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| Kaya-Mutul war of 1845 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||
| Belligerents | |||||
| Kayahallpa | Mutul | ||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||
| TBD |
Itzamnaaj B'alam Jasaw Chi Kem Yum Hachak K'atun May K'atun Ox Pat Yax Kelem Pat Winik Pek | ||||
| Strength | |||||
| TBD | 720,000 | ||||
the Kaya-Mutulese war of 1845, also known as the War of the Twin Gods, was fought in 1845 CE between the two Oxidentaleses theocracies of the Mutul and Kayahallpa. The war was part of a wider rivalry between the two states, dating back to the the Resurgence and the war of 1818, during which the Mutul had lost complete control over its southern neighbor, failed to prevent its unification under the Sapa Inka, and even lost many of its southern Provinces. In fact the recovery of these lost territory was the purported reason behind the war, and the reconquest of the entirety of the Kichwa-speaking area the Mutul' ultimate wargoal.
While the war was an overall victory for the Mutul and fixed the modern border between the two countries, the Mutuleses failed to regain many territories that had remained sympathetic or even faithful to the K'uhul Ajaw. Meanwhile, the Kayahallpa royal military placed the blame of the defeat in its report on the local elites and aristocraties, which they accused of not having helped the war effort as much as they should've. the Sapa Inka would spend the next decades consolidating his power at the expanse of said local elites.
Background
In the 1840s, the Mutul had been on a downward spiral for close to a century, since the creation of the First Tsurushimese Republic that weakened its grasp on its Oversea territories and the rise of the Sapa Inka Tupaq Churan, a spiral that accelerated greatly after the Kaya-Mutulese war of 1818 and the Second War for Kahei, resulting in the Lady Ik' Jol de-facto coup, her murder, and the civil war known as the Sajal War between the Monarchists led by the Regent Itzamnaaj B'alam and the Aristocracy re-united as the Noble Republic of Northern Oxidentale. The final nail to the coffin for the Mutul' global status was, in the wake of the civil war, the Arthuristan Ultimatum which forced the Mutul to give up parts of its colonies to the Arthuristans and then abandon its control over the rest. By 1842, the dissolution of the Mutulese Empire was acted.
Since the end of the civil war, the Regency had been working on a vast series of political and economical reforms, with the stated goal of strengthening and reinforcing a State that was at its weakest comparatively to its neighbors : Kayahallpa, Sante Reze, and the Latin Empire. Itzamnaaj B'alam, now the Prime Minister of his son, gave the country a Constitution in 1844, and completely re-organized the political structures of the Divine Throne. But since the first days of the Sajal War, he and his clique had been piloting the reconstruction of the economy and industry, mostly to the benefit of the military.
The weakness shown by the Mutul during the Arthuristan Ultimatum had led to both a legitimacy crisis for the Itzamnaaj government as well as arose in the Mutuleses that more foreign ennemies would try to profit from the situation if they continued to fold to the events. Itzamnaaj had been preparing for a potential reconquest of the territories lost after the War of 1818 since the end of the Sajal War, but he now reached the conclusion that a war with Kayahallpa had become necessary to safeguard the throne.
Forces
Mutul
Numbers
The Mutulese Army facing Kayahallpa was divided into two Army group, the Western and Southern Armies, each made of four Corps for a total of 640,000 men. This represented already half of the Mutul' military forces but the Mutulese High Command' plan demanded for an extra corp, detached from the Northern Army, to stay withdrawn behind the frontline in a plot to trap the right wing of the Kaya army. Ultimately, around 720,000 men would be accounted for in the Mutulese battle plan.
Despite their number, the Mutuleses still lacked cavalry or any sort of beast of burden even, greatly complexifying their logistics and reducing their mobility. Similarly, the Mutuleses only used canons in fortified position. A train artillery was already in preparation before the conflict, but did not saw any meaningful deployment during the war.
Instead, the Mutuleses had greatly developed their Rocket artillery. Their offensive tactics called for a Human wave attack supported by mass-fire from their rocket artillery. A Battalion of rocketeers was associated to every regiment of infantry to support any assault or defense.
Defensive line
Since the war of 1818, the Kaya-Mutli front had been heavily fortified by both sides. The Mutulese defensive system was articulated around series of fortified defensive positions. These were, from east to west, the southern hills of Mamk'ab' looming over the Kayas jungles and the river Chixoy. The protection of said river was especially important to the Mutul, as it represented a road leading directly to K'umahkah, the "southern capital".
The second strongpoint of the Mutulese defense was the Cataracts of the Kat'ak river. These rapid were where the Kayahallpa main force had finally been stopped 27 years ago, and had been heavily reinforced by the Mutul. This denied the Kayas a direct access to the Yajawil of Muynal, an important hinterland for the logistics of the Mutuleses.
More westward to the Cataracts was the Yajawil of Kowmul, one of the few Kichwa vassal that the Mutul had been able to retain. The local dynasty had been able to repell the Sapa Inka' forces through the careful exploitation of their land' topography, and had since remained a dangerous salient into Kayahallpa. Its defense was left to the Kowmul Corp, still commanded by the local Dynast and manned mainly by Kichwa and Awa-Kwaiker natives. This became a saying among the Mutuleses, that Kowmul was " an army with a Province to its name ". the Kowmul Corp was famed as the most elite army at the Divine Throne' disposal, and so despite its lack of participation in the Sajal War and autonomy that would've been considered outrageous for any other unit.
Finally, the last real bastion against any Kaya offensive were the fortified hills of Pamkab', also known as the M'ephaa Kingdom. As for Kowmul, Pamkab' was protected by the Corp of the same name, composed of troops recruited mostly among natives to the Province, and led by their traditional Dynasts. And just like the Kowmul Corp, M'ephaa Corp was mostly expected to hold the line in case of any offensive, or counter-offensive, from Kayahallpa.
Despite its strengths, there was two main weakness to this dispositive : the Waxaklajun Hills, between Kowmul and the Cataeacts of Kat'ak were under the control of Kayahallpa. A strong vantage point that made the defensive positions of the Mutul on the Yajawil of Tok'pakal plateaux especially precarious and gave the Kayas the possibility to ignore the Cataracts' forts and flank them by the west and north-west. An entire army, the Muy Corp, had been placed on the defensive there to oppose any such plan from the Sapa Inka' military. The second main weakpoint appeared as serious : the Chixoy river itself.
Plan
Despite their strong vantage point, the troops defending Mamk'ab' could not protect the Chixoy effectively, creating a hole in the Mutulese line that could be easily exploited to encircle the Corp there and then march toward an unprotected K'umahkah. This weakness had been well spotted and studied by Kayahallpa, but what they did not knew was that it had been left on purpose by the Mutulese High Command. In case of war, an extra Corp, taken from the Northern Army was to be deployed on the Chixoy but a few hundreds of kilometers away from the front. The goal was to aspire the Kaya front into the gap and then fix it with the withdrawn Corps while the Mam Corp could then come down from the mountain and cut off the Kayas troops. This was the first step in the Mutulese plan to destroy the Kaya right wings, take over the fortified Ixil triangle that made the junction between Kayahallpa center and right wing, and force the Kaya center to withdraw from its position under the threat of being completely out-flanked.