Kythiran Invasion of Imperius
| Kythiran Invasion of Imperius | |||||||
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| Part of The Raggisar Revolution | |||||||
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| Minecraftia's largest army, leadership splintered into monarchist and republican factions. | Minecraftia's largest navy. Provincial Armies and the Imperial Legion | ||||||
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Near-complete destruction of the Imperius Royal Navy Major civilian casualties Massive military losses |
Massive military losses Undocumented number of prisoners of war | ||||||
The Kythiran Invasion of Imperius, called the War of Dragestein Restoration by the Kythiran Crown and called the War of Kythiran Aggression by the Raggisar government, was a war fought between the forces of the Kythiran Empire and the united forces of the Imperius Monarchists and the Raggisar Republicans. It was the largest war in Minecraftian history, resulting in the collapse of the Imperius monarchy and the near disintergration of the Kythiran Empire, which was prevented by the Reforma Carta.
Pre-War Events
The Lotrican Genocide, the Dervich Incident and the resulting Treaty of Altojardin had greatly damaged the reputation of House Von Dragesteiner and the monarchy as a whole. The loss of territory had been an enormous scandal, filling even the pro-Dragestein newspapers of the reich. Riots broke loose in Imperia and across the reich, which the royal guards struggled to put down. General Von Wolfswald took control of the city of Eisenturm, locking the Count of Eisenturm in the city's dungeon, and declaring himself interim-president of the 'Imperius Republic'. The Kaiser immediately demanded that Von Wolfswald would either surrender to the reich or execute himself.
For the safety of the royal family, the Grand Marshal suggested they'd travel to the royal palace deep in Imperius territory. As the carriage travelled through the forests of the Reich, it was suddenly ambushed by revolutionary soldiers. They shot the Grand Marshal as he tried to fight them off, and arrested the kaiser and his family, transporting them to a farm nearby. Here they were stripped of their valuables and locked in the basement.
Once it was discovered that the kaiser and his family had gone missing, the uncoordinated kidnapping caused chaos in the reich. In the senate many suggested the kaiser had fled the country, whilst others claimed he had been killed by Von Wolfswald.
At the closing days of the Dervich Incident, the Emperor of Kythira had ordered the arrest of the visiting Kaiser of Imperius and his Grand Marshall, who were visiting for peacetalks in the Kythiran city of Helmira. The intend by the Kythirans had been to negotiate directly with the Imperius Senate, using the Kaiser as leverage, but instead republican undercurrents in Imperius, which had begun to form ever since the Lotrican Genocide, exploded, causing a civil war in Imperius between the Monarchists, who wished to have Kaiser Von Dragestein return to Imperius, and the Republicans, who wished to establish a full Republic, inspired by the Aqumis Republic and the ancient Federation of Provinces from the Second Era.
Cause
The Kythirans did not want a republican government in charge. Preferring a monarch and a system more like their own, they immediately began preparations to restore order in Imperius, end the civil war and return the Kaiser as the leader of the Reich, although with considerably less powers than before. The Kythirans hoped that, in return for helping the Kaiser regain his throne, they would be able to annex large swaths of territory of the Reich.
The Start of the War
Over the course of a month, tens-of-thousands of Kythiran troops from all over the Empire were brought to the Mediori Fleet and boarded onto the many ships the Empire had to offer. Being able to ship around 3000 soldiers per crossing, the fleet began its first wartime excursion out into the Southern Sea. Part of the fleet went south-east, bringing Kythiran soldiers as far as the east coast of Imperius. The rest of the fleet went north, and split into two attacking forces. The first place to fall under Kythiran fire was the City of Chesterfield. Under heavy bombardement, and totally outnumbered and outgunned, the city watch quickly raised a white flag above their walls. The Kythirans had their first foothold in Imperius. Quickly, ships began to ferry soldiers from the Mediori Fleet and unloading them in Chesterfield.
A Fjellsoldat soldier who had survived this first attack however had managed to mount his horse, and began an exhausting ride across the entire Imperius western coast, warning all settlements and forts along his way about the incoming Kythiran invaders. Eventually, he confiscated a boat, and managed to reach and warn Dorwall about the incoming invaders.
Captain Fernando Cortez was the highest ranking officer of the Imperius Royal Navy present on Dorwall at the time, and he swiftly took action. Arresting all foreigners present in Dorwall at the time, most of whom traders from Kythira. These people were taken aboard a series of confiscated ships, together with all women and children of Dorwall, and evacuated north towards Imperia. All men still in Dorwall were brought to the docks, where they were rationed out the sparse amount of weapons and armour left in the trading city.
As the last ship with refugees left the island, the first Kythiran Imperial Navy warships could be seen arriving in the horizon. The makeshift battalion was no match for the Kythiran Navy, which acted relatively restrained compared to later years, killing only a dozen local soldiers, sending most towards Alcanzar as prisoners of war. Here, many would be sold off into slavery, with only a small portion of the original population of Dorwall returning after the war. Captain Cortez managed to escape his temporary jail in Dorwall, stealing a rowboat at night and managed to get to the Imperius mainland, where he would rendezvous with a Republican army under the command of Thomas "Cobblestone Wall" Jansohn.
The island itself became the a Kythiran stronghold in the Narrow Sea, being used as a vital port for transporting more troops into mainland Imperius.
When the Kythirans wanted to move their fleet further north, towards Imperia however, they were ambushed. First, a large field of sea mines were spread over the Redstonian Strait. The ships that managed to pass these fell under heavy fire from coastal batteries operated by troops warned by the Fjellsoldat soldier. Then, in the Northern Sea, the Kythiran Imperial Navy met most of the Imperius Royal Navy, and the largest sea battle in history unfolded, known as the Battle of the Northern Sea. Over the course of an entire day, hundreds of ships on both sides fell and sunk into the ice cold sea.
This stalemate destroyed most of the Imperius Royal Navy, and created extremely heavy losses in the Kythiran Imperial Navy. The remaining Kythiran ships, still under extremely heavy bombardment from the Imperius coast, retreated back to Dorwall and Chesterfield. Of the 153 Kythiran ships that participated in the Battle, only 32 returned. Admiral Amedeo, who led the Kythiran Imperial Navy, send a letter to the White Gold Tower, requesting that the Province of Ardoragh would send its navy, the world's most advanced at the time, to aid in the war. Mean-whilst, with the sea no longer a viable route towards Imperia, the Kythirans began their full land invasion.
Chaos in Imperia
In Imperia the news of the Kythiran invasion was causing mass chaos. The city guard struggled to contain the looting that occurred almost every night, with many citizens fleeing into the countryside. The government buildings were shut down, but the operation to evacuate the valuable inventories of these buildings was extremely slow to get off the ground due to bureaucratic reasons. By the time the evacuation crew arrived, many artifacts, including a great many historic ones, had been looted. A week after the riots began, the Palace of the Dragons, the royal palace in Imperia, began to burn. Local firefighters managed to save much of the exterior of the building, but the majority of the interior was destroyed.
With the Republican Armies approaching from the east, and the Kythirans approaching from the west, the Monarchists leader, Senator Meyer, decided to abandon the capital and escape north, taking with them the remaining ships of the Imperius Royal Navy still present in Imperia. Due to their dwindling troops however, some of these ships had to be abandoned. Rather than leave them for the Republicans, they decided to scuttle them in Dragons Bay.
Groups of Republican fanatics stormed the Zitadellenturm, taking control of the armoury and becoming the Democratically Organised Council of Free and Equal Citizens of Imperius, or DOCFECI.
Grand Duke Wulfhere Von Dragestein, a nephew of the Kaiser who had stayed in the capital in his role as Commander of the City Guard, was arrested by the DOCFECI, tried and found guilty of being an 'Enemy of the Revolution', and publicly executed. This began a reign of terror, wherein the DOCFECI ruthlessly prosecuted anyone they suspected of having even the slightest Monarchist sympathies. This reign of terror, called the Month of Tears, only ended when the Republican army took control of the city. General Von Wolfswald used the Zitadellenturm as his temporary base of operations. From here, he commanded the Republican armies, which were fighting the Kythirans on the west, south and east, and the Monarchists in the north.
Kythiran Advance
As Von Wolfswald settled into the Zitadellenturm, five Kythiran Armies were marching into Imperius.
- Army Group A, Operating from Dorwall, marched alongside Imperius' second largest river, which led to the forests south of Imperia.
- Army Group B, Operating from Chesterfield, marched south towards the remains of the Duchy of Lotric.
- Army Group C, Operating from the Mediori Fleet, had landed on the eastern shore of Imperius, and was marching west, through lands that were flatter than the west coast, but covering a much longer distance, which was harder to supply.
- Army Group D, Operating from Marsadini, crossed the mountains to meet up with Army Group A from the south.
- Army Group E, Operating from Solleria, also marched to Lotric in order to meet up with Army Group B.
The Republicans send four army groups south to intercept Kythira's Army Group B and E. During the Battle of Lotric, the Republican Army faced a massive defeat, losing three army groups, only being able to rescue her fourth through a mass rout eastwards. Learning of this defeat, Von Wolfswald realised he needed to stop the civil war first, so the combined Imperius armies, before the war the largest army in history, could focus on defeating the Kythirans. To this end, he send several messengers north, offering terms for Senator Meyer, including a full pardoning for all Monarchists troops and supporters after the war, as well as promising Senator Meyer a position in the new Republican government.
Whilst these messengers were underway, Kythiran Army Group B and E had fully taken control of the Duchy of Lotric. Here, they treated the local populace kindly, offering them food and other supplies. Important Lotrican artifacts were carefully packaged and shipped to Helmira. Any Lotrican citizen who so desired also received the ability to move to the Kythiran Empire, where they would be able to gain full citizenship in any of the regions.
It was at this time that the Kythiran Crown Prince, Charles Viromaro, who had received the rank of Admiral of the Kythiran Imperial Navy, landed in Lotric for a surprise visit to the Kythiran troops. A mass parade was held through the old city ruins, and a week of celebrations were held for their "Liberation from Imperius oppression". Crown Prince Charles was quoted in the Helmiran Times as saying "This is a glorious day, not just for our Empire, but for Minecraftia and indeed for justice. Finally House Mace has been avenged, and Lotric is free.".
The Great March
After the celebrations, the Kythiran armies focused on taking the midlands of Imperius through a combined attack. In this, they were able to defeat the still divided, much smaller armies of the Republicans and Monarchists with relative ease. However, many cities and towns tried to fight back, to which the Kythirans responded with greater acts of brutality, hoping to squash any rebellion. Any city, town or village that surrendered without a fight was spared, although the occasional looting did happen. If a city resisted and after that fell, the Kythirans responded by publicly executing all "Men of fighting age", whilst sending at least half of the remaining population back to Solleria, where they were sold on the Alcanzari slave markets. If there were not enough ships in a harbour at any time to transport all the new prisoners, the remaining Imperians were simply dumped into the cold seas, where most would drown. Learning of the atrocities committed against their countrymen caused a flood of refugees that was yet another drain for the already struggling supply chains of the Republican forces.