Cherniyan War

Cherniyan War
Letnian troops during the war
Date 5 March 1996 - 7 September 2000 Location Cherniya, Jedoria, Letnia Result Letnian Victory Jedorian forces expelled from Cherniya
Belligerents
Letnia Cherniya	Socialist Republic of Jedoria
Commanders and leaders
Nicolas II	Aleksis Kraulis
Strength
750,000 troops (Peak) 4 million (Total)	500,000 troops (Peak) 2.5 million (Total)
Casualties and losses
200,000 - 400,000 killed 700,000 wounded	300,000 - 500,000 killed 900,000 wounded

The Cherniyan War was an armed conflict between the Socialist Republic of Jedoria against Letnia and Cherniya. The war is generally considered to have began on 5 March 1996 when Jedoria invaded Cherniya, and ended 7 September 2000 when Jedoria accepted a ceasefire which led to the conclusion of hostilities. The root of the conflict lay in long held territorial disputes between Jedoria and Cherniya, an after effect of the Northern War which had been waged over 50 years prior. The similarity to the previous conflict led several commentators to dub the conflict the "2nd Northern War".

Following the rise of communism in Jedoria, Letnia had originally been supportive of Jedoria as a means of securing Letnia's southern flank, and supplied Jedoria with military equipment. Following the Vinyan War however, Jedorian dictator Aleksis Kraulis became convinced of Jedoria's capability to stand as a major power of it's own accord. In 1975 relations with Letnia took a turn for the worse when Jedoria and Kolodiya came to blows over another territorial dispute, which forced Letnia to step in. The conflict soured relations between the Socialist Republic and the Empire, leading to renewed tensions. Jedorian success in the Vinyan War and against Vyzhva in the Vyzhvan-Jedorian War convinced Kraulis of the capability of Jedoria to take what it claimed by force, and starting in the early 1990s began formulating a plan of action against Cherniya, possibly driven in part by Kraulis's deteriorating mental health.

Cherniya and Jedoria engaged in border skirmishes and clashes between 1993-1996, slowly escalating in intensity until early 1996 when Jedoria invaded the disputed territory outright, leading Letnia to declare war on Jedoria. Initial Jedorian drives were met with success but Letnian reinforcements halted the Jedorian advance. By 1997 the war had entered into a stalemate, as neither side had been prepared for a long, drawn out conflict. Despite both sides fielding large, mechanized formations centered around maneuver warfare, the fighting bogged down into attrition, set-piece offensives and battles that resulted in heavy losses for minor gains. The heavy casualties, slow progress, and defensive warfare drew many comparisons to the War of Sylvan Succession. By 1999 Jedoria's declining economic fortunes and international isolation had begun to degrade it's ability to wage war. Starting in 2000 Letnia began pushing back Jedoria forces until the pre-war boundaries had been re-established. The death of Aleksis Kraulis in early 2000 led to a brief political crisis in Jedoria, which eventually accepted terms of a ceasefire, thus ending the war on 7 September.

Despite massive casualties neither side gain any territory. The war bankrupted Jedoria, and is considered the principle cause for the breakout of the Jedorian Civil War four years later. Wide tracts of western Cherniya were devastated in the fighting. The exact casualties for both sides is unknown, but believed to number more than a million killed, wounded, and missing.