Ossorian war crisis

Ossorian war crisis
Part of wretched decade in Gylias
Date 20–30 May 1986 (10 days) Location Gylias Result Ossoria declares war on Gylias; declaration vetoed by Nevan III Collapse of the Aén Ďanez government, replaced by Filomena Pinheiro government Period of tense relations between Gylias and Ossoria
States involved
Gylias	Ossoria
Casualties and losses
None	None

The Ossorian war crisis (French reformed: Crise d'guerre d'Ossorie), known in Ossoria as the Gylian war crisis (Ossorian: Géarchéim chogaidh na Gaighliás), was a week-long confrontation between Ossoria and Gylias, which took place in May 1986.

The crisis began on 20 May 1986, when the Ossorian Ministry of National Intelligence revealed that the Aén Ďanez government had been covertly providing support to the Republican Faction, classified as a domestic terror group. This caused a diplomatic confrontation between the two countries and a political crisis in Gylias, which was without a new government since the 1985 federal election.

Amid public outrage, the Ossorian House of Commons voted to declare war on Gylias, and the Ossorian Armed Forces were placed on high alert, including the RON base at Eltykan. The outbreak of military hostilities was only avoided when High King Nevan III vetoed the motion.

The crisis galvanised the Gylian opposition, which toppled the Aén Ďanez government on 30 May, replacing it with the Filomena Pinheiro government. Aén's removal from office marked the immediate end of the crisis, and she was prosecuted for her role in it. However, tense relations between Ossoria and Gylias endured for several years afterwards. The crisis is considered the nadir of the wretched decade.

Background

Gylias and Ossoria have traditionally had uneasy relations. The main cause is divergent politics: Ossoria evolved after the Legislaturist War into a more enlightened monarchy and was distrustful of “unrestrained democracy”, while Gylias became an anarchist-influenced direct democracy through the Free Territories. During the Liberation War, Ossoria supported a constitutional monarchist faction in the Daláyk islands, aligned with the Nerveiík Kingdom, and thus obtained its naval base at Eltykan.

After the Liberation War, Gylic–Ossorian relations were initially tense due to reflexive Ossorian suspicion of Gylian anarchism, but gradually improved under Erika Ďileş to the level of an informal understanding. The Ossorian official attitude towards Gylias was summarised by its Taoiseach in 1968:

"We shall wage no war against socialism if it is kept within the territories and among those peoples that are so inclined, and the Gylians have shown no inclination to impose or force upon us such a system."

Relations were damaged by the wretched decade and the confrontational attitude of Aén Ďanez government. Aén sought to explicitly increase Gylias' influence as a leftist state in Tyran, and possibly even challenge Ruvelka for the position of leader of the leftist nations of Tyran. Among these efforts, she pushed the Revolutionary Rally to support various insurrectionary or revolutionary formations. The policy was accelerated when the Progressive Alliance was expelled from the coalition in 1983; although this reduced Aén's government to a shaky minority, it allowed the RR to take covert measures more easily.

Crisis

Ossorian intelligence revealed on 20 May 1986 that Aén's government provided covert support to the Republican Faction, classified as a domestic terror group. This support included allowing the RF to undertake smuggling operations through Gylias, and providing material support through a secretly-established slush fund, hidden from the cabinet and administrative agencies.

The revelation caused immediate and vociferous outrage in both countries. The Ossorian public was incensed that the RF was being secretly supported by a government which hosted a RON base. The Gylian public was revolted that the RR had hidden this policy from even their coalition partners, and had gone to such lengths to create and conceal a slush fund. The People's Voice commented that while Gylians may have sympathised with the overall aims of the RF, the combination of the RF's terrorist tactics combined with the fact that it lacked any charismatic figures or "wicked" appeal that had fueled broad sympathy for the Labor Underground and Delkoran far-left insurgencies meant there was no great impetus to support them.

In response to the revelations, the Ossorian House of Commons voted in an emergency session on 27 May to declare war on Gylias, and the Ossorian Armed Forces were ordered to go on alert. The immediate manifestation was at the Eltykan base, where RON personnel broke off contact from local residents and prepared for imminent military operations, including the evacuation of civilian dependents from the base. Massive protests broke out in cities against the Aén government. The GSDF called emergency mass assemblies, where a majority of personnel voted against resisting an Ossorian invasion, as they felt the government was clearly in the wrong.

Even amidst the clamour for retaliation, the House of Commons had worded the declaration of war carefully to emphasise their quarrel was with the Gylian government, not the Gylian people. Nevertheless, High King Nevan III withheld Royal Assent to the resolution from the Commons on 29 May. He made a televised speech to Ossorians explaining his reasons, in which he famously cited the recent birth of his daughter, Crown Princess Nóra, and his unwillingness to have her life begin “amidst the unnecessary effusion of innocent blood”.

Although the declaration of war was vetoed, the Ossorian military remained on high alert, and the situation remained tense and uncertain. Gylias had technically been without a new government since the inconclusive 1985 federal election, with Aén's cabinet remaining as a caretaker. The war crisis galvanised the opposition, which united behind independent deputy Filomena Pinheiro and formally ousted Aén's government. The Filomena Pinheiro government took office on 30 May 1986, and the Ossorian government judged the situation satisfactory enough to phase down the alert.

Aftermath

Aén and her government were investigated for abuse of office, crimes against society, and crimes against the public peace. Many were found guilty, Aén among them, and received the toughest sentence: expulsion from the community in a social quarantine area, where they died. Aén remains widely considered Gylias' worst Prime Minister due to her central role in the wretched decade and the crisis.

The crisis disgraced and destroyed the Revolutionary Rally as a political force. Channelling public anger at its actions, Filomena oversaw the largest crackdown on the authoritarian left since the Lucian Purge. Her term was spent recovering from the damage inflicted during the wretched decade, including legal reforms to strengthen oversight of governments, political realignments, and economic debates. She devoted much of her energy to rebuilding relations with other nations, particularly Ossoria.

The crisis marked the nadir of the wretched decade, and of Gylic–Ossorian relations. Despite overtures to improve relations, the Ossorians still remained broadly suspicious for the rest of the decade, shocked by the length of Aén's tenure and disgusted at the ineffectiveness of the Gylian opposition. Unofficial boycotts of Gylian products and pop culture persist to this day in some quarters of the Ossorian population as a result of the crisis. Nevan III remained distrustful of Gylias throughout the remainder of his reign, and would scathingly remark, "They're not just crazy, they're untrustworthy too."

Relations improved to some extent after the Mathilde Vieira government took office in 1990, but there was no incentive to build closer relations like the other international friendships Gylias rebuilt. Another brief diplomatic incident occurred in 1991, when Mathilde supported the ARPAGHARCON during the Rice and Oil War. The Ossorian government sent a telegram stating simply "Remember Ďanez"; Mathilde felt insulted and replied, "Remember Gylias isn't your colony." The incident did not sour relations per se but rather made both sides essentially conclude that further attempts at reconciliation would be futile. While the tensions have dissipated over time, particularly after the accession of High Queen Tara following the death of Nevan III, to this day relations between Gylias and Ossoria are largely neutral.

The crisis and shock caused by Ossorian mobilisation shattered the previous acceptance of the Eltykan naval base, and began debates regarding its future. Local referendums to close the base were held in Eltykan in 1986 and 2018, the latter in the midst of the short-lived Arzell Crisis. Both were unsuccessful, although the RON took note of the close margins of the result and held consultations to address locals' grievances.