Vilcasuamanian Bush War

Vilcasuamanian Bush War
Part of the Phoney War
Date 4 July 1969 - 12 December 1991 (22 years, 5 months, 1 week and 1 day) Location Vilcasuamanas Result Government victory New Haven Peace Accords Legalization of the Cooperativist Party Liberalization and move towards democracy in Vilcasuamanas
Belligerents
Vilcasuamanian government JDF Federation of Asteria Marirana Nimear	DVSF (until 1976) CAL Cooperativist Party (until 1976) VTSP (until 1981) RDA (until 1976) L-27 (until 1975) Eisenkuste (material support)
Commanders and leaders
Mauricijus Sprogys Kazys Drusutis Salemonas Sakatauskas Adolfas Svirelis Lauras Lagūnavičius Vladas Pranskunas Kristupas Preikavičius  † William Haley Allen Black Paolo Vinciguerra F.A. Vredeling	Stepas Bisikirskas Vytis Bajarunas  † Saulius Kiuras  † Skirgailas Sprindis Domas Leita   Jokubas Pakalnis   Faustas Kristonaitis
Casualties and losses
70,000–80,000 (total Vilcasuamanian dead); 2,000 disappeared; 550,000 internally displaced

The Vilcasuamanian Bush War (Ruttish: Vilkasuamanos Krūmo Karas) was a conflict between the government of the Republic of Vilcasuamanas and various left-wing movements and armed groups. The conflict began in the late 1960s and quickly escalated into a full-scale guerilla war, prompting a military intervention by the Federation. The New Haven Peace Accords in 1976 demobilized most of the guerilla forces, while forcing the military government to concede significant steps towards democratization; however, certain factions, such as the Ciapist Army of Liberation (CAL) would continue the fight until 1991.

The war is seen as a reaction to the repressive policies of military dictator Mauricijus Sprogys, who had ruled the country since 1958, but was more generally rooted in the wide social discontent caused by vast corruption and income inequality. Various suppressed leftist groups would coalesce to form the Workers and Peasants' Solidarity Front (Ruttish: Darbuotojų ir Valstiečių Solidarumo Frontas, DVSF), which would declare open warfare on Sprogys' government after a failed coup in 1969; the urban July 27th Movement (L-27), while not explicitly socialist, would join in 1971. The expected resistance to Sprogys within the military failed to materialize, and instead the conflict became characterized by unconventional warfare, particularly in the Sythian rainforest region of the country. Federation involvement, initially in the form of military advisors, would escalate dramatically as part of the anti-leftist measures of the Phoney War; Vilcasuamanas invoked the mutual defense clause of the Joint Defense Force, and by 1972 there were several thousand Federation, Mariranan, and Nimearian troops "in-country".

The government-aligned forces conducted vast search and destroy operations against the rural guerillas; these bloody tactics were controversial in both the Federation and in Vilcasuamanas, as their effectiveness against the insurgents was dubious. From 1974, Federation troops began a gradual withdrawal, straining the Vilcasuamanian armed forces that had relied on Federation support. Fearing the unpopularity of the war among his supporters threatened to undermine his regime, Sprogys made concessions to the L-27 movement, restoring the Seimas and releasing hundreds of political prisoners. This brought the DVSF to the negotiating table as well, and the New Haven Peace Accords of 1976 officially ended the conflict, with Sprogys pledging to hold free elections. In 1976, the first general elections were held, with the military relinquishing power and allowing for presidential elections shortly after Sprogys' death in 1978. However, the CAL refused to demobilize and broke with the DVSF following the New Haven Agreement, continuing a low-level asymmetric conflict for fifteen years.

Although estimates vary, scholars believe around 75,000 Vilcasuamanians were killed in the course of the war; approximately 6,000 foreign troops were also killed between 1970 and 1976. The war was also notorious for the human rights violations committed on both sides; the rebels forcibly recruited child soldiers, the government launched indiscriminate strategic bombing campaigns, and all combatants regularly executed civilians believed to be collaborating with the enemy. In the initial stage of the conflict, the Vilcasuamanian dictatorship significantly cracked down on civil liberties; Sprogys' government is thought to be responsible for nearly 2,000 forced disappearances during this period. The war precipitated a vast refugee crisis as disaffected Vilcasuamanians migrated to Nimear and Satucin, leading to tensions in both of those nations. However, the return to democracy in Vilcasuamanas can also be credited to the conflict, as both the insurgents and the government's allies pressured the Sprogys government to liberalize and return to traditional party politics, initiating the Fourth Republic.

Background

Sprogys dictatorship

Marshal Mauricijus Sprogys led the Republic of Vilcasuamanas from 1958

First phase (1969-1976)

Government crackdown and escalation

Vilcasuamanian forces in combat against a VTSP stronghold

Second phase (1976-1991)

CAL steps up campaign

CAL guerillas lie dead in the town of Šv. Steponas, Juodopė