Royal Acrean Army
| Royal Acrean Army Hæren Heer Armée Royale | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Active | 16 January 1432 - Present |
| Country |  Acrea |
| Type | Army |
| Size | 490,264 active duty personnel 344,667 Army Reserve personnel 375,523 Regular Reserve personnel 1,210,454 total |
| Part of | Acrean Armed Forces |
| Headquarters | Trier |
| Motto(s) | "Für alles was vi har, und alles was vi er." Acrean Nordic: ""For everything we have, and everything we are" |
| Engagements | Kunhegyes Conflict Ruvelkan Civil War Great Eracuran War Liberation War Refusal War Zemplen War Midsummer War |
| Commanders | |
| Chief of Defence Staff | Eirik Stordalen |
The Royal Acrean Army is the land warfare branch of Acrea, a part of the Acrean Armed Forces. It is the oldest branch of the armed forces. The official commander-in-chief of the Acrean Armed Forces and therefore the Army is the Crown, however the Chancellor has served as the de facto commander-in-chief on behalf of the Crown since the early 20th Century. The Army is administered by the Ministry of Defence and is led by the Chief of the General Staff.
First established in 1432, the Acrean Army is one of the oldest standing modern armies in Tyran. The formation of a standing Army was done as a consequence of the Ivorian Reforms; the Acrean Empire had been one of the first civilisation to create a standing army, made up of professional soldiers who dedicated years of service before retiring. The first regiments of professional soldiers that were stood up consisted primarily of former Acrean mercenaries. These men were experienced, trained, and favoured the prospect of a regular wage and the accompanying security that came along with it.
The Army is the largest Acrean military branch. It has three main components- the active-duty Army, the Army Reserve, and the Regular Reserve. The active-duty Army consists of the professional regular army, and at the end of 2020 had approximately 490,000 personnel. Conscription for the regular army became unenforced in 1990, as the military's active-duty components moved to an entirely professional force. The Army Reserve comprises the active-duty volunteer reserve force, and comprised approximately 345,000 personnel at the end of 2020. The Regular Reserve consisted of approximately 175,000 personnel at the end of 2020. Both the Army Reserve and the Regular Reserve make up the Acrean Army Reserve Forces, with the Army Reserve serving as the upper echelon and the Regular Reserve as the lower echelon. The Army Reserve is kept to a much higher readiness and training standard than the Regular Reserve, and are required to attend regular drill training at least once a month, and two-week trainings three times annually. They receive higher priority for equipment, however the equipment generally trickles down from the regular army. Soldiers who are transitioning from active duty service to Army Reserve service are allowed to keep their already issued equipment for the duration of their contract. As a consequence of their greater time commitment, Army Reserve personnel are also afforded higher pay compensation than the Regular Reserves.
History
Although first founded in 1432, the Acrean Army traces its modern traditions to 1630 and King Leopold IV's martial and social reforms. The Leopoldine Era, in contrast to the Ivorian Era which came three centuries before it, was centered around power rather than the uplifting of society. Although a boon to the Kingdom, the social reorganisation of the Ivorian Reforms and economic prosperity of the Aterlysning brought a fundamental challenge to Leopold IV in the form of social conflict between a still-growing middle class, and the lower noble Junkers. Distinct from the middle and upper classes of the population, as well as from the higher titled nobility, the Junkers constituted their own tightly-knit group of elites who sought to maintain their growing economic dominance at the expense of the high nobility, as well as the middle- and upper-classes.
As the direct owners of much of Acrea's farmland and arable estates, the Junkers had been important in the raising of Acrea's standing army during the late Ivorian era. However, even by the late 1500s this force was still primarily composed of Eracuran mercenaries in national service, alongside a small core of Acrean soldiers dedicated to the Crown. This force was both wholly unique and inadequate; the steady pay and merit-based hierarchy of the small professional army meant that military service was a genuine and desirable career option for Acrean men, just as the Empire's Army had been a millennia before. At the same time, it was too small to provide Leopold IV with the force that he needed to enforce his power, as mercenaries still provided the Junkers with the ability to create an army of credible threat to the Crown.
Although he and the high nobility possessed the power to take the wealth and estates of the Junkers, Leopold IV was aware that using his power so tyrannically would undoubtedly lead to a very unhappy and potentially rebellious class of lower nobles, who would still possess considerable resources or could outright refuse the Crown's demands. The solution came from Donatien de la Serre, Comte du Villefranche-sur-Mer, a nobleman from Acrea's south. The son of the Archduke of Venetia, de la Serre's solution was termed the Sursis or Friste. In exchange for the payment of a huge sum to the Crown, the King would allow Junkers the ability to rule their estates without direct interference from the Crown or their high nobility.
The Friste was a success, and in turn Leopold used this newly centralised bounty of wealth to re-acquire power and resources from the Junkers and upper class landowners. He first targeted the weaker and more rebellious of the Junker families; with each, they were stripped of much of their wealth, which was subsequently re-invested back in the growth of the army, until it had grown so powerful that the strongest of the Junker families did not need to be physically confronted or challenged to fall in line.
To a lesser extent, the Friste was extended to the high nobility as well. However, in compensation, Leopold generously offered positions and postings within the government and the new army. These positions were not only well-paid but prestigious, reflecting the high opinion of the new, wholly professional army under the Crown's command. For those Junker families who had not engaged in conflict with the common people or treasonous behaviour, they were offered lower positions. Through these actions, Leopold IV successfully tied the well-being and success of the nobility to the state and the Crown. Thus, anyone who was anyone in Acrean society then had an interest in the well-being of the state and, by extension, the army.
With the goals of the Friste achieved by 1624, Leopold IV's attention turned to reform of the army which although vastly expanded in size and repute, still followed the model of the 200-year old Ivorian professional army. The army was considered the bastion of what became known as "Acrean Virtues"; traits such as discipline, loyalty, and modesty. Leopold IV believed that the existing system was inefficient for a nation of Acrea's size. In 1628, he instituted the levy, or Landvakt, system. The Landvakt system was the first organised system of conscription in Acrea, and was created with the purpose of not only increasing the number of soldiers available at any given time, but also providing an immense, deep reserve of military-trained men which could be called upon in times of war. The reforms stipulated that all able-bodied men were required to serve at least two years under standard beginning at any point from their nineteenth to their twenty-third birthday, formed into Landvakt regiments which were based locally in the areas from which their manpower originated. These regiments would serve in support of the regular professional army, and would receive training equal to the regular army with the only fundamental difference being their shorter time of service.
The introduction of the Landvakt system was a balancing act for Leopold, but one which proved successful. Numerous changes had to be made to the way in which the army was run and trained, which are often referred to along with the creation of the Landvakt as the Leopoldine Reforms. Punishments were changed from physical ones to jail time and additional intensive drill. Likewise, prospects for advancement into the officer corps were made far, far better for individuals from any strata of society. These changes, combined with the existing prestige and socioeconomic prospects the army could offer, led to a drastic increase in the number of recruits for the professional army. The Landvakt is attributed with being the organisation that gave rise to the idea of "Acrean Virtues", as with the vast majority of men throughout Acrea spending time in the military, the population was gradually infused with these same virtues which came from martial education.
Doctrine
Organisation
Personnel
Rank Structure
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Generals
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Field Officers
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Enlisted
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Training
Equipment
Weapons
Individual Weapons
The Acrean Army employs the M6, a piston-driven variant of the M68 developed from the Shalumite StG 64, as its primary service rifle. It is supplemented in service by widespread use of the M90, first issued in the mid-1980s to replace the older M51. Although nominally replaced by the M90 and M06, the M51 remains in regular use across the Acrean Armed Forces as a reservist rifle and designated marksman's rifle. The Army's standard sidearm is the P81, which was supplemented in the early 90s by the introduction of the P93. The P81 remains in extensive use by reserve forces and many examples remain in storage. The P81 and P93 are both being replaced by the P16, an upgraded derivative of the P81 originally intended for use by special forces and select infantry units. In 2017 the option became available for soldiers to select either sidearm. Vehicle crews and light infantry make extensive use of the MP-91 personal defence weapon.
Fire support within a squad comes from a selection of light and general purpose machine guns. The MG-64 is the predominant GPMG in use by Acrean forces, supplemented by the MG-50 which remains the standard GPMG for the Army Reserve and some active duty units. The MG-74 is the only 5.56mm light machine gun in widespread use by any Acrean forces.