Talaharan Civil War

The Messidorian revolutions were a set of conflicts between 1799 and 1830 that established the constituent nations of the Messidor Union. They encompass the Aɣmatian revolution (1799) and the Merovian revolution (1824-1830). Both conflicts aimed at overthrowing authoritarian regimes and established precursor or foundational anarcho-socialist states. The ideology for both conflicts also stemmed from a subversive cultural and ideological exchange. Key figures among these movements were Ziri Akli (1762-1833) and Jean Estienne (1781-1848). The anarchist movements drew upon republican ideals from Merovia and anarcho-syndicalist organization from Aɣmatia.

Externally, the Messidorian revolutions created great upheaval. The Kingdom of Merovia was split into two halves: the monarchical Kingdom of Merovia in the west and the democratic Republic of Merovia in the east. The revolutions also had implications for other nascent and militant socialist movements around the globe. Tensions with monarchical neighbours were only tempered by the poor foreign relations of the Izîlids in Aɣmatia and the de Grissons dynasty in Merovia.

Both conflicts were fought initially with irregular warfare which advanced into large-scale conventional warfare. While Aɣmatia gained independence almost a quarter of a century prior to the outbreak of the Merovian revolution, material assistance from across the Periclean was limited. Socialist writers including Arthurista's Werner, Jhengtsang's Tsenpo, and Tsurushima's Kitakami Yukichi drew on the theory and lessons of the revolutions.

Historical context

Engraving of two apprentice artisans working at looms

The latter half of the 18th century saw the onset of the first wave of industrialization in Belisaria and western Scipia. This wave of change disrupted traditional economic roles and imperiled the status of many artisans. Clan crafters and guilders in Aɣmatia and Merovia, respectively, began to see their work devalued and wealth inequality was growing. The populations of these countries were also becoming displaced as people were corraled into growing cities and factory towns. Both the clan caste and peasant relationships between the commoners and the ruling classes in both countries also invested a majority of control with the rulers. Seeking enrichment and a modernist project of economic development, rulers in both countries emphasized the utility of mechanization and the production of products over the agrarian industry. Rural settlements began to suffer, as did the food supply.

While more relevant to Aɣmatia than Merovia, industrialization occurred unequally. Mining, manufacturing, and skilled fabrication were the first industries where hand labour was largely supplanted by initially crude mechanization. In both Aɣmatia than Merovia, the extension of mechanization to food production lagged. The massive migrations toward cities further divested agrarian communities from their means of production and actively diminished the food supply while populations continued to grow.

Regime changes contributed further to instability and challenges to the legitimacy of the ruling classes along traditional ideological lines. In the decade prior to the revolution in Aɣmatia, the Imxzninassan overthrew Malik Arkun ibn Hassan al-Izîli. The commander of the Imxzninassan, Syphax, had no claim to a divine purpose or enlightened guidance and ruled by force. In Merovia, the collapse of the Holy Audonian Empire and the elevation of the Kingdom of Merovia alienated a large portion of the Fabrian Catholic population. In both countries, traditional roles were upheaved, leaving many people uncertain and unconvinced of the legitimacy of their rulers.

Beyond the traditional norms, however, the philosophical movement toward the recognition of a concept of human rights was also developing. Intellectuals across the world had already begun to engage with the concept of universal equality and humanity. Many of these intellectuals turned these theories into outrage and decried the injustice of the ruling classes that were held above the common people. Both Aɣmatia and Merovia were prime examples of how the ruling classes treated the commoners as disposable. Both countries also had strong humanistic intellectual movements which were able to mobilize the lower classes.

Ideological underpinnings

The social and economic theories that influenced both the revolutionary uprisings, and the organization of the societies that followed them, developed over the decades prior to the Messidorian revolutions. As an end result, the Messidor Union draws on features from several different intellectual and ideological elements but ultimately married them all together. The two primary elements are syndicalism and republicanism. A third element, Alençonism would also be important for the post-revolutionary political organization but was not as influential in revolutionary discourse in either Aɣmatia or Merovia prior to the revolutions.

Isin'nada

Portrait of Tmassa Ziri Akli

What is commonly referred to in international political theory as Messidorian syndicalism began as a Kel Adrar artisans' ideology known as isin'nada or "clan consciousness". Traditional Kel Adrar society divided families by their trades into clan castes. These castes formed extensive kinship groups for their members and were also said to be traditionally egalitarian. Mobility between clans was possible albeit rare. After the Izîlids came to power in Aɣmatia in 1513 CE, the clans were subordinated to local lords under a modified iqta system. Clans became more restrictive and mobility was effectively eliminated. Clans were largely alienated from other clans and from Azdarin freepersons in Aɣmatia.

The commonly acknowledged progenitor of isin'nada is Tmassa Ziri Akli. Akli was a Kel Adrar farmer who organized work stoppages in protest of corvées extracted by the local iqta'at. Akli corresponded with other rebellious clan leaders in tifinaɣ which few Gharib administrators could read. Akli compiled much of this correspondence and his own writings into a book titled Atm'isin'nada or "The Way of Clan Consciousness" in 1790 when he was twenty-eight years old. The central tenets of Akli's theories were that:

1. all people are equal until they can demonstrate that they are worthy of sainthood,
2. labourers and artisans are oppressed by their rulers and masters,
3. collective action by the labourers and artisans is necessary to ameliorate their condition, and
4. the rulers and masters are parasites on the products of the clans' labour and must ultimately be overthrown.

Hand-copied volumes of Atm'isin'nada were widely distributed among the clans and ultimately provoked widespread work disruptions. To those who were unfamiliar with the radical language of the revolution, the overthrow of the Imxzninassan seemed more like the restoration of an ancient tribal society rather than the emergence of a new social order. Ziri Akli's writings remained obscure in the rest of the world by virtue of their limited and discreet distribution and the obscure language and script they were written in. At some point after 1800, an Audonic translation of Atm'isin'nada of uncertain origin appeared in East Merovia. There, dissidents and intellectuals seized upon the materials and drew upon them to incite collective action in the guilds and peasant farms against the monarchy.

Republicanism

The notion that each citizen in a society deserves a voice in its governance extends back to ancient Lihnidosi city-states and the senate of the ancient Latin Kingdom. These societies had extremely restrictive definitions of citizenship which enfranchised only the wealthiest and most powerful individuals in those societies. What distinguished Merovian revolutionary republicanism from previous forms in Belisaria was its appeal to universal rights and fundamental equality for all people.

Universalism had gained some traction in limited forms the centuries leading up to the revolution. Enlightened despots in Belisaria began to concede basic natural rights to their citizens, distinct from divine rights conferred by religious text. A radical rejection of both the innate superiority of the monarch and the rejection of autocracy or dictatorship as a legitimate form of government was a major development - especially at as large a scale as the Merovian anarchist movement.

The leading anarchist provocateurs and agitators leading up to the Merovian revolution were Jean Estienne and Marie-Claire d'Avon. Jean Estienne began his career as a royal printer but left his work to begin secretly printing seditious materials. He eventually became a fugitive who roamed between dissident and anarchist circles, distributing literature and passing word between groups. He began an epistolary relationship with Ziri Akli after encountering his writings circa. 1805 and learning some rudimentary tamaziɣt. Estienne was a key figure in organizing the Vallènes Festival and in launching the revolution-proper. Avon was an artisan brewer who had frequently agitated for women to be admitted to guilds. Her activism granted her access to dissident circles where she fiercely advocated for the equal rights of women and the value of women's labour. Avon was another organizer at Vallènes though she was one of the hundred and fifty killed when Royalist troops arrived to break up the event.

Aɣmatian revolution

Aɣmatian revolution
Part of the Messidorian revolutions
Hundreds are killed by the Imxzninassan at Avana
Date 11 February – 22 December 1799 (1799-02-11 – 1799-12-22) Location Aɣmatia Result Kel Adrar victory Overthrow of the Imxzninassan Formation of the Confederation of Aɣmatia
Belligerents
Imxzninassan	Inadan n Kel Adrar Nada Bnu Nada Xitr Nada Ɣuz Nada Znz
Commanders and leaders
Syphax † Fer Ali † Arkun ibn Hassan al-Izîli	Ziri Akli Vermina Ɣas Sofon Ilx n Janub Tanakwa Asmun
Strength
25,000 professional soldiers 30,000 militia fighters	100,000 clan warriors 300,000 rioters
Casualties and losses
5,000 wounded or killed in battle 6,000 to disease and famine	8,000 wounded or killed in battle
over 50,000 civilians to disease and famine

Amxzninassa system

The Imxzninassan (singular: Amxzninassa) were founded by the Izîlid dynasty shortly after they took power in the early 16th century. They were a professional fighting force of Gharib freemen though they later recruited from other groups. The Imxzninassan were stationed above the clan castes in the Mamlakat al-Akhmat, only beneath the iqta'at and the malik. They were founded as a professional force to expand the Izîlids' influence in the region, but also acted as a repressive force and kept order within Aɣmatia. Over time, the Imxzninassan flourished as a social order unto itself and were frequently hired privately by the iqta'at to act as enforcers, tax collectors, and eventually subordinate administrators.

At its inception, the Imxzninassan numbered 11,000 divided among 11 regiments or "ilfn". By the 1790s, Imxzninassan had expanded to 25 ilfn with several auxiliary forces. Commanders of the units were originally appointed by the malik, but by the mid-17th century, the commanders were appointing their own successors. After Malik Arkun ibh Hassan al-Izîli was deposed in 1792, Commander Syphax ruled the Imxninassan and the Mamlakat from the capital of Avana.

Kel Adrar clan organization

The Kel Adrar clans, or inada, recognized kinship ties according to trade or profession regardless of physical location. Each local clan group recognized a lesser elder, or amɣar'amzzan. If a clan member was alone among their profession in a small community, they would still be considered a lesser elder regardless of their actual experience or ability in their profession. Among the imɣaran'amzzan, a single amɣar, or clan elder, would be selected to represent the clan in inter-clan councils. Traditionally, in times of war, the Kel Adrar imɣaran would appoint a amɣar'hlu, or great elder, to be a singular leader, counseled by the imɣaran.

Ziri Akli, Vermina Ɣas, and Tanakwa Asmun at a convention of the imɣaran in early 1799

The elder roles could be conferred on any member, regardless of sex or gender. They were often conferred to the oldest and therefore most experienced members of a clan, but exceptions could be made for especially talented or knowledgable clan members. The process for appointing an elder was rarely directly democratic. It did rely upon the ascertainment of a general consensus within the clan.

In the latter era of the Izîlid/Imxzninassan rule, clans were rarely afforded the opportunity to appoint clan elders. The officially appointed lesser elders were kept on tight leashes by local administrators.

Material conditions and unrest

Periods of drought and famine were common in pre-industrial societies where the food supply was unstable. In the mid-1790s, Aɣmatia experienced a severe period of drought. The instability of the food supply was compounded by decades of divestment from agricultural production. The edges of the Ninva began to expand northward as desertification of fertile lands in the southeast set in. The lower classes, the inadan, were suffering greatly but the ruling classes were not insulated from economic hardship either. The Imxzninassan began exacting more demands on the inadan which heightened tensions even more. The iqta'at administrators began to lose influence and the leash they held on local clan leaders loosened even while the economic repression was maintained.

Many clans appointed secret representatives who traveled and coordinated between clan groups and between clans. The Kel Adrar clans took advantage of restored mobility to coordinate more resistance to the Imxzninassan regime. Resistance most frequently took the form of work action. Many artisans and labourers walked away from their workplaces, others marched in protest, and others committed acts of arson and sabotage. Many marches were put down by the Imxzninassan and the iqta began to hold progressively lesser amounts of power.

March to Avana and massacre

In early 1799, the imɣaran convened in secret in the town of Ay'ha Aman. The leaders concluded that they had enough popular support to attempt to overthrow the Imxzninassan and Commander Syphax. The leaders resolved to assemble their most capable warriors and march on the capital of Avana.

At the end of January, the march began at Gawawa, following the rough path of the Great Saint Kahina on the road to Aɣmat. The crowd of warriors grew as they travelled and were accompanied by a massive number of civilians. Ziri Akli claimed that the number of the army neared half a million and the reports of the iqta'at on the numbers of workers who disappeared generally corroborate a number near 250,000 including both civilians and warriors. On February 10, 1799, the marching army arrived at the outskirts of Avana and camped outside. The leaders planned to mark to the citadel the next day and force Syphax to abdicate to the Kel Adrar chiefs in the face of such overwhelming numbers.

On the night of February 10, 1799, a regiment of the Imxzninassan marched into the encampment and began to burn tents and kill the marchers as they slept. Several hundred were massacred by the soldiers before the clan warriors could mount a defense. The fighting continued on through the night until the Imxzninassan withdrew to the citadel at dawn. Reports of the dead numbered between 400 and 500, mostly civilians.

Military action

Retaliation for the Avana Massacre was swift. The imɣaran selected Ziri Akli as their supreme commander or amɣar'hlu. Akli rallied the surviving warriors and immediately mounted a siege on the citadel. Many of the citizens of Avana, including Gharibs and Kel Adrar, joined the marchers and warriors. News of the massacre spread across the country quickly as well, prompting thousands more to march on the capital and join the siege.

Merovian revolution

Merovian revolution
Part of the Messidorian revolutions
Monarchists lament the capture of Louis XII
Date 15 June 1824 – 9 May 1830 (1824-06-15 – 1830-05-09) Location Merovia Result Anarchist victory Division of East and West Merovia Formation of the Messidor Union
Belligerents
Monarchists	Anarchists
Commanders and leaders
Louis XII  Henry IV André de Lys Jean-Marie Marois †	Le Renard Élise Faucon Jean Estienne
Strength
302 nobles 62,530 professional soldiers 30,000 levied soldiers 100,000 irregulars	184,000 peasants 62,000 guilders 200,000 irregulars
Casualties and losses
189 nobles killed in battle or executed 43,000 soldiers wounded or killed in battle 35,000 militia wounded or killed in battle	56,900 wounded or killed in battle
over 100,000 civilians to disease and famine