Euran War
| Euran War | |||||||||
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 Jingdaoese Fleet in the Sandy River Estuary, Southern Eura |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| The Kattei Emperor Joseph Myksos | Basileusa Cleo | ||||||||
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The Euran War, begun in May 2016, saw the small Kingdom of Constancia plunged into war against the far larger and militarily aggressive Jingdaoese Empire. It was a David and Goliath struggle from the outset.
Background
A Faux-Pas Unprecedented in Modern Diplomacy
The conflict derived from the sudden deterioration in relations between the two states in early May 2016, particularly after the passage of the International Recognition Act by the Synklētos, the legislature of Constancia, which charged the Borders Control Agency to compile a list of recognised states based on three identified criteria, these being:
a) Constitutional Government;
b) The holding of a recognised territorial claim on the map of Micras;
c) Reciprocal recognition of the Kingdom and the ruling Basileus.
The manner in which this information was collated was deemed by some foreign governments to be somewhat insensitive, and queries were raised in Natopia and Craitland about the implicit unilateral alteration of the previously established diplomatic relations between their respective countries and Constancia. The Grand Chamberlain of the Court of the Calm Waters, the Natopian Foreign Minister, went so far as to hint at the potential for the repudiation of their recently signed 'Pact of Perpetual Friendship' after being insulted with the receipt of a box tick form to complete. However the most extreme reaction occurred in Jingdao, where the Emperor immediately responded to being labelled a fascist by conferring 'Hun' status on the entire Kingdom of Constancia(1). This was rather more serious than it sounds as under Jingdaoese law and custom the hun are impure and may be killed or even consumed with impunity. Following this, the Kattei Emperor, Heinrich Rasmus, commanded his nobles in the Imperial Assembly to debate ways to "bring down Constancia"(2). After more outlandish proposals to use atomic weapons to irradiate the land and render it uninhabitable were discounted, debate turned to the prospect of occupying and colonising the small inland Kingdom on the Continent of Eura.
Jingdaoese Preparations
The first act of the Imperial Jingdaoese Navy, two days prior to the declaration of war(3), was to dispatch a force of twelve corvettes of the Imperial Navy to the estuary of the Sandy River, a mega river that flowed from Lake Erik in the southern central portion of Euran continental landmass, southwards into the Southern Ocean. Their mission was to identify a channel in the river deep enough for Jingdao's ocean-going capital ships to use to navigate up into Lake Erik and from whence they could roam at will attacking Vey, the lakeside capital of Constancia, as well as other military and civilian targets.
The secondary objective for the reconnaissance force was to install a boom defence cable across the river to interfere with Constancian shipping and inhibit their use of the river.
Amongst other, less reputable, acts was the decision of the Emperor to violate the usual customs of diplomatic immunity to order the seizure of the Constancian envoy and diplomatic staff for the acting out of a macabre ritual where half the delegation was executed and fed to the other half(4).
Meanwhile, on the evening of the 8th of May, the the Batavian Royal Navy, an auxiliary fleet of one of the Empire's subject states, joined the main fleet of Jingdao at sea en route to the Euran continent. The aircraft carrier HLS Vermeylen, the battleships HLS Gradus, HLS Goburin, HLS Yuandi and HLS Germania's Justice (the Batavian flagship) and the frigates HLS Dietsland, HLS Transingel, HLS Nedergermania and HLS Pentapolis comprised the significant task force.
Constancian Preparations
On the 8th of May, Basileusa Megaliótate Cleo, Autokrateira of Constancia, made an address to the Kingdom that was broadcast on the television channels and over the national radio service. In it she reciprocated the Jingdaoese declaration of war with a declaration of her own. In so doing she reminded her subjects that they were a kingdom of free men and women now faced with war against an empire of slaves. During her short, but emotion-laden, address she predicted that Jingdao would 'never ever come to dominate over the freedom-loving peopleos of Micras' and that the war would 'restore Constancian authority on the world scene'.
With the assistance of foreign advisers, the Constancian Army began preparing so-called 'infernal machines', improvised explosive devices in waterproofed containers and attached to a buoyancy device, typically a barrel, disguised as drifting weed clumps or debris. The improvised naval mines were fitted with proximity fuses and or remote control detonators and were floated out onto the Sandy River to help impede Jingdaoese access to the inland sea known as Lake Erik.
