Drevstranese Civil War
| Drevstranese Civil War | |||||||||
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 A Bolsarist patrol monitoring the advance of a "band of brigands". | |||||||||
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TES and affiliated
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Socialist Forces
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Lushyodor Republic
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Royalists forces | ||||||
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The Drevstranese Civil War was an early 20th century conflict in Drevstran that lasted from 1913 to 1919. It was mostly fought at first between the regime created by Hortankh Bolsar and his partisans, against Insurgencies and Warlords of various allegiance, and then between Vilvo Orbraggar and the very same insurgents following the former's victory over Abemus Kumar and absorption of the Stranzeti Bizontzag Mosgas (SBM) party into his forces.
The conflict started when Hortankh Bolsar, in a bid to strengthen the country's conservatives and traditionalists forces agaisnt the rising popularity of socialism and liberalism, led a coup against the ruling monarch Ansmar II that successfully ended the Triple Monarchy. Bolsar's violent takeover proved extremely unpopular and led to the immediate insurrection of many forces thourough the country, be they monarchists, socialists, or even republicans. Portions of the armies that Bolsar proved unable to control fell into warlordism, either paying lip-services to the Bolsarist regime or pursuing their own agenda such as Vilvo Orbraggar whom started as a neutral force before he created an independent Lushyodor Republic once he was forced by the royalists to pick a side and chose to not support Prince Farza of Kaposlovar's bid to restore the monarchy.
Ultimately, the Lushyodor Republic took the upper-hand in the conflict once internal turmoil inside the Bolsarists after the assassination of their leader led to their absorption into the Orbraggists ranks. It would nonetheless take another three years of intermittent conflicts for Orbraggar to gain control over all of the country against rivals such as the self-proclaimed Marquis of the Yug, Srav Krann and the "Twin Warlords of the East", Ognen and Bolisar Gnewilko. The end of the conflict is generally dated to the proclamation of the First Mervoshia the 11th of May 1919 by the Committee for a Peaceful Transition and the Redaction of a New Constitution that had been assembled by Orbraggar in late 1918, officially ending the Triple Crown and the Drevstranese Monarchy.
Background
The Crimson Revolution of Ostrozava in 1909 massively affected Drevstran. Grand Duke Borek I Vykopal became a Martyr for the Drevstranese nobility and upper class, helped by the stories spread by the Ostrozavan Nobles who fled the country and found refuge on the other side of Lake Kulpanitsa to the point the Vykopal became known as the Dramatic Dynasty.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, both side of lake Kulpanitsa went through a similar development, with their respective dynasties and aristocracies struggling to modernize in face of increased socialist and populist pressure. Peasants Revolts were common in both nation but Drevstran, lagging behind in its industrial development compared to its neighbors, proved to be "dreaded soils" for the Wernerists and Alençonists. Anarchists and Communalists however gained a certain popularity in the countryside, notably in the form of Hártatázok, of combined peer-to-peer banking and peer-to-peer lending associations that evolved into militant organisation capable of controlling multiple villages without the involvment of the legal authorities.
Drevstran had "missed the industrialization" for its most part and its economy remained rural and agricultural and, like in Ostrozava before the Revolution, society was an uncomfortable balance between local powers representative of an ill-defined "People" (the Three Parliaments), and authoritarianism with a Monarchy stuck in what was called passive conservatism where they did nothing to either liberalize the economy (as demanded by the country' upper class) or the society (as demanded by the local Parliaments and the Hártatázok).
In this unstable balance, Ansmar II, the Triple-Monarch, relied more and more on his military to counteract his growing impopularity. Certain Officers became known as the "King's Executors", being sent in the countryside to crush uprisings and in the cities to limit protests or arrest people deemed to be threats to the state using the heavily criticized system of the Letters patent. since the late 19th century, the Drevstranese military' loyalty had remained unwavering, its officers attached to the Triple-Monarchy and its fragile balance of duties, rights, and privileges. But as the country moved within the 20th century, the army began steered more and more to the side of the Industrialists and Economic Liberals.
While at first this faction of the Officer Corps was sidelined by Ansmar II, the latter was scared by the arrival of the Ostrozavan Nobles Refugees who began frequenting the same saloon as the Drevstranese upper-class, spreading with them the same absolute hatred of Socialism and Reformists movements, as well as calling for more immediate actions against them. For the ruler of Drevstran these abrasive refugees were as dangerous as the Hártatázok, and by meddling and fraternizing with them the conservative and reactionary factions in and outside the court were compromised in the eyes of their ruler.
As a result in 1911, Ansmar II made Hortankh Bolsar, the then-General of the Second Army, his main Enforcer. Bolsar may have shared the same fear of a second Crimson Revoluion as other officers and nobles, and he became infamous for his brutality when sent to crush protests, he was nonetheless an ardent promoter of Drevstran' Industrialisation and agreed Drevstran desperately needed modernization. In that regard, he was the unofficial president of the Kopony Clique, a circle of military officers who shared his opinions and ideals and whom for the most part were all formed and trained in the same academy.
For the next two years, Bolsar was proactive in his "peacekeeping mission", sending his troops against anything resembling a "red" protest while also targetting the potentially reactionary nobility and upper classes through his burgeoning Secret police headed by his right-hand man : Abemus Kumar. It seemed as if Ansmar II was ready to align himself with the "Blue Reformists" and announce Reforms. But as months passed it became clear the King had no wish to do so and was content to remain a passive conservator.
This placed Bolsar in a dangerous situation; his apparent status as the King' favorite had been a powerful shield against his opponents and he was now at risk of being himself purged. Disillusioned, Bolsar began organizing the future with his partisans and the small bourgeoisie of Drevstran who saw in him a potential strongman sympathetic to their cause. Finally, in 1913, after Ansmar II once more publicly refused a reform proposition made by the three parliaments, Bolsar and his troops entered Angrast and stormed the royal palace. The 15th of February 1913, three days after the Bolsarist Coup, King Ansmar II of the Drev officially signed his abdication and dissolved the Monarchy, letting Hortanhk Bolsar establish his Transitory Emergency State.
Warfare
Royalist Uprising
The 12th February coup, while it did successfully led to the abolition of the Triple-Crown, dit not however crush the Royalists. Prince Farza of Kaposlovar, the prince-inheritor of Drevstran, escaped the putschists and fled to the northwest of the country, in the Azdrheg mountains where he linked up with the 5th Army whose general, Yerebrim Yakov, was completely won over to the cause of the Prince. Farza and Jerebrim tried to convince the local authorities, from mayors to prefects, religious leaders, and provincial magistrates, to join their cause. They managed to form a strong core of both supporters and de-facto vassals who only agreed because of the fear of the two men' troops. They failed however to convince the Metrohegumen of Barbellon and thus vast sways of lands both in the Azdrheg and the Mrenzentag geographic regions instead fell under the control of Prefect Sullivan Taoh and his militias. The Transitory Emergency State immediately recognized the authority of Taoh as legal and decided to support him, although the Prefect-warlord remained undecided. This decision would have drastic consequences on the fall of the Emergency State into Warlordism.
On the other side of the country the General of the Third Army, Srav Kann, was openly critical of the Coup and questioned the legality of the King' abdication. relationship between him and Hortankh Bolsar soured immediately and the latter ordered the demission of the former. Kann simply refused and, to made explicit his separation from the Emergency State, proclaimed himself "Marquis of Yugstran" as "Since it has become clear to us, and to all our fellow crown subjects, creating new governments has become triviallly easy and no longer require the respect of Laws, let alone of Decency." These words, published in the local press, led to the unexpected recognition of Srav Kann new title by Prince Farza and the de-facto alliance between the two groups even though contacts would remain limited, if not inexistant, thorough the war.
Red and Grey Uprisings
While Hortankh Bolsar credibility with the Liberal-Reformists was high, the Drevstranese Socialists' opinion on the new State Chairman was far from auspicious. When the Emergency State refused to even consider the Reforms' offered by the remaining "left branch" of the three Parliaments after their first session, combined with the emission of a Draft, many Hártatázok mobilized, refusing to pay taxes or send men to the Bolsarist Army. These Associations, led by charismatic community leaders, would greatly disrupt the logistic of the Emergency State which had a limited capacity of action against them as it was already caught fighting a war on two fronts against the Royalists. The isolated and agrarian Sevromark in northern Drevstran especially became an hotbed of anarchist or communalist leaning pockets of resistance. Villages in rebellion waging wars against military troops and officials trying to enter their territories, and living off their own production plus raids against either other communities or the army. In that regard, these pockets acted much more like tribal militias than as legitimate attempt to change the country' government.
Beside these rural pockets, bands of deserters became a common occurence during the civil war. While most of these were completely apolitics and were only motivated by their survival, some did during the early stage of the war claim to fight for a Revolution against both the Royalists and the Bolsarists. The most famous of these was the Farkas Band which terrorized western Drevstran between 1913 and 1915, especially the area between the northern Furodommark and the Mren River Valley. This troop was an eclectic mix of rebels, bandits, deserters, and socialists revolutionaries funded by the Socialist Party of Ostrozava.
Later during the year, the eastern third of the Drevstran rose up against Hortankh Bolsar' regime because of frustration with the Chairman' refusal to implement a number of reforms demanded by the Parliament of Yugstran. The latter would then ally with the bandit leaders Iker and Grushna Larkos, known as the Twin Warlords of the East. Their armies of bandits, deserters, and local militias would prove a lasting threat during the civil war.