Reikish-Norcourtian War of 1846

Reikish-Norcourtian War
Part of Reikish Wars of Expansion, Norcourtian Unification Wars
Date 7 May 1346 to 18 July 1355 Location Norcourt Result Norcourtian Victory, no territorial changes, Reikland abandons attempts to annex Norcourtian territory
Belligerents
Reikland	Norcourt
Commanders and leaders
President Nathaniel Algren	Consul Alessandro Brigandi
Units involved
Reikish Army	Norcourtian Army
Strength
126,000 men initially, 2.5 million peak field strength, 11.4 million total served	500,000 men initially, 1.89 million peak field strength, 8.3 million total served
Casualties and losses
958,983	699,300

The Reikish-Norcourtian War was a military conflict fought from May 1346 to July 1347 in which Reikland's colonial ambitions on Achara were upset by the recently formed nation of Norcourt. The immediate cause of the war was a Reikish claim to islands along the northern coast of Norcourt, claims which drew their basis from historical accounts of Reikish settlements from the 1st century AD. Longer term causes involved the expansionist attituded of the Reikish Commonwealth and their desire for territory on the vast continent of Achara.

Despite attempts at negotiation, the Reikish Government refused to recognize the new Norcourtian state until their claims were also recognized. President Algren issued an ultimatum to the Norcourtian government, demanding the surrender of the claimed islands and an exorbitant payment of nearly R£10 million, a sum equal to nearly R£1.2 billion today. When the Norcourtian government refused, the Reikish Parliament declared war.

The conflict was marked by Reikish overconfidence and incompetence on land, while the Reikish Navy effected the complete destruction of the young Norcourtian Navy and a blockade of Norcourtian ports. Endless setbacks on land, exasperated by poor organization, incompetent leadership, and ill-disciplined and poorly motivated volunteer soldiers, resulted in the Reikish being unable to translate their success at sea to the ground war. As Reikish troops encountered well trained and experienced Norcourtian soldiers, led by competent and skilled officers, the war dragged on in a stalemate for over nine years.

Following endless setbacks on land and a growing lack of public support for the war, the Reikish sued for peace in May of 1355, with a ceasefire and armistice agreed to by July. The war is largely remembered by the Reikish as a fool's errand, a useless expedition embarked upon in a vain attempt to save the failing Whig Party. The defeat would sour imperial expansion in Reikland for a generation and lead to additional conflicts over the next decade in various colonial holdings, including the Volgan War of Liberation from 1856-1860. In Norcourt, the war is remembered very differently, as the quench which solidified the forging of the new Norcourtian nation.

Nearly 1.7 million men and women became casualties during the war, including nearly 600,000 dead. It was the deadliest war for Reikland since the Reikish Civil War, 226 years earlier.

The Causes of the War

The Reikish-Norcourtian War did not begin out of the blue. A multitude of factors, ranging from Reikish expansionism to Norcourtian Nationalism, contributed to the start of the war. Modern historians disagree as to which factors had the greatest influence on the decision to go to war, but most agree that the war was inevitable.

Reikish Expansionism

Starting at the turn of the century, the Commonwealth of Reikland saw a period of aggressive expansion. New colonies were established and old ones were expanded. A half century of new conquests brought wealth and power to Reikland and, with that wealth and power, came the rise of the expansionist Whig Party. Championed by the explorers of the past century, the Whigs had steadily gained power as the Commonwealth's colonial holdings expanded. By the early 1820s, they were the dominant political party and could count many in the Army among their ranks.

The Whigs expansionist sentiments were fueled by the warhawks within the officer corps. Almost to a man, officers in the Reikish Army were men of status and privilege. The sons and daughters of wealthy landowners and businessmen. It was an unforeseen side effect of the exclusive nature of the Commonwealth Military Academy, since admission required letters from both a Member of Parliament and a currently serving officer to speak to the character of the applicant. This kept many aspiring but low-class men and women from entering the CMA, instead having to either enlist or seek acceptance to other, equally exclusive but provincially administered, academies. The system of patronage and bribery that evolved around the CMA resulted in an officer corps that was corrupt, inept, stagnant, and eager to win glory on the battlefield. Gloryhounds in the colonies dragged the Commonwealth into one war after another, wars that were, more often than not, successful inspite of their ineptitude. Their success only encouraged them.