Four Year's War

Four Year's War
Louis de la Séllière, viceroy of Lysian Louvier refused Mantellan demands to surrender prior to the Battle of Port-du-Roy
Date 1688 - 1692 Location Louvier and Ionio Result Peace of Levent Status quo ante bellum
Belligerents
Lysian Kingdom Lysian Louvier Native Tribes	Mantella Ionian Mantella
Commanders and leaders
Henri-Bernard Lévy Pierre-Christian de Lamartine Jean-Marc de Vozèle Louis de Séllière	Lorenzo Bruno   Antonio De Luca Giovanni Giordano

The Four Year's War (also known as Guerre Intercoloniale in Lysian) was the first of colonial war fought between Lysian Louvier and Mantellan Ionio along with their respective Native allies. The clashes occur for the control of the fishing of the Gulf of Sanremo, the fur of the Saint-Pierre river and the bay of Anjou. This is the first colonial war between the Lysian colonists of Lysian Louvier and the Mantellan colonists of Ionian Mantella.

North Aurelia at the end of the 17th century

The Mantellan settlers were more than 524,000 at the beginning of the war, outnumbering the Lysians 8 to 1. However, the Mantellans lacked military leadership and had a difficult relationship with their indigenous tribes.

Although the Lysians were vastly outnumbered, they were more politically unified and contained a disproportionate number of adult males with military backgrounds. Realizing their numerical inferiority, they developed good relationships with the indigenous peoples in order to multiply their forces and made effective use of hit-and-run tactics.

Causes of the war

Tensions had been high since the early days of the settlements. When Clément du Vent arrived in 1534 in Aurelia to create the Lysian colony, the Mantellan were already settled since 1520. The first cohabitations already showed signs of conflict with the settlers fighting for fishing places and the fur trade. Despite several attempts of negotiations in 1615, 1632 and 1637 , to try to get the two colonies to agree on their common borders, all failed. In addition, the Lysian settlers had had a different approach with the local tribes than the Mantellan settlers, which favored the opinion of the tribes towards the colony of Lysian Louvier. This allowed Lysian Louvier's settlers to incite native ambushes on Mantellan merchants and border patrols which deeply annoyed the Mantellan government and disrupted trade in the region.

Course of war

Vekita assault on Paola

In May 1688, natives from the Vekita Confederacy, allied with Lysia, launched an assault on the village of Paola killing 50 mantellan settlers and burning many buildings. Arguing that the natives were accompanied by Lysian soldiers during the raid, war was officially declared. In response, Lorenzo Bruno embarked on a campaign with the aim of seizing Port-du-Roy, a Lysian city strategically placed on the coast of the colony.

The following spring, in mars 1689, several hundred Vekita natives and Lysian militiamen under the command of Henri-Bernard Lévy raided Camigliatello killing more than 20 and taking 29 captives, who were sold into captivity in Lysian Louvier. In response to these raids, a company of 24 men was raised to search for the bodies and pursue the natives. They were forced to return after they lost a quarter of their men in conflicts with the natives. In June 1689, Jean-Marc de Vozèle led an Vekita war party that captured and destroyed the fort Monte Viole. The fall of Monte Viole was a significant setback to the Mantellan. It pushed the frontier back closer to Cosenza

In September 1689, Lorenzo Bruno led four raiding parties into Lysian Louvier against the Lysians and members of the Vekita Confederacy. On the first expedition, on September 21, 1689, Bruno and 250 troops defended a group of Mantellan settlers trying to establish themselves at Courmayeur. The Vekita tribes killed 21 of his men, but Bruno's defense was successful and the natives retreated. Bruno then returned to Cosenza, leaving the small group of Mantellan settlers unprotected. The following spring over 400 Lysian and native troops, under the leadership of de Vozèle, returned to Courmayeur and massacred all the Mantellan settlers in the Battle of Fort Fedele. When Bruno returned to the village later that summer he buried the dead.

Battle of Saint-Etienne

Antonio di Luca led a raid on Saint-Etienne

Ionian Mantella, led by Antonio di Luca, retaliated by attacking Saint-Etienne. The Battle of Saint-Etienne began on April 7, 1690. Di Luca arrived with 736 Ionian Mantella men in seven Mantellan ships. Governor de Monjoie fought for three days and then capitulated. The garrison was imprisoned in the church, and Governor de de Monjoie was confined to his house.

Di Luca left, but warships from Mirto arrived in June, which resulted in more destruction. The seamen burned and looted the settlement. The Ionian Mantellan then left again. In January 1691, Ionian Mantella frigates attacked Saint-Etienne again, burning almost a dozen houses and three barns full of grain. 

On March 18, 1691, Lysian soldier Henri-Bernard Lévy with about 250 Vekita tribesmen raided the Mantellan settlement of Verdinio and massacred the settlers. In all, the Lysians and native force killed 104 inhabitants and took 27 captive, burning half the dwellings, including five garrisons. They also destroyed crops and killed livestock, causing famine and destitution for the survivors.

Siege of Mirto

In November 1691, Lysian Louvier and the tribes of the Vekita Confederacy, led by St. Castine and Pierre-Christian de Lamartine returned and fought a naval battle in the Bay of Sandremo before moving on to raid Mirto. After the Siege of Mirto, Lamartine led a force of 124 Lysians and tribesmen in the Verde Peninsula Campaign. They destroyed almost every Mantellan settlement that was located near the border of Lysian Louvier, over 100 Mantellan were killed.

In retaliation, Lorenzo Bruno went on his third expedition to Lysian Louvier and carried out a retaliatory raid against Louvian communities. He led his troops personally in killing inhabitants of Grandbois, looting their household goods, burning their houses and slaughtering the livestock.

Saint-Philippe expedition

Lysian batteries bombard the Mantellan fleet during the Battle of Saint-Philippe.

This was followed by two expeditions. One, on land under provincial militia general Giovanni Giordano, targeted Port-du-Roy; the other, led by Lorenzo Bruno, targeted Saint-Philippe. Giordano's expedition failed due to disease and supply issues, and Bruno was defeated in the Battle of Saint-Philippe. The Saint-Philippe and Saint-Etienne expeditions were the only major Ionian Mantella offensives of Four Year's War William's War; for the remainder of the war the Mantellan colonists were primarily engaged in defensive operations, skirmishes and retaliatory raids.

The sinking of the Pélican after the Battle of the Bay of Anjou, the ship although victorious was severely damaged and sank after the battle

In 1692, during the Battle of the Bay of Anjou, one of the largest naval battles of the war, Lamartine, with a single ship, defeated two Mantellan ships. While they are about to leave the Saint-Pierre river to return back to Ionian Mantella after the Battle of Saint-Philippe.

Aftermath

After the failure of the expedition to Saint-Philippe and the breathless Lysian raids on the borders, the two countries agreed to sign a peace and end the conflict. The Peace of Levent signed in November 1682 in Saint-Philippe led the two colonies to better define their areas of fisheries, fur trade and borders. The signing of the treaty restored the borders as they were at the beginning of the conflict.