Drevstranese Civil War

Drevstranese Civil War
A Bolsarist patrol monitoring the advance of a "band of brigands".
Date 12 February 1913 - 11 May 1919 Location Drevstran Result Orbraggist victory
Belligerents
TES and affiliated Bolsarists forces Kumarist Death Squads Associated Warlords	Socialist Forces Socialists Insurgents Farkas Band Socialist Warlords	Lushyodor Republic Orbraggists forces Provincial Parliaments	Royalists forces Golden Columns Marquisate of Yugstran
Commanders and leaders
Hortankh Bolsar Abemus Kumar	Fehrer Farkas	Vilvo Orbraggar	Prince Farza of Kaposlovar Srav Kann

The Drevstranese Civil War was an early 20th century conflict in Drevstran that lasted from 1913 to 1919. It was mostly fought at first between the regime created by Hortankh Bolsar and his partisans, against Insurgencies and Warlords of various allegiance, and then between Vilvo Orbraggar and the very same insurgents following the former's victory over Abemus Kumar and absorption of the Stranzeti Bizontzag Mosgas (SBM) party into his forces.

The conflict started when Hortankh Bolsar, in a bid to strengthen the country's conservatives and traditionalists forces agaisnt the rising popularity of socialism and liberalism, led a coup against the ruling monarch Ansmar II that successfully ended the Triple Monarchy. Bolsar's violent takeover proved extremely unpopular and led to the immediate insurrection of many forces thourough the country, be they monarchists, socialists, or even republicans. Portions of the armies that Bolsar proved unable to control fell into warlordism, either paying lip-services to the Bolsarist regime or pursuing their own agenda such as Vilvo Orbraggar whom started as a neutral force before he created an independent Lushyodor Republic once he was forced by the royalists to pick a side and chose to not support Prince Farza of Kaposlovar's bid to restore the monarchy.

Ultimately, the Lushyodor Republic took the upper-hand in the conflict once internal turmoil inside the Bolsarists after the assassination of their leader led to their absorption into the Orbraggists ranks. It would nonetheless take another three years of intermittent conflicts for Orbraggar to gain control over all of the country against rivals such as the self-proclaimed Marquis of the Yug, Srav Krann and the "Twin Warlords of the East", Ognen and Bolisar Gnewilko. The end of the conflict is generally dated to the proclamation of the First Mervoshia the 11th of May 1919 by the Committee for a Peaceful Transition and the Redaction of a New Constitution that had been assembled by Orbraggar in late 1918, officially ending the Triple Crown and the Drevstranese Monarchy.

Background

The Crimson Revolution of Ostrozava in 1909 massively affected Drevstran. Grand Duke Borek I Vykopal became a Martyr for the Drevstranese nobility and upper class, helped by the stories spread by the Ostrozavan Nobles who fled the country and found refuge on the other side of Lake Kulpanitsa to the point the Vykopal became known as the Dramatic Dynasty.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, both side of lake Kulpanitsa went through a similar development, with their respective dynasties and aristocracies struggling to modernize in face of increased socialist and populist pressure. Peasants Revolts were common in both nation but Drevstran, lagging behind in its industrial development compared to its neighbors, proved to be "dreaded soils" for the Wernerists and Alençonists. Anarchists and Communalists however gained a certain popularity in the countryside, notably in the form of Hártatázok, of combined peer-to-peer banking and peer-to-peer lending associations that evolved into militant organisation capable of controlling multiple villages without the involvment of the legal authorities.

Drevstran had "missed the industrialization" for its most part and its economy remained rural and agricultural and, like in Ostrozava before the Revolution, society was an uncomfortable balance between local powers representative of an ill-defined "People" (the Three Parliaments), and authoritarianism with a Monarchy stuck in what was called passive conservatism where they did nothing to either liberalize the economy (as demanded by the country' upper class) or the society (as demanded by the local Parliaments and the Hártatázok).

In this unstable balance, Ansmar II, the Triple-Monarch, relied more and more on his military to counteract his growing impopularity. Certain Officers became known as the "King's Executors", being sent in the countryside to crush uprisings and in the cities to limit protests or arrest people deemed to be threats to the state using the heavily criticized system of the Letters patent. since the late 19th century, the Drevstranese military' loyalty had remained unwavering, its officers attached to the Triple-Monarchy and its fragile balance of duties, rights, and privileges. But as the country moved within the 20th century, the army began steered more and more to the side of the Industrialists and Economic Liberals.

While at first this faction of the Officer Corps was sidelined by Ansmar II, the latter was scared by the arrival of the Ostrozavan Nobles Refugees who began frequenting the same saloon as the Drevstranese upper-class, spreading with them the same absolute hatred of Socialism and Reformists movements, as well as calling for more immediate actions against them. For the ruler of Drevstran these abrasive refugees were as dangerous as the Hártatázok, and by meddling and fraternizing with them the conservative and reactionary factions in and outside the court were compromised in the eyes of their ruler.

As a result in 1911, Ansmar II made Hortankh Bolsar, the then-General of the Second Army, his main Enforcer. Bolsar may have shared the same fear of a second Crimson Revoluion as other officers and nobles, and he became infamous for his brutality when sent to crush protests, he was nonetheless an ardent promoter of Drevstran' Industrialisation and agreed Drevstran desperately needed modernization. In that regard, he was the unofficial president of the Kopony Clique, a circle of military officers who shared his opinions and ideals and whom for the most part were all formed and trained in the same academy.

For the next two years, Bolsar was proactive in his "peacekeeping mission", sending his troops against anything resembling a "red" protest while also targetting the potentially reactionary nobility and upper classes through his burgeoning Secret police headed by his right-hand man : Abemus Kumar. It seemed as if Ansmar II was ready to align himself with the "Blue Reformists" and announce Reforms. But as months passed it became clear the King had no wish to do so and was content to remain a passive conservator.

This placed Bolsar in a dangerous situation; his apparent status as the King' favorite had been a powerful shield against his opponents and he was now at risk of being himself purged. Disillusioned, Bolsar began organizing the future with his partisans and the small bourgeoisie of Drevstran who saw in him a potential strongman sympathetic to their cause. Finally, in 1913, after Ansmar II once more publicly refused a reform proposition made by the three parliaments, Bolsar and his troops entered Angrast and stormed the royal palace. The 15th of February 1913, three days after the Bolsarist Coup, King Ansmar II of the Drev officially signed his abdication and dissolved the Monarchy, letting Hortanhk Bolsar establish his Transitory Emergency State.

Warfare

Royalist Uprising

The 12th February coup, while it did successfully led to the abolition of the Triple-Crown, dit not however crush the Royalists. Prince Farza of Kaposlovar, the prince-inheritor of Drevstran, escaped the putschists and fled to the northwest of the country, in the Azdrheg mountains where he linked up with the 6th Army whose general, Yerebrim Yakov, was completely won over to the cause of the Prince. Farza and Jerebrim tried to convince the local authorities, from mayors to prefects, religious leaders, and provincial magistrates, to join their cause. They managed to form a strong core of both supporters and de-facto vassals who only agreed because of the fear of the two men' troops. They failed however to convince the Metrohegumen of Barbellon and thus vast sways of lands both in the Azdrheg and the Mrenzentag geographic regions instead fell under the control of Prefect Sullivan Taoh and his militias. The Transitory Emergency State immediately recognized the authority of Taoh as legal and decided to support him, although the Prefect-warlord remained undecided. This decision would have drastic consequences on the fall of the Emergency State into Warlordism.

On the other side of the country the General of the Third Army, Srav Kann, was openly critical of the Coup and questioned the legality of the King' abdication. relationship between him and Hortankh Bolsar soured immediately and the latter ordered the demission of the former. Kann simply refused and, to made explicit his separation from the Emergency State, proclaimed himself "Marquis of Yugstran" as "Since it has become clear to us, and to all our fellow crown subjects, creating new governments has become triviallly easy and no longer require the respect of Laws, let alone of Decency." These words, published in the local press, led to the unexpected recognition of Srav Kann new title by Prince Farza and the de-facto alliance between the two groups even though contacts would remain limited, if not inexistant, thorough the war.

The three Royalists Warlords at the start of the civil war. From left to right : Prince Farza of Kaposlovar, Yerebrim Yakov, and Srav Kann

Red and Grey Uprisings

While Hortankh Bolsar credibility with the Liberal-Reformists was high, the Drevstranese Socialists' opinion on the new State Chairman was far from auspicious. When the Emergency State refused to even consider the Reforms' offered by the remaining "left branch" of the three Parliaments after their first session, combined with the emission of a Draft, many Hártatázok mobilized, refusing to pay taxes or send men to the Bolsarist Army. These Associations, led by charismatic community leaders, would greatly disrupt the logistic of the Emergency State which had a limited capacity of action against them as it was already caught fighting a war on two fronts against the Royalists. The isolated and agrarian Sevromark in northern Drevstran especially became an hotbed of anarchist or communalist leaning pockets of resistance. Villages in rebellion waging wars against military troops and officials trying to enter their territories, and living off their own production plus raids against either other communities or the army. In that regard, these pockets acted much more like tribal militias than as legitimate attempt to change the country' government.

Beside these rural pockets, bands of deserters became a common occurence during the civil war. While most of these were completely apolitics and were only motivated by their survival, some did during the early stage of the war claim to fight for a Revolution against both the Royalists and the Bolsarists. The most famous of these was the Farkas Band which terrorized western Drevstran between 1913 and 1915, especially the area between the northern Furodommark and the Mren River Valley. This troop was an eclectic mix of rebels, bandits, deserters, and socialists revolutionaries funded by the Socialist Party of Ostrozava.

Later during the year, the eastern third of the Drevstran rose up against Hortankh Bolsar' regime because of frustration with the Chairman' refusal to implement a number of reforms demanded by the Parliament of Yugstran. The latter would then ally with the bandit leaders Iker and Grushna Larkos, known as the Twin Warlords of the East. Their armies of bandits, deserters, and local militias would prove a lasting threat during the civil war.

From left to right : Fehrer Farkas and the Twin Warlords of the East

Black Forces

The creation of the Transitory Emergency State was first received positively by most of Drevstran and by the international community at the time, being seen as a strong and willful enough form of government capable of restoring order while kickstarting the modernisation the country so desperately needed. But quickly, and despite the early rallying of the Three Parliaments' to the Bolsarists, it became appearant that the Emergency State had only the form and none of the institutions of an actual state, being unable to prevent the collapse of the administration in the wake of the Monarchy' abolition.

As such, Bolsar' authority proved to be very limited and based on a network of relationship with local warlords and charismatic strongmen who rallied themselves to his cause, or at least did not oppose him, for various reasons. At the start of the war, the most powerfuls of these warlords were obviously Hortanhk Bolsar himself at the head of his Second Army but also ex-members of the Kopony Clique such as Gyorgy Mazravem, leader of the Fourth Army, who controlled most of the northern border earning him the nickname of "Duke of the Sevrommark". A convinced Bolsarist, Mazravem would proved to be highly unpopular in his controlled territories because of his brutal application of the Draft and collection of arbitrary War Taxes. Thus, Hártatázok would be especially active in his area and he would spend most of his time during the war trying to repress and crush them. This seriously impeded his capability to oppose Prince Farza of Kaposlovar and his Golden Columns.

Another important leader in the early days of the war was Sullivan Taoh. Contrary to other warlords, Taoh was only a police Prefect at the time of the coup but had long since been the leader of various far-right militia groups who helped his police maintain order in an area far larger than his official prefectory. A situation further helped by his good, if unequal, relationship with other police forces across the west of the country. As a result when the Golden Columns began threatening Barbellon he entered an alliance with the Metrohegumen of the city and leader of the Drevstraneses Albans, Vazhilly II, becoming its unofficial protector. While Taoh was never stricto-sensu a Bolsarist, he was still in favour of maintaining order and protecting the "State" and was given extraordinary power by the Emergency State to do so, once again highlighting Bolsar' dependency on local warlords.

Finally, another actor that would prove critical as the war unfolded but was relatively unknown at the beginning of it was the Major-General Vilvo Orbraggar. Another member of the Kopony Clique, Orbraggar was appointed General of the First Army by his long-time friend Bolsar, keeping the border with Garima. Despite these close ties to the Emergency State, Orbraggar appears to have been rather critical of the Coup, and his promotion was as much as a way for Bolsar to place one of his friend in a strategic position as it was a way to evacuate Orbraggar far away from Angrast.

From left to right : Hortankh Bolsar, Gyorgy Mazravem, Sullivan Taoh, Vilvo Orbraggar

Course of the War

First Pacification of the South

The frontline before (red) and after (orange) the Pacification Campaign

By May, the lines had been drawn and most of the factions had materialized themselves (with a few exceptions such as Iker and Grushna Larkos who were still only leaders of a larger-than-most bandit group). As the political situation in Angrast worsened, Hortankh Bolsar decided to launch what would end up being known as the First Pacification of the South ("Del Elza Rentremenes") against Srav Kann' Marquisate of Yugstran. While the First Pacification would be often criticized and mocked as a poorly planned out gut reaction to Srav Kann' insults to the Bolsarist regime, the obvious goal of the campaign was to crush the rebellious Third Army early, and prevent the emergence of a second front.

For this campaign, Bolsar tried to free as much as his loyalist and experimented Second Army as possible. On paper, the Second Army represented 216,000 well trained and equipped men, but because of desertions and other situations provoked by the chaos of the Coup, the number of soldiers at Bolsar' direct disposition fell under 200,000. They were divided into three Corps: two would take direct part into the Campaign, one as the "Shock" force and the other as the "Fire" force, while the last one would stay in reserve to man the other fronts and continue to maintain order within the territories held by Bolsar. In total, it is estimated that Bolsar had gathered between 64,000 and 140,000 men for the operation.

Srav Kann on the other hand had the same theoretical numbers of men under his order at the start of the war : 216,000. But because of his status as a pariah and open secession from Drevstran as a whole, his Third Army was much more impacted by desertions and mutinies, leaving him with maybe 100,000 men by May to oppose to Bolsar. This was compensated only slightly by Kann' constitutions of the Margravate Troopers, volunteer militias who joined Kann either because of their Royalists convictions or because they were promised they could return to their farms once it was time for the harvest, meaning the Troopers represented an easy and welcome extra to their revenues. However, these Troopers had yet to be trained, equipped, and both their numbers and morales were dramatically low since Kann had yet to solidify his name. Even though they were consigned to "law enforcement" duties, these militias still helped free more experienced troops for the fight to come and the more galvanized units were used to plug the gaps in the formations.

Another massive difficulty faced by Srav Kann was his supplies. Even though Bolsar aimed for a quick war, he had at his disposition the industrial centers around Angrast to maintain his war effort if need be. Meanwhile, Kann controlled no such thing and had to rely on his pre-war reserves. Even his efforts to build smuggling networks were still unripe, greatly limiting his capacity to plan his defense on the long term. In that regard both Warlords agreed : their confrontation would've to be quick.

Second Army soldiers waiting for the order to start the Campaign

Bolsar' plan was simple : the river Viz link almost directly Angrast to the most important city under Kann' domination : Vizerad which control the fertile Viztran Valley. as such, Bolsar' "Shock Force" would push right through the center of the front, follow the river Viz upstream, until they reached Vizerad. Meanwhile, the "Fire Force" was to cover their advance and secure the frontline as it grew. Any loss or weakness was to be compensated by reinforcement from Angrast and its region.

But Kann made his own preparations. Knowing that he could not hold against Bolsar in a direct confrontation, he adopted an elastic approach to his defense. Men in the hills surrounding the Vez rivers and protecting An-Lushem, Sevro Kann' de-facto capital, were expected to hold their ground. Meanwhile, troops in the center were to slowly but surely retreat, from one line of defense to the next, as the Bolsarists pushed in. Finally, once they were overextended, Kann would order the wings to fall on the Viz river and destroy there the Bolsarists forced trapped by the manoeuver.

Bolsar launched the campaign the third of May 1913, attacking from both the north and the west. On the latter front, the hilly and foresty topography turned to be a terrible danger for the attackers, the light artillery still in Kann's possession being capable of rapidly moving from highpoint to highpoint, supporting the defenders in the vales. Nonetheless, The Second Army still pushed through and closed in on the Viz Valley.

Northward, Kann' planning bore its fruits. The wings held, and the center folded. A week after the start of the hostilities, the Second Army was in view of Vizerad. On the eight' day, the Marquisate' reserve, made up mostly of the most well-equipped Margravate Troopers Kann could gather and supervised by veterans of the Third Army, fell on the Bolsarists logistical lines and reinforcements running through the Viz Valley. Caught in the pocket, it would take another week for the Bolsarist force to get out and link back with the rest of the Army. Meanwhile, it's Kann' men who were now in view of Angrast, triggering panicks in the capital. But in front of the heavy resistance organizing itself before the city and because of his own precarious position, Kann ordered his men to fall back on more easily defensible positions.

The Campaign would drag on for the rest of the summer. While Kann had successfuly repelled the Bolsarists, he failed to recover any of the western hills he had abandoned to the advancing Second Army and lost many men in fruitless assaults. Autumn 1913 and winter 1914 saw the fightings halt, because of dwindling reserves, situations elsewhere, and the weather. But by spring 1914, it became clear that the Margravate could no longer feasibly hold the Viz valley as the Bolsarists had secured their position on the western hill. The Second Pacification of the South launched from said hills by the Bolsarists would prove it. By june, Sevro Kann ordered his troops to withdraw and abandon Vizerad.

Still, Hortankh Bolsar was the one who came out of this Campaign defeated. His credibility was shattered while Kann position was secured. The Second Army lost 24,000 men in a month, the equivalent of an entire pre-war division. In total, the Bolsarists would lose 35,000 men in the year 1913 on the southern front, while the Margravate would lose 28,000 on the same period, a number inflated by Kann' growing reliance on the Margravate Troopers and their inexperience. Nonetheless he did manage to preserve his core troops of veterans, while Bolsar had lost some of his best regiments in the Campaign.