Airdale War
Airdale War | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
Sunrosia | Estmere | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Strength | |||||||||
4,658,000 | |||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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The Airdale War, also known as the Estmerish-Sunrosian War, was a military conflict between the Sunrosian Monarchy and the Kingdom of Estmere. Lasting from 13 May 1918 to 23 November 1921, the conflict was primarily caused by Sunrosian claims to the Airdale region, lost to Estmere in the War of the Triple Alliance.
On 6 May 1918, the Sunrosian government of Rudolph von Waldriek issued an ultimatum to Estmere, requiring the cession of the three border counties of Ashdale, Bardonshire, and Gulval within 48 hours. A general mobilisation was ordered on the same day by Sunrosia, confidently expecting a negative answer. On 8 May 1918 at 4 PM, as the deadline ran out and the Estmerish government failed to answer positively to terms of the ultimatum, the Sunrosian Monarchy officially declared war on Estmere, with several Sunrosian units having already started hostilities an hour early.
The Strakonitz doctrine - the Sunrosian strategy - was to penetrate as deep into Estmere as possible beyond the contested Airdale in the initial assault, with the aims of forcing the Estmerish government into seeking peace, conceding the Airdale and paying war reparations that were necessary to the heavily indebted Sunrosia after the Great Collapse. Having prepared for that exact conflict, Sunrosian forces were able to occupy a fifth of Estmere including the major cities of Lumbridge and Morton within the first five months of the war. By November 1918, a series of successful Estmerish counter-offensives along the X and X rivers turned the tide of the advance and forced the Royal Sunrosian Army to retreat west; towards a line of fortified trenches. Hopes of a quick Sunrosian victory were ended as Strakonitz doctrine was left in ruins.