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.