Shirvani Succession War
| Shirvani Succession War | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Rioni and Lombardo ships engage one another during the Battle of the Silinius Reef | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Cabbarli Khanate  Tai Dynasty  Mutoshina Shogunate  Lombardo Matriarchy |
 Xalidli Khanate  Rioni Union  Kazarakhai Khaganate  House of Luceria | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Balil Cabbarli Fÿrxad Cabbarli Tai Joaho Zhong Yazhu Du Wen Sugawara Mutoshino Togawa Hiratoki |
Ağahadi Xalidli Kamil Xalidli Hristo Sashov Pramatarov Damir Vrabec Dieguito Luceria Alonsico de Maderuelo Dzudze Kuashevy | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| ~2,000,000+ | ~1,000,000+ | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 1,000,000+ | 1,000,000+ | ||||||
The 'Shirvani Succession War (Shirvani: Şirvani varislik müharibəsi, Serikese: 希爾瓦尼繼承戰爭 (Xī ěr wǎ ní jìchéng zhànzhēng), Galanian: Война за наследство на Ширвани (Voĭna za nasledstvo na Shirvani), Ruvelka: Shirvani utódlási háború, Lirinyan: シルヴァーニ継承戦争, (Shiruvu~āni keishō sensō), Condottiero: Guerra de sucesión de Shirvani, Cacertian: Guerra di successione Shirvani) was a Sidurian conflict that took place from 1802 to 1809. The war was sparked by a succession crisis in the Shirvani Kingdom, itself a successor state to the defunct Adamdar Empire that had collapsed half a century prior, when the rival Cabbarli and Xalidli Khanates claimed dominion over Shirvaniya. The rival claimants broke out into civil war which drew in the neighboring powers who aligned themselves with either side, with the Tai Dynasty of Serikos backing the Cabbarli Khanate, while the Xalidli were supported by the Rioni Union and the Kazarakhai Khaganate.
Fighting broke out across northern Siduri as both Shirvnai clans fell largely under the control of the Rioni and Tai respectively, resulting in long protracted campaigns and bloody fighting that resulted in heavy casualties. In 1804 the Rioni attempted an invasion of Serikos that ended in defeat and withdrawal back to the Kazarakhai Khaganate, which was subsequently subjected to frequent coastal raids by the Tai Navy. In response the Rioni fleet under Damir Vrabec sailed into Serikese waters and defeated the Tai navy at the Battle of Ninshi Bay in 1805. The loss of their fleet prompted Emperor Tai Joaho to appeal to Shogun Sugawara Mutoshino of Lirinya for support, who supplied the Serikese with ships and troops. The departure and distraction of large numbers of troops and ships from the Shogunate prompted King Dieguito Luceria of Knichus to seize islands and port along the Strait of Lirinya in July 1805, many of them former territories of the Imperio Rojo. News of the Luceiran attacks prompted the Rioni to dispatch munitions and weapons to Knichus, which drew protest from the Lombardo Matriarchy. After several Rioni ships were raided or captured by Lombardo privateers the Rioni Union declared war by invading the seizing the Andria Protectorate in August 1806.
Over the winter of 1806-1807 the combined Serikese-Lombardo-Mutoshino fleet battled the Rioni Navy in the Sundering Sea but struggled to emerge victorious in the face of the large and heavily armed ship-of-the-lines fielded by the Rioni. Between March and April 1807 the Lombardo Fleet attempted to recapture Andria and were defeated, but in the summer the Luceiran navy was decimated in the Strait of Lirinya. In October the same year the Rioni navy sailed through the Varuna Ocean to destroy the Shogunate fleet but was instead met by the Lombardo navy at Silinius Reef and was decisively defeated. Emboldened by victories at sea the Serikese armies launched the Three Rivers Campaign aimed at circumventing the Rioni lines in the Aglicki Basin, but were halted by the Rioni at the Battle of Taqor. The Rioni then stunned the Serikese by marching over Mount Tengri, arriving behind Serikese lines and entrapping more than 150,000 Serikese troops behind the Ziya River. The annihilation of the Serikese army was followed by an invasion of Serikos in September 1807. By December the Rioni had captured Zoajing and Jinshu, with winter stabilizing the front lines around the Siege of Fuhar. After storming the city the Rioni advanced towards Hengjiang, which was halted in February 1808 with assistance from fresh Lirinyan and Lombardo reinforcements. The Lombardo fleet recaptured Andria in May and in July a combined Mutoshino and Lombardo force invaded Knichus and besieged Nycero. Between June and November 1808 the Serikese repulsed the Rioni invasion, while in October a Lombaro attempt to raid Aszód was defeated by the Rioni navy.
By 1809 northern Shirvaniya had been devastated after years of fighting but the Tai wanted to push the Rioni across the Bakir River to create a buffer between the Kazarakhai and Serikos. The Bakir Campaign as it would be called lasted until July and marked the final battles of the war. On 15 September 1809 both sides agreed to the Treaty of Fenjing, which divided the Shirvani Kingdom into two halves. The House of Luceira was forced to cede all claims to territory in Lirinya while allowing the Lombardo Matriarchy to established trading posts along the Strait of Lirinya. The Rioni Union agreed to recognize the border between Shirvaniya and Ruvelka as the extent of its domain, while the Tai Dyanasty did the same.
The war was immensely costly to all involved parties, with minimum estimates of casualties exceeding one million for both alliances. The conflict bankrupted most of the involved states with tremendous consequences; the Rioni Union, already fragmenting amid ongoing ethnic and political tensions, would collapse into civil war just two years later and dissolve. The Tai Dynasty would retreat into isolation until after the Siduri War, while the House of Luceria would fade from prominence in eastern Siduri affairs before ceasing to exist all together with Knichus' incorporation into the Cacertian Empire less than a century later. Ruvelkan writer Király Csenge, herself a veteran of the conflict, would later write that the war "produced nothing more than corpses, misery, and ruin". The Shirvani Kingdom's political division into two halves would be overridden just a decade later by the Zaur Khanate, who conquered and absorbed both halves into their own domain. Shirvaniya itself would later be incorporated into the Cacertian Empire less than a century later, along with the Kazarakhai Khaganate.
Lirinyan historian Umeji Toshiko, writing in 1989, stated that the war "cemented the end of the era of empires" in Sudiri, as the nation-states that had emerged in aftermath of the fall of the Adamdar were too powerful, independent, and resourceful to allow for the resurgence of a continent-spanning hegemony that had existed during the time of the Symmerian Empire and Ridevan Empires. Siduri would settle into a permanently complex, multi-polar political realm where dominion over large swathes of the continent could only be achieved through political alliance like the Inner Sphere or Cacertian Empire. In military terms the conflict ushered into the early era of modern warfare; armies grew larger and campaigns more complex. The early seeds of industrialization allowed for the mass production of weapons and ammunition, allowing armies and fleets to be armed much faster than in previous conflicts. The nature of war had also changed from the previous continent spanning Forty Years War; campaigns were dictated more by open battles than by sieges. Conscription allowed for armies to grow even larger while lessening the impact of "decisive battles", as even appalling losses could be made up by levying additional troops from the increasingly populated Siduri states. The increased effectiveness of artillery reduced the significance of fixed fortifications and fortresses, although they still played a prominent role in many battles and operations. Knichan historian Francisco Jose Alférez stated that the war "laid the groundwork for the coming industrial scale of warfare that would continue to intensify throughout the 19th and into the 20th centuries".