Bogoria War
| Bogoria War | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Fall of Communism in Holynia | |||||||
 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 BLA |
 Holyn Kingdom (2000-01) | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Bartosz Korda Marceli Rostkowski Błażej Karlik † |
1997-98: Gen. Army. Benedikt Jelínek1998-2001: Jonáš Široký Jaromír Mach Gen. Army Klement Brož Alexandr IV 2001Rafał Golas 1998-2001 | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
|
Bogorian Liberation Army |
Holyn Armed Forces 1997-99 Holyn Defence Forces 1999-2001 Socialist Army of Bogor 1997-99 Army of Christ 1998-2001 | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
110,000–150,000 troops 95,000 rebels |
710,000 regular troops (~100,000 troops in vicinity of Bogoria) 1,000,000+ reserves 31,000+ pro-Holyn militias | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
42,000+ troops and rebels killed 21,000 troops and rebels injured 17,913 civilians killed |
7,313 troops killed 14,310 troops injured 4,087 civilians killed | ||||||
The Bogoria War was an armed confict in Bogoria that began on 7 August 1997 and concluded on 19 June 2000. It was fought by the military of the Holyn Socialist Union, its succesors, the Republic of Holynia and briefly the Holyn Kingdom, and the Bogorian Liberation Army. Holynia controlled the territory of Bogoria prior to the outbreak of the war. The war formally concluded in June 2000 when the Treisburg Treaty was signed between the warring parties. This followed significant political upheaval and waining public approval of the conflict in Holynia after numerous terrorist attacks by Bogorian rebels.
Background
Holynia was formed by a union formed by the Duchy of Hornat and Duchy of Masovia. Bogoria was an independent state known as the Bogor Order. The Bogor Order was invaded by the Holyn Realm during the Catastrophe, a war between the Holyn Realm and several of its neighbors. In 1330, Holynia defeated the invaders and annexed Bogoria into the Holyn Realm. Violence erupted between the populace of Bogoria and the new Holyn rulers. This was tamed down by the 1400s as the economy began to improve. In 1611, the first national legislature of Holynia convened in Cizekporok. The Bogoria delegation was the smallest of all the constituent countries. As Holynia industrialised in the 1800s, Bogoria, home to warm water ports, became home to several shipyards. The transformation from a largely agrarian economy into an industrialised economy saw Bogoria gain prominence in the Holyn Kingdom. Despite this, Bogoria was still the poorest region of Holynia, with Hornatyia having an average income 3 times higher than Bogoria's average. In the early 20th century, the Holyn Workers' Party began to openly challenge the authority of the ruling Monarchy in Holynia. As the country descended into civil war in 1923, parts of Bogoria gained de-facto independence, forming the Bogor Republic. In 1924, communist troops and militias invaded the independent parts of Bogoria and defeated the Bogor Republic.
Volen Hajek was able to cool simmering ethnic rivalries in Holynia, especially in Bogoria. The strong, centralised authoritarian leadership of Hajek saw attempts at succession by Bogoria stamped out. State security forces deported thousands of Bogorian civilians to Hornatyia to work in coal mines. Hornat civilians migrated into Bogoria. The state schools only taught Hornatyian, not the Bogorian language. This, among other strategies, were to remove any nationalist feelings within Bogoria.
In 1957, Bogoria descended into violence as Bogor civilians were outraged at the death of 3 civilians at the hands of the state police forces. The government responded by opening fire at protestors in Utena. Bogoria was largely ignored by the massive infrastructure campaigns of the 1970s and 1980s. The economic disparity between Bogoria and the rest of Holynia became more apparent. In 1984, unrest again broke out as Bogorian civilians were outraged at the removal of popular Bogorian state leader Filip Sieja. Sieja, an ethnic Bogor, was removed as he disagreed with the economic policies being pursued in Cizekporok. The unrest was supressed after months of lockdowns and mass arrests of thousands of civilians. In September 1989, the Łuków Volcano erupted, devastating the River Chełm valley and killing roughly 11,000 civilians. Allegations of the central government prioritising rescue operations on the Hornatyian side of the valley led to protests in Utena. Kamil Sládek forced the Environment Minister and the Energy Minister to resign, with the former being imprisoned. Holynia's economy slid into recession by late 1989 and only emerged from this recession a year later.
The sluggish national economy hit Bogoria particularly hard. Heavy industries and services began to be concentrated in other regions of Holynia. This resulted in Bogoria suffering rising unemployment throughout the 1990s. Kamil Sládek died and Vlastimil Prusík took over leadership of the country. Prusík hoped to reduce simmering ethnic tensions in Bogoria by introducing political and economic reforms. The political reforms introduced "one-party democracy" where multiple candidates would be elected to party seats. Sládek emphasised that party elections should be entirely free and allow multiple viewpoints. Heavy opposition from the conservative wing of the Workers' Party was defeated and the reforms went through.
Sládek's economic reforms initially increased industrial output and slowly increased the availability of consumer goods. However, the bueraucratic and top heavy state run industries were unable to effectively handle operating without 5 year plans, worsening availability of products. Empty shelves and food shortages became common by late 1995. In October 1995, the central government began distributing ration cards for the first time since the late 1940s.
The first democratic election for the Central Committee was held in March 1996. This led to a wide range of differing viewpoints entering the Central Committee and by extension, the Narodna Rada. Various nationalist politicans were elected in all three of the socialist states in Holynia. Bogor nationalists gained top leadership posts in the Bogorian branch of the Workers' Party. In Masovia, nationalists made up 25% of the regional Central Committee. Bartosz Korda, a former army general who commanded the Bogorian military district from 1991 to 1995, was elected as First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Bogoria. In January 1997, Bogor nationalists in the Narodna Rada attempted to pass a amendment to the national constitution allowing supremacy of local laws over laws passed by the Narodna Rada. This was defeated but is seen as the first attempt at seperatist activity by the Bogoria delegation.
Conflict
Preparing for war
In March 1997, the Bogorian state parliament passed legislation declaring state sovergienty where Bogorian laws would have supremacy over national Holyn laws. The central government in Cizekporok declared this act illegal and the issue was taken up by the Constitutional Court. Korda refused to allow Bogorian lawyers to appear in court, challenging the legitmacy of the court to rule on the matter. Despite the court siding with the Holyn government, Korda challenged the issue in the Bogorian state court. This court sided with the Bogorian side and declared the national constitution void in issues where the Bogorian constitution contradicted with the former.
In June 1997, Korda announced the formation of the Bogorian People's Defence Force. This force quickly grew in strength as several ethnic Bogor officers defected in late July. The government in Cizekporok deployed the Interior Army and National Police to Bogoria to seize control of the defecting barracks and prevent weaponry falling into the hands of the rebels.
The defecting officers brought along thousands of soldiers, along with weaponry and other equipment. Military barracks in southern Bogoria were left unguarded and looted throughout July. Central government forces attempted to prevent this but were hindered by poor knowledge on which units were loyal to the central government. On 2 August 1997, Korda announced his resignation from the Workers' Party and the state parliament banned the Workers' Party from operating in Bogoria. The state police leadership declared allegiance to Korda and arrested their political officers. On 4 August 1997, Sládek and the Politburo declared the actions by Korda illegal. The Prosecuter General issued arrest warrants for Korda and other leaders of the growing Bogorian independence movement.
A combined force of the State Security Service, Interior Army and the National Police entered Utena with the goal of carrying out the arrest warrants. They were supported by elements of the 3rd Guards Tank Army from Uhrov. Local police, defecting soldiers and protesters surronded the State Security Service headquarters in Utena. Meanwhile, other pro-independence forces took positions around the Bogorian parliament.
War breaks out
On the night of 6-7 August 1997, the central government forces attacked the State Parliament building in Utena. Fierce fighting broke out throughout the city as rebels attacked government convoys with seized weapons. The Holyn troops, not expecting such fierce fighting, were ill-equipped to counter and a significant portion withdrew. Rebelling soldiers in other parts of Bogoria began to seal off roads and take control of the state. On 10 August 1997, Korda oversaw the Bogorian Parliament as it declared indepdence from Holynia. The central government in Cizekporok responded by launching a second attack on the building, this time causing considerable damange.
The month of August saw a lull in fighting as the Holyn government attempted to prevent outright war and sought to eliminate leaders of the independence movement. However, this strategy was blamed by then Minister of Defence Marshall Benedikt Jelínek for allowing the rebels to entrench themselves and gain more weaponry. On 2 September 1997, rebels seized control of a number of barracks containing anti-aircraft weaponry. This provided them a significant advantage. The Bogorian Military District, essentially all the Holyn military units stationed in Bogoria, faced upwards of 75% of its force defecting to the independence movement.
Throughout September and October, clashes began to escalate as rebels seized large swaths of Bogorian countryside, while the central government gradually became distracted by the escalating political crisis throughout the Holynia. Violence continued to escalate as pro-Holyn forces faced sophisticated weaponry fielded by the rebels. In November 1997, Defence Minister Jelínek authorised fully fledged military units to deploy into Bogoria. Since little remained of the Bogorian Military District, the 3rd Guards Tank Army and the 15th Guards Tank Army of the Central Military District were deployed into Bogoria.
On 23 November, Korda declared the formation of the Bogorian Liberation Army in response to the escalating fighting. Korda declared himself commander-in-chief of the BLA and sought to unify the various, disjointed operations of the rebels.
Fighting escalates
December would see the largest escalation in fighting so far. Both sides fought ferioucious house to house fighting in several villages in eastern Bogoria.