Chyhyryn War

Chyhyryn War
Part of prelude to Great War
(clockwise from top left) Vinalian cavalry in 1925. Remains of the Velkarichka Library following Ardesian shelling. Vinalian soldiers around Casimirsk in 1926. Ardesian soldiers storming houses during the Battle of Catherinsk.
Date 19 July 1925 - 3 October 1926 (1 year, 2 months and 2 weeks) Location Vinalia Status Ardesian victory -Treaty of Velkarichka signed -Vinalian lands south of the Shryoniy river turned into the Shyroniy Administrative Council -Creation of the Vinalian Salvation Government north of the Shryoniy -Vinalian government-in-exile established in the AFR
Belligerents
Ardesia Supported by Entente Gaullica	File:FirstRepofVinFlag.png Vinalia Supported by Grand Alliance Soravia Aucurian Republic
Commanders and leaders
Dinis Montecara Alberte Goulart Martim Gouveia Dinis Luz	File:FirstRepofVinFlag.png Dymtro Antonov File:FirstRepofVinFlag.png Mykhaylo Baibuza
Strength
Ardesia 426,000-540,000 (Summer 1925)	File:FirstRepofVinFlag.png Vinalia 250,000 (1925)
Casualties and losses
Ardesia 105,000 dead (from battle or disease) 192,000 wounded 16,274 missing	File:FirstRepofVinFlag.png Vinalia 140,000-190,000 dead 273,000-353,000 casualties 140,000 dead. 273,000 casualties 1936 Official Report 130,826 dead. 293,000 casualties Melynk 193,390 dead. 353,000 casualties Ivanov
98,019 killed overall ≥900,000 internally displaced & ~1,740,000 refugees

The Chyhyryn War, known in Vinalia as the War of Humiliation (Soravian: Війна приниження; Viyna Prynyzhennya) took place between Ardesia and Vinalia from 19 July 1925 to 3 October 1926. It is seen as an example of the expansionist policy that characterized the Entente powers and the ineffectiveness of the international order before the outbreak of the Great War.

Ardesian Irredentism regarding the Vinalian territories south of the Chyhyryn, was seen as a threat to the Vinalian republic. Growing tensions between both states culminated in a July concentration of troops by both sides. On the 19th of July 1925, over four hundred thousand soldiers of the Ardesian army under Alberte Goulart crossed the border and attacked Vinalian forces. Although the Vinalian was amassed in the south, it was not prepared for the Ardesian use of Armoured warfare, which quickly overran and overwhelmed Vinalian forces. Close to 30,000 Vinalian soldiers were captured as the Vinalian army retreated across the Chyhyryn river. Vinalia opted to fight the Ardesian forces in the river and the cities of Velkarichka and Catherinsk, at the time the largest and third largest cities in Vinalia, with the Vinalian government evacuating Velkarichka.

The Ardesian army was unable to mount a proper cross-river operation, and instead got bogged down in urban fighting in both Catherinsk and Velkarichka. Intense Ardesian Strategic bombing had destroyed much of both historic cities. Vinalian troops pulled out of Velkarichka on November 10th 1925. Ardesia launched the invasion of Kishark on November 15th 1925, occupying the entire island after two weeks. Ardesian forces would launch renewed attacks across the Chyhyryn utilizing their beachhead in Velkarichka on the 20th of December 1925. Completing an encirclement of Catherinsk on the 5th of January 1926. Vinalian troops would remain inside Catherinsk until the 30th of January 1926. Vinalian forces would fight back Ardesian attacks across the Shyroniy river until Ardesian troops crossed it on the 4th of April 1926. Ardesian troops had occupied most of the country up to the Bin river by August 1926. Tensions in the Asterias had prompted Ardesia to redeploy its forces. A failed September counter-offensive by Vinalian forces to overrun the Ardesian defenses, lead to the collapse of the Antonov government in September as Ardesian forces successfully crossed the Bin river on September 30th, with Hennadiy Merkushko being appointed as President to come to terms with the Ardesian state.

Vinalia agreed to an armistice that split the country in two on October 1926, creating the Shyroniy Administrative Council which was occupied by Ardesian forces until it was annexed in 1929. With the rest of the country remaining under the collaborationist, client-state of the Vinalian Salvation Government until 1935. A Vinalian-government-in-exile was established immediately following the armistice, which was based in Assunçã, AFR until 1935.

The war is seen as many as the impetus for the latter Asterian theatre of the Great War, as Ardesia cited the AFR housing the Vinalian government-in-exile as justification for hostilities. The war featured Armoured warfare, Amphibious warfare, Combined arms, Close air support, Trench warfare, and Urban Warfare prominently which became commonplace in the conflict a couple months later. The war also unleashed large-scale atrocities, including the purposeful targeting of civilians due to strategic bombing.

Background

Template:Events leading to the Great War (Kylaris) The territorial dispute stemmed from disagreements between Ardesia and Vinalia as to the nature of the border, with Ardesia claiming Colonial Poveliann claims which established the border at the Chyhyryn, while Vinalia supported the status quo established at the Congress of Cislania which gave the Colony of Vinalia lands up to the Meka River. Paretia which had annexed Ardesia, never claimed the former borders as did the any Ardesian entities until the Ardesian state in 1914.

Povelian explorers and settlers had arrived to the Tzapotlan Empire in 1523, easily defeating it and claiming the land. Povelia made wide claims to territorial control as was common at the time. Vinalia which had been discovered in 1568 by Soravian explorer Afanasij Orlev, quickly made similar large claims. When Grigori Kosh arrived at the mouth of the Chyhyryn in 1570, he too made a claim to the entire region, and founded the city of Catherinsk. At the time the area between the Meka and Chyhyryn rivers were still considered to be the frontier of Povelian settlement, and was inhabited mostly by indigenous rump states. Conflict began to arose as to the overlapping claims by both states as settlers began competing for land and alliances in the Chyhyryn river, but the number of settlers of either Euclean power were limited. Povelia clarified the claim in 1573 by stating that Novo Povelia reached all the way to the Chyhyryn river, while Soravia never clarified their claims. Rapid expansion of the sugar industry in both countries brought renewed interest to the region, and Povelian settlers founded the town of X on the southern bank of the river, opposite to Catherinsk. In 1620 Soravian interests in the region grew, and the Soravian crown paid for the settlement of 2,000 people on the river basin.

Ardesian Invasion (1925-1926)

Ardesian offensive

Vinalian troops around New Samistopol

Treaty of Velkarichka

-Vinalian surrender of all territories south of the Chyhyryn River

-Velkarichka and Catherinsk to remain unmilitarized

-Vinalian war reparations

-Vinalia to cease all support for the Entente, and fighting with the Grand Entente

-Vinalia to recognize all territorial acquisitions of the Grand Alliance

-Vinalia to restrict trade with Grand Alliance powers

-Vinalia to reoccupy lost territory at a pace of 10 days behind Ardesian troops

-Ardesia to abandon all territory north of the Shryoniy river