War of the Century

Endelaus War
Clockwise from top left: Kalythian aircraft carrier KOF Immortal departing for the Endelaus Sea, 1950 - Sarlaiyan EM/VIII fighters over southern Kalythia, 1916 - Sarlaiyan vehicle convoy en route to participate in the Battle of the Idas Pass, 1946 - Sarlaiyan foot soldiers regrouping in a trench at the Battle of Dominus Sein, 1923 - Forest fires engulfing the Cardana National Forest during Operation Iron Dusk, 1909 - Ruined streets of Hanna after a Kalythian firebombing raid, 1944
Date 11 March 1905 - 25 November 1958 (53 years, 8 months, and 14 days) Location Kalythia - Sarlaiya - Endelaus Sea Result See Aftermath
Belligerents
Kalythia	Sarlaiya	Coalition of the United Front
Commanders and leaders
Upper Council	Empress Serena XII	JECCOM
Casualties and losses
Civilian dead: 43,000,000 - 48,000,000 Military dead: 17,000,000 - 25,000,000 Total dead: Over 60,000,000 (1905-1958)	Civilian dead: 10,000,000 - 15,000,000 Military dead: 26,000,000 - 37,000,000 Total dead: Over 35,000,000 (1905-1948)	Military dead: 9,000,000 - 15,000,000 (1931-1958)

The Endelaus War, sometimes referred to as the Third Phase of the Azure War and in Sarlaiya as the War of the Century (11 March 1905 - 25 November 1958), was a conflict fought between the Empire of Sarlaiya, Order of the Kalythian Star and a large assortment of coalition powers, following and sometimes encompassing the earlier conflict which took place strictly between Kalythia and Sarlaiya. The latter included support from a multitude of vassal and client states. The war, which directly developed from disputes regarding the sovereignty over several archipelagos in the Endelaus Sea, intensified into a major global conflict after both nations ordered numerous illegal attacks against civilian merchant vessels of neutral nations suspected of aiding the other side.

Kalythian-Sarlaiyan relations had remained poor since the beginning of the 20th century as a direct result of ideological disagreements between the generally republican Kalythians and monarchist Sarlaiyans. Both countries had vied for uncontested control of the Endelaus Sea since the early 1890s, as the Kalythians sought to economically isolate the Sarlaiyans and the Sarlaiyans sought a buffer zone between them and the Kalythians. Concerned about Kalythian naval superiority in the region, Sarlaiya initiated the conflict by preemptively sailing a naval task group over the Endelaus Sea and attacking numerous Kalythian coastal military installations, before launching an amphibious assault on the Kalythian southern coast.

The Azure War is sometimes grouped together with the larger Endelaus War by historians and the overall conflict is subdivided into three major phases. The first phase (1905 - 1917) is characterized by the initial Sarlaiyan land invasion along with the various naval skirmishes that occurred in the Endelaus Sea at the same time. The second phase (1918 - 1930) saw a stalemate develop on land while Kalythian naval incursions interdicted Sarlaiyan maritime supply lines, and the naval conflict intensify as both sides committed large war fleets to the region. The third phase (1931-1958) is what is sometimes defined as the Endelaus War specifically, when an international military coalition intervened in response to provocations by both original belligerents.

Initial Sarlaiyan territorial gains during the opening years of the war, both on the disputed islands of the Endelaus Sea and on Kalythian home soil, were eventually checked by both Kalythian defensive action and the Kalythian navy's attacks on the Sarlaiyan supply lines. This compelled the Sarlaiyans to build up more naval strength in the Endelaus Sea and resulted in the focus of the war shifting from the land invasion to the proliferating naval actions at sea. This period saw both sides utilize new advancements in naval technology including dreadnought battleships, early forms of naval aviation, sonar, and submarines. The campaign culminated in a series of large fleet engagements which inflicted widespread destruction on and crippled the navies of both sides. Attacks on merchant vessels of neutral nations by either side, both intentional and unintentional, drew a number of countries to create the Coalition of the United Front to fight against both Sarlaiya and Kalythia. Unable to disrupt Sarlaiyan supply lines and facing more amphibious invasions further west by the coalition, Kalythian defensive efforts began to falter on all fronts. Sarlaiya suffered similar invasions on its own soil by the coalition and despite renewed success against Kalythia, fought an even more debilitating campaign against the coalition that ended in the Sarlaiyan surrender in 1955 and its withdrawal from the conflict. Further fighting continued between Kalythia and the coalition until the official conclusion of the war in 1958 after a total of over 53 years since the outbreak of hostilities.

The Endelaus War was one of the deadliest conflicts in human history, resulting in anywhere between 95 to 115 million fatalities, about half of which were civilians. Allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes were made against both sides during the conflict primarily pertaining to massacres, use of torture, ethnic cleansing, cultural genocide, employment of chemical weapons, and widespread maltreatment of prisoners-of-war. Privations caused by the war resulted in numerous disasters such as famines and droughts being left unaddressed and claiming the lives of many civilians on the home front. The economies of both original belligerents were devastated by the fighting and would take decades to recover. Following the end of the war, both the Kalythian Star and the Empire of Sarlaiya were demilitarized and briefly occupied, while tribunals were conducted against suspected war criminals from all sides, overseen by the coalition.

Nomenclature

Debates among historians over the name of the conflict have been ongoing since the end of the war. In Sarlaiyan historiography, the Azure War and the Endelaus War are considered one conflict and collectively referred to as the War of the Century. Kalythian names and classifications are more diverse, with some Kalythian historians defining the war in the same manner as those in Sarlaiya. Other interpretations include the overall conflict being referred to as the Azure War, and the Endelaus War existing as its third phase, or both conflicts falling under the umbrella of the Endelaus War.

Internationally, the latter is the most widely accepted name of the conflict, and the Azure War remains an unfamiliar term to those outside of Kalythia and Sarlaiya.

Background

Kalythian-Sarlaiyan relations

Prior to the late 19th century, Sarlaiya had remained as the dominant regional power and was both the most populous and geographically largest state that bordered the Endelaus Sea. Although both governments maintained an uneventful history of interactions prior, Kalythian expansion throughout the Kalythian continent, along with its unprecedented population and economic growth, threatened to upend the balance of power in the region and both nations entered a state of rivalry in the late 1880s. By the 1890s, the Kalythian economy had surpassed that of Sarlaiya in terms of raw GDP.

Ideological differences also contributed to the breakdown of relations in the same period. For much of its existence since its foundation in the 9th century, the Empire of Sarlaiya was governed by a powerful autocracy characterized by a cult of personality and the population's belief in the Sarlaiyan monarch's divine right to rule. Kalythia, which had adopted a republican representative democracy and a dogmatic culture surrounding the concept of natural rights upon the conclusion of a revolution in 1822, was in direct contrast to the Sarlaiyan system. The governments of both nations publicly denounced the other as a backwards and primitive civilization in public addresses, and state-sponsored propaganda dissemination resulted in citizens antagonizing those from the other country. Harassment of the Sarlaiyan and Kalythian diasporas became widespread and further contributed to the casus belli for both sides. Dialogue and communications between the two nations were sometimes temporarily suspended.

Battanes Affair

Main article: Battanes Affair

Tensions rose significantly after the Kalythian merchant vessel SS Frimaire was stormed by a detachment of Sarlaiyan marines while it was docked in Battanes Harbor, Condor Islands, on 3 January 1902. The operation, which was allegedly carried out to seize a suspected illegal shipment of general contraband, was highly publicized and outraged the Kalythian government. No such shipment was found and the Frimaire was allowed to depart without further incident, but subsequent talks gave rise to the dispute over the sovereignty of the Condor Islands and numerous other island chains within the Endelaus Sea. Sarlaiyan officials claimed that the raid on the Frimaire was justified as the vessel had failed to comply to Sarlaiyan maritime law when it entered the harbor (any and all vessels were mandated to identify themselves and their nationality by searchlight when docking at any Sarlaiyan port). Kalythian authorities challenged the claim, emphasizing that the Condor Islands was an independent, recognized state, and that Sarlaiya had violated international law through enforcing Sarlaiyan domestic legislation outside of Sarlaiya, while also stationing military forces on its territory. The Sarlaiyan government responded by reiterating its claim to absolute sovereignty over the Condor Islands and all other archipelagos in the Endelaus Sea. Pax Kalythia subsequently accused Sarlaiya of imperialist aggression. The national government of the Condor Islands refused to comment throughout the whole incident.

Only known surviving photograph of SS Frimaire, date and location unknown

In reality, Sarlaiyan desires to control the Condor Islands, its immediate neighbors, and thus the Endelaus Sea was less out of irredentist fervor and more out of a need for a natural barrier between them and the rapidly-expanding Kalythians. As the Kalythians possessed a more powerful navy at the time and had recently invaded and annexed its neighboring island nation of Santarno, the Sarlaiyan northern coast was left in an exposed position. Military outposts deep within the Endelaus Sea would have served as an early warning for potential Kalythian provocations.

Alleged Kalythian involvement in the Dust War

Main articles: Dust War and Dissident Nathsharan independence campaign

Further disagreements arose over the controversial Kalythian involvement in the 1855 - 1865 Dust War, which was fought between Sarlaiya and a varied assortment of nationalist revolutionary groups seeking to sever the Republic of Nathshara from Sarlaiyan rule. The most prominent of these movements for much of the conflict was Murdock's Army, led by its namesake and Kalythian sympathizer Arthur James Murdock. During the conflict, Murdock and numerous other revolutionary figures publicly encouraged the Kalythian military to intervene, citing that Kalythia was the only other ideologically similar state of noticable influence in the region. Officially, Kalythia refused this request. However, as the war continued, Sarlaiyan suspicion turned towards Kalythia and the Sarlaiyan administration accused Kalythia of covertly smuggling aid and supplies to the Nathsharans by sea. This claim appeared to be cemented when a Kalythian warship was reported to have been spotted off the Nathsharan southern coast, but Kalythia denied this outright, adding that their navy had no known vessels in the area.

The issue dragged on into the beginning of the 20th century. In spite of the Treaty of Sadis signed between the Sarlaiyan government and major factions of the Dust War, which offered the state of Nathshara greater autonomy, a low-intensity conflict subsequently developed between Sarlaiyan security forces and rebel fighters that opposed the signing of the peace agreement. Once again, Sarlaiya accused Kalythia of supplying Nathsharan fighters and potentially even coordinating and organizing Nathsharan attacks. Sarlaiyan intelligence stated that several captured Nathsharan militants confessed to receiving Kalythian weapons and bomb ingredients, while Kalythia dismissed these reports as forced.

Prelude

Jessup Crisis

Main article: Jessup Crisis

On 1 March 1905, an unidentified group of alleged gunmen was spotted moving towards the center Kalythian embassy building in Jessup, Sarlaiya, about thirty kilometers southeast of the Sarlaiyan capital of Sarlashaside. Aware of the recent diplomatic fallout between the two countries and Sarlaiyan threats to close the embassy, embassy security opened fire on the group from within the embassy grounds.