Belfro-Mutulese War of 1928

Belfro-Mutulese War of 1928
Date 12 May 1928 - 08 January 1932 Location Belfras Mutul Kayamuca Sea Result Undecisive Signature of the Hicayayi Treaty Creation of the Kayamucan Reserved Areas, precursors of the EEZ
Belligerents
Mutul	Belfras	Ayeli
Strength
TBD	TBD	TBD
Casualties and losses
TBD	TBD	TBD

The Belfro-Mutulese war of 1928, also known as the Kayamucan War, Second Belfro-Mutulese War, or the King Mackerel War, was the second major conflict between the Belfrasian Federation and the Divine Kingdom. It started over both countries attempts to control maritime affairs in the Kayamuca Sea beyond the territorial limits traditionaly recognized. It notably saw fightings over the exact location of the Kayamuca International Waterway and fishing sectors.

The war started after an incident where a Belfrasian fishing vessel was intercepted and sank by the Mutuleses, who claimed it had been a Belfrasian spying unit. The four years long conflict saw not only the participation of the two major Kayamucan powers, but also of other countries such as Ayeli. It ended with the signature of the Hicayayi Treaty, which created "Reserved Areas" for economic purposes, while the Kayamuca International Waterway was slightly redifned to accomodate these new Maritime Borders. It's not until the creation of the Forum of Nations that the Reserved Areas would be replaced by the modern EEZ.

Prelude

Long before the war, and since at least the Arm Race of the 1890s and 1900s, both Belfras and the Mutul pursued aggressive policies when it came to the Kayamuca Sea and the NorOxi Strait. But it's only in 1917, a year after the First Belfro-Mutulese War, that each made unilateral declaration doubling the size of their national water. In 1920, both once again made parallel plans of establishing large "Controlled Waters" areas far removed from any emmerged territory they held. International pressure stopped in its track an attempt by both government to divide equally the NorOxi Strait, but the two countries nonetheless made their claims known : most of the northern Kayamuca Sea in the case of Belfras, the Southern Kayamuca Sea up to the an eastern line made of Tikal, Ayeli and TBD national waters.

While neither recognized the other's claim, an unwritten rule was established where neither did any move to contest the other's control as these "new" demarcations followed more-or-less the areas where they were already de-facto economically dominant.

Nonetheless, tensions rose up dramatically when the migrating pattern of the King Mackerel changed abruptly during the year 1926. Unknown in origin, this change had the unfortunate consequence of putting both Belfrasians and Mutuleses fishermen in competition, and violent skirmishes between vessels that were after the same body of fishes became more and more common. Because of the damages and injuries provoked by these altercations, the Federation and the Divine Kingdom started deploying military patrols to escrot the fishing fleets, further increasing the tensions. It's at this point that the Imperial State of Ayeli published a new denonciation of Belfras and the Mutul's unilateral claims on international waters.

The powderkeg exploded when, in 1928, the Mutuleses attempted to stop and search a Belfrasian vessel. In unclear circumstances, neither countries having disclosed their files on the incidents, the ship ended up being sunk and its crew killed. Mutuleses claimed it was a Belfrasian spying vessel that opened fire on the patrol, while the Belfrasian denounced the murder of nine fishermen. On the 12th of May 1928, the Belfrasian Federation declared war to the Mutul.

The War

Contrary to the War of 1911, the 1928-1932 period saw the majority of the fighting done at sea rather than on land. But for the first time in their history, both Belfras and the Mutul used military aircrafts on reconaissance missions mostly at the start of the war, but then in early attempts at bombardments and logistic disprution using the Kalinagos Archipelago and Eunos as forward bases, before introducing a new innovation of the war : aircraft carriers.

The first turning point of the war took place in 1930 when Ayeli answered to what it considered as a violation of its territorial waters from the Divine Kingdom by opening fire on the culpable vessels. The Mutulses reacted with a millitary assault on Uyatlaudali, which prompted Belfras to react and land in Ayeli as well, driving the Mutuleses back but then being forced out of the island themselves because of their precarious situation logistically. This event seemingly drove the war to new heights, with naval and amphibian assaults being carried out by both sides against each others continental bases, with varied degrees of successes.

One of the last campaign of the war was the Battle of Hamik in the Makrian Ocean, in 1932.

Consequences

What merely started as a conflict over territorial waters and fishing rights took a turn for the bloodiest that surprised many political commentators of the time and still is the center of many debates among historians and geopoliticans. The war led to many innovations in term of strategy, naval tactics, and military equipments with the apparition of the aviation on the battlefield and the quick development of new models of airplanes to answer the quickly rising number of missions assigned to these early air forces. The apparition of the aircraft carriers in 1929 was first relatively un-noticed, but turned out to be a revolution in the conduction of maritime warfare. Similarly, the submarine that were first used during the War of 1911 were greatly improved on both in design and in technology, such as with the addition of the sonar. The Mutuleses proved to be especially efficient at submarine warfare, forcing the Belfrasians to develop always more methods to seek and destroy submerged threats.

The war ended with the signature of the Hicayayi Treaty by both participants. Separate peace agreements were signed with Ayeli. The Treaty resulted in the creation and the recognition of the "Kayamucan Reserved Areas". These Areas were maintained as they were until all signatories had joined the Forum of Nations and that the concept was expanded to all of the Forum's members, under the name of Exclusive Economic Zones.