Ninvite War
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| Ninvite War | |||||||||
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| Part of Fahrani-Charnean conflict | |||||||||
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
 Sabir Afzal Rahmani(Prime Minister of Fahran) |
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| see order of battle | see order of battle | ||||||||
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Start of war:
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| Civilian dead: 100,000+ | |||||||||
The Ninvite War (Gharbaic: حرب نينوى, Tamashek: ⴰⵎⵢⴻⵔ ⵏⵉⵏⵠⴰ) was an armed conflict between Fahran and Charnea that began on April 17, 1985 with the Charnean declaration of war. The outbreak of hostilities was preceded by the escalating guerilla conflict in the eastern Charnean region of Hatheria occurring from 1982 to the outbreak of the Ninvite War and continuing until 1986. The Charnean rationale for declaring open war with Fahran was the cited need to prevent the Gharib pan-nationalist regime of Fahrani prime minister Sabir Afzal Rahmani from supporting the predominantly Gharbaic rebel groups active in the east of Charnea and preventing the formation of a Fahrani-backed separatist state in Hatheria. Fahran cited numerous Charnean military incursions across the two nations' shared border as its casus belli, characterizing the Charnean activities and later declaration of war as an unprovoked aggression towards neutral Fahran whilst denying Charnean allegations of Fahrani military support for Hatherian rebels. The conflict would earn its name two weeks into the start of open hostilities, through the remarks of Charnean Premier Baseel Madoun stating that "Fahran [had] provoked a war that would light the Ninva on fire".
As part of the age-old Fahrani-Charnean conflict, the outbreak of the Ninvite War inflamed regional tensions that had long simmered below the surface as a result of centuries old grievances. The scale of the war quickly drew the attention of many nations in the east Scipian region and the Association of Ozeros Nations of which Fahran was a member. Charnea drew military and economic support initially from local allies such as those in Itayana but would later be forced to look further afield, petitioning for aid from distant Mutul. Fahran was aided by neighboring Vardana with which the nation had coordial relations, and would begin to purchase arms from Alanahr and Latium as the war escalated.
The conflict would be one of the bloodiest wars of the 20th century, rivalled only by the Third and Fourth West Scipian Wars for the title of the largest war on the Scipian continent in that period. More than 1 million lives would be claimed by the fighting, with at least one in ten of those killed being civilian inhabitants of the conflict zone. The loss of life would be compounded by the economic loss of over $1 trillion as a result of war-related economic stress and direct disruption of economic activity by the war. The regions of eastern Charnea, western Fahran and the territory of Happara later involved in the war are significantly impacted by the effects of the war even in the present day.
Background
Fahran-Charnea relations
Akzay War
The insurgency in Hatheria, known in Charnea as the Akzay or "Bastard" war, began as a result of a severe drought in eastern Charnea in 1982. The Charnean government tightened its water controls in reaction and deployed the Raxla into the region to enforce its policies, which involved the redistribution of water from the majority Gharbaic eastern Hatheria to the Deshrian and Tenerian majority areas in the central and western portions of east Charnea. This mitigated the drought for the western regions but caused a state of severe water shortage in the east, sparking off unrest. The Gharbaic minority in Charnea, long opposed to the rule of the Tenerian majority government, entered a state of armed resistance to the Raxla which forced the intervention of the Imperial Charnean Army. The Gharibs unilaterally declared their independence from the Charnean Empire, claiming themselves to be the independent nation of Hatheria with its capital in Hamath, an act which marked the start of the Akzay war. The Gharib insurgency struggled for years in their attempts to force the capture of the Hatherian city of Hamath, their claimed capital city, which remained in Charnean hands for the duration of the conflict.
The regime of Prime Minister Rahmani in Fahran, directly bordering the Charnean region of Hatheria, was sympathetic to the cause of the rebellion. The ideology of the Rahmani government was a mixture of secularism and pan-gharibist nationalism, which inclined the Fahrani state to align itself with Gharib nationalist separatists fighting an independence struggle against the non-Gharib Charnean state. Charnean repeatedly accused Fahran of supporting the rebels with funding and weapons, calling into question the providence of many items found in rebel bases, caches and in the possession of rebel fighters on several occasions. The Fahrani government denied the Charnean accusations on each occasion, claiming the discoveries to have been planted by the Charneans themselves to implicate Fahrani involvement. The Charnean army, unmoved by the denials of the Rahmani government, began a series of operations to cut off the supply of weapons, ammunition, food and volunteers across the Fahrani-Charnean border. These began as military operations within the context of the Akzay War, which re-established nominal Charnean government control over the area of the Fahrani-Charnean border, but would later escalate further as a result of rebel activity and lead to the start of the Ninvite War.
Border Conflicts
The Imperial Charnean Army began military operations near the shared border in late 1984 as part of their effort to cut off the rebel forces from their suspected source of arms and supplies. This came at the tail of two years of frustration and consistent failure by the ICA to trap and defeat the rebels on the field of battle, and represented a change in tactics from pursuit of a tactical defeat of the rebels to a strategic one. However, the borders of eastern Charnea with many neighboring countries are generally open desert or otherwise hostile terrain that was difficult to monitor and fully secure with the technology of the early 1980s, forcing the Charnean army to take on a more aggressive approach in blocking the entry of any supply that might be smuggled through their blockade at the border. The ICA began a series of raids and ambushes in early 1985, several of which led to confrontations and even conflict with Fahrani forces at the border. On more than one occasion, Charnean units violated Fahrani territory in their operations to block Fahrani supply convoys from breaking their blockade and resupplying the rebels under siege across the Hatherian region. The Rahmani government issued protests and threatened reprisals for these border incursions, escalating to a major diplomatic incident between the two nations. While some parties in both governments had been involved in negotiations towards an end to the conflict since 1983, these had seen no progress and now broke off altogether. At some point in late 1984 or early 1985, high ranking members of the Imperial Charnean Army and the Charnean state reached the conclusion that the Rahmani regime in Fahran would continue to foment resistance to Charnean rule in the east under any circumstance, and that breaking the back of the Fahrani state and demilitarizing it would be the only way to secure a lasting peace in Hatheria and the rest of the Charnean east. Charnea had already amassed a significant force in Hatheria and the border region to fight the ongoing Akzay War, and so after only a brief buildup of forces, the Charnean Empire declared war on the Kingdom of Fahran.
Course of the War
1985
Charnean Incursion
The opening moments of the war between Charnea and Fahran took the form of a large scale Charnean aerial strike launched with the intentions of destroying the Fahrani air force on the ground and securing Charnean dominance in the air for at a long period. Charnea possessed fewer fighter-bombers and combat aircraft than Fahran, and its air force was generally less well equipped with older airframes and weapons systems in its inventory. For this reason, Charnea aimed to neutralize the Fahrani air advantage and secure the skies as a prelude to a planned invasion of Fahran which Charnean leaders hoped would topple the Rahmani government and secure victory in a matter of months. The strike was successful in severely damaging many Fahrani airbases and base infrastructure, but proved far less effective at destroying the Fahrani combat aircraft themselves. As a result, after hurriedly repairing their runways, Fahrani bases were able to launch their superior fighter aircraft and launch retaliatory sorties against Charnean positions in Hatheria.
The ICA leadership ordered the planned land invasion to go ahead regardless of the failure of the aerial attack to destroy the Fahrani air advantage, hoping to exploit the nearly 5 to 1 Charnean advantage in tanks and armored vehicles to punch through the Fahrani army's ground forces and proceed with the invasion plans. Charnean armor, once over the Al-Kira river which marked the border at prepared crossing points, would traverse over open desert quickly to catch the Fahrani's by surprise. However, Fahrani forces were better prepared for the attack than expected thanks to the pre-emptive mobilization of the country ordered by Prime Minister Rahmani. In addition, the intact Fahrani air force was able to destroy a large number of vehicles involved in the Charnean attack over the border. The ICA units involved, planning to take the enemy by surprise and denuded of air cover, had not anticipated the enemy air superiority and was lacking in anti-aircraft defenses and countermeasures. In under 48 hours, the Charnean incursion into Fahran was called off and a full retreat back into Charnea was ordered. A number of units would become stranded on the Fahrani side of the Al-Kira river after Fahrani aircraft destroyed their bridges, resulting in the humiliating loss of a number of armored units. The attack was a resounding failure for the Charnean army, a sobering loss and one which prompted the hurried reshuffling of the army command and general staff.
Fahrani counter-attack
War in Hatheria
1986
End of the Hatherian campaign
Invasion of Happara
Breakthrough in the Hasidmawt
1987
Struggle in Western Fahran
Ihemod Line
Stalemate
Ceasefire
Aftermath
Casualties
Economic situation
End of the Rahmani Regime
Foreign Involvement
Alanahr
The Kingdom of Alanahr had expressed great concern and dissatisfaction with the escalation of the conflict since the outbreak out of the Akzay War and the Charnean accusations of Fahrani involvement in 1982 and '83. The Alanahri state was involved in the attempted brokering of a peace agreement to end the Akzay War and the tensions between the belligerent powers from that point until the outbreak of the Ninvite War in 1985. Alanahr followed a policy of neutrality in the war, supporting neither party during the war in Hatheria. However, the Alanahri government would be provoked to change this policy and begin offering material aid to Fahran in retaliation to the Charnean violation of Happaran neutrality in mid 1986. The aid remained minor, however, and largely aimed as diplomatic leverage against Charnea which would eventually affect the relinquishing of Happaran territory and renegotiation of Happara's neutrality. At the insistence of Alanahri diplomats, Charnea would be included as guarantor of Happara, an agreement in which Charnea barred itself from moving any forces into Happaran territory. Alanahr would also be involved in the peace talks which would eventually culminate in ceasefire and the final armistice of the Treaty of Kahrash.