Liothidian military intervention in Ommenlanden

Operation Fraternity Operation Brüderlichkeit
Liothidian tanks advancing toward Alkmaar on 29 May 1994.
Date 29th May-2nd June 1995 (7 days) Location Ommenlanden Result Liothidian-Ommish putchists victory Government of Johannes Alders overthrown Assumption of power by Jan Boekhorst and Hendrika Tigelaar Liothidian occupation of Ommenlanden
Belligerents
Ommish Putschists Liothidia	Alders government and loyalists
Commanders and leaders
Hendrik Schuurman Peter van de Ven Manfred von Weizsäcker Dieter Grenz	Johannes Alders Eduard Cuypers
Strength
16,200 soldiers 36,000 soldiers	3,593 soldiers and police
Casualties and losses
36 killed 55 injured 16 killed 29 injured	506 killed 2,084 injured or captured
89 civilians killed or injured

The Liothidian military intervention in Ommenlanden, officially known in Liothidia as Operation Fraternity (Liothidian:Operation Brüderlichkeit), was a week-long military operation, between May and June 1994, against the Ommish government under Johannes Alders.

The operation came at the climax of the Lost Decade, which was a continious economic and political crisis that emerged following the death of long-time leader, Karsten Kroon. The operation involved a significant portion of the Ommish military and 36,000 Liothidian soldiers. The relatively bloodless invasion ended with the storming of the government district in Alkmaar and the mass purge of the Ommish communist government.

The Liothidian military began an occupation of Ommenlanden while appointing new leaders, who in turn, launched Liothidian inspired reforms of the political, economic and social systems of the country. The invasion preserved Liothidia's influence over the country and the location of Ommenlanden within its sphere of influence, while bringing political and economic stability, it remains one of the most hotly debated military actions of the late 20th century.

Over 500 pro-Alders soldiers and police were killed, alongside 89 civilians who died in fighting or accidents.

Background

Ommenlanden had been under the rule of the All-Ommish Socialist Party since revolution of 1943, which had been fully-supported by Liothidia. With the outbreak of the Second Lio-Vannoisian War in 1945, Ommenlanden entered the war in alliance with Liothidia, being a significant player in the western front against Ostmark and XX. The war's end in 1951, left Ommenlanden significantly drained of manpower, wealth and industrial capacity, further entrenching its reliance on Liothidia. The election of Karsten Kroon as President in 1952, an unapologetic pro-Liothidian politician, led to the signing of the Treaty of Fraternity, Solidarity and Reconstruction between the two states, which granted Liothidia excessive access to Ommenlanden's mineral wealth.

Karsten Kroon served as President of Ommenlanden between 1952 and 1984.

Kroon however, instituted a series of political reforms throughout the 1950s that partially opened the economy and political systems, which he used to further entrench his position. By 1965, Ommenlanden had exceeded its pre-war economic position and saw sustainable and respectful growth. During this time, Kroon had amassed such support and power that he became the subject of an extensive cult of personality and the central source of power and authority in the single-party-state. Throughout the 1970s, with the implentation of Popular Socialism in Liothidia under Armin Stahl, Kroon became concerned that Liothidia was diverging from socialist thought to swiftly and regularly refused to follow suit, even as Liothidia's economy boomed as a result.

In 1980, Kroon suffered a stroke and withdrew from the public lime-light. His deputy, Gerard Nijboer assumed most of his duties and responsibilities. However, lacking his charisma and popular support, factionalism within the AOSP began to deepen and fracture party unity. In 1983, Kroon suffered a second stroke and died four weeks later on January 4 1984. Nijboer was elected as his successor, but failed to confront factionalism and disunity sufficiently, allowing for the division to breakout into political infighting and economic stagnation.

Lost Decade

Following the death of Kroon, the infighting within the AOSP escalated dramatically by 1985. Historically, the infighting has been categorised as "competing worldviews and visions for Ommenlanden's future." While these worldviews generally maintained commonalities in preserving socialism, they differed often greatly on content. The first faction, was the pro-Liothidian and pro-reform bloc known as the Keyser Club, named after Henk Keyser, Kroon's popular and competent Finance Minister. The other was the Provincialen, a faction that sought power for trade unions and workers' councils and federalisation, the other was the Kanaalgroep, a nationalist socialist orthodox group that sought Ommenlanden's independence from Liothidia.

Between 1984 and 1986, President Gerard Nijboer attempted to maintain a balance between the various factions, by implementing a mix of reforms promoted by all three. These reforms often contradicted one another and had serious negative effects on the country's economy. His implementation of stricter state controls in concession to the Kanaalgroep, decimated the capital reserves of the government and within months shortages of luxury goods followed. His implementation of reforms aimed de-centralising government disrupted chains of command and led to declines in education and healthcare standards, as local provincial governments competed with central government over policy. In April 1986, the AOSP launched an emergency congress to discuss the situation. This allowed all three factions to outmaneuver Nijboer, with a vote of no-cofidence, unseating and demoting him. Unable to appoint a new President by majority, they were forced to accept Premier Piet Rietveld as President. Rietveld was sympathetic to the Kanaalgroep and succeeded in securing several KG members as cabinet ministers.

Johannes Alders, leader of the Kanaalgroep became President in 1993. His anti-Liothidian rhetoric guaranteed their intervention to restore order and ostensibly maintain informal control over the country.

However, the Keyser Club and Provincialen united at the 1987 congress to remove Reitveld by vote of no-confidence, leading to the election of Jan Thielen as President. Thielen was a self-proclaimed moderate who sought to end the economic consequences of the chaos in politics, however, he soon found to lack sufficient support for even modest reforms by the Kanaalgroep and Provincialen and resigned six months later. As an emergency candidate, Willem van Bergen was elected Acting President, a position he would hold until 1990.

Mass protests solely escalated between 1993 and 1994, threatening the regime.

Van Bergen succeeded in passing emergency economic motions through the Politburo, yet they failed to address the new chronic inefficiencies in the economy, which still overly relied upon agriculture and mining. This led to rising unemployment, further shortages and rapidly growing discontentment. In 1990, Van Bergen died in a plane crash while visiting northern Ommenlanden, he was succeeded by Hugo Borst who would serve until 1992, before being removed by the Party Congress in wake of his own failures to secure reform.

In 1993, mass protests and riots erupted across Ommenlanden in response to the chronic economic situation and the political instability. Unable to find common ground, the three factions continued to conspire against one another, until Johannes Alders, a member of the Kanaalgroep, promised to act in good faith, arguing that all three factions could see their desired reforms implemented. Alders stated that Ommenlanden could federalise, while maintaining close trading ties with Liothidia and increasing state control over the economy. Eager to avoid a popular uprising, the Congress elected Alders President. His crackdown succeeded in limiting disturbances, however, he used the security crackdown to detain several members of opposing factions, while declaring his intention to pull Ommenlanden out of Liothidia's sphere of influence.

The arrests and Alder's anti-Liothidian rhetoric caused deep concern within the Liothidian government, who saw Alders' agenda as vague enough to warrant concern its rivals would seek to break Ommenlanden away from Liothidia, endangering its economic and geopolitical interests.

Liothidia's position

Throughout the Lost Decade, the Liothidian government had assumed a belief that through the conflicting interests, no faction would gain overall control of the Ommish state. This was entrenched by First Secretary Armin Stahl's refusal to impede on Ommenlanden's political system, warning that overt influence would be a boon for the "extremist anti-socialist alliance factions."

First Secretary of Liothidia, Manfred von Weizsäcker, took a dim view of the Lost Decade, ordering the Liothidian military to draw up plans for an intervention in 1991.

However, Manfred von Weizsäcker, who succeeded Stahl in 1990, took the situation in Ommenlanden with deeper concern. He reportedly worried that continuing political instability would endanger the Ommish communist government and ostensibly endanger what Liothidia refers to as "Zentrale Sicherheit" (Central Security), the geopolitical ring of satellite states to Liothidia's west, east and south. In 1991, Von Weizsäcker ordered the People's Revolutionary Army to draw up plans for a military intervention to preserve the communist government.

In 1992, with the onset of mass protests and riots, the Liothidian government increased its intelligence staff at its Embassy compound and GID military officers established relationships with numerous counterparts in the Ommish military and pro-Liothidian factions. With the election of Johannes Alders as President, the Liothidian government under Von Weizsäcker set in motion the intervention, viewing Alders as a direct threat to Central Security over the mass protests.

Preparations

Eager to avoid alerting elements loyal to Alders, between 1993 and 1994, the Liothidian intelligence services worked tirelessly to secure support of key individuals within Ommenlanden's military, civil service and ruling party. The long-term Minister of Defence, Jan Provoost, shared no affinity for Alders or his agenda and was secured by Liothidian intelligence as early as November 1993. Other figures reportedly recruited by the Liothidians included the theatre commanders on the eastern border with Liothidia, who were ordered to keep sightings of Liothidian military units secret from the central government.

Throughout late 1993 and early 1994, the would-be putschists expanded their number to include officials from the Territorial Defence Force, Police and civil service. The Liothidians had identified a "Successor Administration" by December 1993 and arrange for them to be out of the country during the operation.

In December 1993, under cover of Christmas, the Liothidian military deployed select teams of its STROPAK special forces inside Ommenlanden. According to released Liothidian archives, the units were tasked with meeting up with pro-putsch Ommish special forces, but also to hide in close proximity to the residences of identified opponents of the operation and Alders loyalists.

From January until May, the People's Revolutionary Army deployed the roughly 36,000 strong force earmarked for the invasion to key locations across the border. Officially, these deployments were described as "practice logistical deployments." These growing number of soldiers went unreported to the Ministry of Defence.

The pro-Putsch Ommish officers amassed under them a force of roughly 16,000 soldiers, while other officers were convinced to ignore any call for aid by the central government. However, pro-Putsch leaders had warned the Liothidians by February 1994, that some elements of the Ommish Worker's Army and the People's Police Service would likely resist. In early May, the PRA had deployed ammunition and support equipment, while all aircraft in the Western Military District had been placed on high alert for immediate deployment into combat.

In April, the PRA confirmed that the operation would take place on 29 May.

Operation Fraternity

At approximately 02 am on 29 May 1994, Liothidia invaded Ommenlanden. That night, 36,000 Liothidian soldiers and 1,000 tanks entered Ommenlanden along two axis of advance. These forces were comprised of units from the 3rd Army of the II Western Military District, backed by units of the 35th STROPAK Division who had been pre-deployed into the country in December 1993. The same time, pro-putsch forces of the OWA deployed forces to strategic points around Alkmaar.

At 03am, STROPAK forces stormed the residences of key government officials, detaining them. However, Finance Minister Jan Hoen, responded to noises downstairs by attacking one STROPAK soldier, who responded with gunfire, killing him instantly. Others detained included State Security Minister, Marten Joustra, which significantly damaged the government's response.