Thistle Uprising (Amathia)

Thistle Uprising
Part of the Great Game
Soravian tanks in East Arciluco
Date 30 November – 22 December 1958 (1958-11-30 – 1958-12-22) Location Amathia Result Uprising crushed Amathian Equalists suspend the 1937 Constitution
Belligerents
Amathian Council Republic UPSR	Demonstrators Movement for the Democratic Reform
Units involved
Republic Protection Troops Amathian Liberation Army Soravian Army	Thistle Guards Mutinied units of the Amathian Liberation Army
Strength
30,000 soldiers 10,000 police	300,000 demonstrators 1000 mutineers
Casualties and losses
400 killed 2000 wounded	3,500-5,500 killed 20,000 wounded

The Uprising of the Thistles (Amathian: Ⱃⰵⰲⱁⰾⱅⰰ Ⰽⰹⱆⰾⰹⱀⰹⰾⱁⱃ, tr. Revolta Ciulinilor, Soravian: Повстання будяків, tr. Povstannya budyakiv), commonly known as the Thistle Uprising, was an uprising of the Amathian population against the Equalist-led Councilist regime in November and December 1958. It followed months of unrest fostered by popular discontent against the continued Soravian occupation of West Arciluco, and increasing resentment against the authoritarian Equalist faction which had gained increasing control in the national councils through their perceived support from the military. The uprising began with a protest march that was supposed to move through the two parts of Arciluco. The protest degenerated into violence as protesters started to harass Soravian military forces in the Western side, to which the Soravians responded by opening fire. The deaths of the civilians led to outrage and to hundreds of thousands of protesters gathering in Amathia's major cities over the next few days. Unsure about their popular support, the other left-wing factions in Amathia's government did not take a public position immediately, which allowed the remaining pro-monarchy and pro-democracy groups to take leadership of the uprising, and the Equalists to portray themselves as the protectors of the Council Republic.

The name under which the revolt entered into history, the Uprising of the Thistles, was a reference to the symbols used by many protesters. Michael II, the exiled Amathian king, had been decorated with the Caldish Royal Order of the Thistle in the weeks preceding the unrest, and news of the ceremony reached Amathia despite the media censorship. The first protests attempted to use thistles and images of thistles as a way to avoid the ban on monarchist and democratic Amathian symbols, and the violent deaths of these first groups of protesters inspired even more of them to use thistles, and as such, a flower that had no importance to the Amathian culture was turned into an icon of resistance and defiance, being officially adopted by many revolting groups such as the short lived paramilitary Thistle Guards.

Although initially in control, the Equalists quickly lost control of East Arciluco due to their overestimation of the loyalty of the military. While the armed forces of the Council Republic were their traditional area of support, a strong core of the military that was garrisoned in and near East Arciluco was formed by veterans of the Solarian War, most of which were former soldiers and officers of the Royal Amathian Army which had been reincorporated into the Amathian Liberation Army following the Republic's establishment. Under the leadership of a group of dissatisfied former royalist officers, and unwilling to take part in the brutal actions against the protesters, those units staged a partial coup d'etat, defecting to the cause of the uprising, and capturing a few key locations within the city, which put the entire councilist regime under threat. In need of quick assistance, the Equalist faction requested the assistance of Soravian forces, which entered East Arciluco and supported the paramilitary forces of the political police, the Authority for the Protection of the Republic. Around 2000 people were killed and tens of thousands were wounded in one of the most brutal suppression operations ever organized in Euclea.

With the uprising destroyed, the Equalists began to heavily purge all potential rebel elements in the military, and to strengthen their control over the state, which scared the remaining anti-Equalist factions in the country in action. With Kirenian support, the remaining internationalist factions launched the ill-fated Aster Coup against the Equalists, which ended with their defeat, the establishment of the Amathian Equalist Republic and the Amathian-Kirenian Split.