Belfro-Mutulese war of 1911

Belfro-Mutulese War of 1911
Clockwise from the top : Belfrasian patrol before the Battle of Kalinagos, Belfrasian landing in Ekab, Belfrasian soldier in a trench during the Battle of Eunos, Mutulese artillery during the Xuman Campaign , Mutulese warship "Jukaj" after the Attack on Zuz Peten
Date 6 December 1911 - 20 March 1915 Location Belfras Mutul Kayamuca Sea Result Undecisive Restoration of Federal control over Hachawaya Reinforcement of Federal Authority Installation of the Tense Peace
Belligerents
Mutul Template:Country data Hachawaya	Belfras
Strength
250,000 Template:Country data Hachawaya 200,000	400,000 TBD
Casualties and losses
Military dead: some numbers Civilians dead:	Military dead: some numbers Civilians dead:

The Belfro-Mutulese War of 1911, also known as the Oxi-Norumbrian War or the Hachahatak War was a millitary conflict that opposed the Belfrasian Federation, the State of Eunos, also known as Hachawaya, and the Mutul, that lasted from 1911 to 1915. The war was centered around the Kalinagos Strait, and the Kayamuca Sea, with fighting taking place in the Belfrasians states of Eunos, Agonon and Igo, and the Mutuleses territories of the Kalinagos Islands, K’uzamel Island, and the Xuman Peninsula.

The war started following the retractation of the State of Eunos from the Treaty of the Federation, declaring itself as an independent, sovereign, nation taking the name of Hachawaya. The new state was recognized by the Mutul, which escalated the conflict between the Divine Kingdom and Belfras, up until the attack without warning on Zuz peten by the Belfrasian Navy, which mark the beginning of the war.

Background

Hachahatak Autonomous Movement

Despite the celebrations surrounding the “Treaty of the Federation”, some voices started to emerge against the text as it was signed. The “Southern States” like Eunos, Kistos, and Igo disagreed with some of the compromises made during the negociations.

These disagreements between a perceived “north” and “south” only worsened as time went on. Multiple parties started to appear in each of the southern states and even beyond, fighting to revoke the Treaty, claiming the Federation to be a scam orchestrated by Thesalonica to gain even more power over the other States.

Arms race

From 1906 and onward, both side started to produce massive Dreadnought

For all of these reasons and more, both Belfras and the Mutul found themselves in the middle of deep restructuration of their territories, institutions, and military. The Belfrasian Federation, which was animated by the idea of becoming the “Second Hemisphere of the Latin Empire”, fully believed that whoever controlled the sea also controlled the world. The Federation Navy was founded, alongside the marines, 5 years before the Federal Army, which was still a collection of states militaries with no connected hierarchy. As a result, the Federation wished for its Navy to be at least the equal of the Latium’s Imperial Navy and superior to all possible competitors in the Kayamuca Sea.

This clearly defined goal provoked the ire of the Federation’s neighbors, notably of the Mutul which, even if it had a military budget on par with Belfras, had to be present in more theatres than just the Kayamuca Sea. The return of the Vespanian fleet changed the balance, and both country had equal numbers and maritime presence in the same regions.

The result was the Mutulo-Belfrasian arms race which modernized both countries militaries and navies, with ironclads being replaced by Dreadnoughts and large Battleships. The race de facto ended in 1910 with a draw, as neither managed to take the edge on their rival, but truly ingrained in the public and political consciousness of the time the idea that the two nations were mortal enemies. Studies of the Norumbrian Crusades became an important part of the education of an entire generation of Belfrasians, while in the Mutul the memories of the Xuman Crusade were re-ignited along with the fear of the Christian Invader always hungry for more lands and souls. ”Suddently, both countries found themselves in the middle of a revanchist craze, from the higher echelons of the military to the most disadvantaged social classes, and no one was able to tell if it was 1260 or 1900...” wrote the journalist Arsen Gola in his memoirs of the period.

After two decades of military improvement and rising tensions, the war was no longer feared but desired. The very fact the arm race, by itself, amounted to nothing, led the Admiralty of the Belfrasian Federation to design bolder plans against the Mutul.

Prelude

Eunos refusal of the Federation

A group picture of early anti-Federationists leaders.

The Treaty of the Federation was signed by all of the 39 States of Belfras. The idea of an union of all the various Belfrasians realms, which up until that point existed as semi-autonomous vassals of the Latin Emperor, was to favour the modernisation of all these states, and strenghten them through a common, more central, government, which could ease the development of trans-states infrastructures like railroads, while ending some of the practices considered to be "backwards", like the states custom taxes that existed at some borders. The most pro-Federation state was Salonika, as the Treaty would give back to it its status of political leader of the Belfrasians realms, but in general the East Coast as a whole was in favour of the Treaty, as it was a rather homogeneous block politicaly-wise with the states borders being rather arbitrary or just outdated, and a streamlining of the administrative process, which would favour their political class, was not seen as a problem. Similarily in the North and North-West, small and denses states like Caria took the Treaty as an occassion to "open up" and boost their well-established industries that could only profit from the new single market. Other less well-developed northern states weren't against the Treaty either, as they had supported the bulk of the defense spendings up until that point, and the Federation would be a relief on their economy while also promising their well-trained and experienced officers to great careers in the future Federal Army. Similar hopes and promises made the Federalists the dominant groups in the Central states, enclaved and forgotten compared to the others.

But in the West and the South, the Federalists lobbies had barely won the majority of the political class to their side, and generally only through threats, coercion, and corruption. Federalists were completely absent in the public opinion, and the news of the signature of the treaty was met with protests and sometime even small riots. These states had developed what they perceived to be distinct cultures from Thessalona and other realms, and had different economical, political, and cultural interests to defend. The developing easten states for example, like Stronkeia or Megos Delphoria, feared that their nascent industries would be in an unfair competition with other industrial states, and would divert trade flux away from their ports and into other, larger, and better equiped, portuary cities, like Palymos. Economical and political servitudes were considered real threats by the populations of these regions.

Progress of the war

Attack on Zuz Peten

A Mutulese wreck after the attack

On the 6th of December 1911, the Belfrasian Admiralty set into motion its plan. During the past week, it had multiplied its intervention in the Kayamuca Sea, so to lure out the majority of the Mutulese fleet and make the Mutuleses HQ believe an attack would come from that area. Once the Mutulese Kayamucan fleet was distracted, the Fleet Apostolis was sent to attack the Makrian Fleet, which was in its port of Zuz Peten.

The attack caught by surprise the Mutul, which was not expecting the Federation to attack so soon and in the Makrian Ocean. Their attention, like the Belfrasians wanted, was entirely focused on the Kayamucan Theatre, and the Fleet Apostolis was only spotted when entering the Mutul’s contiguous zone, about 44 kilometers away from Zuz Peten. The Belfrasian declaration of war only arrived half an hour before the attack. All in all it left the port’s authority and the Makrian fleet only an hour to prepare, while they also thought it was just a simple provocation as many happened before until they were informed of the war declaration, 25 minutes before the first exchange of fire.

When the attack ended, the infrastructures of Zuz’s port were greatly damaged, four battleships and half a dozen of destroyers had been sunk, and every other warship of the fleet damaged in one way or another. On the Belfrasian side, two battleships were heavily damaged and a destroyer sunk by the mines, and a cruiser was lost when the YYC Zotzil managed to return fire, before being itself sunk. In total, 3225 Mutuleses sailors were killed and 1514 wounded during the assault. 128 civilians working in the port at the time were killed and 66 wounded. Meanwhile, 901 Belfrasians lost their lives and 508 were wounded. 47 Belfrasians sailors were also captured among the wreckages.

Battle of Agonon

The Battle of Agonon was the largest naval battle of the war, the only full-scale clash of battleships during the war. The battle was a full Belfrasian victory, where they managed to outnumber and outmaneuver and inflict lasting damages to the Mutulese Kayamuca Fleet after a long planned and carefully executed trapped. 7611 Mutuleses and 2509 Belfrasians died during the battle, and three Mutuleses battlecruisers and five armoured cruisers, and seven destroyers were lost vs only one sank battlecruiser, one armoured cruisers, three light cruisers and five torpedo boats for Belfras. The battle proved to be catastrophic for the Mutul, who were forced to retreat into their harbours and could no longer contest the naval domination of the Belfrasians until the later parts of the war.

Battles of Kalinagos and Kuzamil

Following the crushing defeats inflicted to the Mutuleses navy by the Belfrasians, the Federation was free to execute the second part of their plan to cut the supply lines of Hachawaya. To fully secure the Strait, the Federation's High Command declared that taking over the Kalinagos Archipelago and Kuzamil Island was necessary. A first expedition was mounted in early 1912, where the Thassalona Fleet and three Legions were tasked of taking the Kalinagos, defended by only two Mutuleses infantry divisions.

The Thassalona Fleet managed to entirely cut off the islands and block any attempt by the Mutul to resupply, reinforce, or even evacuate, their troops. Outnumbered, the “Kalinagos” Division fought for a whole month before finally surrendering. By the end of the battle, most of the Mutuleses troops were local militias commanded by survivors of the army, fighting with equipment stolen from the Belfrasians as their supplies had run out. Of the 30000 Belfrasians involved in the battles, 9000 died while 7000 Mutuleses soldiers and 4000 militiamen died on the opposing side. Estimates of civilians casualties from the battle range for a mere hundred to three thousands. The occupation that followed also had its toll on the civilian populations who resisted the Belfrasians. The latter also had plans for the archipelago, dreaming of establishing a Kalinagos State with Taino being elevated as national language, alongside the creation of a Kalinagos “National Identity” and a conversion of these islands to christianity. The Federation was never able to enact these ideas, as their control over the archipelago lasted only a year and a few months. Similar plans existed for the other territories occupied by the Belfrasians during the war : K’uzamel and Jana.

The battle of Kuzamil followed shortly thereafter the occupation of the Kalinagos Archipelago. The Thassalona Fleet quickly expanded its operation and started to enter into the Bay of Ekab where they quickly got rid of the naval resistance, and started to blocus the area. Once done, Three legions were handpicked from those who participated in the Kalinagos Battle. These 9000 men then stormed Kuzamil who was defended by a relatively large garrison of 2000 men. 1000 Belfrasians and 900 Mutuleses died before the commander of Fort Nak surrendered.

After these battles, the Belfrasians had established an important bridgehead and were ready to start the third step of their plan : force the Mutul’s reddition by directly invading the Xuman Peninsula.

Xuman Campaign

In March 1912, the Belfrasians started their most ambitious project of the war : landing on the Xuman Peninsula in the goal of occupying vast sway of Mutulese territories to force the reddition of the Divine Monarchy.

For this Operation, Operation Antonius, the Federation prepared a vast army of 120,000 soldiers. As before, the Belfrasians tried to replicate the strategies that made their success during the past months : baiting the Mutuleses into focusing their strength in one position, here the Bay of Ekab, then attacking at a less defended location to take them by surprise.

Ekab landing

The landings happened at 7:30am the 15th of March on three beaches : Etun, Saktun, and Mamchi. At 8:45, the rest of the Belfrasians troops landed in Kuchtun and Kank’aknab’, to flank the Mutuleses troops already in battle. However, misjudgments of the Mutulese’s defensive dispositive and mistakes in the deployment of the troops -they landed when the tides were at their lowest but rising, which meant the landed troops had to go through twice as much open ground, while the rising tides meant any troop not moving forward was in danger of being drowned- turned these two battles into slaughters. At 2:00pm, four out of the five beaches had been taken and the Bay of Ekab was under Belfrasian control. But Kank’aknab’ was a failure and was only evacuated by the Mutuleses under the threat of the Belfrasians troops in Kuchtun coming in their rears.

In total, during the landings and the following three days of battles, the Belfrasians lost between 20000 and 30000 men while 8000 Mutuleses were killed.

Battle of Xuman

The Mutuleses troops defending the bay of Ekab and the coastlines retreated, digging a vast network of trenches a few kilometers south of the Belfrasians positions. The battle of Ekab would continue on for 8 months during which the Belfrasians troops, supplied constantly by their Navy who could move through the Kayamuca and the Strait unimpeded, tried to push through the Mutuleses lines or even lands in new locations, opening new fronts, only to win little ground. This battle saw the development of new theories on the use of artillery and infantry in modern conflicts, which were quickly adopted by both sides.

The defensive capacities of the Mutul surprised the Federal High Command, which expected a quick war and had to rethink it’s battleplans while Operation Antonius was grinding to an halt. This period of latence never happened on the other side, where the Mutulese High Command had already fully dedicated itself to the idea of a long, bloody war on its own soil after the Battle of Agonon and the defeat of their naval forces. This faster switch of focus led better results on the battlefields, even if, in the words of General Ik Chan Ek : “We’re only delaying the inevitable. As long as their Navy keep replenishing their forces with fresh men, bullets, and fresh-out-of-the-factory equipment, we are only making their victory more expensive.”

Submarine warfare

The change in the balance of power came with the use of submarines by the Mutul. A relatively new weapon at the start of the war, the Mutulese Navy refocused its attention on it after most of its fleet were either destroyed or immobilized. In late 1912, the Divine Throne signed secret orders starting a "unrestricted submarine warfare".

Mutuleses submarines attempted to cut Belfrasians supply lines. The Mutul targeted cargos but also warship, with the aim to sink, if possible, capital ships to reduce the Belfrasian Navy's numerical superiority. The initial campaign, lasting from November to December 1912, was considered a success, with 11 Belfrasians warships lost for 5 Mutuleses submarines, plus a number of cargos used by the Belfrasians to supply their troops in Xuman were sunk, slowing down the Belfrasian war effort. These early success led the Divine Throne to give the greenlight to more campaigns.

Kaya-Mutli front

Mutuleses troops at the fort of Ch'ak Pot, Nahatnoh

During the arm-race, Kayahallpa and Belfras got diplomatically closer to one another with the secret-yet-transparent goal being that, in case of a war with the Mutul, the two countries would ally to attack it on two fronts. Unsurprisingly, after the attack on Zuz Peten by the Belfrasian Navy, the Sapa Inka's embassy in K'alak Muul indeed transmitted to the K'uhul Ajaw his Master' Declaration of war.

The Kaya-Mutli front was fought over the three regions traditionally disputed by the two powers. From west to east : the Charred Coast, the Sihom Bassin, and the province of Nahatnoh. The attack on Nahatnoh, a densely forested, sparsely populated, and with strong natural defenses, was a failure both due to the Defence in depth adopted by the Southern Army and the terrain which turned the Kayahallpans' logistics into a nightmare.

In the Sihom Basin, the Kayahallpans attacked both from the west, crossing the hilly borderlands between them and the Mutul, and from the south by following the Sihom River upstream. In both cases the Kayahallpans suffered important casualties before piercing the Mutuleses' first line of defense, and then barreled through the Basin as the pincer move forced the Mutuleses troops to retreat directly to the third line of defense to avoid complete encirclement.

Despite these initial successes, the Kayahallpans would never take over the entirety of the river basin and the front stabilized for most of the Xuman Campaign, with many assaults from both side but little to no territorial gains, until the retreat of the Belfrasians forces allowed the Mutul to send more reinforcement to the South.

The attack on the Charred Coast was a more straightfoward affair, as the terrain offered little possibilities beyond a frontal onslaught from the south. A less costly seaborn plan was devised, but the remnants of the Mutulese Makrian Fleet that survived the attack on Zuz Peten managed to repel this first attack. It's during this battle that Lakam Ahin Xook, commander of a still experimental submarine fleet, first made a name for himself.

Nonetheless, the land assault on the Charred Coast was ordered and the Kayahallpans managed, over the following months, to push back the Mutulese Western Army dozen of kilometers northward, but each river crossing proved to be too costly and ultimately the Kayahallpan army stopped the campaign and focused its efforts on the Sihom Basin.