finally initiated the official launch and had far-reaching international consequences, including a first [[Dorado Convention|international meeting]] to limit nuclear weapons.
The '''{{PAGENAME}}''' ([[Praeta]]: ''kin strife''), '''Shiro-Benacian War''' or in many newspapers simply called the '''Benacian War''', was a major conflict between the [[Benacian Union]] and [[Shireroth]], bring to a head the longstanding [[Shiro-Benacian Cold War|geopolitical competition]] for hegemony over the continent of [[Benacia]]. The outbreak of war was the result of a combination of several factors: the Shirerithian victory in the [[Sathrati Emergency]] brought the nerves in [[Chryse]] to a fever pitch. This followed an increase in conflicts on the border between the two countries. The nuclear attack by Shireroth, carried out on the orders of [[Salome|Kaiseress Salome]], finally initiated the official launch and had far-reaching international consequences, including a first [[Dorado Convention|international meeting]] to limit nuclear weapons.


It stands as one of the most devastating conflicts in the recent history of [[Benacia]] and [[Micras]]. The scale of destruction, coupled with the loss of both military and civilian lives, surpassed that of the earlier [[War of Lost Brothers|War of the Lost Brothers]]. This was primarily due to the extensive shared border between the Benacian Union and Shireroth, as well as their prolonged preparations for industrialized warfare.
Shireroth faced significant internal turmoil during the conflict, known as the [[Mango Anarchy]] (the situation only improved after the collapse of the revolutionaries, several military victories by monarchists in 1739 AN and eventually the ascension of [[Kaiser Ayreon V|Ayreon V]] to the Golden Mango Throne in 1740 AN), which hindered its ability to launch large-scale military operations against the Benacian Union. Despite this advantage, the [[Benacian Union Defence Force|Benacian forces]] were unable to fully capitalize on Shireroth's political instability. Their successes were largely limited to temporary gains in the [[Kolmenitzkiy|Nackholm Pocket]] and northern [[Imperial Duchy of Brookshire|Brookshire]], with the notable exception of significant progress in [[Duchy of the Guttuli|Guttuli]].
In 1741 AN, both sides signed the [[Treaty of Lorsdam]], effectively ending the war which had cost the life of over 21 million people.
==Background==
==Background==
{{Main|Shiro-Benacian Cold War}}{{see also|Shirekeep blockade}}
{{Main|Shiro-Benacian Cold War}}{{see also|Shirekeep blockade}}
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The missile, lofted from a bastion facility in [[North Lunaris]], had followed a ballistic trajectory towards ancient and storied [[Musica]], where it detonated as a groundburst directly upon the dockyards and seaport of the city. The only nuclear device in the BUDF's declared arsenal, the M1708 special munition, had a maximum yield of an equivalent to 15 kilotons. Estimates made by the Operations Directorate of Benacia Command anticipated that immediate fatalities in the city would not exceed twenty-five thousand souls. However, by electing to detonate the device on the surface, an area of 148 km² around ground zero would be subjected to over one-hundred rads per hour from the fallout plume that drifted on the wind in the wake of the 6 km mushroom cloud. The purpose of the strike had not been to exact an a death toll from the Shirerithians equivalent to the one that they had inflicted, but rather to ensure that a strategic port and its associated infrastructure had been rendered completely inoperable for the duration of hostilities.
The missile, lofted from a bastion facility in [[North Lunaris]], had followed a ballistic trajectory towards ancient and storied [[Musica]], where it detonated as a groundburst directly upon the dockyards and seaport of the city. The only nuclear device in the BUDF's declared arsenal, the M1708 special munition, had a maximum yield of an equivalent to 15 kilotons. Estimates made by the Operations Directorate of Benacia Command anticipated that immediate fatalities in the city would not exceed twenty-five thousand souls. However, by electing to detonate the device on the surface, an area of 148 km² around ground zero would be subjected to over one-hundred rads per hour from the fallout plume that drifted on the wind in the wake of the 6 km mushroom cloud. The purpose of the strike had not been to exact an a death toll from the Shirerithians equivalent to the one that they had inflicted, but rather to ensure that a strategic port and its associated infrastructure had been rendered completely inoperable for the duration of hostilities.


==Shirekeep and the Confluence ==
==Shirekeep and the Confluence (1733 AN) ==


A little after midday on 23.XI.{{AN|1733}}, lines of communications were briefly restored to an extend sufficient to allow a single succinct order to be relayed from the Northern Banner Group HQ to 60th Siege Army in Varpûr. That order, once decrypted, was simply one word: “commence”.  Within the hour orders had promulgated down the chain of command to the corps and division level and shortly thereafter 1,824 203 mm self-propelled howitzers, grouped into batteries of six apiece in prepared positions behind the [[Alalehzamin Security Line]], began to open up against a number of pre-sighted targets in the Greenwood district of the Imperial County.  
A little after midday on 23.XI.{{AN|1733}}, lines of communications were briefly restored to an extend sufficient to allow a single succinct order to be relayed from the Northern Banner Group HQ to 60th Siege Army in Varpûr. That order, once decrypted, was simply one word: “commence”.  Within the hour orders had promulgated down the chain of command to the corps and division level and shortly thereafter 1,824 203 mm self-propelled howitzers, grouped into batteries of six apiece in prepared positions behind the [[Alalehzamin Security Line]], began to open up against a number of pre-sighted targets in the Greenwood district of the Imperial County.  
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At 11.29 am on 2.XII.1733, Lichkeep was bracketed by nine S-3 intermediate ballistic missiles. launched from dispersed locations in the backwoods of Austland and Mishalacia, with the first initiating an airburst at a height of 1,200 metres above the centre of the city, with the remaining eight detonating as surface impacts in a radial pattern around the zero point of the initial device. Each warhead being equivalent to fifteen kilotons of high explosive, the salvo had been required to achieve a zone of death within the heart of Lichkeep, bracketing the supposed launch apertures of the device which had been lashing out at Alalehzamin over the last  two days. Within the zone of death, as the multiple overlapping shock waves subsided, the rising fireballs and the thousands of instantaneous fires that had been triggered in the gaps between them by cumulative heat pulses, quickly drew together into a single conflagration.  One minute after the near simultaneous detonations, the nine mushroom clouds had all but converged into a single 9 kilometre tower of broiling black smoke looming over the Imperial County south of the river. As cooler air rushed in to replace the rising cloud, it provided fresh oxygen for ever fire that raged below, especially those in areas caused by ruptured fuel pipes and storage tanks. The result was the ignition of one vast and terrible firestorm, with flames fanned to an extent that the inferno would rage out of control for more than twenty-seven hours to come. As oxygen was burnt out of the surrounding area, those who had been fortunate enough to find shelter in bunkers, basements, or air raid shelters, would find themselves slowly asphyxiated by the accumulation of carbon dioxide – if they were fortunate – while those less so were slowly roasted to death in sealed air tight compartments that had in effect become little more than ovens as the temperatures rose inexorably but without the oxygen to serve as the requisite fuel for combustion. And yet again was the terrible scourge of fallout, from the eight surface detonations laid upon the land, with winds drifting north-west towards Cabbagefall. The heir apparent of the comital throne of [[Highpass]], [[Ozymandias Jaas Peet Niit n Taag]], was killed in the attack on Lichkeep.
At 11.29 am on 2.XII.1733, Lichkeep was bracketed by nine S-3 intermediate ballistic missiles. launched from dispersed locations in the backwoods of Austland and Mishalacia, with the first initiating an airburst at a height of 1,200 metres above the centre of the city, with the remaining eight detonating as surface impacts in a radial pattern around the zero point of the initial device. Each warhead being equivalent to fifteen kilotons of high explosive, the salvo had been required to achieve a zone of death within the heart of Lichkeep, bracketing the supposed launch apertures of the device which had been lashing out at Alalehzamin over the last  two days. Within the zone of death, as the multiple overlapping shock waves subsided, the rising fireballs and the thousands of instantaneous fires that had been triggered in the gaps between them by cumulative heat pulses, quickly drew together into a single conflagration.  One minute after the near simultaneous detonations, the nine mushroom clouds had all but converged into a single 9 kilometre tower of broiling black smoke looming over the Imperial County south of the river. As cooler air rushed in to replace the rising cloud, it provided fresh oxygen for ever fire that raged below, especially those in areas caused by ruptured fuel pipes and storage tanks. The result was the ignition of one vast and terrible firestorm, with flames fanned to an extent that the inferno would rage out of control for more than twenty-seven hours to come. As oxygen was burnt out of the surrounding area, those who had been fortunate enough to find shelter in bunkers, basements, or air raid shelters, would find themselves slowly asphyxiated by the accumulation of carbon dioxide – if they were fortunate – while those less so were slowly roasted to death in sealed air tight compartments that had in effect become little more than ovens as the temperatures rose inexorably but without the oxygen to serve as the requisite fuel for combustion. And yet again was the terrible scourge of fallout, from the eight surface detonations laid upon the land, with winds drifting north-west towards Cabbagefall. The heir apparent of the comital throne of [[Highpass]], [[Ozymandias Jaas Peet Niit n Taag]], was killed in the attack on Lichkeep.


==="The Kaiseress is Tired"===
== ''Fall Krokodil'' and ''Operation Red Shield'' ==
[[File:Arrest of Salome 1733.jpg|left|thumb|233x233px|Admirably, the Kaiseress went to the Steward entirely voluntarily. ''No, those soldier corpses in the corner of the room were already there, good sir.'']]
As the hours ran out on the 48-hour ultimatum, Thuylemans cabinet became increasingly concerned for the consequences. After their daily meeting with [[Salome]] on 2.XII.{{AN|1733}}, they learned that the Kaiseress had ordered an increase in [[Bad Neighbour II]]'s tempo, and that it was to begin targeting locations in Holwinn and Monty Crisco as well; this would be in order to support Operations Green Shield and Red Shield respectively. The Kaiseress had also isolated Bad Neighbour II from the command structure of the Ministry of Military Affairs, officiating what she had begun when she circumvented the chain of command to initiate Hiericus and begin the war.
 
Once news had arrived on casualties in the Benacian Union strike on Lichkeep, Thuylemans received a private visit from one Tribune Herzl, indicating that a portion of 1. Legion was with him and his interest in stopping the nuclear war. The firestorm had burned through neighborhoods containing many of their families. Another hit, possibly on the city center itself would literally mean a devastating blow to the Imperial Government.
 
Recognizing the critical situation and the imminent threat of a full-scale nuclear war, Thuylemans made a bold and decisive move. He ordered Tribune Herzl of the 1. Legion to put Kaiseress Salome under house arrest, attempting to halt the escalating conflict. The ensuing confrontation in Raynor's Keep was intense, with fighting erupting between the Palatini and the Legionnaires in the small corridors of the Keep. Salome-loyalists fiercely defended the Kaiseress, but they were met with equally determined guards who were loyal to the Steward - or at least fond of the idea to not see their families die in nuclear hellfire - and who had lost family members in the Benacian counterattack. The battle was fierce but short-lived. The guards loyal to the Steward, driven by a desire to prevent further devastation, managed to overpower Salome's defenders and secure a victory for the coup.
 
Following the coup's success, the Kaiseress was taken to [[Mahamantot Bunker]], which offered more safety than a castle which served as a target for Benacian artillery fire, where she was brought face-to-face with the Steward. In this tense and pivotal meeting, she received an informal declaration outlining the terms of her new role and the transfer of power:
 
# '''Cessation of Real Power''': Salome would no longer wield any real power over the government. This effectively granted the Steward control over the Armed Forces, ensuring that military operations would be conducted under more cautious and calculated leadership. This arrangement would remain until the situation had improved and a suitable successor was groomed and deemed trustworthy enough not to unleash nuclear devastation.
# '''Spiritual Leadership''': The Kaiseress was to take up a more active role in the spiritual guidance of her people. She would work to cooperate with existing religious institutions, such as the [[Catologism|Batavian Catologian Church]] and various cults like [[Tianchaodao]], aiming to bring them closer to the [[Imperial Cult]]. This new responsibility would allow her to contribute to the nation's well-being in a non-military capacity, fostering unity and moral resilience among the populace.
# '''Public Reassurance and Diplomacy''': To prevent further panic and to stabilize the internal situation, the Kaiseress would make public appearances and speeches, reassuring the citizens and the international community of the Empire's commitment to peace and reconstruction and commit to supporting any future [[Dorado Convention|convention against nuclear warfare]]. She would serve as a figurehead of continuity and hope, while the Steward handled the practical aspects of governance and military strategy.
 
 
In the eyes of the public, the Kaiseress remained in charge of daily affairs. However, shortly after the coup, the cabinet decided to move southwards, further away from the frontlines, to ensure the safety and continuity of the government's functions. Salome remained in the capital, guarded by a group of Legionnaires, and made impossible to throw around orders. This move ensured that while Salome was still the symbolic leader, the real power resided with the Steward and the cabinet, who could now try to act decisively.
 
===''Fall Krokodil'' and ''Operation Red Shield''===
{{Main|Fall Krokodil}}
{{Main|Fall Krokodil}}
[[File:1733 officers of the 40 Kavallerifördelningen.png|350px|right|thumb| Two soldiers of the [[Land Forces of the Benacian Union#Divisions|40 Kavallerifördelningen]], in the [[Governorate of Austland]], XI.{{AN|1733}}.]]
[[File:1733 officers of the 40 Kavallerifördelningen.png|350px|right|thumb| Two soldiers of the [[Land Forces of the Benacian Union#Divisions|40 Kavallerifördelningen]], in the [[Governorate of Austland]], XI.{{AN|1733}}.]]


''Two attempts at strategic encirclement by the opposing parties cancel each other out, leaving the warzone in the confluence region in the same tenuous position as it was in at the commencement.''
=== The Maltenstein Meat Grinder (1734–1736) ===
 
[[File:Fall Krokodil.png|thumb|357x357px|Operation Fall Krokodil.]]
{{Quote|''"The land between [[Maltenstein]] and [[Woodshire Village]] was, by the end of the year (1733), wasted and greatly spoiled. Viewing the country, from the river to the mountains and the frontier, the villages and manors are desolated, and razed in a manner to the ground, no inhabitants to be found in them, scarcely any houses but here and there scattered, and every property ransacked. The roads are cratered, and the wreckage of burnt out vehicles are scattered about everywhere. The number of tanks that evidently suffered catastrophic detonations along one stretch of road were simply staggering."''|[[Constancia]]n observer conducting a review of the battlefield|{{AN|1734}}}}
{{Quote|''"The land between [[Maltenstein]] and [[Woodshire Village]] was, by the end of the year (1733), wasted and greatly spoiled. Viewing the country, from the river to the mountains and the frontier, the villages and manors are desolated, and razed in a manner to the ground, no inhabitants to be found in them, scarcely any houses but here and there scattered, and every property ransacked. The roads are cratered, and the wreckage of burnt out vehicles are scattered about everywhere. The number of tanks that evidently suffered catastrophic detonations along one stretch of road were simply staggering."''|[[Constancia]]n observer conducting a review of the battlefield|{{AN|1734}}}}Operation Fall Krokodil marked the beginning of a grueling and protracted conflict between Benacian and Shirerithian forces during the War of Supremacy. Although the Shirerithian government initiated the nuclear exchange that sparked the conflict, the Armed Forces were relatively unprepared and undermanned for the conventional warfare that followed. This lack of readiness left Shirerithia vulnerable to the highly organized and rapid response of the Benacian military apparatus.  
 
===The Maltenstein Meat Grinder (1734–1735)===
 
===Relocation of the Shirerithian Government===
In 1734 AN, the outbreak of the Maltenstein Meat Grinder turned the area surrounding [[Shirekeep]] into a war-torn no-man's land. Faced with increasing instability, the Steward, Thuylemans, urged Kaiseress to evacuate the capital, along with her court, to a safer location. However, the Kaiseress, already physically weakened by a lingering illness and mentally drained by the ongoing crisis, refused to leave Shirekeep. This refusal placed Thuylemans in a difficult position; while he had no desire to govern from a war zone (and certainly not die there), he was left with limited options.
 
Determined to ensure the continuity of his government, Thuylemans ultimately made the decision to relocate the administration. His official reasoning was that the government should not be cut off from the rest of the Imperial Republic, a sentiment that fueled his desire to move. Although some members of the government favored closer locations like [[Maltenstein]] or [[Fortis]], the city of [[Novi Nigrad]] on the island of [[Yardistan]] was ultimately chosen. This choice was made due to its relative safety, far away from the war, and the fact that the city had been largely pacified in recent years, following the [[Sathrati Emergency]]. Additionally, the influx of refugees from Kildari and Benecian Shirerithians had bolstered Novi Nigrad's stability (at least, on the surface).
 
Thuylemans' decision, however, did not come without resistance. In the [[Folksraad]], many members were opposed to the relocation, seeing it as a retreat. [[Domitius W. Iritatus]], a prominent Shirekeepian politician, even accused the Steward of cowardice. The debate only ended after an hour long rant from the honorable Folksraad member at the adress of the Steward (represented by his poor chauffeur) when a bomb narrowly missed the [[Palace of Zirandorthel]], convincing the [[Legislature of Shireroth|Legislature]] of the necessity of the move. The government leadership's proposal was swiftly agreed upon after this close call.
 
By mid-1734, as the Benecian offensive intensified with the aim of encircling Shirekeep, the government and parliament evacuated the capital aboard requisitioned airships. Chaos ensued on the airdocks, with locals becoming hysterical after seeing their representatives fleeing. Three politicians were grabbed by a growing mob and torn apart before being incinerated by the heat of the ascending airship. The capital was left in the hands of a skeleton crew of officers, minor bureaucrats, and politicians, with a terminally ill Kaiseress remaining behind at the helm of what was left of Shirekeep's leadership.
 
This relocation marked a turning point in the Imperial Republic's handling of the conflict, as it moved the center of governance far from the conflict's epicenter to ensure the survival and continuation of the state. he move had been successful and secured the government for the time being, but it dealt a blow to its long-term credibility. Something that would have dire consequences in the long run.
 
=== Elections of the Provincial Assemblies of Greater Kildare (late 1734) ===
By the end of 1734 AN, for the first time in eleven years, the [[Heavenly Light]], the [[Xinshi Heavenly Light|Xinshi Light]], called for new elections for the [[Provincial Assemblies of Greater Kildare|Provincial Assemblies]]. While disunited and broken up in different Dominions, the former Jingdaoese territories had kept operating more or less with the same political systems and kept cooperating with each other informally. The provincial assemblies, whose composition was still based on the long-outdated elections of the Shirerithian [[Adelsraad]] of 1723, had become completely irrelevant. Many of the original representatives had either died, retired, or been replaced by others who had been handpicked by their parties to represent their interests. The political stagnation left the system unresponsive to the rising social and economic challenges.
 
As hundreds of thousands of young men - both of Kildarian and Jingdaoese descent - were sent to the front lines to fight in the war, the demand for legitimate representation grew louder. Soldiers and civilians alike began to question why they were fighting abroad while socio-economic conditions at home were deteriorating. With increasing food shortages, wage cuts, and oppressive war taxes, the people’s patience was running thin.
 
The Xinshi Light, renowned for her lack of interest in governance - focusing instead on the more symbolic and social aspects of her role - had largely allowed political decay to take root. Her reputation for easily accepting both [[Democratic Apollonian Republic of Kildare|the syndicalist regime]] and the annexation of [[Great Jing Dynasty|the Great Jing]] into [[Greater Kildare|Shireroth]] further eroded her standing among [[Tegong|traditionalists]] and [[Ren Sakuragi|reformers]] alike. But as pressure mounted due to the war and growing public discontent, even the indifferent Xinshi Light had to act. Reluctantly, she ordered all Provincial Assemblies to be dissolved and, for the first time since the last [[1657 Yuan Elections|Imperial Yuan elections of 1657 AN]], she called for free elections. While protests erupted among the old political elites, who were unwilling to relinquish their comfortable positions, their opposition remained confined to the backrooms of power, unable to openly challenge the Heavenly Throne amid the ongoing war.
 
==== Provincial Elections amidst war ====
[[File:Ren Sakuragi in the Assembly.jpg|left|thumb|271x271px|Ren Sakuragi in the Provincial Assembly of Dalmacija, late 1734. A few days after his elections he eagerly debates the necessity of reform in both Greater Kildare and the Imperial Republic of Shireroth. At this moment in time he is merely a minor player in regional politics. For some reason the [[Tegong]] agent, ordered to shoot him on the spot, had taken a sick day.]]
The 1734 AN elections were unique in several ways. Soldiers on the front lines, many of them hardened by the brutality of the war, were granted the right to vote, a move meant to placate the growing unrest within the ranks. However, far from quelling dissent, the elections amplified the divisions within the [[Greater Kildare|Greater Kildarian]] society.
 
The results were a disaster for the status quo. The long-dominant political parties, such as the [[Mango-Strengthening Movement]] and especially the [[Imperial Humanist Party of Greater Kildare|Greater Kildarian Humanists]], who had maintained their presence in the Assemblies despite the chaos of war and political crackdowns, were decimated. In their place emerged a lot of independent candidates and a much smaller, but more vocal and extremist faction of monarchists, many of whom called for a constitutional monarchy as a solution to the nation's deepening crisis. These monarchists, though far from unified, generally sought to preserve the Kaiseress' and Heavenly Light's symbolic role while radically reforming the governmental structure to restore stability.


==== The rise of radicalism ====
Benacia’s strategy was both ambitious and ruthless, aiming to decapitate Shirerithia by encircling and isolating its imperial capital, Shirekeep. Success in this endeavor would hinge on securing key logistical and strategic points across the region. One of the most critical targets was [[Maltenstein]], a vital crossroads that connected northern Brookshire to the broader Shirerithian heartlands. Its capture would allow Benacian forces to sever critical supply lines and establish a forward base for the advance toward Shirekeep. The Benacian advance initially gained significant momentum. Exploiting Shirerithia’s lack of preparation, they launched a lightning offensive that rapidly overwhelmed border defenses and secured critical transportation hubs like [[Pinehurst Airport]]. By late 1733, the invaders had pushed southward and were on the verge of encircling Maltenstein Village.  
While monarchists dominated the conversation, the elections also gave a platform to more '''radical elements'''. A small, but fiery group of '''republicans''' began to gain traction, openly calling for the '''abolition of the monarchy''' and the establishment of a republican system. Although still in the minority, their presence marked a significant shift in the political landscape. These republicans were particularly popular among the '''urban working class''' and disillusioned soldiers who had grown tired of fighting a war they neither understood nor supported. Their call for a '''people's government''' resonated deeply with those who felt betrayed by both the old aristocracy and the Heavenly Light’s administration.


The political environment was further destabilized by the growing influence of '''revolutionary thinkers''' like [[Ren Sakuragi]], whose message of equality and anti-segregation struck a chord with those tired of the '''aristocratic privileges''' and the collusion between the Heavenly Light and the Kaiseress of Shireroth. Ren’s ideas were particularly dangerous for the existing order, as they combined elements of both Jingdaoese and Kildarian dissatisfaction into a cohesive revolutionary vision.
Wherever the armies clashed, brutality followed. The brutality of the campaign was, however, not confined to the Benacian invaders alone. Shirerithian forces, enraged by reports of Humanist collaboration with the enemy, enacted harsh reprisals against suspected collaborators. Entire villages were punished, some wiped from the map in acts of brutal retribution that mirrored the cruelty of their adversaries.


==== Impending socio-economic collapse ====
=== Operation Red Shield: Counter-Offensives into the Central Governate (1736-1737) ===
As the war dragged on, the economic situation at home worsened. Food shortages were becoming commonplace in urban centers, while inflation skyrocketed. '''Corruption''' and '''mismanagement''' within the provincial assemblies made it clear to the people that the old system could no longer provide the stability or prosperity that Greater Kildare - and Jingdao before it - once prided itself on. Simultaneously, the people saw how their Steward, Louis Thuylemans, fled the capital of Shirekeep and exchanged it for [[Novi Nigrad]]. The people, exhausted from the war and embittered by the lack of support from the political class, became increasingly radicalized, with many beginning to openly defy their commanders.
''Limited counter-offensives against the Benacian troops. Shirerithian victories enable the Shirerithian government to return to the capital of Shirekeep in relative peace.''


The Jingdaoese and Kildarian youth, once patriotic and eager to fight for the nation, now returned home on leave (at least, if they survived the dangerous travel across the [[Shire Sea]], plagued by Benacian attacks) as disillusioned veterans, questioning the legitimacy of the entire political and religious order. The war, which had initially united the people in defense of the empire, had instead become a catalyst for unrest.  
''Offensives in Maltenstein and Woodshire Circles by the Elwynnese come to a halt as they are in danger to be cut of from supplies. A token force remains in the hinterland to launch guerilla warfare against Shirerithians. They are aided by Humanist collaborators and irregular supplied from Ransenar.''


=== The Novi Nigrad Quarrels (1734 - ...) ===
* ''See also: [[Novi Nigrad Quarrels]].''


==The war in the air==
==The war in the air==
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''The Shirerithian naval advantage proving near insurmountable, the Benacian Union was obliged to focus its efforts upon defending its own extensive coastline whilst attempting to organise a commerce raiding and submarine warfare campaign with which to hinder Shirerithian efforts to reinforce it's mainland holdings with the full industrial and manpower might of [[Greater Kildare]]''.
''The Shirerithian naval advantage proving near insurmountable, the Benacian Union was obliged to focus its efforts upon defending its own extensive coastline whilst attempting to organise a commerce raiding and submarine warfare campaign with which to hinder Shirerithian efforts to reinforce it's mainland holdings with the full industrial and manpower might of [[Greater Kildare]]''.


*1733 - 1740: [[Operation Chryse’s Chain]]: A naval blockade meant to limit trade between the Benacian Union and the rest of the world. Meant to starve the Benacian Union Defence Force to death and force a surrender. Only partly successful due to aerial dominance of the Union and the preservation of the [[Boreal Air Bridge]].
*1734.II.18: MoMA Station [[Station Sagittarius|Sagittarius]] on [[Naudia'Diva]] is overrun by Benacian troops. ''Operation Self-destruct'' leads to the detonation of several important buildings and depots, killing both several attackers and defenders in the blow.
*1734.IV.8: The ''MV Sirius Business'', a Shirerithian flagged container ship, issued a distress signal after being struck amidships by a suspected torpedo or naval mine whilst approaching the estuary of the [[Camoleo River]]. Suspicion naturally arose that a Benacian U-boat might be operating in the [[Northern Sea]].
*1734.IV.8: The ''MV Sirius Business'', a Shirerithian flagged container ship, issued a distress signal after being struck amidships by a suspected torpedo or naval mine whilst approaching the estuary of the [[Camoleo River]]. Suspicion naturally arose that a Benacian U-boat might be operating in the [[Northern Sea]].
*1735.XIII.12: [[Sinking of the Biternion]]
*1735.XIII.12: [[Sinking of the Biternion]]
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=== Preparations for a Benacian Ground Offensive ===
=== Preparations for a Benacian Ground Offensive ===
By mid 1735, the Western Banner Group of [[Benacia Command]] had amassed 556,765 infantry on the Batavian frontier, including 50,400 shock troops in seven legions supported by 958 tanks. Against these, the [[Imperial Forces]]in the Department of the West could muster five legions supported by 754,088 auxiliaries and 703 armoured fighting vehicles. However the continual arrival of Kildari reinforcements, some convoyed by routes that represented an extreme circumvention of those shores controlled by the Benacian Union, threatened to eventually negate the slim advantage enjoyed by the BUDF and Benacia Command. A window of opportunity was therefore closing. As such, after some more grandiose strategic plans were considered and discounted, it was decided that the first blow by the Western Banner Group against the Imperial Forces in the Batavian theatre would be in the form of the reduction of the so-called Nackholm Pocket.
By mid 1735, the Western Banner Group of [[Benacia Command]] had amassed 556,765 infantry on the Batavian frontier, including 50,400 shock troops in seven legions supported by 958 tanks. Against these, the [[Imperial Forces]] in the Department of the West could muster five legions supported by 754,088 auxiliaries and 703 armoured fighting vehicles. However the continual arrival of Kildari reinforcements, some convoyed by routes that represented an extreme circumvention of those shores controlled by the Benacian Union, threatened to eventually negate the slim advantage enjoyed by the BUDF and Benacia Command. A window of opportunity was therefore closing. As such, after some more grandiose strategic plans were considered and discounted, it was decided that the first blow by the Western Banner Group against the Imperial Forces in the Batavian theatre would be in the form of the reduction of the so-called Nackholm Pocket.


To the 11th Army, under the command of the venerable ''Frainan Hohmin'' Sepp “Papa” Käser, fell the task of capturing the one-time seat of the [[Republic of Ashkenatza]], now long vanquished and languishing under the Batavian yoke. On his southern flank he would be supported by the ''Siyacher Hohm'', commanded by the Babkhan ''Frainan Hohmin'' Farzad Riahi, whose forces, while deprived of the armour, artillery, and mechanised support he might otherwise have desired, had been bolstered by the conscript divisions of the State Guard of the Unified Governorates – initially deployed to man the completed sections of the [[Benacian Western Defence Zone#Southern Sector Defensive Lines|frontier defences]], but now expected to go over onto the attack with whatever was to hand. Reports of civil unrest and factional fighting in Nackholm and Casterburgh had raised hopes for success, but after the horrors of the meatgrinder conflict in the east, the prospect of assaulting prepared defensive works with such slim margins of material advantage was viewed with increasing apprehension amongst the higher echelons of command. Nonetheless, political demands from [[Chryse]] and [[Merensk]] for there to be an end to the period of false war in the west were increasing daily. A telling blow needed to be landed somewhere, and the hopes of the leadership in the east were pinned upon the delivery of a spectacular success in the west.   
To the 11th Army, under the command of the venerable ''Frainan Hohmin'' Sepp “Papa” Käser, fell the task of capturing the one-time seat of the [[Republic of Ashkenatza]], now long vanquished and languishing under the Batavian yoke. On his southern flank he would be supported by the ''Siyacher Hohm'', commanded by the Babkhan ''Frainan Hohmin'' Farzad Riahi, whose forces, while deprived of the armour, artillery, and mechanised support he might otherwise have desired, had been bolstered by the conscript divisions of the State Guard of the Unified Governorates – initially deployed to man the completed sections of the [[Benacian Western Defence Zone#Southern Sector Defensive Lines|frontier defences]], but now expected to go over onto the attack with whatever was to hand. Reports of civil unrest and factional fighting in Nackholm and Casterburgh had raised hopes for success, but after the horrors of the meatgrinder conflict in the east, the prospect of assaulting prepared defensive works with such slim margins of material advantage was viewed with increasing apprehension amongst the higher echelons of command. Nonetheless, political demands from [[Chryse]] and [[Merensk]] for there to be an end to the period of false war in the west were increasing daily. A telling blow needed to be landed somewhere, and the hopes of the leadership in the east were pinned upon the delivery of a spectacular success in the west.   
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=== Fierce Resistance from the Batavians ===
=== Fierce Resistance from the Batavians ===
[[File:Guerilla in Nackholm pocket.png|left|thumb|289x289px|Soldiers of the [[Bataafsche Vrijwillige Brigade]] (Batavian Volunteer Brigade) prepare themselves for a confrontation with the Benacian enemy.]]
[[File:Guerilla in Nackholm pocket.png|right|thumb|350px|Soldiers of the [[Bataafsche Vrijwillige Brigade]] (Batavian Volunteer Brigade) prepare themselves for a confrontation with the Benacian enemy.]]
Unbeknownst to Benacian Command, while a large portion of Shirerithian legions had safely retreated behind the [[Batavian Waterline]] and its extensive defensive structures, the Batavians had reinforced their position in the ''Nackholm Pocket''. This strategic area, which had seen increasing unrest due to factional strife, was now a death trap for any potential attackers from the south.
Unbeknownst to Benacian Command, while a large portion of Shirerithian legions had safely retreated behind the [[Batavian Waterline]] and its extensive defensive structures, the Batavians had reinforced their position in the ''Nackholm Pocket''. This strategic area, which had seen increasing unrest due to factional strife, was now a death trap for any potential attackers from the south.


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This unexpected development significantly complicated Benacian Command's plans. What had initially seemed like an opportunity for a quick and decisive strike could rapidly turning into a potential quagmire, as the Shirerithian resistance, prepared for an intense and protracted defense. The Nackholm Pocket was no longer just a geographical location; it was now a symbol of Batavian defiance, poised to exact a heavy toll on any force attempting to conquer it.
This unexpected development significantly complicated Benacian Command's plans. What had initially seemed like an opportunity for a quick and decisive strike could rapidly turning into a potential quagmire, as the Shirerithian resistance, prepared for an intense and protracted defense. The Nackholm Pocket was no longer just a geographical location; it was now a symbol of Batavian defiance, poised to exact a heavy toll on any force attempting to conquer it.


==Guttuli front==
===Storming of the Nackholm Pocket===
The storming of the Nackholm Pocket began with a ferocious assault in late 1735 AN, spearheaded by the 11th Army under Frainan Hohmin Sepp “Papa” Käser. Initially anticipated as a decisive, three-month operation to crush Shirerithian and Batavian resistance in the region, the campaign instead devolved into a grueling, two-year struggle that would strain the Benacian war effort across multiple fronts.
 
==== Initial Push: Breaking the Pocket ====
Benacian Command unleashed its full arsenal to breach the heavily contested Nackholm Pocket. Waves of infantry advanced under the cover of concentrated artillery fire, supported by precision airstrikes and armored units. Despite these efforts, progress was agonizingly slow. The Shirerithian and Batavian defenders, bolstered by 24,000 volunteers and Kildarian veterans, exploited the marshy terrain, dense forests, and intricate network of trenches and bunkers to inflict heavy casualties. Guerrilla fighters harried Benacian supply lines, while pre-positioned artillery and ambushes devastated advancing columns.
 
By the end of 1736 AN, the Benacians had managed to push the defenders back from key outer positions, but only at a staggering cost. Entire divisions were lost in the marshes of the '''Opperlinge''', and counterattacks by entrenched Batavian forces delayed the offensive further. Against all odds, the Benacians failed to blitzkrieg themselves through the Batavian land. This inspired the song "[[From Thrones to Barricades|O, Benny Boys]]" and raised morale at the Shirerithian homefront. The Nackholm Pocket became a nightmare of attrition, sapping morale and resources from the Benacian Union Defense Force.
 
==== The Stalemate Breaks ====
[[File:1735 BAT South-West 1.0.png|456x456px|right|thumb|The planned operation changed from a three months-offensive into one taking over two years to complete at terrible costs in material and human life.]]Faced with mounting losses and internal criticism of its slow progress, Benacia Command shifted strategy by constantly supplying new canon fodder to the front. Eventually, by 1736 the BUDF redirected a significant portion of its combat air assets and heavy artillery from the eastern front to the west. This decision, while temporarily bolstering the offensive, weakened Benacian forces in the east (around Shirekeep and Maltenstein) and allowed the Shirerithians to stage a dramatic counteroffensive near Shirekeep in 1735 AN, and even forcing the BUDF to retreat and regroup during 1636 and 1637 AN. In Nackholm, however, the reinforcements tipped the balance. Continuous bombing raids flattened much of the region’s defenses, and a renewed push by shock troops overwhelmed the remaining Shirerithian positions. The defenders retreated westward, abandoning Nackholm by mid-1737 AN. Yet, even in retreat, they left behind scorched earth and booby traps, ensuring the Benacians paid a high price for every step forward. This freed up units to transfer back to the Central Governate in the east.
 
==== Marching into Zuid-Hoorne ====
Following the collapse of the Nackholm Pocket, the Benacians steadily advanced into [[Zuid-Hoorne]], encircling the fortified city of [[Caesterburgh]] by late 1737 AN. Shirerithian supply drops managed to sustain the defenders for several months, allowing them to launch sporadic counterattacks. Inside the city, morale remained high despite the grim conditions, as Batavian propaganda painted the defenders as heroes standing against tyranny.
 
However, the siege wore on. By early 1738 AN, Benacian forces had completely severed supply routes into Caesterburgh, including the critical air corridors used by Shirerithian transports. Lacking food, ammunition, and medical supplies, the city's defenders finally surrendered after four months of desperate resistance. The fall of Caesterburgh marked the effective collapse of organized resistance in the region, though guerrilla warfare persisted in the countryside for months thereafter.
 
==== Strategic Impact ====
The prolonged campaign in the west proved both a strategic victory and a significant burden for the Benacian Union. The diversion of manpower and resources allowed Shirerithian forces to regain the initiative on the eastern front, pushing back the BUDF from Shirekeep and even mounting limited offensives in 1736 and 1737 AN. The western campaign’s delays further exposed the BUDF to attrition, weakening its ability to counter Shirerithian advances.
 
The surrender of Caesterburgh, however, secured Benacian control over symbolic and a few key strategic areas in Batavia and allowed them to consolidate their hold on the western front. By 1737 AN, however, the Benacians failed to overrun the [[Batavian Waterline]] and kept diverting much needed manpower from other fronts. Batavia remained an important base of operations for the Shirerithians and was vital for cutting off Benacian supply convoys from the rest of the world.
 
== Guttuli front (1738) ==
The '''[[Duchy of the Guttuli|Guttuli]] Front''' became a focal point of the Shiro-Benacian War as the Benacian Union sought a decisive victory amidst setbacks and only minor victories elsewhere. By 1737 AN, the Shirerithian campaign into the Central Governate had stalled due to growing internal turmoil within the Imperial Republic.
 
The rise of the '''[[Revolutionary Committee of Shirekeep|Revolutionary Committee]]''' in Shirekeep, led by Steward [[Erasmo Laegel]], destabilized Shirerithian governance. The revolutionaries, while holding nominal control, were unable to maintain the cohesion of the empire. The Dominions, particularly [[Greater Kildare]], reduced their support, supplying only the bare minimum to sustain the war effort. This shortfall was especially pronounced on the Guttuli Front, where desertions and equipment shortages became rampant. Reports emerged of Shirerithian soldiers resorting to arming themselves with farm tools, emblematic of the dire situation.
 
Sensing an opportunity, Benacian forces launched a large-scale offensive into Guttuli in early 1738 AN. The Imperial Forces, caught off guard and critically undersupplied, were unable to mount an effective defense. Within a month, Benacian troops had captured most major cities east of the [[Elwynn (river)|Elwynn River]]. In [[Mesior]], a desperate fight ensued as Shirerithian forces sought to cover the evacuation of civilians. Despite the chaos, a miraculous evacuation effort using pleasure boats allowed approximately 80,000 soldiers and 2 million civilians to escape to [[Nosovorensk]], an island stronghold off the coast. This operation, while successful, left much of Far Guttuli under Benacian control.
 
The Benacian advance westward continued with ruthless efficiency. By late 1738 AN, Shirerithian reinforcements along the western banks of the Elwynn River were overwhelmed, and the Benacians drove Imperial forces out of '''Near Guttuli'''. The only exception was the city of [[Lichport]], located near the border of the Duchy of Modan, where Shirerithian forces established a tenuous defensive line. The once-thriving city of [[Musica|Musika]], already devastated by nuclear strikes earlier in the war, fell with minimal resistance but not before the Imperial Forces transfered all vital material from the [[Musica Naval Arsenal]] to [[Raynor Point]]. Meanwhile, Nosovorensk, fortified by the [[Imperial Navy of Shireroth|Imperial Navy]], became the last significant Shirerithian stronghold in '''Coastal Guttuli''', holding out against relentless Benacian pressure.
 
The Benacian successes on the Guttuli Front dealt a crippling blow to the Shirerithian revolutionary regime. The fall of major cities and the loss of Far and Near Guttuli exposed the revolutionaries’ inability to manage the war, further eroding their legitimacy (already unpopular due to [[Mango Anarchy#The Bloody Cleansing|their Bloody Cleansing]]). By 1739 AN, this failure contributed to the ousting of the revolutionary government. The rise of [[Kaiser Ayreon V|Yukio]], appointed as the new monarch after the abdication of Kaiseress [[Salome]], marked the restoration of imperial authority and renewed Shirerithian resolve in the war. However, by 1740 AN, the Benacian victories had solidified their position in Guttuli, creating a new eastern front.
 
== Battle of Sabatini (1739) ==
 
* ''See also: [[Battle of Sabatini (1739)|Battle of Sabatini]]''
 
[[File:Battle of Sabatini.png|left|thumb|313x313px|Map of Sabatini.]]
One of the rising figures in Shireroth during 1739 AN was Tribune [[Karsten Koryandar]], a [[Duchy of Modan|Modanese]] officer from [[Signy]]. With the collapse of the [[Revolutionary Committee of Shirekeep|Revolutionary Committee]] and [[Erasmo Laegel]], Koryandar recognized an opportunity to demonstrate Shirerithian unity and strength. The restoration of support from [[Greater Kildare]], where compliance with the Revolutionary Committee had been tepid at best, provided the additional resources and manpower needed to launch a decisive military operation.
 
In this context, Koryandar proposed an audacious plan: the [[Battle of Sabatini (1739)|invasion of Sabatini Island]], a critical Benacian Union stronghold. The operation, intended as a symbol of Shirerithian resurgence and solidarity, aimed to neutralize the strategic threat posed by Sabatini and secure vital maritime routes. Backed by renewed cooperation across the Shirerithian provinces, the invasion was greenlit, and preparations began in earnest.
 
The Battle of Sabatini, fought in early 1739 AN, had to showcase the Imperial Republic’s determination to overcome internal division and external threats, despite earlier losses. Despite the many losses (over 31,000 Shirerithians had died in taking the island), it was seen as tremenduous victory for the Shirerithians and Koryandar was celebrated as a true hero. This in turn strengthened the position of Prince Yukio, who was hard at work behind the scenes to gain the [[Golden Mango Throne]].
 
== Operation Polar Bear (1739) ==
 
=== Fall of Raikoth ===
Not long after victory in Sabatini, Karsten Koyandar could find himself not on the warm and humid beaches of Sabatini, where he had made a name for himself, but on a Shirerithian warship sailing north. Beneath the cold gray skies, the island of Raikoth - a land of ancient traditions, rocky promontories, and stubborn resilience- braced itself for an invasion which was of great importance to the Benacian Union's survival in the war. Once a place of ethereal beauty and quiet isolation, Raikoth had become a lynchpin in the Shiro-Benacian War, its ports and airstrips vital to supporting [[Leng]] as part of the [[Boreal Air Bridge]], the Benacian Union’s lifeline through the Shirerithian naval blockade.
 
Raikoth was no stranger to struggle. Its tielal, or city-states, bore the scars of [[Free Elwynn|years of conflict]], from the resource-rich Kalen in the south to the remote and mysterious Sithli in the frozen north. The island's defense rested in the hands of the Benacian Union Defense Forces (BUDF): 80,000 troops spread across a land defined by rugged cliffs, sparse farmland, and volcanic peaks.
 
For weeks, the Shirerithian Navy prowled the seas around Raikoth, testing its defenses with diversionary skirmishes and probing attacks. The plan, codenamed '''Operation Polar Bear''', was bold and brutal. Raikoth was to fall first, severing the southern and most populated arm of the Boreal Air Bridge, before the Shirerithians turned their might to the more heavily fortified island of Leng.
[[File:Babhkans in Raikoth.png|thumb|323x323px|Sathrati soldiers, from Babhkan descent, fought valiantly during the ''liberation of Raikoth''. Many of them wanted to prove the loyalty of their isles to the Imperial Republic and proved almost suicidal while attacking the enemy. Even the Jing officers were so impressed, that they called for them to ''"stop throwing themselves on bullets"''.]]
On the eve of the invasion, Shirerithian commanders finalized their assault plans. The fleet, bristling with power, included two aircraft carriers, five amphibious assault ships, twelve destroyers, and a host of submarines and transport vessels. In the skies, 120 aircraft stood ready to rain destruction on the defenders below. Onboard the fleet, 140,000 troops prepared themselves for a campaign that would test their mettle against the unforgiving terrain and the determined defenders of Raikoth.
 
At dawn on 7.IV.1739 AN, the Shirerithian fleet opened fire. The coastal defenses at [[Anshir]] and [[Kalen]] were the first to feel the wrath of the invasion force. Bombers screamed overhead, unleashing destruction on airstrips, radar stations, and anti-aircraft batteries. Explosions lit the gray skies, and the air was thick with smoke and the roar of cannon fire. The main assault began on the southern plains near Kalen, the largest and most prosperous city on the island. Here, the flat terrain allowed for a swift landing of troops and armored vehicles. Amphibious craft churned through the icy waters, disgorging wave after wave of marines onto the beaches. The defenders, though outnumbered and outgunned, fought fiercely, their resistance stiffened by the knowledge that Kalen’s fields and orchards fed much of the island.
 
The battle for Kalen was a brutal affair, marked by close-quarters combat in its winding streets and open squares. The defenders turned every home, every orchard, into a fortress, and the Shirerithians paid dearly for every meter of ground. After five days of relentless fighting, Kalen fell, its once-bustling markets and serene orchards now reduced to smoldering ruins.
 
To the north, in [[Midhoth]], the Shirerithians encountered a different kind of resistance. The militaristic city, perched on rocky hills, had long prided itself on its defiance. Here, the defenders turned the terrain to their advantage, using the hills to launch ambushes and harass the invaders. The siege of Midhoth dragged on for weeks, and only after a concentrated bombardment and the cutting of supply lines did the defenders finally capitulate. Meanwhile, an amphibious assault on Anshir had secured the island’s primary port. Shirerithian paratroopers dropped behind enemy lines, severing communication and escape routes. With Anshir’s fall, the Benacian defenders lost their ability to reinforce other regions of the island. With the south subdued, the Shirerithians turned their attention northward. The cities of [[Talisre]] and [[Irsil]] offered sporadic resistance but lacked the manpower to mount a serious defense. By the time the Shirerithian forces reached Taras, the so-called White Tiel of the north, the defenders were exhausted and their will to fight had been broken. In the farthest reaches of the island, in the enigmatic settlement of [[Sithli]], the Shirerithians encountered no resistance at all. The Sithlelin, with their mysterious origins and otherworldly demeanor, watched impassively as the invaders arrived, offering no help but no hostility either. It was as though they had already resigned themselves to the island’s fate.
 
By 8.V.1739 AN (a bit more than a month after the invasion was launched), the Shirerithian flag flew over the entire island. The cost of the campaign had been steep: over 15,000 Shirerithian soldiers lay dead or wounded, while the defenders had suffered 25,000 casualties and the capture of thousands more. The once-proud cities of Raikoth were battered and scarred, their people stunned by the ferocity of the invasion, with the exception of those towns and cities that had surrendered. The Modanese Tribune [[Karsten Koryandar]] was once again hailed as a hero and he now openly declared victory in name of the Kaiseress, which put further pressure on the regime in Shirekeep to restore the Golden Mango Throne to power.
 
=== Fall of Leng ===
[[File:Fall of Leng.png|left|thumb|221x221px|Surrender of the ''Benacian Female Volunteer Corps of Leng'' and the Shadow Witches. ''"You will enjoy your stay in Leng, they said. No mysterious and freaky people there, they said..."'']]
Raikoth had fallen with brutal efficiency, and the strategic path to [[Governorate of Leng|Leng]] lay open. For Shireroth’s high command, time was of the essence: the longer Leng held out, the greater the risk that the Benacians would send in even more reinforcements or focus their whole fleet in the region. The island was a cauldron of uneasy alliances, its governance split between the Benacian Union Defense Force (BUDF), the enigmatic [[Path of Night and Shadow]], and the [[Iron Cult of Leng]]. [[Azmir Houdinu]], the BUDF’s commander, ruled the two principal settlements of [[Zi’yeh Kla]] and [[Mholog]] with military precision, while the Shadow Witches and the Iron Cult maintained an iron grip over the island’s inhabitants who did not live within those city's compounds.
 
While the BUDF had strengthened the island's defences by increasing the garrison to 26,000 soldiers (a logistical nightmare in the far north), its true strength lay in its labyrinthine system of caves and underground harbors. These natural fortifications concealed a deadly arsenal: a fleet of submarines that patrolled the surrounding waters, turning the seas around Leng into a graveyard for unwary Shirerithian vessels.
 
In the early hours of 15.IV.1739 AN, the Shirerithian fleet closed in on Leng. Dozens of transport vessels carrying over 57,000 soldiers were steaming towards the island. The skies were darkened by the wings of Shirerithian bombers and fighter escorts, ready to strike at a moment’s notice. But the defenders of Leng had prepared well. Submarines slid silently through the depths, targeting the Shirerithian fleet with ruthless precision. Explosions erupted across the waters, and the Shirerithian advance faltered. Over the course of the first three days, the Benacian submarines sank four destroyers, an assault ship, and several transport vessels. The losses were staggering, and morale among the invading forces wavered.
 
Shirerithian commanders, however, adapted their tactics. Using depth charges and aerial reconnaissance, they began to neutralize the submarine threat, clearing a path to the island. By the end of the first week, the Shirerithians had established a beachhead near [[Mholog]], the only lowland area on Leng’s otherwise forbidding terrain.
 
The battle for Mholog was swift but intense. Shirerithian marines advanced under the cover of naval artillery and air support, overwhelming the BUDF defenders. The defenders, though numerous at 15,000, were demoralized by the rapid loss of their submarine fleet and the impending fall of [[Raikoth Autonomous Region|Raikoth]]. After two days of heavy fighting, the bulk of the BUDF forces surrendered, their resistance broken. In Mholog’s dusty streets, Shirerithian soldiers found grim reminders of Leng’s unique character. Symbols of the Iron Cult adorned every building, their stark designs a testament to the island’s harsh traditions. Rumors of the Shadow Witches’ power spread unease among the invaders, but no spell or curse came to halt their advance.
 
With Mholog secured, the Shirerithians turned their attention to [[Zi’yeh Kla]], the island’s second major settlement. Located on a small offshore island, Zi’yeh Kla’s isolation made it a natural fortress, but its defenders saw little hope in further resistance once Enu Kalirion Airfield had been taken over. The BUDF garrison withdrew and surrendered without a fight, leaving the Shirerithians to occupy the city unopposed. The Shadow Witches and the Iron Cult, for their part, proved pragmatic. Recognizing the inevitability of Shirerithian dominance, they negotiated a transfer of authority in return for guarantees of autonomy and religious freedom. The Witches retreated to their shadowed sanctuaries, and the Iron Cult accepted the new order with stoic resignation.
 
== Operation Sunfire: Failure in Guttuli (1740) ==
The Shirerithian campaign into [[Duchy of the Guttuli|Guttuli]], launched in early 1740 AN, was meant to be a decisive strike against the Benacian Union’s southern territories. Following the Fall of Leng, Shireroth believed that the Benacian forces were overstretched, their supply lines compromised, and their defenses weakened. Confident in their superiority, Legate [[Marianne Vex]], commander of the Shirerithian Fourth Army, proposed a bold push into the Duchy of Guttuli, aiming to liberate the Duchy from the Benacians.
 
Instead, the campaign became an unmitigated disaster, exposing the limits of Shireroth’s offensive capabilities, the underestimation of Benacian defensive doctrine, and the unforgiving terrain of Guttuli itself.
 
With the Benacian war machine struggling under the weight of attrition, Shirerithian planners expected a swift collapse of the Guttuli front. Shirerithian shock divisions moved swiftly into Benacian-held territory, expecting minimal resistance.They were gravely mistaken. Instead, they ran headlong into layered fortifications, minefields, and deliberate kill zones that had been meticulously prepared for months. Unlike the overstretched and demoralized Benacian troops in Elwynn, the Ransenar garrison - a mix of veteran BUDF units, local militias, and ideological fanatics - had entrenched themselves into a hardened hastily erected defensive network designed to grind down the invader.
 
By the end of the first month, Shirerithian forces had barely advanced 50 kilometers past the border, well short of their objectives. Rather than a crushing victory, the campaign became a humbling lesson, one that forced Shireroth to rethink its strategy. Instead of direct assaults, they would later adopt ''Operation Left Knock, Right Knock'', a war of maneuver, encirclement, and attrition, learning from the disaster of Guttuli.
 
== Operation Left Knock, Right Knock (1740) ==
 
=== Prelude to the Offensive ===
By early 1740 AN, the tides of the Shiro-Benacian War had begun to turn decisively against the Benacian Union. The success of Operation Polar Bear in 1739 AN had shattered the Benacian Union’s northern supply chains, cutting off vital resources from the [[Leng]]-[[Raikoth]] corridor and tightening the naval blockade on the continent. Meanwhile, Shireroth’s failed attempt to dislodge Benacian forces from the [[Duchy of the Guttuli|Duchy of Guttuli]] demonstrated the difficulty of reclaiming lost territories. However, rather than a sign of weakness, it became the catalyst for a new strategy: a direct offensive aimed at the heart of the Benacian Union’s war machine.
 
With supply shortages mounting, particularly in [[Elluenuueq|Elwynn]], the Benacian Union's war effort teetered on the edge of collapse. The once-mighty military-industrial complex of the BUDF was stretched thin, unable to adequately equip new recruits or maintain existing forces. The [[Lichwood Conclave of 1740]], meant a short but welcome moment of rest for both sides, but also gave the hope that an everlasting ceasefire was incoming. The six day length of the temporary ceasefire, meant to show the world the willingness of the regime to negotiate, instead exposed deep fractures within Benacia Command. Resistance movements in Elwynn grew bolder, while the rule of [[Conducător]] [[Jahan Temür Khadzhi]], who had succeeded [[Jahangir Khan]] in 1736 AN after his death in a Shirerithian raid, faced open dissent. Seizing this moment of vulnerability, Shireroth devised Operation Left Knock, Right Knock, a two-pronged assault designed to fracture Benacian defenses and decisively shift the momentum of the war.
 
=== The Strategy ===
Shirerithian high command planned the offensive with surgical precision. The strategy revolved around two synchronized thrusts:
 
* Left Knock: A powerful offensive would be launched from the west, originating from [[Lannion]], targeting the exhausted Benacian defenses in [[Absentia]]. The goal was to shatter the already crumbling front lines and link up with rebel elements in [[Amokolia]] and [[Mishalan]], severely hampering military operations of the Elwynnese in the rest of Benacia.
* Right Knock: A simultaneous assault would strike from Shirekeep, with Shirerithian forces spearheading an invasion into the [[Central Governate]]. By seizing key industrial and logistical centers, they aimed to collapse the Benacian supply network and force their enemy into a strategic retreat and, splitting the Benacian Union in two.
 
The combined strikes were intended to pinch and isolate the remaining Benacian forces, forcing them into fragmented, unsustainable pockets of resistance. The operation would take approximately several months, culminating in the final collapse of the BUDF’s hold on Elwynn.
 
=== The Execution ===
 
==== Phase I: Western Breakthrough (Left Knock) – 7.VII.1740 AN to 12.XIV.1740 AN ====
The first stage of the offensive commenced with massive artillery bombardments along the Western Elwynn front. Shirerithian armored divisions, supported by airborne shock troops, surged forward against depleted Benacian forces, whose defensive fortifications had deteriorated due to months of material shortages. In Petersburg, Malexander and Mittlere Stadt, resistance groups, bolstered by Shirerithian special forces, launched a coordinated uprising, tying down Benacian reinforcements and accelerating the collapse of their defenses. Shirerithian forces swiftly advanced through the frontline (to their own surprise), securing key railway hubs and severing supply routes feeding the Benacian front.
 
By mid-Rugaall, Mittlere Stadt and La Terre had fallen, and the Benacians were forced into a desperate withdrawal eastward. As expected, they enacted a scorched earth policy, but this backfired spectacularly. Disillusioned local forces and war-weary civilians turned against them, actively sabotaging the retreat. The Batavian-Gasconian singer, [[Alexander Ducas]], who was a soldier in the Batavian division who fought on the northwestern front, immortalised the battle in his chanson ''"[[Où sont passées mes années?]]" (Where Have My Years Gone?").''
 
==== Phase II: Eastern Assault (Right Knock) – 15.VIII.1740 AN to 20.I.1741 AN ====
While the Western Front crumbled, the eastern assault faced fiercer resistance. Benacian forces, still concentrated around Shirekeep and the Elwynn River, mounted a tenacious defense. The city of Varpur became a bloodbath, with house-to-house combat stretching the battle into a brutal five-week siege. However, as Shirerithian forces bombarded the city with high-precision strikes, the defenders’ morale plummeted.
 
By late Qinamu 1740, Shirerithian forces secured Ardashirshahr, capturing one of the last major logistical centers sustaining the Benacian war effort in Upper Elwynn. The collapse of these strongholds opened the road to Araxion and Ryventemple, the last bastions of organized Benacian resistance in the region.
 
==== Phase III: Convergence and Collapse – 21.I.1741 AN to 9.III.1741 AN ====
With both fronts converging, the Benacians were forced into a desperate final stand. Araxion fell after an intense six-week siege. Marking the death knell of Benacian resistance in Elwynn was the collapse of Ryventemple at the start of Kuspor 1741. The Elwynn River, once the lifeline of Benacian logistics, now became an insurmountable obstacle, while Shirerithian control of the Leng-Raikoth ensured that any attempts at resupply were futile. The other States, looking at the local Elwynnese rebellions against the Benacian government and the fast conquests of the Imperial Armed Forces with dismay, folded back and focused on defending their own territory.
 
By Gevraquun 1741, the BUDF remnants either surrendered or retreated in disorder to Elluenuueq, where Khadzhi’s government clung to power amid growing mutinies and civil unrest. Shirerithian forces stood poised at the gates of both the U [[Sovereign Confederation|Sovereign Confederation of Governorates]] and the [[Unified Governorates of Benacia]], their victory in Elwynn had split the Union effectively into two.
 
=== Aftermath and Strategic Impact ===
[[File:Shinjitsu 2.png|left|thumb|323x323px|While not entirely true: the War eventually ended on 8.III.1741. Shireroth claimed victory in an attempt to swallow the bitter pill of losing the Duchy of Guttuli.]]
Operation Left Knock, Right Knock was a resounding success, which even surprised the Shirerithians after years of war and humiliating defeats. It effectively ended Benacian control over Elwynn, fractured the regime’s war machine, and proved that Shireroth had regained the strategic initiative. The loss of Elwynnese industry, manpower, and supply routes crippled the Benacian Union, forcing it into a defensive war. The shattered morale of Benacian troops, combined withgrowing resentment in both the Benacian Union and Shireroth against the war, set the stage for a peace conference in Lorsdam. The Union saw the rebellions as the effective end of the [[Elluenuueq]] and began negotiating a status quo in which Guttuli remained in hands of the Benacian Union.
 
== Treaty of Lorsdam ==
 
* ''See: [[Treaty of Lorsdam]]''
The [[Treaty of Lorsdam]], signed on 8.III.1741 AN in the town of [[Lorsdam]] near [[Shirekeep]], marked the formal conclusion of seven years of warfare between the Imperial Republic of Shireroth and the Benacian Union. This treaty was the result of intense military and political developments, culminating in Shirerithian victories during the 1739 island-hopping campaigns and the large-scale territorial gains achieved through Operation Left Knock, Right Knock in 1740 AN. Despite these successes, Shireroth faced considerable logistical challenges in further campaigns, while internal uprisings in Elluenuueq significantly weakened the Benacian Union’s grip over the region.
 
Although Shireroth had succeeded in reclaiming vast territories (effectively making it the largest it had been in more than a century), it failed to dislodge the Benacians from Guttuli, which had been conquered earlier in the war. Moreover, the prospect of extending military operations into regions like [[Ransenar]] and the [[Sovereign Confederation]], where local resistance was expected to be fierce, raised concerns about the war's sustainability. These factors ultimately compelled both sides to negotiate peace.
 
The Treaty formalized the end of the Shiro-Benacian War, establishing new borders and ushering in a period of uneasy peace between the two powers. While it reinforced Shireroth’s position in Eastern Benacia, it also acknowledged the Benacian Union’s survival. The territorial concessions ensured that both sides retained certain strategic advantages, preventing an outright victory for either power.
 
However, despite the peace agreement, lingering tensions and regional instability persisted. Shireroth’s administration in Elluenuueq faced ongoing resistance and an enormous cost in reconstruction of the ancient Kalir homelands, while the Benacian Union, split in two and weakened but not defeated, focused on rebuilding its war-torn infrastructure and consolidating control over its remaining territories and newly gained Guttuli.
 
[[File:1735 Jing reinforcements.png|350px|thumb|right|The influx of [[Jing]] reinforcements from [[Kildare]] during {{AN|1735}}, would threaten the Benacian position in [[the Guttuli]] region and necessitated a response.]]
[[File:1735 Jing reinforcements.png|350px|thumb|right|The influx of [[Jing]] reinforcements from [[Kildare]] during {{AN|1735}}, would threaten the Benacian position in [[the Guttuli]] region and necessitated a response.]]


Line 236: Line 341:
===Spillover===
===Spillover===
*[[Fall of Normark, 1737]]
*[[Fall of Normark, 1737]]
*[[Fake War]] with [[Nouvelle Alexandrie]] and [[Natopia]], 1737 -
*The [[Great Goat Heist Incident]], border skirmish between Shireroth and [[Senya]], 1739
== Timeline==
* 1733
** 22.XI.<abbr>1733: Start of the [[Streïur uis Faïren|Shiro-Benacian War]] with the [[Ankh incident]]'''.'''</abbr>
** 23.XI.<abbr>1733: Bad Neighbour II received orders to fire a warning shot, by Salome. A 350kt nuclear warhead airbursted within the Bailiwick of [[Babran]], in the [[Ardashirshahr metropolitan area]].</abbr>
** 24.XI.1733:
*** Benacian missiles followed a ballistic trajectory towards ancient and storied [[Musica]], where it detonated as a groundburst directly upon the dockyards and seaport of the city.
*** Operation Hiericus I: Strategic Bombing of Alalehzamin by Shireroth.
*** Operation Blue Shield: Evactuation of the Shirekeepian populace south of the Blue Elwynn.
** 1.XII.<abbr>1733:</abbr>
*** Operation Hiericus II: Two dozen atomic bombs from Shireroth are launched on the [[Alalehzamin Security Line]].
*** Orders are issued from Raynor's Keep for a general advance through the [[Alalehzamin Security Line]]. The operation is met with failure after two months of fighting.
** 2.XII.1733:  Lichkeep bracketed by nine S-3 intermediate ballistic missiles
* 1734
** 1.I.1734: ''Fall Krokodil'' starts: Benacian invasion of Maltenstein Circle in an attempt to attack the capital from the rear, surround it and bring Operation Hiericus and its attack against the Security Line to a halt.
* 1735
* 1736
* 1737
* 1738
* 1739


== International responses & diplomacy ==
== International responses & diplomacy ==
Line 245: Line 374:
**On 25.XI.1733 the Benacian legation in [[Ghawlama]] approached the [[Order of the Holy Lakes]] with a request that it serves as the protecting power for Benacian interests for the duration of its conflict with Shireroth. The legate further requested that a message be communicated to the [[Steward]], pointedly not the [[Kaiseress]], that there should be no further countervalue strikes against civilian population centres, and that strikes against military and industrial targets outside of those population centres should be limited to devices with a yield of 20 kilotons equivalent. Acceptance of the offer was requested within forty-eight hours.
**On 25.XI.1733 the Benacian legation in [[Ghawlama]] approached the [[Order of the Holy Lakes]] with a request that it serves as the protecting power for Benacian interests for the duration of its conflict with Shireroth. The legate further requested that a message be communicated to the [[Steward]], pointedly not the [[Kaiseress]], that there should be no further countervalue strikes against civilian population centres, and that strikes against military and industrial targets outside of those population centres should be limited to devices with a yield of 20 kilotons equivalent. Acceptance of the offer was requested within forty-eight hours.
* {{team flag|Imperial Federation}}: Following the commencement of nuclear hostilities, the central government at [[Gondolin]] and [[Glacier City]] immediately ordered all subjects, citizens, and nobles of the Imperial Federation not there for humanitarian purposes to depart Benacia at the soonest possible opportunity. However, a small number of such subjects would conveniently re-interpret the order and take it upon themselves to join one side of the conflict or another as armed volunteers, thanks to strong cultural, historical, or political connections these people held in common with either side of the fresh conflict. Most of these would be subjects of low birth swept up by either side's propaganda campaigns, but a few were minor nobles hoping to win themselves gold and glory as wannabe soldiers of fortune.
* {{team flag|Imperial Federation}}: Following the commencement of nuclear hostilities, the central government at [[Gondolin]] and [[Glacier City]] immediately ordered all subjects, citizens, and nobles of the Imperial Federation not there for humanitarian purposes to depart Benacia at the soonest possible opportunity. However, a small number of such subjects would conveniently re-interpret the order and take it upon themselves to join one side of the conflict or another as armed volunteers, thanks to strong cultural, historical, or political connections these people held in common with either side of the fresh conflict. Most of these would be subjects of low birth swept up by either side's propaganda campaigns, but a few were minor nobles hoping to win themselves gold and glory as wannabe soldiers of fortune.
* {{team flag|Lac Glacei}}: Grand Duke Augustin decried the use of nuclear weapons and pointed to the futility of the ongoing conflict and meaningless loss of life. He cited Lac Glacei's own track record as a local proponent of peace and sharing favorable relations with its many neighbors in northeastern Apollonia. While Lac Glacei ordered its citizens to vacate both Shireroth and the Benacian Union for safety reasons, it did not recall its diplomatic missions from either country, vowing to remain and pressure both nations to come to a peaceful resolution.
* {{team flag|Meckelnburgh}}: Vice Chancellor Christine Alfons gave a statement to the Royal Meckelnburgh Broadcasting Corporation following the destruction of Babran, calling the Shirerithian attack "one of the greatest crimes of our modern time." All citizens on the Benacian continent were warned to return due to danger of escalating nuclear attacks.
* {{team flag|Meckelnburgh}}: Vice Chancellor Christine Alfons gave a statement to the Royal Meckelnburgh Broadcasting Corporation following the destruction of Babran, calling the Shirerithian attack "one of the greatest crimes of our modern time." All citizens on the Benacian continent were warned to return due to danger of escalating nuclear attacks.
* {{team flag|Moorland}}: The government of Moorland voiced its displeasure at the use of nuclear weapons and supported the Benacian Union in its condemnation of Shireroth's unethical tactics. Nonetheless, the King urged both parties to pause fighting and seek a ceasefire so that negotiations can resume to find a permanent and peaceable resolution to the conflict.
* {{team flag|Natopia}}: After radars and sensors in [[Arboria]] registered the nuclear exchange in [[Benacia]], [[Chancellor of Natopia|Chancellor]] [[Eiiard Darkroot]] issued a strenuous condemnation of both [[Shireroth]] and the [[Benacian Union]], swiftly recalling its ambassadors from both. The [[Imperial Court of Natopia|Court of the Calm Waters]] issued urgent advisories for all [[Natopia|Natopians]] to leave [[Benacia]] at once, as "there is a likelihood that nuclear strikes may continue unimpeded." The [[Natopian Defense Force]] begins mobilization of all its forces, giving orders for full readiness of all forces, especially the [[Natopian Spacefleet]].
* {{team flag|Natopia}}: After radars and sensors in [[Arboria]] registered the nuclear exchange in [[Benacia]], [[Chancellor of Natopia|Chancellor]] [[Eiiard Darkroot]] issued a strenuous condemnation of both [[Shireroth]] and the [[Benacian Union]], swiftly recalling its ambassadors from both. The [[Imperial Court of Natopia|Court of the Calm Waters]] issued urgent advisories for all [[Natopia|Natopians]] to leave [[Benacia]] at once, as "there is a likelihood that nuclear strikes may continue unimpeded." The [[Natopian Defense Force]] begins mobilization of all its forces, giving orders for full readiness of all forces, especially the [[Natopian Spacefleet]].
* {{Team flag|Normark}}: On 25.XI.{{AN|1733}}, as the extent of the initial exchanges became clear, the government of Normark gave notice that the Shirerithian embassy in [[Elijah's Rest]] was required to quit the country at the earliest moment that practicality and international norms and customs would permit. At the same time it responded favourably to a request by the legation of the Benacian Union to invoke the [[Boreal Defence and Security Agreement]], committing the kingdom to the provision of full logistical and material support to the Union-State such as may be required and provided.
* {{Team flag|Normark}}: On 25.XI.{{AN|1733}}, as the extent of the initial exchanges became clear, the government of Normark gave notice that the Shirerithian embassy in [[Elijah's Rest]] was required to quit the country at the earliest moment that practicality and international norms and customs would permit. At the same time it responded favourably to a request by the legation of the Benacian Union to invoke the [[Boreal Defence and Security Agreement]], committing the kingdom to the provision of full logistical and material support to the Union-State such as may be required and provided.

Latest revision as of 13:47, 15 February 2025

Streïur uis Faïren
Photos Shiro-Benacian War.png
Shirerithian soldiers in red battle uniform launching attacks on enemy lines in the early offensives (upper left), Szodan Daniyal ibn Daniyal declaring the launch of operation Riposte in which a nuclear attack devastated Musica (2nd row, left) and a Jing officer in blue Kildarian uniform proclaiming "Vell!" ("War!") and mobilisation of the military and industrial complex (2nd row, right), the IRS Xiacheng leading a troop convoy from Greater Kildare to Batavia (3rd row, left) and the town of Dewfield in Schwinn Circle devastated by the Benacian onslaught in the opening days of Fall Krokodil (3rd row, right), air offensive of the Benacian airforce in 1739 AN (bottom).
Date 22.XI.1733 AN – 8.III.1741 AN
Location Benacia
Result
  • Claimed Shirerithian victory
  • Dissolution of Elluenuueq as State of the Benacian Union
  • Shireroth gains Elluenuueq and Sabatini
  • Benacian Union gains Guttuli and Sagittarius
Belligerents
Shireroth Shireroth Benacian Union Benacian Union
Units involved
Shireroth Imperial Forces
Strength
1733 AN:

~15,500,000 troops (incl. militia/reserves)
1741 AN:
~23,200,000 troops

1733 AN:

~8,500,000 troops (incl. militia/reserves)
1741 AN:
~18,100,000 troops (incl. militia/reserves)

Casualties and losses
Military casualities:~7,2 million

Civilian casualities: ~5 million
Total casualities: ~12,2 million

Military casualities: ~6 million

Civilian casualities: ~3,5 million
Total casualities: ~9,5 million

The Streïur uis Faïren (Praeta: kin strife), Shiro-Benacian War or in many newspapers simply called the Benacian War, was a major conflict between the Benacian Union and Shireroth, bring to a head the longstanding geopolitical competition for hegemony over the continent of Benacia. The outbreak of war was the result of a combination of several factors: the Shirerithian victory in the Sathrati Emergency brought the nerves in Chryse to a fever pitch. This followed an increase in conflicts on the border between the two countries. The nuclear attack by Shireroth, carried out on the orders of Kaiseress Salome, finally initiated the official launch and had far-reaching international consequences, including a first international meeting to limit nuclear weapons.

It stands as one of the most devastating conflicts in the recent history of Benacia and Micras. The scale of destruction, coupled with the loss of both military and civilian lives, surpassed that of the earlier War of the Lost Brothers. This was primarily due to the extensive shared border between the Benacian Union and Shireroth, as well as their prolonged preparations for industrialized warfare.

Shireroth faced significant internal turmoil during the conflict, known as the Mango Anarchy (the situation only improved after the collapse of the revolutionaries, several military victories by monarchists in 1739 AN and eventually the ascension of Ayreon V to the Golden Mango Throne in 1740 AN), which hindered its ability to launch large-scale military operations against the Benacian Union. Despite this advantage, the Benacian forces were unable to fully capitalize on Shireroth's political instability. Their successes were largely limited to temporary gains in the Nackholm Pocket and northern Brookshire, with the notable exception of significant progress in Guttuli.

In 1741 AN, both sides signed the Treaty of Lorsdam, effectively ending the war which had cost the life of over 21 million people.

Background

By the eleventh month of 1733 AN the scale of the build up in Shirerithian forces, evidenced by their reconquest of Sathrati during the previous year, had made it abundantly clear to Benacia Command and the High Presidium of the Benacian Union, that there would be no prospect of preventing the massive reinforcement of the Imperial Republic in Benacia from Greater Kildare. Moreover, the absolute advantage of the Imperial Forces in naval tonnage and manpower would place the entire coastline of the Benacian Union at risk of assault from the sea. Defensive counters, such as building up the coastal defence forces and repairing the East Wall, were both feared to be insufficient countermeasures. As such, Benacia Command came increasingly to the view that the only chance the Benacian Union had of achieving "Endsieg" would require immediate action within a rapidly closing window of opportunity.

The Ankh incident

The Ankh incident
Date 22.XI.1733 AN
Location Red Elwynn above Ankh
Forces Involved
Summary River Fencibles flotilla of three armed merchantmen and six speedboats driven off after a sharp engagement midchannel with the Shirerithian corvette IRS Lacrymosa I.
Related Articles 1733 Ankh incident

Activation of Bad Neighbour II

Map of the nuclear exchange in the first 48 hours.

Assembled and calibrated on the command of Kaiseress Salome following the death of Princes Rubin and Ichiro, Bad Neighbour II received orders to fire a warning shot on 23.XI.1733 AN in response to the Ankh Incident.

At 4:13am, residents of Shirekeep were wakened by a general alert: all windows within the Inner City higher than 5 stories were to be removed or boarded up for civilian safety. Similar alerts had been issued in the months prior, usually in the middle of the day and followed by a "resume normal activity" within the hour. This time, however, the alert to remove or board up windows was repeated at the top of the hour for the next four hours. At 9:00am, another general alert was sent out, this time instructing residents to take cover. A sonic boom was felt throughout Shirekeep a few minutes later, shattering a few windows that had not been sufficiently protected in the northwest corner of the Inner City. A hypersonic object appeared on RADAR, crossing the border into Alalehzamin on a ballistic trajectory, reaching the Ardashirshahr metropolitan area three and a half minutes later. After the electromagnetic pulse dissipated, it was determined that a 350kt nuclear warhead had airbursted within the Bailiwick of Babran.

Estimates after the fact indicated that the strike claimed the lives of 599,300 subjects with a further 224,940 injured. Fortuitously the height of the airburst was such as to preclude the production of significant radioactive fallout. Nonetheless, all of the Ardashirshahr metropolitan area was under the shadow of a mushroom cloud that towered to an altitude of 16 km. Command and control for the 58th Combined Arms Army and its subordinate formations were immediately thrown into chaos, whilst communications reliant upon the Benacian Data Network in the Governorate of Alalehzamin were temporarily disrupted by the loss of a network node and the concurrent spike in data traffic.

Riposte: Musica burns

Benacia Command was still reeling from the strike delivered against it from somewhere within the bounds of the Imperial County. The Benacian Union had triggered its continuity of government protocols within the first hour of the strike, and its leadership cadres, including the staffs associated with the High Presidium and the Security Council, had dispersed. Under these circumstances operational control defaulted to the General Staff of Benacia Command. Fortunately the BUDF had been on an war footing since 1731 AN, in long anticipation of this moment. Orders, once issued via encrypted channels, were swiftly acted upon. At 10.49 am, from the Selmuliet Bastion in Ransenar and the Šlomxala Arsenal in the Unified Governorates, dozens of missiles were fuelled, prepared and launched in rapid sequence against Shireroth. In the next six minutes these were joined by a further seventy-five launches from trailer units situated in remote forested sites throughout the Governorate of Austland. The major targets were the Imperial Shirerithian Air Forces bases located in the departments of the Gaudin and the Guttuli. A further wave of one hundred intermediate range ballistic missiles followed an hour later, again from dispersed sites in Austland, this time focused more narrowly upon Shirerithian bases located within the Schwinn Circle of Brookshire. None of the Schlächters launched in the first hours carried anything other than conventional high-explosive warheads. Except one.

The missile, lofted from a bastion facility in North Lunaris, had followed a ballistic trajectory towards ancient and storied Musica, where it detonated as a groundburst directly upon the dockyards and seaport of the city. The only nuclear device in the BUDF's declared arsenal, the M1708 special munition, had a maximum yield of an equivalent to 15 kilotons. Estimates made by the Operations Directorate of Benacia Command anticipated that immediate fatalities in the city would not exceed twenty-five thousand souls. However, by electing to detonate the device on the surface, an area of 148 km² around ground zero would be subjected to over one-hundred rads per hour from the fallout plume that drifted on the wind in the wake of the 6 km mushroom cloud. The purpose of the strike had not been to exact an a death toll from the Shirerithians equivalent to the one that they had inflicted, but rather to ensure that a strategic port and its associated infrastructure had been rendered completely inoperable for the duration of hostilities.

Shirekeep and the Confluence (1733 AN)

A little after midday on 23.XI.1733 AN, lines of communications were briefly restored to an extend sufficient to allow a single succinct order to be relayed from the Northern Banner Group HQ to 60th Siege Army in Varpûr. That order, once decrypted, was simply one word: “commence”. Within the hour orders had promulgated down the chain of command to the corps and division level and shortly thereafter 1,824 203 mm self-propelled howitzers, grouped into batteries of six apiece in prepared positions behind the Alalehzamin Security Line, began to open up against a number of pre-sighted targets in the Greenwood district of the Imperial County.

At 1.54 pm a F-18 Cyclone from the 4th Air Division of Strike Command launched four S-2/A(S) air to ground missiles whilst overflying the bailiwicks of Zarddeh and Aslanshahr. The gesture was mostly symbolic, two missiles directed against the Palace of Zirandorthel and two against Raynor's Keep.

More impactful would be the mixed packages of F-18 Cyclones and F-17 Axaranas that would shortly be ranging over the airspace of Brookshire and the Guttuli methodically hunting out Shirerithian radar sites and communication hubs.

As the second day of the war lengthened into its evening, the F-9 Ashavan II strike aircraft assigned to support the Northern, Eastern, and Southern Banner Groups were airborne on route towards their assigned combat air patrol coordinates, with the intent to counter in full force whatever the Shirerithian side might put up in retaliation.

And all this, whilst all across northern and eastern Benacia the ominous rumbling of innumerable columns of armoured vehicles could now be heard.

Operation Hiericus I: Strategic Bombing of Alalehzamin

Juvenile subjects in Ardashirshahr engaged in mandatory prayers for national victory, prior to evacuation to Mishalacia. 26.XI.1733 AN.

With the opening of open conflict, His Illustriousness Zhao Feng, the Minister of Military Affairs, authorized Operation Hiericus. Bad Neighbour II was brought back up to firing speed and, by nightfall, the first sonic booms had begun to ring out again across the Imperial Capital, this time from the south of the Inner City at hourly intervals. By morning of 24.XI.1733 AN, the civilian population had begun to adapt to the routine of the hourly sonic boom, followed by a broadcast message, warning civilians to avoid looking northwest for the next few minutes.

Operation Hiericus I's targets, substantially closer than Ardashirshahr's warning shot, took between 58 seconds and 1 minute 28 seconds from launch to airbursting behind the Outer Security Belt of the Alalehzamin Security Line.

Operation Blue Shield

Phase I: Defense of the Alalehzamin-Shirekeep Border

Following the opening of hostilities, 5. Corps and attached civil defense and reserve troops began the evacuation of the civilian population of Greenwood southwards across the Blue Elwynn. The increased hostilities over the past few years between Shireroth and the Benacian Union had already encouraged civilians to consider seeking safer living accommodations elsewhere, making the job of civil defense a matter of identifying which homes had already been abandoned versus those that had to be evacuated.

13. Legion and 14. Legion were deployed in reserve behind screening units, who were deployed forward in distributed small units to receive initial offensive movements. All were issued radiation badges and respirators to be used in the event of exposure to fallout or chemical weapons.

Phase II: Offensive into Southern Alalehzamin

As news permeated through the Shirerithian government of the Benacian message to His Serenity, Louis Thuylemans, concerning the cessation of strategic bombing, orders were issued from Raynor's Keep for a general advance through the Alalehzamin Security Line, which by the morning of 1.XII.1733 AN had been thoroughly disrupted from some two dozen atomic bombs.

This invasion coincided with a strategic shift in Operation Hiericus, shifting from the outer and middle belts to target hardened locations along the Redoubt Line.

A bad day for Lichkeep

Lichkeep at 11.30 am on 2.XII.1733, viewed from north of the river.

Without recourse to orbital observation platforms controlled by Natopia and Nouvelle Alexandrie, it was not until the morning salvos of 1.XII.1733 had been analysed that the BUDF's Air Defence Command had been able to triangulate with a reasonable degree of accuracy the main loci of launch points for the Shirerithian system that had been pummelling Alalehzamin.

An anxious debate then ensued via remote conference between the members of the Benacian Security Council. Everything indicated multiple launch points which would require multiple strikes in order to effectively disrupt. The fact, inescapably, was that these were occurring from a densely populated region of the Imperial County, which would entail a catastrophic loss of life and further erode the limited sympathy that the Benacians had been able to garner after the destruction of Babran. Moreover, evacuation of juveniles from Benacian cities had only just begun, anything that would potentially initiate countervalue strikes by Shireroth against the Union-State before that process could be completed would endanger the survival of precious lineages cultivated at great expense as well as deprive factories and farms of the labour substitutes they would require as adult males were called up.

Set against this, the Alalehzamin Security Line had been ruptured, the 60th Siege Army seriously degraded, and lines of communication and supply seriously disrupted throughout lower Alalehzamin. Everything beyond the Redoubt Line, the backstop of the security line, had already in effect been cracked open. The Shirerithian armies of the confluence, were they to chose to advance into the hell of their own making, would be able to push through and effectively not encounter any organised resistance until they reached the belt of fortifications between Varpur and Mariyechelân. If the Shirerithians were to begin hammering other sections of defensive works in a similar manner the entire strategy of containing and isolating Shirekeep from the rest of the Imperial Republic would rapidly fail.

After hours of fraught debate, the recommendations of Lors Bakker-Kalirion to strike Lichkeep with full force were adopted by the BSC. At the same time the proposal of Ayesha al-Osman was adopted, that the Benacian Legation in Hurmu communicate an offer to the Steward of Shireroth via the Order of the Holy Lakes that there should be no further countervalue strikes against civilian population centres, and that strikes against military and industrial targets outside of those population centres should be limited to devices with a yield of 20 kilotons equivalent. Acceptance of the offer was to be required within forty-eight hours. By the time that Thuylemans was in receipt of the offer, the awful spectre of Lichbrook's fate would be hanging over him in order to focus his mind.

At 11.29 am on 2.XII.1733, Lichkeep was bracketed by nine S-3 intermediate ballistic missiles. launched from dispersed locations in the backwoods of Austland and Mishalacia, with the first initiating an airburst at a height of 1,200 metres above the centre of the city, with the remaining eight detonating as surface impacts in a radial pattern around the zero point of the initial device. Each warhead being equivalent to fifteen kilotons of high explosive, the salvo had been required to achieve a zone of death within the heart of Lichkeep, bracketing the supposed launch apertures of the device which had been lashing out at Alalehzamin over the last two days. Within the zone of death, as the multiple overlapping shock waves subsided, the rising fireballs and the thousands of instantaneous fires that had been triggered in the gaps between them by cumulative heat pulses, quickly drew together into a single conflagration. One minute after the near simultaneous detonations, the nine mushroom clouds had all but converged into a single 9 kilometre tower of broiling black smoke looming over the Imperial County south of the river. As cooler air rushed in to replace the rising cloud, it provided fresh oxygen for ever fire that raged below, especially those in areas caused by ruptured fuel pipes and storage tanks. The result was the ignition of one vast and terrible firestorm, with flames fanned to an extent that the inferno would rage out of control for more than twenty-seven hours to come. As oxygen was burnt out of the surrounding area, those who had been fortunate enough to find shelter in bunkers, basements, or air raid shelters, would find themselves slowly asphyxiated by the accumulation of carbon dioxide – if they were fortunate – while those less so were slowly roasted to death in sealed air tight compartments that had in effect become little more than ovens as the temperatures rose inexorably but without the oxygen to serve as the requisite fuel for combustion. And yet again was the terrible scourge of fallout, from the eight surface detonations laid upon the land, with winds drifting north-west towards Cabbagefall. The heir apparent of the comital throne of Highpass, Ozymandias Jaas Peet Niit n Taag, was killed in the attack on Lichkeep.

Fall Krokodil and Operation Red Shield

Main article: Fall Krokodil
Two soldiers of the 40 Kavallerifördelningen, in the Governorate of Austland, XI.1733 AN.

The Maltenstein Meat Grinder (1734–1736)

Operation Fall Krokodil.
"The land between Maltenstein and Woodshire Village was, by the end of the year (1733), wasted and greatly spoiled. Viewing the country, from the river to the mountains and the frontier, the villages and manors are desolated, and razed in a manner to the ground, no inhabitants to be found in them, scarcely any houses but here and there scattered, and every property ransacked. The roads are cratered, and the wreckage of burnt out vehicles are scattered about everywhere. The number of tanks that evidently suffered catastrophic detonations along one stretch of road were simply staggering."
Constancian observer conducting a review of the battlefield, 1734 AN

Operation Fall Krokodil marked the beginning of a grueling and protracted conflict between Benacian and Shirerithian forces during the War of Supremacy. Although the Shirerithian government initiated the nuclear exchange that sparked the conflict, the Armed Forces were relatively unprepared and undermanned for the conventional warfare that followed. This lack of readiness left Shirerithia vulnerable to the highly organized and rapid response of the Benacian military apparatus.

Benacia’s strategy was both ambitious and ruthless, aiming to decapitate Shirerithia by encircling and isolating its imperial capital, Shirekeep. Success in this endeavor would hinge on securing key logistical and strategic points across the region. One of the most critical targets was Maltenstein, a vital crossroads that connected northern Brookshire to the broader Shirerithian heartlands. Its capture would allow Benacian forces to sever critical supply lines and establish a forward base for the advance toward Shirekeep. The Benacian advance initially gained significant momentum. Exploiting Shirerithia’s lack of preparation, they launched a lightning offensive that rapidly overwhelmed border defenses and secured critical transportation hubs like Pinehurst Airport. By late 1733, the invaders had pushed southward and were on the verge of encircling Maltenstein Village.

Wherever the armies clashed, brutality followed. The brutality of the campaign was, however, not confined to the Benacian invaders alone. Shirerithian forces, enraged by reports of Humanist collaboration with the enemy, enacted harsh reprisals against suspected collaborators. Entire villages were punished, some wiped from the map in acts of brutal retribution that mirrored the cruelty of their adversaries.

Operation Red Shield: Counter-Offensives into the Central Governate (1736-1737)

Limited counter-offensives against the Benacian troops. Shirerithian victories enable the Shirerithian government to return to the capital of Shirekeep in relative peace.

Offensives in Maltenstein and Woodshire Circles by the Elwynnese come to a halt as they are in danger to be cut of from supplies. A token force remains in the hinterland to launch guerilla warfare against Shirerithians. They are aided by Humanist collaborators and irregular supplied from Ransenar.


The war in the air

As the reeling continent absorbed the consequences and full horror of the "limited nuclear exchange" between the two belligerents, the emphasis of the war shifted towards the struggle for dominance in the skies, as the Benacian Union struggled to establish air superiority over its southern neighbour – a war of attrition which would take up the final three months of 1733 AN.

Cruise of the Dominion

On 8.VII.1734 AN, the Benacian gravnought Dominion departed its duty station over Chryse after taking onboard a number of unknown persons and cargo at the city's air station. The gravimetric cruiser then disappeared northwards into the interior of Ransenar for a duration of three days before appearing again over the port of Avakir in the Sovereign Confederation.

The war at sea

The Shirerithian naval advantage proving near insurmountable, the Benacian Union was obliged to focus its efforts upon defending its own extensive coastline whilst attempting to organise a commerce raiding and submarine warfare campaign with which to hinder Shirerithian efforts to reinforce it's mainland holdings with the full industrial and manpower might of Greater Kildare.

  • 1733 - 1740: Operation Chryse’s Chain: A naval blockade meant to limit trade between the Benacian Union and the rest of the world. Meant to starve the Benacian Union Defence Force to death and force a surrender. Only partly successful due to aerial dominance of the Union and the preservation of the Boreal Air Bridge.
  • 1734.II.18: MoMA Station Sagittarius on Naudia'Diva is overrun by Benacian troops. Operation Self-destruct leads to the detonation of several important buildings and depots, killing both several attackers and defenders in the blow.
  • 1734.IV.8: The MV Sirius Business, a Shirerithian flagged container ship, issued a distress signal after being struck amidships by a suspected torpedo or naval mine whilst approaching the estuary of the Camoleo River. Suspicion naturally arose that a Benacian U-boat might be operating in the Northern Sea.
  • 1735.XIII.12: Sinking of the Biternion

Batavian front

Panic Among the Masses

“Generally, the Batavian is typically sober and sharp-minded. However, the threat of war, especially east of the Waterline, reduces this people to wild beasts who strike out fiercely. Just yesterday, I saw in Caesterburgh how refugees from the nearby countryside were simply not allowed to enter my city because the soldiers—under pressure from the local population—refused them access. Stories of Benacian spies attempting to sabotage the defense and poison people behind the front have incited widespread panic.” ("Over het algemeen is de Bataaf doorgaans nuchter en schrander van geest. De oorlogsdreiging, zeker ten oosten van de Waterlinie, herleidt dit volk tot wilde beesten die ferm om zich heen slaan. Gisteren nog zag ik in Caesterburgh hoe vluchtelingen van het nabijgelegen platteland simpelweg niet de stad binnen mochten omdat de soldaten – onder druk van de lokale bevolking – de toegang weigerden. Verhalen over hoe Beneciaanse spionnen trachten om de verdediging te saboteren en mensen achter het front te vergiftigen heeft aangezet tot wijdverspreide paniek.”) - Philippe de Slaegher, mayor of Caesterburgh, 1733 AN

The first weeks and even months of the war saw little movement on the Batavian front. While Shiro-Batavian officers had expected a blitzkrieg, the war on the Batavian-Benacian border seemed to be evolving into a static front. Both sides had invested enormous funds in their defensive works and neither seemed willing to launch a direct attack. The Batavians breathed a sigh of relief, as with each passing day, new reserves were called up and mobilized to man the Batavian Waterline. Not only Batavians, but also tens of thousands of militiamen arrived by ship at the main western ports, including Koningenwaarde. These Jingdaoese and Kildarian soldiers had often endured weeks-long journeys via the eastern Keltian sea route to avoid unnecessary losses and needed time to regain readiness.

Nevertheless, there was also concern on the Batavian side: the nuclear attacks on the Benacian Union had led to mass protests, often exacerbated by humanist agitators and even violent clashes between protesters and the police force. Both Voorwaarts Batavië! ("Forward Batavia!") and Republikeins Links ("Republican Left") put the Ultraroyalists under pressure: had they not said years earlier that the annexation of Batavia by Shireroth would protect the country from war with its aggressive Benacian neighbor? Strikes and sabotage were rampant in various cities. Fear and paranoia gripped the Batavians. In Nackholm, which lay outside the safety of the waterline, a quarrel between neighbors over a broken window turned into a revolt, forcing the city government not only to declare a state of emergency but also to order the army to shoot at the crowd. The result was three dead and fifteen wounded. Thousands of residents fled. In Caesterburgh and other towns and cities, a chaotic flight westward followed, all without the enemy having fired a single shot.

The banner of the Free Port of Nieuw Ingelheim, used by the Staatsburgers

Meanwhile, Caesterburghers who still aligned with the Old Republic saw an opportunity to regain prominence. A group of Kasterburgers who styled themselves as the Staatsburgers, which refered to the Kasterburger name for the privileged (and racially pure) upper-classes. Originally intending to take the City of Caesterburgh, they realised that the Shiro-Batavian forces were too large to combat, and that they location of the city on top of a large hill would render an attack a bloody affair. In turn, the Staatsburgers moved their attention to the South. Making a pact with mercenaries from the Iron Company, still present in Batavia, the Staatsburgers formed a small attacking force and marched on the port city of Zuydend, which in Kasterburger time was known as Nieuw-Ingelheim. Carrying banners of Kasterburg and Ostesia, an attack was launched from both land and sea, and the badly defended city quickly fell. The Joint Staatsburger-Iron Company force declared the city to be the Free Port of Nieuw-Ingelheim, and vowed that they would no longer be governed either by the Batavians, nor by the Shirithians. Jacob Utherion Lewis, the direct male heir of the late Kasterburger leader Reginald de Montfort, was chosen as head of state of the Free Port. Currently, it remains unclear if he accepted the title.

Preparations for a Benacian Ground Offensive

By mid 1735, the Western Banner Group of Benacia Command had amassed 556,765 infantry on the Batavian frontier, including 50,400 shock troops in seven legions supported by 958 tanks. Against these, the Imperial Forces in the Department of the West could muster five legions supported by 754,088 auxiliaries and 703 armoured fighting vehicles. However the continual arrival of Kildari reinforcements, some convoyed by routes that represented an extreme circumvention of those shores controlled by the Benacian Union, threatened to eventually negate the slim advantage enjoyed by the BUDF and Benacia Command. A window of opportunity was therefore closing. As such, after some more grandiose strategic plans were considered and discounted, it was decided that the first blow by the Western Banner Group against the Imperial Forces in the Batavian theatre would be in the form of the reduction of the so-called Nackholm Pocket.

To the 11th Army, under the command of the venerable Frainan Hohmin Sepp “Papa” Käser, fell the task of capturing the one-time seat of the Republic of Ashkenatza, now long vanquished and languishing under the Batavian yoke. On his southern flank he would be supported by the Siyacher Hohm, commanded by the Babkhan Frainan Hohmin Farzad Riahi, whose forces, while deprived of the armour, artillery, and mechanised support he might otherwise have desired, had been bolstered by the conscript divisions of the State Guard of the Unified Governorates – initially deployed to man the completed sections of the frontier defences, but now expected to go over onto the attack with whatever was to hand. Reports of civil unrest and factional fighting in Nackholm and Casterburgh had raised hopes for success, but after the horrors of the meatgrinder conflict in the east, the prospect of assaulting prepared defensive works with such slim margins of material advantage was viewed with increasing apprehension amongst the higher echelons of command. Nonetheless, political demands from Chryse and Merensk for there to be an end to the period of false war in the west were increasing daily. A telling blow needed to be landed somewhere, and the hopes of the leadership in the east were pinned upon the delivery of a spectacular success in the west.

To shift the balance decisively, between the eighth and tenth months of 1735, two thirds of the available combat air assets of the BUDF were shifted to the Western and Central Banner Group areas of operation, including the entirety of the gravimetric, air transport, and unmanned aerial systems.

Fierce Resistance from the Batavians

Soldiers of the Bataafsche Vrijwillige Brigade (Batavian Volunteer Brigade) prepare themselves for a confrontation with the Benacian enemy.

Unbeknownst to Benacian Command, while a large portion of Shirerithian legions had safely retreated behind the Batavian Waterline and its extensive defensive structures, the Batavians had reinforced their position in the Nackholm Pocket. This strategic area, which had seen increasing unrest due to factional strife, was now a death trap for any potential attackers from the south.

Led by a coalition of around 24,000 Batavian volunteers and patriots, the defense was fortified by the presence of veterans, many of whom had survived previous conflicts or had some experience fighting the Benacians around Maltenstein. They were supported by battle-hardened Kildarian officers, whose experience in asymmetric warfare was instrumental in transforming the Nackholm region into a formidable defense zone. Notably, some Shirerithian officers who had stayed behind after their units withdrew also joined the efforts, coordinating logistics and bolstering the fighting spirit of the defenders.

Among the Shirerithian officers who assumed command in the Pocket was the Batavian Tribune Leander Malkontent. In a twist of fate, Leander was well-acquainted with Benacian Frainan Hohmin Käser, having first met him at the Sansabury Conference in 1685, where Leander had attended as a Batavian observer. Over the years, the two had developed a strong rapport, and despite rising tensions between their nations, they maintained correspondence until the outbreak of war severed their connection.


The Nackholm Pocket, already surrounded by marshes and the Opperlinge to its south, was now fortified with layers of trenches, bunkers, and artillery positions both in its outskirts and inside the city. If the line were breached and Benacian forces crossed the Opperlinge, guerrilla forces stationed in the dense forests surrounding Nackholm were poised to disrupt the enemy's supply lines. Several secret depots, tunnels, and hideouts had been established, allowing these irregular forces to operate behind enemy lines with devastating efficiency. The defenders aimed not only to stop the Benacian advance but to wear down their enemy with a series of quick, relentless strikes, turning the natural terrain into a weapon against any invader.

This unexpected development significantly complicated Benacian Command's plans. What had initially seemed like an opportunity for a quick and decisive strike could rapidly turning into a potential quagmire, as the Shirerithian resistance, prepared for an intense and protracted defense. The Nackholm Pocket was no longer just a geographical location; it was now a symbol of Batavian defiance, poised to exact a heavy toll on any force attempting to conquer it.

Storming of the Nackholm Pocket

The storming of the Nackholm Pocket began with a ferocious assault in late 1735 AN, spearheaded by the 11th Army under Frainan Hohmin Sepp “Papa” Käser. Initially anticipated as a decisive, three-month operation to crush Shirerithian and Batavian resistance in the region, the campaign instead devolved into a grueling, two-year struggle that would strain the Benacian war effort across multiple fronts.

Initial Push: Breaking the Pocket

Benacian Command unleashed its full arsenal to breach the heavily contested Nackholm Pocket. Waves of infantry advanced under the cover of concentrated artillery fire, supported by precision airstrikes and armored units. Despite these efforts, progress was agonizingly slow. The Shirerithian and Batavian defenders, bolstered by 24,000 volunteers and Kildarian veterans, exploited the marshy terrain, dense forests, and intricate network of trenches and bunkers to inflict heavy casualties. Guerrilla fighters harried Benacian supply lines, while pre-positioned artillery and ambushes devastated advancing columns.

By the end of 1736 AN, the Benacians had managed to push the defenders back from key outer positions, but only at a staggering cost. Entire divisions were lost in the marshes of the Opperlinge, and counterattacks by entrenched Batavian forces delayed the offensive further. Against all odds, the Benacians failed to blitzkrieg themselves through the Batavian land. This inspired the song "O, Benny Boys" and raised morale at the Shirerithian homefront. The Nackholm Pocket became a nightmare of attrition, sapping morale and resources from the Benacian Union Defense Force.

The Stalemate Breaks

The planned operation changed from a three months-offensive into one taking over two years to complete at terrible costs in material and human life.

Faced with mounting losses and internal criticism of its slow progress, Benacia Command shifted strategy by constantly supplying new canon fodder to the front. Eventually, by 1736 the BUDF redirected a significant portion of its combat air assets and heavy artillery from the eastern front to the west. This decision, while temporarily bolstering the offensive, weakened Benacian forces in the east (around Shirekeep and Maltenstein) and allowed the Shirerithians to stage a dramatic counteroffensive near Shirekeep in 1735 AN, and even forcing the BUDF to retreat and regroup during 1636 and 1637 AN. In Nackholm, however, the reinforcements tipped the balance. Continuous bombing raids flattened much of the region’s defenses, and a renewed push by shock troops overwhelmed the remaining Shirerithian positions. The defenders retreated westward, abandoning Nackholm by mid-1737 AN. Yet, even in retreat, they left behind scorched earth and booby traps, ensuring the Benacians paid a high price for every step forward. This freed up units to transfer back to the Central Governate in the east.

Marching into Zuid-Hoorne

Following the collapse of the Nackholm Pocket, the Benacians steadily advanced into Zuid-Hoorne, encircling the fortified city of Caesterburgh by late 1737 AN. Shirerithian supply drops managed to sustain the defenders for several months, allowing them to launch sporadic counterattacks. Inside the city, morale remained high despite the grim conditions, as Batavian propaganda painted the defenders as heroes standing against tyranny.

However, the siege wore on. By early 1738 AN, Benacian forces had completely severed supply routes into Caesterburgh, including the critical air corridors used by Shirerithian transports. Lacking food, ammunition, and medical supplies, the city's defenders finally surrendered after four months of desperate resistance. The fall of Caesterburgh marked the effective collapse of organized resistance in the region, though guerrilla warfare persisted in the countryside for months thereafter.

Strategic Impact

The prolonged campaign in the west proved both a strategic victory and a significant burden for the Benacian Union. The diversion of manpower and resources allowed Shirerithian forces to regain the initiative on the eastern front, pushing back the BUDF from Shirekeep and even mounting limited offensives in 1736 and 1737 AN. The western campaign’s delays further exposed the BUDF to attrition, weakening its ability to counter Shirerithian advances.

The surrender of Caesterburgh, however, secured Benacian control over symbolic and a few key strategic areas in Batavia and allowed them to consolidate their hold on the western front. By 1737 AN, however, the Benacians failed to overrun the Batavian Waterline and kept diverting much needed manpower from other fronts. Batavia remained an important base of operations for the Shirerithians and was vital for cutting off Benacian supply convoys from the rest of the world.

Guttuli front (1738)

The Guttuli Front became a focal point of the Shiro-Benacian War as the Benacian Union sought a decisive victory amidst setbacks and only minor victories elsewhere. By 1737 AN, the Shirerithian campaign into the Central Governate had stalled due to growing internal turmoil within the Imperial Republic.

The rise of the Revolutionary Committee in Shirekeep, led by Steward Erasmo Laegel, destabilized Shirerithian governance. The revolutionaries, while holding nominal control, were unable to maintain the cohesion of the empire. The Dominions, particularly Greater Kildare, reduced their support, supplying only the bare minimum to sustain the war effort. This shortfall was especially pronounced on the Guttuli Front, where desertions and equipment shortages became rampant. Reports emerged of Shirerithian soldiers resorting to arming themselves with farm tools, emblematic of the dire situation.

Sensing an opportunity, Benacian forces launched a large-scale offensive into Guttuli in early 1738 AN. The Imperial Forces, caught off guard and critically undersupplied, were unable to mount an effective defense. Within a month, Benacian troops had captured most major cities east of the Elwynn River. In Mesior, a desperate fight ensued as Shirerithian forces sought to cover the evacuation of civilians. Despite the chaos, a miraculous evacuation effort using pleasure boats allowed approximately 80,000 soldiers and 2 million civilians to escape to Nosovorensk, an island stronghold off the coast. This operation, while successful, left much of Far Guttuli under Benacian control.

The Benacian advance westward continued with ruthless efficiency. By late 1738 AN, Shirerithian reinforcements along the western banks of the Elwynn River were overwhelmed, and the Benacians drove Imperial forces out of Near Guttuli. The only exception was the city of Lichport, located near the border of the Duchy of Modan, where Shirerithian forces established a tenuous defensive line. The once-thriving city of Musika, already devastated by nuclear strikes earlier in the war, fell with minimal resistance but not before the Imperial Forces transfered all vital material from the Musica Naval Arsenal to Raynor Point. Meanwhile, Nosovorensk, fortified by the Imperial Navy, became the last significant Shirerithian stronghold in Coastal Guttuli, holding out against relentless Benacian pressure.

The Benacian successes on the Guttuli Front dealt a crippling blow to the Shirerithian revolutionary regime. The fall of major cities and the loss of Far and Near Guttuli exposed the revolutionaries’ inability to manage the war, further eroding their legitimacy (already unpopular due to their Bloody Cleansing). By 1739 AN, this failure contributed to the ousting of the revolutionary government. The rise of Yukio, appointed as the new monarch after the abdication of Kaiseress Salome, marked the restoration of imperial authority and renewed Shirerithian resolve in the war. However, by 1740 AN, the Benacian victories had solidified their position in Guttuli, creating a new eastern front.

Battle of Sabatini (1739)

Map of Sabatini.

One of the rising figures in Shireroth during 1739 AN was Tribune Karsten Koryandar, a Modanese officer from Signy. With the collapse of the Revolutionary Committee and Erasmo Laegel, Koryandar recognized an opportunity to demonstrate Shirerithian unity and strength. The restoration of support from Greater Kildare, where compliance with the Revolutionary Committee had been tepid at best, provided the additional resources and manpower needed to launch a decisive military operation.

In this context, Koryandar proposed an audacious plan: the invasion of Sabatini Island, a critical Benacian Union stronghold. The operation, intended as a symbol of Shirerithian resurgence and solidarity, aimed to neutralize the strategic threat posed by Sabatini and secure vital maritime routes. Backed by renewed cooperation across the Shirerithian provinces, the invasion was greenlit, and preparations began in earnest.

The Battle of Sabatini, fought in early 1739 AN, had to showcase the Imperial Republic’s determination to overcome internal division and external threats, despite earlier losses. Despite the many losses (over 31,000 Shirerithians had died in taking the island), it was seen as tremenduous victory for the Shirerithians and Koryandar was celebrated as a true hero. This in turn strengthened the position of Prince Yukio, who was hard at work behind the scenes to gain the Golden Mango Throne.

Operation Polar Bear (1739)

Fall of Raikoth

Not long after victory in Sabatini, Karsten Koyandar could find himself not on the warm and humid beaches of Sabatini, where he had made a name for himself, but on a Shirerithian warship sailing north. Beneath the cold gray skies, the island of Raikoth - a land of ancient traditions, rocky promontories, and stubborn resilience- braced itself for an invasion which was of great importance to the Benacian Union's survival in the war. Once a place of ethereal beauty and quiet isolation, Raikoth had become a lynchpin in the Shiro-Benacian War, its ports and airstrips vital to supporting Leng as part of the Boreal Air Bridge, the Benacian Union’s lifeline through the Shirerithian naval blockade.

Raikoth was no stranger to struggle. Its tielal, or city-states, bore the scars of years of conflict, from the resource-rich Kalen in the south to the remote and mysterious Sithli in the frozen north. The island's defense rested in the hands of the Benacian Union Defense Forces (BUDF): 80,000 troops spread across a land defined by rugged cliffs, sparse farmland, and volcanic peaks.

For weeks, the Shirerithian Navy prowled the seas around Raikoth, testing its defenses with diversionary skirmishes and probing attacks. The plan, codenamed Operation Polar Bear, was bold and brutal. Raikoth was to fall first, severing the southern and most populated arm of the Boreal Air Bridge, before the Shirerithians turned their might to the more heavily fortified island of Leng.

Sathrati soldiers, from Babhkan descent, fought valiantly during the liberation of Raikoth. Many of them wanted to prove the loyalty of their isles to the Imperial Republic and proved almost suicidal while attacking the enemy. Even the Jing officers were so impressed, that they called for them to "stop throwing themselves on bullets".

On the eve of the invasion, Shirerithian commanders finalized their assault plans. The fleet, bristling with power, included two aircraft carriers, five amphibious assault ships, twelve destroyers, and a host of submarines and transport vessels. In the skies, 120 aircraft stood ready to rain destruction on the defenders below. Onboard the fleet, 140,000 troops prepared themselves for a campaign that would test their mettle against the unforgiving terrain and the determined defenders of Raikoth.

At dawn on 7.IV.1739 AN, the Shirerithian fleet opened fire. The coastal defenses at Anshir and Kalen were the first to feel the wrath of the invasion force. Bombers screamed overhead, unleashing destruction on airstrips, radar stations, and anti-aircraft batteries. Explosions lit the gray skies, and the air was thick with smoke and the roar of cannon fire. The main assault began on the southern plains near Kalen, the largest and most prosperous city on the island. Here, the flat terrain allowed for a swift landing of troops and armored vehicles. Amphibious craft churned through the icy waters, disgorging wave after wave of marines onto the beaches. The defenders, though outnumbered and outgunned, fought fiercely, their resistance stiffened by the knowledge that Kalen’s fields and orchards fed much of the island.

The battle for Kalen was a brutal affair, marked by close-quarters combat in its winding streets and open squares. The defenders turned every home, every orchard, into a fortress, and the Shirerithians paid dearly for every meter of ground. After five days of relentless fighting, Kalen fell, its once-bustling markets and serene orchards now reduced to smoldering ruins.

To the north, in Midhoth, the Shirerithians encountered a different kind of resistance. The militaristic city, perched on rocky hills, had long prided itself on its defiance. Here, the defenders turned the terrain to their advantage, using the hills to launch ambushes and harass the invaders. The siege of Midhoth dragged on for weeks, and only after a concentrated bombardment and the cutting of supply lines did the defenders finally capitulate. Meanwhile, an amphibious assault on Anshir had secured the island’s primary port. Shirerithian paratroopers dropped behind enemy lines, severing communication and escape routes. With Anshir’s fall, the Benacian defenders lost their ability to reinforce other regions of the island. With the south subdued, the Shirerithians turned their attention northward. The cities of Talisre and Irsil offered sporadic resistance but lacked the manpower to mount a serious defense. By the time the Shirerithian forces reached Taras, the so-called White Tiel of the north, the defenders were exhausted and their will to fight had been broken. In the farthest reaches of the island, in the enigmatic settlement of Sithli, the Shirerithians encountered no resistance at all. The Sithlelin, with their mysterious origins and otherworldly demeanor, watched impassively as the invaders arrived, offering no help but no hostility either. It was as though they had already resigned themselves to the island’s fate.

By 8.V.1739 AN (a bit more than a month after the invasion was launched), the Shirerithian flag flew over the entire island. The cost of the campaign had been steep: over 15,000 Shirerithian soldiers lay dead or wounded, while the defenders had suffered 25,000 casualties and the capture of thousands more. The once-proud cities of Raikoth were battered and scarred, their people stunned by the ferocity of the invasion, with the exception of those towns and cities that had surrendered. The Modanese Tribune Karsten Koryandar was once again hailed as a hero and he now openly declared victory in name of the Kaiseress, which put further pressure on the regime in Shirekeep to restore the Golden Mango Throne to power.

Fall of Leng

Surrender of the Benacian Female Volunteer Corps of Leng and the Shadow Witches. "You will enjoy your stay in Leng, they said. No mysterious and freaky people there, they said..."

Raikoth had fallen with brutal efficiency, and the strategic path to Leng lay open. For Shireroth’s high command, time was of the essence: the longer Leng held out, the greater the risk that the Benacians would send in even more reinforcements or focus their whole fleet in the region. The island was a cauldron of uneasy alliances, its governance split between the Benacian Union Defense Force (BUDF), the enigmatic Path of Night and Shadow, and the Iron Cult of Leng. Azmir Houdinu, the BUDF’s commander, ruled the two principal settlements of Zi’yeh Kla and Mholog with military precision, while the Shadow Witches and the Iron Cult maintained an iron grip over the island’s inhabitants who did not live within those city's compounds.

While the BUDF had strengthened the island's defences by increasing the garrison to 26,000 soldiers (a logistical nightmare in the far north), its true strength lay in its labyrinthine system of caves and underground harbors. These natural fortifications concealed a deadly arsenal: a fleet of submarines that patrolled the surrounding waters, turning the seas around Leng into a graveyard for unwary Shirerithian vessels.

In the early hours of 15.IV.1739 AN, the Shirerithian fleet closed in on Leng. Dozens of transport vessels carrying over 57,000 soldiers were steaming towards the island. The skies were darkened by the wings of Shirerithian bombers and fighter escorts, ready to strike at a moment’s notice. But the defenders of Leng had prepared well. Submarines slid silently through the depths, targeting the Shirerithian fleet with ruthless precision. Explosions erupted across the waters, and the Shirerithian advance faltered. Over the course of the first three days, the Benacian submarines sank four destroyers, an assault ship, and several transport vessels. The losses were staggering, and morale among the invading forces wavered.

Shirerithian commanders, however, adapted their tactics. Using depth charges and aerial reconnaissance, they began to neutralize the submarine threat, clearing a path to the island. By the end of the first week, the Shirerithians had established a beachhead near Mholog, the only lowland area on Leng’s otherwise forbidding terrain.

The battle for Mholog was swift but intense. Shirerithian marines advanced under the cover of naval artillery and air support, overwhelming the BUDF defenders. The defenders, though numerous at 15,000, were demoralized by the rapid loss of their submarine fleet and the impending fall of Raikoth. After two days of heavy fighting, the bulk of the BUDF forces surrendered, their resistance broken. In Mholog’s dusty streets, Shirerithian soldiers found grim reminders of Leng’s unique character. Symbols of the Iron Cult adorned every building, their stark designs a testament to the island’s harsh traditions. Rumors of the Shadow Witches’ power spread unease among the invaders, but no spell or curse came to halt their advance.

With Mholog secured, the Shirerithians turned their attention to Zi’yeh Kla, the island’s second major settlement. Located on a small offshore island, Zi’yeh Kla’s isolation made it a natural fortress, but its defenders saw little hope in further resistance once Enu Kalirion Airfield had been taken over. The BUDF garrison withdrew and surrendered without a fight, leaving the Shirerithians to occupy the city unopposed. The Shadow Witches and the Iron Cult, for their part, proved pragmatic. Recognizing the inevitability of Shirerithian dominance, they negotiated a transfer of authority in return for guarantees of autonomy and religious freedom. The Witches retreated to their shadowed sanctuaries, and the Iron Cult accepted the new order with stoic resignation.

Operation Sunfire: Failure in Guttuli (1740)

The Shirerithian campaign into Guttuli, launched in early 1740 AN, was meant to be a decisive strike against the Benacian Union’s southern territories. Following the Fall of Leng, Shireroth believed that the Benacian forces were overstretched, their supply lines compromised, and their defenses weakened. Confident in their superiority, Legate Marianne Vex, commander of the Shirerithian Fourth Army, proposed a bold push into the Duchy of Guttuli, aiming to liberate the Duchy from the Benacians.

Instead, the campaign became an unmitigated disaster, exposing the limits of Shireroth’s offensive capabilities, the underestimation of Benacian defensive doctrine, and the unforgiving terrain of Guttuli itself.

With the Benacian war machine struggling under the weight of attrition, Shirerithian planners expected a swift collapse of the Guttuli front. Shirerithian shock divisions moved swiftly into Benacian-held territory, expecting minimal resistance.They were gravely mistaken. Instead, they ran headlong into layered fortifications, minefields, and deliberate kill zones that had been meticulously prepared for months. Unlike the overstretched and demoralized Benacian troops in Elwynn, the Ransenar garrison - a mix of veteran BUDF units, local militias, and ideological fanatics - had entrenched themselves into a hardened hastily erected defensive network designed to grind down the invader.

By the end of the first month, Shirerithian forces had barely advanced 50 kilometers past the border, well short of their objectives. Rather than a crushing victory, the campaign became a humbling lesson, one that forced Shireroth to rethink its strategy. Instead of direct assaults, they would later adopt Operation Left Knock, Right Knock, a war of maneuver, encirclement, and attrition, learning from the disaster of Guttuli.

Operation Left Knock, Right Knock (1740)

Prelude to the Offensive

By early 1740 AN, the tides of the Shiro-Benacian War had begun to turn decisively against the Benacian Union. The success of Operation Polar Bear in 1739 AN had shattered the Benacian Union’s northern supply chains, cutting off vital resources from the Leng-Raikoth corridor and tightening the naval blockade on the continent. Meanwhile, Shireroth’s failed attempt to dislodge Benacian forces from the Duchy of Guttuli demonstrated the difficulty of reclaiming lost territories. However, rather than a sign of weakness, it became the catalyst for a new strategy: a direct offensive aimed at the heart of the Benacian Union’s war machine.

With supply shortages mounting, particularly in Elwynn, the Benacian Union's war effort teetered on the edge of collapse. The once-mighty military-industrial complex of the BUDF was stretched thin, unable to adequately equip new recruits or maintain existing forces. The Lichwood Conclave of 1740, meant a short but welcome moment of rest for both sides, but also gave the hope that an everlasting ceasefire was incoming. The six day length of the temporary ceasefire, meant to show the world the willingness of the regime to negotiate, instead exposed deep fractures within Benacia Command. Resistance movements in Elwynn grew bolder, while the rule of Conducător Jahan Temür Khadzhi, who had succeeded Jahangir Khan in 1736 AN after his death in a Shirerithian raid, faced open dissent. Seizing this moment of vulnerability, Shireroth devised Operation Left Knock, Right Knock, a two-pronged assault designed to fracture Benacian defenses and decisively shift the momentum of the war.

The Strategy

Shirerithian high command planned the offensive with surgical precision. The strategy revolved around two synchronized thrusts:

  • Left Knock: A powerful offensive would be launched from the west, originating from Lannion, targeting the exhausted Benacian defenses in Absentia. The goal was to shatter the already crumbling front lines and link up with rebel elements in Amokolia and Mishalan, severely hampering military operations of the Elwynnese in the rest of Benacia.
  • Right Knock: A simultaneous assault would strike from Shirekeep, with Shirerithian forces spearheading an invasion into the Central Governate. By seizing key industrial and logistical centers, they aimed to collapse the Benacian supply network and force their enemy into a strategic retreat and, splitting the Benacian Union in two.

The combined strikes were intended to pinch and isolate the remaining Benacian forces, forcing them into fragmented, unsustainable pockets of resistance. The operation would take approximately several months, culminating in the final collapse of the BUDF’s hold on Elwynn.

The Execution

Phase I: Western Breakthrough (Left Knock) – 7.VII.1740 AN to 12.XIV.1740 AN

The first stage of the offensive commenced with massive artillery bombardments along the Western Elwynn front. Shirerithian armored divisions, supported by airborne shock troops, surged forward against depleted Benacian forces, whose defensive fortifications had deteriorated due to months of material shortages. In Petersburg, Malexander and Mittlere Stadt, resistance groups, bolstered by Shirerithian special forces, launched a coordinated uprising, tying down Benacian reinforcements and accelerating the collapse of their defenses. Shirerithian forces swiftly advanced through the frontline (to their own surprise), securing key railway hubs and severing supply routes feeding the Benacian front.

By mid-Rugaall, Mittlere Stadt and La Terre had fallen, and the Benacians were forced into a desperate withdrawal eastward. As expected, they enacted a scorched earth policy, but this backfired spectacularly. Disillusioned local forces and war-weary civilians turned against them, actively sabotaging the retreat. The Batavian-Gasconian singer, Alexander Ducas, who was a soldier in the Batavian division who fought on the northwestern front, immortalised the battle in his chanson "Où sont passées mes années?" (Where Have My Years Gone?").

Phase II: Eastern Assault (Right Knock) – 15.VIII.1740 AN to 20.I.1741 AN

While the Western Front crumbled, the eastern assault faced fiercer resistance. Benacian forces, still concentrated around Shirekeep and the Elwynn River, mounted a tenacious defense. The city of Varpur became a bloodbath, with house-to-house combat stretching the battle into a brutal five-week siege. However, as Shirerithian forces bombarded the city with high-precision strikes, the defenders’ morale plummeted.

By late Qinamu 1740, Shirerithian forces secured Ardashirshahr, capturing one of the last major logistical centers sustaining the Benacian war effort in Upper Elwynn. The collapse of these strongholds opened the road to Araxion and Ryventemple, the last bastions of organized Benacian resistance in the region.

Phase III: Convergence and Collapse – 21.I.1741 AN to 9.III.1741 AN

With both fronts converging, the Benacians were forced into a desperate final stand. Araxion fell after an intense six-week siege. Marking the death knell of Benacian resistance in Elwynn was the collapse of Ryventemple at the start of Kuspor 1741. The Elwynn River, once the lifeline of Benacian logistics, now became an insurmountable obstacle, while Shirerithian control of the Leng-Raikoth ensured that any attempts at resupply were futile. The other States, looking at the local Elwynnese rebellions against the Benacian government and the fast conquests of the Imperial Armed Forces with dismay, folded back and focused on defending their own territory.

By Gevraquun 1741, the BUDF remnants either surrendered or retreated in disorder to Elluenuueq, where Khadzhi’s government clung to power amid growing mutinies and civil unrest. Shirerithian forces stood poised at the gates of both the U Sovereign Confederation of Governorates and the Unified Governorates of Benacia, their victory in Elwynn had split the Union effectively into two.

Aftermath and Strategic Impact

While not entirely true: the War eventually ended on 8.III.1741. Shireroth claimed victory in an attempt to swallow the bitter pill of losing the Duchy of Guttuli.

Operation Left Knock, Right Knock was a resounding success, which even surprised the Shirerithians after years of war and humiliating defeats. It effectively ended Benacian control over Elwynn, fractured the regime’s war machine, and proved that Shireroth had regained the strategic initiative. The loss of Elwynnese industry, manpower, and supply routes crippled the Benacian Union, forcing it into a defensive war. The shattered morale of Benacian troops, combined withgrowing resentment in both the Benacian Union and Shireroth against the war, set the stage for a peace conference in Lorsdam. The Union saw the rebellions as the effective end of the Elluenuueq and began negotiating a status quo in which Guttuli remained in hands of the Benacian Union.

Treaty of Lorsdam

The Treaty of Lorsdam, signed on 8.III.1741 AN in the town of Lorsdam near Shirekeep, marked the formal conclusion of seven years of warfare between the Imperial Republic of Shireroth and the Benacian Union. This treaty was the result of intense military and political developments, culminating in Shirerithian victories during the 1739 island-hopping campaigns and the large-scale territorial gains achieved through Operation Left Knock, Right Knock in 1740 AN. Despite these successes, Shireroth faced considerable logistical challenges in further campaigns, while internal uprisings in Elluenuueq significantly weakened the Benacian Union’s grip over the region.

Although Shireroth had succeeded in reclaiming vast territories (effectively making it the largest it had been in more than a century), it failed to dislodge the Benacians from Guttuli, which had been conquered earlier in the war. Moreover, the prospect of extending military operations into regions like Ransenar and the Sovereign Confederation, where local resistance was expected to be fierce, raised concerns about the war's sustainability. These factors ultimately compelled both sides to negotiate peace.

The Treaty formalized the end of the Shiro-Benacian War, establishing new borders and ushering in a period of uneasy peace between the two powers. While it reinforced Shireroth’s position in Eastern Benacia, it also acknowledged the Benacian Union’s survival. The territorial concessions ensured that both sides retained certain strategic advantages, preventing an outright victory for either power.

However, despite the peace agreement, lingering tensions and regional instability persisted. Shireroth’s administration in Elluenuueq faced ongoing resistance and an enormous cost in reconstruction of the ancient Kalir homelands, while the Benacian Union, split in two and weakened but not defeated, focused on rebuilding its war-torn infrastructure and consolidating control over its remaining territories and newly gained Guttuli.

The influx of Jing reinforcements from Kildare during 1735 AN, would threaten the Benacian position in the Guttuli region and necessitated a response.

International incidents and related conflicts

A duel in Lindstrom

Delegates of the Benacian Union and Shireroth, on the rapidly unraveling Permanent Commission of the Raspur Pact, decided to resolve a question of honour between them. The scene would subsequently unfold on Lindstrom Square in the heart of the eponymous city.

Spillover


Timeline

  • 1733
    • 22.XI.1733: Start of the Shiro-Benacian War with the Ankh incident.
    • 23.XI.1733: Bad Neighbour II received orders to fire a warning shot, by Salome. A 350kt nuclear warhead airbursted within the Bailiwick of Babran, in the Ardashirshahr metropolitan area.
    • 24.XI.1733:
      • Benacian missiles followed a ballistic trajectory towards ancient and storied Musica, where it detonated as a groundburst directly upon the dockyards and seaport of the city.
      • Operation Hiericus I: Strategic Bombing of Alalehzamin by Shireroth.
      • Operation Blue Shield: Evactuation of the Shirekeepian populace south of the Blue Elwynn.
    • 1.XII.1733:
      • Operation Hiericus II: Two dozen atomic bombs from Shireroth are launched on the Alalehzamin Security Line.
      • Orders are issued from Raynor's Keep for a general advance through the Alalehzamin Security Line. The operation is met with failure after two months of fighting.
    • 2.XII.1733: Lichkeep bracketed by nine S-3 intermediate ballistic missiles
  • 1734
    • 1.I.1734: Fall Krokodil starts: Benacian invasion of Maltenstein Circle in an attempt to attack the capital from the rear, surround it and bring Operation Hiericus and its attack against the Security Line to a halt.
  • 1735
  • 1736
  • 1737
  • 1738
  • 1739

International responses & diplomacy

  • Calbion Calbion: The Calbain government issued a short declaration calling for the cooling down of tensions and urged both parties to strive to avoid all-out war. It denounced the use of nuclear warheads as regretable and escalatory. It was made clear, however, that Calbion will remain neutral and will at all costs avoid being dragged into the conflict. One exception was made regarding the Calbain vassal-state of Blackstone. Were the sovereignty or security of the island's waters to be treatened at any point, then the full might of the Calbain armed forces will be deployed to protect the Lordship.
  • Constancia Constancia: Within hours of news of the nuclear detonations, the Imperial Constancian Government recalled its Ambassador from Shirekeep, mobilized and called all Constancian nationals in Benacia to active duty under the command of the nearest Constancian Embassy, legation, or consulate, and directed evacuation of women and children from the Imperial Republic. The Viscountess of Lumenetra issued a statement deploring the escalation and calling upon fellow Landsraad members to hold the Government accountable for the intentional targeting of civilians. Forces in the Viscounty of Lumenetra were placed on full alert. Forces within the Principality of Arboria were likewise placed on full alert.
  • Floria Floria: President Hutchinson harshly condemned the nuclear attacks committed by both sides and has called for severe sanctions towards both nations whilst acknowledging that Floria should also face the spotlight regarding its use of WMDs. Military alertness was raised to 'heightened' and nuclear air defence was deployed for the first time. Hutchinson also marked this as the nail in the coffin for the Raspur Pact and stated that the nation would remain neutral throughout the conflict however was aware of mass volunteering to the Vanguard Division.
  • Order of the Holy Lakes Order of the Holy Lakes:
    • The Order of the Holy Lakes vacated its diplomatic missions in Shireroth and the Benacian Union and called upon its citizens to immediately leave the countries, due to the security situation there. Organised evacuations mainly went through fellow XC countries Tellia and Sanama (in Benacia), while evacuations from Apollonian Shireroth were more in line through chartered air, sea and train services. Hurmudan passport holders with Benacian nationality were however placed into detention pending their assignment to duties commensurate with their service obligations as meritorious subjects.
    • On 25.XI.1733 the Benacian legation in Ghawlama approached the Order of the Holy Lakes with a request that it serves as the protecting power for Benacian interests for the duration of its conflict with Shireroth. The legate further requested that a message be communicated to the Steward, pointedly not the Kaiseress, that there should be no further countervalue strikes against civilian population centres, and that strikes against military and industrial targets outside of those population centres should be limited to devices with a yield of 20 kilotons equivalent. Acceptance of the offer was requested within forty-eight hours.
  • Imperial Federation Imperial Federation: Following the commencement of nuclear hostilities, the central government at Gondolin and Glacier City immediately ordered all subjects, citizens, and nobles of the Imperial Federation not there for humanitarian purposes to depart Benacia at the soonest possible opportunity. However, a small number of such subjects would conveniently re-interpret the order and take it upon themselves to join one side of the conflict or another as armed volunteers, thanks to strong cultural, historical, or political connections these people held in common with either side of the fresh conflict. Most of these would be subjects of low birth swept up by either side's propaganda campaigns, but a few were minor nobles hoping to win themselves gold and glory as wannabe soldiers of fortune.
  • Lac Glacei Lac Glacei: Grand Duke Augustin decried the use of nuclear weapons and pointed to the futility of the ongoing conflict and meaningless loss of life. He cited Lac Glacei's own track record as a local proponent of peace and sharing favorable relations with its many neighbors in northeastern Apollonia. While Lac Glacei ordered its citizens to vacate both Shireroth and the Benacian Union for safety reasons, it did not recall its diplomatic missions from either country, vowing to remain and pressure both nations to come to a peaceful resolution.
  • Meckelnburgh Meckelnburgh: Vice Chancellor Christine Alfons gave a statement to the Royal Meckelnburgh Broadcasting Corporation following the destruction of Babran, calling the Shirerithian attack "one of the greatest crimes of our modern time." All citizens on the Benacian continent were warned to return due to danger of escalating nuclear attacks.
  • Moorland Moorland: The government of Moorland voiced its displeasure at the use of nuclear weapons and supported the Benacian Union in its condemnation of Shireroth's unethical tactics. Nonetheless, the King urged both parties to pause fighting and seek a ceasefire so that negotiations can resume to find a permanent and peaceable resolution to the conflict.
  • Natopia Natopia: After radars and sensors in Arboria registered the nuclear exchange in Benacia, Chancellor Eiiard Darkroot issued a strenuous condemnation of both Shireroth and the Benacian Union, swiftly recalling its ambassadors from both. The Court of the Calm Waters issued urgent advisories for all Natopians to leave Benacia at once, as "there is a likelihood that nuclear strikes may continue unimpeded." The Natopian Defense Force begins mobilization of all its forces, giving orders for full readiness of all forces, especially the Natopian Spacefleet.
  • Normark Normark: On 25.XI.1733 AN, as the extent of the initial exchanges became clear, the government of Normark gave notice that the Shirerithian embassy in Elijah's Rest was required to quit the country at the earliest moment that practicality and international norms and customs would permit. At the same time it responded favourably to a request by the legation of the Benacian Union to invoke the Boreal Defence and Security Agreement, committing the kingdom to the provision of full logistical and material support to the Union-State such as may be required and provided.
  • Northbloom Northbloom: Minutes after the initial nuclear strikes, Northbloom closed the airspace over Ermingander Village and announced that an "experimental energy barrier" was in operation over the capital. The latter is believed to have been responsible for the temporary outages subsequently affecting Northbloom and northern Kalgachia.
  • Nouvelle Alexandrie Nouvelle Alexandrie: Upon news of the first nuclear attack, New Alexandrian Secretary of State Morissa Baumann stated, "This heinous act against humanity cannot go unanswered. We call upon all nations to unite in condemning this barbaric use of nuclear force and to impose stringent sanctions against the Shirerithian government." Following the retaliation by the Benacian Union not soon after, which resulted in another nuclear strike, has further raised alarms in Cárdenas. Reports confirm that tens of thousands of Ransenari citizens, fearing a repeat of The Scouring 40 years earlier, are attempting to obtain asylum in Nouvelle Alexandrie but local authorities in the Benacian Union are forbidding it. "Decades ago, many Elwynnese and Ransenari came here to escape another nuclear holocaust. We cannot stand idly by while another happens on our watch."
  • Oportia Oportia: Federal Representative Galilea Montijo, while campaigning for re-election in the city of Pax, Oportia, announced that it was high time that perhaps "we have a real debate on the value the Raspur Pact provides - will it condemn us to more nuclear catastrophe? Is this the alliance we think it is?" After the rally, the Oportian government released a statement stating that "the State of Oportia unequivocally condemns the reckless use of weapons of mass destruction, yet again, in the continent of Benacia;" while also announcing that it was recalling its ambassadors.
  • Sanama Sanama: Following the confirmation of a nuclear blast in the Benacian Union, the Sanaman Union Armed Services were put on full readiness and a general mobilisation ordered. All border crossings with Shireroth were closed and the ambassador to Shirekeep recalled. The government issued a statement condemning the use of weapons of mass destruction. Sanaman citizens currently in the Benacian Union or Shireroth were advised to return immediately. After the bombing of Musica, a further condemnation was issued and the ambassador to the Benacian Union recalled.
  • Suren Confederacy Suren Confederacy: Following the use of atomic weapons against the majority Babkhan Governorate of Alalehzamin, a nationalist mob, waving the flags of old Babkha, engaged in seven nights of protracted disorder during which Shirerithian owned properties in Mehrshahr were ransacked and torched. Gendarmes were reportedly instructed only to ensure that no foreign lives were lost during the tumult but to otherwise give the protesters free rein during which to vent their anger. The senior Shirerithian diplomats in Surenshahr were subsequently summoned to face the Surenšāh, whereupon they were berated for the "barbarity" of their conduct in the war. With the Suren Confederacy's own protracted civil conflict only coming to a close recently, the regime was in no mood to become directly embroiled. Nonetheless, it was common knowledge that any Humanists or Babkhan nationalists who wished to enlist with the Benacian Union Defence Force would experience no obstacles to their plans.