Refusal War

Refusal War
Wardens during the Battle of Tren Krom Break
Date 15 December 1983 - 4 October 1987 Location Syara Result Warden Victory
Belligerents
Wardens	Monarchists
Commanders and leaders
Saša Mlinarić Marin Josipović Keghart Pashian Taniel Kasajian	Sivo Hadjiev Zlatko Bogdanov Veton Spegelj Naso Dinev Dusko Trcpevski
Strength
3.5 million (peak)	1.9 million (peak)
Casualties and losses
822,491 killed 1,849,121 wounded	695,601 killed 1,713,459 wounded

The Refusal War is the name given to the civil war that took place in Syara between 1983 to 1987. The war was fought between two rival factions; the Wardens and the monarchies of Galania and Makedon. Primarily the result of a philosophical and political divide between the nationalist Wardens and the conservative Monarchs over the role of the Monarchies and religion in Syara, war broke out in December 1983 when the royal families of Makedon and Galania were stripped of their rights and privileges by the pro-Warden Senate, which led both Realms to renounce their allegiance to the central government. The resignation of the centrist President Troyan Valchev allowed the Senate to officially enact a state of emergency and call for the arrest of the royal families.

Syara’s four realms were officially split between the two sides, with Makedon and Galania forming the Monarchists while Scitaria and the Clans were Warden. Both sides raised volunteer and conscript armies, while much of the Syaran military’s higher leadership were loyal to the Monarchists, the Wardens enjoyed greater popularity with the common people. Both sides were supported by foreign powers in the form of supplies, munitions and armaments, and in some cases direct support by deployed military forces. Fighting raged on for several years with intense combat that killed more than 2.5 million Syarans.

The war ended with the surrender of the Monarchist armies at Zildejov. The surviving members of the Makedonian and Galanian royal families fled the country shortly thereafter. The Republic of Syara was officially abolished and replaced with the Commonality in 1987. The philosophy of the Warden Way became Syara’s de facto ideology as the national religion of Zobethos came to wield greater influence in Syaran politics and society. The Warden philosophy continued to dominate Syara until it’s defeat in the Zemplen War.

Background

Syaran history had been strongly influenced by the royal families of Makedon and Galania dating back as far as the Makedonian Empire. Although it had endured numerous trials and problems, the Kineasan Dynasty still held the throne in the Makedonian Realm, and had forged strong ties with it's Galanian counterparts the Baulisus Dyansty. Together the two Monarchist factions had played significant roles in Syaran history after the fall of the Arkoennite Empire, leading two separate wars against Ruvelka. The Monarchists generally approved of the Conference of Pella in 1875 which officially created the Republic of Syara, under the auspice that their influence in Syaran politics would remain constant. As Syara modernized and industrialized in the late 19th and early 20th Century the royal families maintained a singificant degree of influence within Syaran politics, and were strong supporters of Syaran nationalism. The outbreak of the Divide War, and the Desopya Campaign itself which occurred entirely on Makedonian soil, was a major component in the nationalist imagery portrayed by the Monarchists. Syara's unexpected victory in the conflict led to a surge of Syaran national prestige, and propped up by a rapidly growing economy Syara's armed forces rapidly expanded. By 1933 Syara boated the largest army in Tyran, and the third largest navy by number of ships (4th by total tonnage).

Although officially a representative democracy the royal families prominent role in Syaran politics led to their common identificaiton with Syara, and their imagery and likeness was often used to represent Syara in art and commentary. Encouraged in part by King Antonij of Makedon and King Kaloyan of Galania, Syara began gathering support for the newly founded Inner Sphere, intended to be a pan-Siduri alliance against external imperialist powers (namely Cacerta. Most other states however identified the effort as principally a way for Syara to expand it's influence at the expense of others, and in the end only Fascist Allamunnika ultimately joined. In 1934 the two states invaded Ruvelka, sparking the Siduri War. As had been the case before the war, the likeness of the Makedonian and to a lesser extent, Galanian royal families, were used heavily in propaganda by both sides. Common Axis propaganda in particular highlighted the notion of Syara wars of conquest were continuations of centuries old imperialist efforts, which often struck a cord with former subjects of the Makedonian Empire including Quenminese and Ruvelkan forces-in-exile.

Syara's decisive defeat in the Siduri War saw it burdered with massive reparations, in turn stunted the Syaran economy in the post war years. Psychologically the war was a massive blow to Syaran national pride and prestige, leading to what has been termed "the lost years", the post-war period between the 1940s-50s that saw Syara flounder amid economic recession and uncertainty. Some relief was had in 1955 when Cacerta and Syara signed the Transactional Credit Agreement, which alleviated some Syaran economic woes by opening up Syara to Cacertian loans and investments, in exchange for some debt relief. As Syara slowly rebounded in the 1950s and 60s however national attention turned away from economic concerns to matters of politics and national identify. The Transactional Credit Agreement had been widely unpopular with the Royal families of Makedon and Galania, largely due to the liquidation and transfer of large sums of Syara's gold reserves to Cacerta; most of Syara's gold reserves had effectively been the personal property of the royal families. Tensions between the Monarchist factions of the government began steadily increasing in the 1960s following the publication of the Warden Way by author and philosopher Serovpe Boyajian. Although mainly concerned with economic and ecological matters, the Warden Way had offered sharp criticism against the royal families, accusing them of subverting Syaran national interests for their own gain.

The anti-Monarchist sentiment within the Warden Way found widespread popularity among Syaran youths and veterans who were frustrated by the grandoise inequality between Monarchist affiliates and commoners. In particular Zobethos fundamentalists and revolutionary nationalists found themselves at odds with the conservative Monarchists who favored a weaker central government and greater autonomy for Syara's Realms, whereas most Wardens favored a strong central government and subservience of the Realms. It's perhaps no surprise that support for the Wardens was strongest amid Syara's younger, non-royalist realms Scitaria and the Clans, against traditionalist hotbeds in Galania and Makedon. By the 1970s a major cultural war was ongoing in Syara between the nationalist Wardens and the conservative Monarchists. While not officially part of any political party, both Wardens and Monarchists were represented by various political parties within the Senate. As time passed however popular sentiment increasingly favored the nationalist Warden cause, and by 1980 it was clear a major paradigm shift had occured within Syaran society and political atmosphere.