Haillet's Crisis

Haillet's Crisis
Cassien president Jules Ménard (left) and Soravian president Ivan Lecsko (right) in Armiens, Cassier, in 1993
Date 7 October 1991 – 15 April 1993 (1991-10-07 – 1993-04-15) Location Haillet's Sea Result Armiens Accords Withdrawal of the Soravian Navy from the Haillet's Redrawing of the Haillet's maritime zones Soravia gains oil reserves, Cassier loses portions of reserves in the east Re-emergence of Soravia as a global power
Belligerents
Cassier	Soravia
Commanders and leaders
Jules Ménard Pierre Bombelles Alceste Malet Georges Brasseur	Ivan Lecsko Viktor Hrebenyuk Anton Baranov Samuel Czenko
Casualties and losses
2 civilian ships seized; later released	None

The Haillet's Crisis (Gaullican: La crise de Haillet, Soravian: Криза Гейлетта; Kryza Hayletta) was a diplomatic standoff and war scare in the early 1990s between the Republic of Cassier and the Soravian Republic. The crisis stemmed from disagreements over maritime zones and economic zones in the Haillet's Sea, containing rich oil reserves being drilled by both nations. The crisis lasted two years and saw the re-emergence of Soravia as a global power.

Following Soravia's second civil war in 1983, Soravia had lost much of its material overseas possessions and most of its empire, losing the ability for global power projection in the process as the economy and military suffered from four years of infighting. Under Sava Tokar and Vasil Bodnar, Soravia attempted to rebuild its influence but struggled in the wake of economic crises and instability. Ivan Lecsko's election in 1989 saw a crackdown on major dissent and the reformation of the economy into a mixed-market economy, implementing monetary policies that allowed Soravia's economy to rebound and post extremely positive numbers in the first 1990 fiscal quarter. Wanting to further Soravia's influence in natural resources, particularly in the oil market, Lecsko introduced plans to alter Soravia's Haillet's Sea economic zone to include increased amounts of the proven oil reserves in the sea, overlapping Cassier's established zones in the process.

The zone became effective in Soravia on October 1, 1991, with the crisis officially beginning on October 7 when the Soravian Navy seized a Cassien civilian oil tanker travelling through the newly-established zone. Cassier, now concerned over Soravia's breach of Haillet's agreements, lodged an official diplomatic protest and severely restricted diplomatic staff to Soravia by 1992, encouraging its close allies to do the same. Another tanker was seized in March 1992, with Soravia now guarding its newly-established zone by force, ordering Cassien oil drilling platforms to cease operation immediately and return to Cassier. When the staff refused, Soravia threatened to retaliate with force to enforce their claimed territories in the April of 1992, prompting large-scale international backlash. Fearing a war in the Asterias was imminent, Cassien president Jules Ménard embarked on a series of de-escalations with Soravia, with the two countries eventually coming to an agreement over oil zones in 1993 with the signing of the Armiens Accords, which saw Soravia's zone expanded, Cassier's slightly reduced and a major cutback on Soravia's claimed zone. The crisis still saw tensions between Cassier and Soravia throughout the rest of the 1990s, and put Soravia back in the group of global powers. Ménard was commended by his contemporaries following the crisis' conclusion for his prevention of war, while Lecsko was lauded for his gunboat diplomacy methods of negotiation.

Conclusion

Following the signing of the Amiens Treaty, the Cassien government suffered significant backlash from the country's population, which would ultimately cause the nation's abandonment of its longstanding neutral foreign policy and the formation of NVO between Cassier, Halland and Nuxica. This began a rise of tensions between Samorspi and the three Asterian nations.