Kenlongese War

Kenlongese War
Part of the Great Game
Clockwise, from top left: Melasian brigadier general Ernst Keitel after the Song Lo Bay landings Melasian marines landing during Operation Blue Moon in Gi Lang Melasian aircrew replenishing the ammunition of a J 49 fighter Kenlongese royalist troops posing after the victory at La Tho MS Jürgenshafen bombarding the coastal city of Phong My during the April Offensive
Date 19 September 1944 (1944-09-19) – 3 March 1951 (1951-03-03) (6 years, 5 months and 12 days) Establishment of diplomatic mission between Melasia and the Kingdom of Kenlong on 3 March 1951 Location Kenlong, Melasia Result Royalist-led victory Treaty of Tinz am Sigmund Liquidation of the puppet regime in Kenlong Establishment of the Kingdom of Kenlong Departure of Melasian forces and citizens from Kenlong Territorial changes Cunochuye and the Northern Caroline Islands ceded to Kenlong
Belligerents
State of Kenlong Melasia (1945–1951) Supported by: Cuthland Rovina	Kingdom of Kenlong Supported by: Falland Lavaria Mascylla Including Kinh No Cunucaland	People's Liberation Front of Kenlong Mèo Insurgency Supported by: Dulebia Note: The various communist factions often participated in hostile actions between each other.
Commanders and leaders
Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Đăng Wilhelm Keller Gustaf von Baumann Ernst Keitel	Hồ Hoàng Thái Maximilian I Ernest Rähner Albrecht von Marburg	Nguyễn Tấn Dũng
Strength
State of Kenlong Regulars: 185,000 Town militia: 68,000 Police and other law enforcement: 16,000 Republic of Melasia Melasian marine corps: 25,000 Melasian Home Guard: 46,000 Total: c. 340,000	Kingdom of Kenlong Regulars: 250,000 (1948) Irregulars: c. 268,000 Mascyllary Empire Expeditionary corps: 55,000 Local auxiliary: c. 10,200 Total: c. 583,200	People's Liberation Front Irregulars: 45,000 (peak) Mèo Insurgency Irregulars: c. 17,200 Total: c. 62,200
Casualties and losses
100,000–150,000 killed, wounded or missing 53,863 military killed, wounded or missing	190,000–210,000 killed, wounded or captured 25,000 imprisoned in Melasian labour camps 95 colonial troops wounded or missing	Unknown number killed or wounded 14,000–29,000 captured by both sides
345,000–450,000 total killed, wounded or missing 200,000 - 350,000 civilians killed

The Kenlongese War (generally referred to as the Kenlongese Revolution in Melasia and the Second Great War of Independence in Kenlong, sometimes mentioned as the Kenlongese Civil War) was an armed conflict that started in the State of Kenlong shortly after the end of the Melasian Crisis and lasted until March 3, 1951. Hostilities in the region began during the crisis itself, with Mascylla aiding the local independence movements in an attempt to weaken the Melasian military and establish an independent state of Kenlong. The main hostilities in the conflict were between the State of Kenlong, a puppet regime established by Melasia as a result of the Melasian Crisis, backed up by Melasia itself, and supporters of the former King of Kenlong, who was dethroned as a result of the Kenlongese defeat in the Great War. In addition, numerous communist and radical religious guerrillas emerged in the country during the conflict, fighting both sides and often each other.

Following the defeat of the Kingdom of Kenlong in the Great War, it was made a AN mandate of the Federated Melasian States, then itself a dominion of the Mascyllary Empire. Following the independence of Melasia and its transformation into a unitary republic, the Assembly of Nations abolished its mandate over the Kenlongese territory, but the Melasian state refused to grant its mandate independence and continued its control over it. Following the Melasian Crisis, Melasia was finally forced to grant independence to Kenlong, which it formally did by installing loyal politicians and forming the State of Kenlong, an one-party dictatorship which remained largely a puppet state of Melasia. Melasia also preserved strong military presence in the country, operating most military airfields in the country as its bases. In the meantime, a neo-royalist movement under Prince Hồ Hoàng Thái formed in the western part of the country, heavily supplied by Mascylla. As numerous members of the Assembly of Nations, namely Lavaria and Falland among others, began to notice the growing support for the loyalists among the Kenlongese population and the complete lack of effort from the Melasians to assure the independence of the Kenlongese state, they decided to recognize the royalist movement of Prince Hồ Hoàng Thái as the sole legitimate power in Kenlong. With the support of most of the Berean states, the royalists started a conventional war against the State of Kenlong shortly after its official establishment in September 1944. After several months of active warfare and the liberation of almost one-third of the Kenlongese territory, Melasia declared war on the royalist movement, officially entering the conflict in January of 1945. Both sides received modern military equipment and support from Berean states. Melasian forces performed numerous bombings of Kenlongese cities under royalist control but eventually failed to stop the advance of Prince Hồ's troops. By mid-1946 most of State of Kenlong and Melasian Cunochuye were under royalist control, with only the capital city and the sothern part of the Manatan Peninsula remaining under joint Melasian and collaborationist control. Parallel to the conventional warfare between royalist and collaborationist forces, large-scale guerrilla warfare occured throughout the conflict between both sides and numerous religious and far-left movements, including the People's Liberation Front of Kenlong and the Mèo Insurgency, both backed up by communist states like the People's Republic of Dulebia.

Several attempts for Melasian naval and airborne landings in Gi Lang and Liep Te ended in a bloody failure, marking the highest loss of Melasian lives since the Great War. Another landing operation in the bay of Song Lon, nicknamed Operation White Moon, initially succeeded in driving royalist troops back, but eventually all ground gained had to be left due to shortage of resources. The frontline remained relatively still for almost two years between early 1949 and late 1950. The so-called Winter Offensive of December 1950 eventually managed to break through the Melasian defences at Phuong Hoang and resulted in the capture of the capital city, eventually leading to the withdrawal of all Melasian forces in Kenlong.

Following its defeat at Phuong Hoang, Melasia and the Kenlongese royalists signed the Treaty of Tinz am Sigmund, in which Melasia recognized Prince Hồ Hoàng Thái as the sole legitimate ruler of Kenlong, and ceded Melasian Cunochuye and the Northern Caroline Islands to Kenlong. The signing of the Treaty of Tinz am Sigmund marked the formal end of the Kenlongese War, with numerous smaller engangements inside the country between the newly-established government of now King Hồ Hoàng Thái and various radical movements continuing into the next decade. The Kenlongese War was the bloodiest conflict after the Great War, and marked the start of a small cold war between the Republic of Melasia and the Kingdom of Kenlong for dominance in the region.

Background

Kenlong after the Great War

Main article: Great War (Aurorum)

The Mandate of Kenlong in Melasia after the Great War

Prior to the Great War, the Kenlongese Empire had a long-lasting conflict with the Mascyllary Empire as the latter sought to incorporate Kenlong in its colonial empire. The victory of the Lạc dynasty in 1890 marked the end of a bloody civil war in the state, and the newly-formed Kenlongese Empire began to slowly drift towards an alliance with the Central powers in Berea. Kenlong eventually joined them during the Great War in an attempt to return the lands it lost to Mascyllary colonial ambitions in the previous century, namely the port of Kinh No and the coast of Cunochuye. Just as the other members of the Central Alliance, Kenlong was defeated in the Great War. Following the Treaty of Lehpold, the Federated Melasian States received a mandate over its territory, while most members of the Lạc royal family were imprisoned in Melasia and later sent to Berea for a tribunal, with some of them being sentenced to life imprisonment.

According to the Assembly of Nations, the Melasian state was given the mandate over Kenlong for no longer than 10 years, after which it was obliged to grant the Kenlongese state independence. In the meantime, Melasian authorities had to assist in rebuilding the nation's infrastructure, help the locals to achieve economic development and to construct the basis of future political institutes. Instead of that, however, Melasian officials preferred to incorporate the Kenlongese territory into the Melasian vertical of power, by slowly removing its political institutes and installing its own politicians on all levels of power. This process became even more prominent after the Fleicher accords and the rise to power of Wilhelm Keller and his administration, who saw Kenlong as rightfully Melasian territory. In 1931, when the Assembly of Nations disbanded the mandate of Melasia over Kenlong, Keller refused to leave the country, instead proclaiming Kenlong an integral part of the Melasian Republic. This led to a number of sanctions posed on the country and a protest by Mascylla in the Assembly of Nations, but eventually no actions were undertaken to stop Keller as it was feared such actions could lead to a new armed conflict in Berea.

The annexation of Kenlong would eventually serve as one of the causes of the Melasian Crisis. The state was relatively unstable ever since the end of the Great War, with numerous insurgents from all ends of the political spectrum fighting across the country between each other and the Melasian occupational forces. The most prominent one was the neo-loyalist movement of Prince Hồ Hoàng Thái in the western part of the country, a Kenlongese noble who proclaimed himself the successor of the Lạc Dynasty after the fall of the Kenlongese Empire. The movement of Prince Hồ Hoàng Thái was at first supported only by Mascylla, but as his insurgents began to gain popularity within Kenlong, most members of the Assembly of Nations recognized him as the sole legitimate ruler of Kenlong. During the Melasian crisis, his movement was supplied and trained by Mascyllary military specialists and engaged in assymetric warfare in the western regions of the country.

The State of Kenlong

Main article: State of Kenlong

The State of Kenlong in 1944 after the Melasian Crisis

Following the end of the Melasian Crisis, Melasia was forced to grant Kenlong the promised independence by the international community. Melasia agreed to grant Kenlong independence in exchange for the removal of Mascyllary military bases on Melasian territory back in 1943, and established the State of Kenlong in early September 1944. Originally created as a democratic parliamentary republic, the so-called State of Kenlong was relatively quickly transformed into an one-party dictatorship under the Prime Minister Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Đăng, with all political parties being banned, and political opposition imprisoned. All members of the ruling party, the National Rally of Kenlong, were closely related to Melasia, with some of them being former Melasian citizens, having studied in Melasian universities or have served in the Melasian occupational government of Kenlong in the 1920s and 1930s. The State of Kenlong was formed in the borders of the former Kenlongese Empire, despite protests from Mascylla and other states that Kenlong should also receive the Caroline islands and the coast of Cunochuye.

Even after its de-jure independence, the State of Kenlong did not fully control its territory. Numerous far left and religious insurgents controlled nost of the central and northern part of the country, while the neo-royalist movement of Prince Hồ Hoàng Thái controlled most of the western part of the country. The government of Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Đăng enjoyed the biggest support in the southeastern part of the country, where the capital city of Phuong Hoang was situated. In terms of military, the State of Kenlong had a relatively big regular army, consisting of almost 185,000 soldiers, and was equipped with Melasian and Cuthish military hardware. A system of town militia and police units was established in major towns and protected the main roads within the state from partisan attacks. The Kenlongese state, however, did not possess a navy, and almost all of its airfields remained under direct Melasian control as military bases. Kenlong heavily relied on Melasia for air attacks against the partisans in the inner parts of the country.

The State of Kenlong existed until March 1951, when Melasia and the royalist movement of Prince Hồ Hoàng Thái signed the Treaty of Tinz am Sigmund, with Melasia recognizing Hồ as the sole legitimate ruler and with the State of Kenlong being disbanded and reorganized into the Kingdom of Kenlong, with most of its high-ranked officials receiving political asylum in Melasia.

Course of the war

Early actions

Map of the actions during the Kenlongese War

See also

• Kenlong
• Melasia