Delkoran Civil War

Delkoran Civil War
The Fall of Norenstal, by Haldric Valdermyr (1874)
Date 1828-1832 Location Delkora Result -Peasant/High Lord victory -Abdication of Vallgaar III -Establishment of parliamentary government in Delkora
Belligerents
Royalists	Peasant Militias	High Lord Council
Commanders and leaders
Vallgaar III	Garred Faerendyr	Eldric af Baerenor
Strength
89,000	57,000	26,500
Casualties and losses
35,629	15,783	10,924

The Delkoran Civil War was a conflict fought within the Kingdom of Delkora from 1828 to 1832 between forces loyal to King Vallgaar III and an alliance of the five high lords of the Delkoran states and various peasant militias. A result of a complex interplay of social, political, and economic forces, the war was the deadliest conflict in Delkoran history up to that point, with over 60,000 military casualties and an estimated 75,000 civilian casualties, mostly resulting from famine and disease. The war resulted in the abdication of Vallgaar III and paved the way for the establishment of parliamentary government following the 1833 Constitutional Convention.

Background

The centuries following the establishment of a national monarchy in Delkora in 982 CE were characterized by frequent infighting between the national monarch and the high lords of the five Delkoran states, who shared sovereignty and possessed their own personal armies. The high lords would often try to pressure the national monarch into passing favorable policies for their respective states, and were aided by the fact that there was not yet a national army loyal only to the King. Instead, the national monarch had to rely on armies recruited by the high lords, which remained loyal to them only. The high lords' monopoly of force meant that the Kingdom functioned as a de facto confederation for much of its early history. Because of the absence of a strong central government to impose uniform laws throughout the Kingdom and mediate disputes between the states, there were a number of bloody skirmishes between the high lords from 1100-1300 CE. This prompted King Haldor III in 1385 to negotiate the Peace of Aberald with the high lords. The high lords agreed to disband their personal armies in exchange for a guarantee that each high lord would have absolute sovereignty over his respective state. The newly-empowered national monarch would serve as a neutral enforcer of agreed norms and ensure the continued sovereignty of each state. To achieve this end, he would be empowered to assemble a national army.

The agreement had the effect of shifting a great deal of power to the national monarch, laying the foundation for a modern nation state and enabling an era of military exploits that lasted for several centuries. Although there were still disputes between the high lords, these were resolved peacefully through the High Lords Council. For the most part, the high lords were content to allow the national monarch to manage inter-state and foreign diplomacy while they were left to govern domestic matters in their states. The high lords, however, despite theoretically being absolute monarchs, in practice had to share power with the varden, large agricultural communes in the countryside, as well as the nobility. The high lords were normally able to maintain good relations with these two groups, distributing patronage between them in exchange for their loyalty. This system was put under pressure, however, as the Kingdom's military commitments abroad grew more numerous from the mid 1500's to the 1600's, necessitating the drafting of large numbers of peasants into the national army. This, combined with increasing crop demands placed on rural communities, had the effect of greatly disrupting rural life and contributing to increasing poverty in the countryside. This coincided with the dissemination of radical political works from philosophers like Halvar Belanor, which are now credited with instilling an early form of class consciousness in the peasant class. The varden began to agitate for political reforms that would give them more influence over national politics, and throughout the 1600's and 1700's, monarchs were generally amenable to their demands out of a desire to maintain stability.

Outbreak of the war

This changed with the coronation of Vallgaar III in 1812. Unlike his predecessors, Vallgaar took a more hard line approach with the varden, demanding their absolute loyalty. In response to several varden in northern Cybria voting to stop supplying soldiers for the national army, Vallgaar issued the Decree of 1825, outlawing all varden in the Kingdom and directing the high lords to disband them and resettle their residents in scattered villages and the cities. All five high lords rejected the order, arguing that disbanding the varden would upset the tenuous balance of power in the states and inevitably lead to unrest. Moreover, they insisted, the decree had no legal force, as the Peace of Aberald forbade the King from interfering in the governance of individual states. In response, Vallgaar issued an ultimatum, threatening to use the national army to disband the varden by force if the high lords refused to act. Fearing that such a move would, if unsuccessful, prompt a peasant revolt or, if successful, be a prelude to Vallgaar seizing absolute power, the high lords convened in Falbaard in 1826 to begin plotting a coup, and appointed the Cybrian noble Eldric af Baerenor as their military commander. The five agreed to begin quietly rebuilding their former armies.

In 1827 the King, hoping to send a message, ordered the Falvryn Massacre, sending in troops to storm the Falvryn Vard and massacring the entire commune. As word of the massacre spread, peasant communities in the surrounding area were quick to act, raiding county armories for weapons before retreating into the forests to the north, where they began organizing into militias. In response to the massacre, the high lords delivered what became known as the Falvryn Ultimatum to Vallgaar, demanding his abdication. When it became clear Vallgaar had no intention of abdicating, the high lords of Norvia, Vassengaard, and Bandorel launched a series of coordinated ambushes on garrisons and armories close to their state capitals early in 1828, securing needed supplies for their fledgling armies and forcing Vallgaar's troops to retreat east toward Cybria and south toward the port cities along the Sundering coast. Vallgaar declared the high lords to be in open rebellion, issuing a decree abolishing their thrones and appointing himself "King of All Delkora."

Stalemate

Although initially caught off guard by the ambushes, Vallgaar's forces were able to quickly regroup and fortify their positions along the borders of Cybria. High Lady Astrid of Cybria and her army, greatly outnumbered by Vallgaar's forces in Norenstal and the surrounding countryside, retreated west into Bandorel, joining up with the lords' forces there to fortify their position. They were joined by forces from Vassengaard and Norvia. In Faurelia, High Lord Drathmyr's forces seized control of Gothendral in the First Battle of Gothendral, giving the lords control of an important port city, although the rest of the state remained firmly under Vallgaar's control. To the north, the peasant militias that had fled into the forests of Norvia and Vassengaard fended off incursions from Vallgaar's forces and launched intermittent raids on their supply lines.

Initially, the lords hoped to amass a large force on the border between Bandorel and Cybria and make a rapid push toward Norenstal. This plan failed, however, as the King's forces proved to be far better equipped and trained, and were able to route the lords' forces at the Battle of Boerenyr (1828) and the Battle of Grypenveld (1829). By the end of 1829, the conflict had devolved into a war of attrition, with neither side making significant territorial progress. Vallgaar's forces had a clear numerical advantage, and further benefited from control of the southern port cities of Abenvard, Tybenhoth, and Darzenbrom, which ensured a steady flow of wealth, food supplies, and weapons from friendly foreign powers. Also working to the King's advantage was the fact that the peasant militias had not joined forces with the high lords, and in fact fought with them as much as Vallgaar's forces. Aware of this fact, Baerenor sought to forge an alliance with the peasant militias, having little success. Led by Garred Faerendyr, the militias initially sought to remain neutral in the conflict, hoping to eventually form an independent republic.

In the spring of 1830, Vallgaar launched an assault westward into Bandorel and south toward Gothendral. The high lords' forces suffered a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Bremheisen, and were forced to retreat to Falbaard. In Faurelia, the lords won a Pyrrhic victory in the Second Battle of Gothendral. With the lords' two major centers of power in danger of falling, Baerenor again sought an alliance with Faerendyr's forces. With the peasant militias' manpower now standing at nearly 30,000 as a result of peasants fleeing Vallgaar's violent reprisals in Cybria, Faerendyr recognized that his forces would have significant say in the formation of a new government in the event Vallgaar was successfully ousted. He thus agreed to work with the high lords, contingent upon the peasantry having a meaningful say in the drafting of constitution after the war, and provided the militias voted to join the war effort. Baerenor agreed to these terms. Faerendyr convened the militias in the city of Grafholmen, where he delivered an impassioned speech urging them to join in the war effort against Vallgaar. The militias unanimously agreed to work with the high lords' forces to oust Vallgaar.

Turning point

In June of 1830, Vallgaar began closing in on Falbaard. Just before fighting commenced on the outskirts of the city, the peasant militias to the north launched a string of coordinated attacks in northern Cybria, overwhelming the King's unsuspecting forces. Vallgaar responded by redirecting troops headed for Falbaard to reinforce Helsingar Fortress to the northwest of Norenstal. Deprived of needed reinforcements, the attack on Falbaard was repelled after a month of heavy fighting. The opening of a new front enabled the high lords to send forces south to disrupt Vallgaar's supply lines from the Abenvard and Tybenhoth. By 1831, the King's forces were running low on gunpowder, foodstuffs, and clothing. The lords achieved a string of victories in the fall of 1831 that pushed Vallgaar's forces back to the Cybrian border. The lords' forces in Gothendral launched a successful northward push into Faurelia, seizing key cities along the Garenfyor Peninsula in the Battle of Halmodryn and the Battle of Fjodonor.

In December of 1831, the peasant armies converged for a large scale assault on Helsingar Fortress, successfully seizing it. This proved to be a major blow to morale for Vallgaar's forces, and prompted a wave of desertions and defections. To the south, the high lords' forces converged on Darzenbrom, the King's last major port city. Forces from Bandorel and Faurelia launched attacks from the west and east respectively, overwhelming the weakened garrison in the city after two months of bitter fighting. With the enemy closing in, Vallgaar's remaining divisions fell back to Norenstal and began preparing for a lengthy siege. The peasant militias and the high lords' forces encircled the city and began preparing for the final push. During the winter of 1832, an estimated 3,500 civilians died in Norenstal from disease and starvation as a result of the city being cut off from supply lines. On 20 March, Baerenor and Faerendyr sent a message to Vallgaar imploring him to surrender to avoid further bloodshed, even offering to allow him to remain in power in a reduced capacity if he agreed to do so. After receiving no reply from the King after several weeks, they agreed to commence with the attack, and in the early morning hours of 3 April, the start of the religious holiday of Thymyr, the rebel forces entered the outskirts of the city, encountering heavy resistance from Vallgaar's forces.

Fall of Norenstal and aftermath of the war

The Battle of Norenstal lasted nearly five months and cost thousands of lives on all sides, proving to be the single most deadly engagement of the war. On 26 September 1832, the last of Vallgaar's forces in the heart of the city surrendered, and Vallgaar himself was taken into custody inside Hyengaard Palace by peasant forces. The King abdicated the same day and ordered his remaining troops throughout the Kingdom to lay down their arms. A provisional government was established the next day, consisting of a council of delegates representing the high lords and the peasant militias. Among the many orders of business considered by the council at its first meeting on 1 October was the fate of the royal family. Faerendyr informed the council that the peasant militias under his command had voted to try the King, Queen, and Crown Prince before a special tribunal for "crimes against the peasantry" and intended to execute them if found guilty. Baerenor and the other delegates of the high lords objected to this, fearing the precedent such a show trial would set, and demanded Faerendyr turn over the royal family. Faerendyr refused, and a public tribunal took place in Hyengaard Palace on 15 October in which the three refused to speak when offered the chance to defend themselves. After being found guilty, King Vallgaar, Queen Anna, and Crown Prince Davik were sentenced to death by guillotine and executed the following day in Vydenhelm Square.

The execution further strained the already tense relations between the peasant militias and the high lords, and a number of small skirmishes broke out between their respective forces throughout the Kingdom in the months following the conclusion of the war, leading many to fear that a second civil war was imminent. Elsewhere in the country, unrest began to break out as a result of widespread food shortages.

Constitutional convention

At the second meeting of the provisional council on 20 October 1832, the delegates began planning for a constitutional convention to draft a new constitution for the nation. The convention, comprised of delegates representing the high lords, peasant militias, nobility, townspeople, and the Vallyar Order, met for the first time on 1 December, electing as its president the Bandorelan noble Elrond af Telberath, a highly regarded political philosopher who was respected by all sides and credited with providing the intellectual framework of the revolution. Telberath suggested that the delegates should first consider what he believed to be the three fundamental questions regarding the nature of the Delkoran state: should the government be a monarchy or republic, what should be the relationship between the national and state governments, and what should be the role of the Vallyar Order in the new government, if any? After three months of bitter debates, it became clear that the two most influential factions at the convention, the high lords and the peasant militias, would not be able to come to an agreement on any of the three issues. The high lords made clear they would not accept any arrangement that stripped them of their powers or abolished the national monarchy. The militias, in turn, made clear they would not accept any government that was not based on popular sovereignty, nor the retention of absolute monarchy at the federal or state level.

After extensive negotiations, Telberath convinced the delegates to turn these questions over to the public by way of a referendum before proceeding any further. On 4 March 1833, a national referendum was held that found a slight majority of the public in favor of a constitutional monarchy over a republic, preservation of the state governments, and retaining the Vallyar Order as the state religion. Using the results of these referendums to frame the debate, the delegates proceeded with the drafting of the new constitution. By July 1833, two major proposals had emerged, one which greatly limited the power of both the national monarch and the high lords and would have established an all-powerful parliament, and another, favored by the high lords, which gave the states nearly absolute control over their own affairs, while establishing a weak parliament that would oversee foreign policy in consultation with the high lords. After months of negotiations, all parties had agreed on a compromise proposal by Telberath that merged elements of both plans. on 25 October 1833 this draft was ratified by the convention and subsequently put before the public for approval in a referendum, receiving overwhelming support.

Elections were subsequently held that year and, immediately thereafter, parliament went about the process of selecting a new national monarch, eventually settling on Lord Abarath of Tordenhelm, a member of the House of Valdenharm, a cadet branch of the by then extinct House of Gryngaard-Sorenzborg. A national referendum was held to test his support, and after Abarath received the support of an overwhelming majority of the population, he was coronated as the new king.